Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 105: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

vide of fyson, Oe hf John Frederick Auther of “ Crossr CHAPTER XXXI. THE SHADOW OF THOUGHT. N the mind of Garth’s mother thoughts | moved as slowly as the tortoise creeps, but they plodded on with equal sure- ness of gaining their end. Into the train of her thinking ‘burst an interruption that shattered the quiet of the room. It was Margaret Tyson, who whirled in through the door carrying the sunshine with her. ‘“. Edward is up-stairs changing,” she an- nounced. “ We’re going motoring around the dam. Won’t you come with us?” Mrs. Garth adjusted her glasses so that she could look up more easily. It always made her’ wince to hear the girl call her son Edward; and she had not been with them for ten days! She gathered her sew- ing more closely in her lap, for when Mar- garet ran in, in this manner, it affected Mrs. Garth like a disturbing wind. “T think not,” she answered slowly. ““No, I guess I won’t go.” Margaret dropped to the footstool before her, clasping her lithe hands about her knees. “Why not?” she asked. to do that sewing?” Mrs. Garth blinked, for in the new posi- tion a shaft of sunlight set the girl’s hair afire. Mrs. Garth often winced like this when Margaret came close, as she would have winced if a chain of great diamonds had been flashed in her eyes. ‘“T guess I won’t go,” she announced in the same mild voice. ; “Why not?” repeated Margaret Tyson. She laid an impulsive hand on the knee of the elder woman. “Do you have fairly bathe in it? “You sit here so much, - = “‘ Luck,” ete. = so many hours every day, that sometimes I feel ay if you must be unhappy.” _ Mrs. Garth dropped her eyes and could not answer for a moment. When she sat by that window in the old days; she had been waiting for the coming of her boy with the night; she had been waiting for him— the goal of every day. But now when he came home there was some one else to wel- come him and receive his smile. She found a swelling coming in her throat at the thought. This day, this Sunday, for instance, she and Eddie would have sat . about, talking a little, until the evening came, and then they would have gone -for a short stroll down the street in the cool. But now? Surely it was not good for him to go gadding on his one day of rest. ‘“‘1’m just restin’,” answered Mrs. Garth in her thin, quiet voice. Margaret Tyson slipped to a position behind the other’s chair and leaned her elbows on its back. Her hands were folded just beside Mrs. Garth’s face, and the latter watched, from the corner of her eyes, the gleam of them in the sun. Just a ray which played about them. And when Margaret spoke, the rich, full tremor of her voice, tense with good spirits that overflowed, sent an uneasy quiver through Garth’s mother. She was like a shadow, she felt bitterly, compared with this brightness of youth. No wonder Eddie was dazzled. “Look out there through the window!” urged Margaret gently. ‘‘ Look at the sun- shine! Don’t you want to get out and Aren’t you hungry for it? Come with us and get the wind in your face, Mrs. Garth. I love the wind. Don’t you?” ‘Phis story began in The Argosy for July 3. 611 concaoo