Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1917 — The Chance Guest [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Chance Guest

By GEORGE ELMER COBB

(Copyright, 1917, by W, G. Chapman.) “HI ’sprise mamma. She’ll be tired and hungry.. U-ura I I’d like to taste the pie. But I mustn’t, not even a wee tiny smidge.” Arline Ross, age seven, queen of the little kitchen of the humble Ross home, assumed a grand important air as she smoothed out the table cloth and proceeded to set in turn on its worn surface a pie, half a dozen doughnuts and-some sHced boiled -ham.Then she looked into the steaming coffee pot. The aroma arising was satisfactory. “And I earned it all!” pronounced Arline proudly. “Isn’t it queer, me earning money? I heard Mrs. Dawson telling a neighbor she couldn’t leave the children alone, and I stepped up and said l’d be glad to watch and amuse them. Then, when she came home, she gave me half a dollar, and I— marketedand Arline chuckled gleefully. A full table had been a rarity at the Ross home for some weeks past. Dire trouble had fallen on gentle, patient Mary Ross. Her husband, Edgar, had one fault. Ever so often he fell in with drinking comrades at the mill where he was a bookkeeper and a night of revelry ensued. Mary had borne this sorrow meekly, for when sober, Edgar Ross was the soul of.

kindness and consideration. ; Then one night there came terrible news. Ross had been dissipating all ( the evening. There had been a number of robberies In the town and the Ipolice were on the lookout for the perjpetrators. According to their story, They had met Ross escorted by a stranger. They were suspicious of strangers. Only an hour previous a house had been broken into and some valuable jewelry stolen. At sight of the stranger they had halted him, questioned him and searched him. They found nothing suspicious on his person and the officer, knowing Ross, took him in charge to see him safely home. The stranger went his way. AS Ross neared home something fell from his pocket. It was a watch and some diamond rings done up in a handkerchief. The officer identified them as the articles stolen from the burglarized house. Ross in his condition could not explain their

possession. A week later he was sent to the penitentiary for ten years as a common burglar. Then came sorrow, hardship for Mary. The trial took all of their savings. She was called on to support herself and her little girl. Only nfew were willing to employ the wife of a convicl as a seamstress. The shoe pinched sorely, and well might little Arline regard the unusual meal that was the result of her own diligence, as a spread quite royal. Arline got tired waiting for the return of her mother. She went out on the street and peered far down its length. There was no longed-for mother in sight. And then, about to return to the house, she became interested in watching a man with a cane who limping came out of a near yard. “We’ve enough of our own to feed,” its owner was shouting roughly, “without wasting good victuals on tramps and loafers!” J The mendicant came down the street till he reached a horse block. Arline regarded him pityingly. He was thin, pale and convulsed with a racking cough. He bowed his head dejectedly. Arline atoie up to his side. She placed a gentle hand upon his arm. “Are you hungry, mister?” she asked. Me looked up in a surprised yet hopdess way. The pure, innocent face of the child abashed him. “Go away!” he said in choking voice. “I don’t deserve anything. I’m a bad man.” “You’re a poor man, I guess,” insisted Arline. “And you look hungry. And I’ve Just got sqpper ready. I earned it all myself,” proudly declaimed Ariirer- “There’s pie, and ham, and cdffee. and doughnuts, and it’s all mine to give, and you’re welcome. Come Into the house and see, won’t you?” The hard, bitter face of the stran-

ger softened. Arline. had hold of his hand now and insisted on gently but resolutely bringing him along. “There!” she cried triumphantly, .is she led her guest into the kitchen. “What do you think of that?” The stranger sank to a chair, from sheer exhaustion, it seemed. He listened to the gay babble of the child," sounding like joy bells in his willing ears, but soul famishing for kind words and charity. She poured out a steaming Ctip of coffee, she cut the pie and loaded his plate and her guest devoured the repast with the ardor and zest of a man truly hungry. Arline ran out to the shed to get some wood. When she returned the man jsat back in his chair, his eyes closed, his body relaxed and limp. ‘Toor man !” whispered Arline to herself. “I suppose he’s just about all done out. Sh-sh!” she spoke suddenly, gliding to the door, finger warningly on lip. as her mother appeared. “Why, Arline! what is all this?” asked her amazed mother, “and who is thisstranger?”- - ——— Arline recited her story. ThWmother’s eyes dwelt fondly upon her as she recognized the generous instinct of humanity in that gentle soul. Arline went up to h,er guest and pulled his sleeve. He did not respond. Then Mrs. Ross, gazing more closely, looked grave and alarmed. “He is unconscious,” she uttered. “He looks ill.” She felt his hands. They were very cold. “Arline. run next door for Doctor Prescott. There is something the matter with this man.” _ ’ ; - ——-—'• There was, indeed. When he came the doctor looked grave and puzzled. They carried the man Into the next room and placed him on the bed. “He is very ill,” announced the doctor. “His vitality is low and he seemsto have a chronic affection of the heart. I do not think, he can live. You can scarcely afford to care for_a_. stranger, Mrs. Hoss, but it would be unmerciful to turn him adrift. I will see that you are repaid for the expense he may be to you.” “Oh, he is welcome to all we can do for him,” declared warm-hearted Mrs. Ross. The Invalid rallied a few hours later. Slowly he recognized his surroundings and the incidents leading up to his present environment. He held little Arline’s hand, his eyes full of tears. He tried to express his fervent gratitude to her mother. “And I am so undeserving?’ he said, and and stared fixedly at a framed portrait of Edgar Ross hanging on the wall. “Who—-who is that?” he asked, almost sharply. A spasm of pain of the—intensest

emotion crossed hisfaceas~in a subdued tone., Mrs. Ross told of their misfortune. The patient roused up almost frantically. “Send for some one to witness my -confession !’’he cried; —“Oh, madam! yopr husband is an innocent man.” and then his story came out. He was a burglar whose deed had caused the conviction of Edgar Ross, and, that night long past, seeing the police approaching and knowing he might be searched, he had slipped his spoils into the pocket of the wayfarer he pretended to be helping home. He had got out of town at once and since then had been falling in health until he had become homeless and moneyless. “It was retribution,” he declared, “but now I can make atonement.” The contrite man died the next day, hut not until he had paved the way through his confession to insure the restoration of Edgar Ross to his longing family. So, the generous impulse of a brave little child brought about the rehabilitation of the father she loved.

“Poor Man!" Whispered Arline to Herself.