THE TRYST
He woke to the light of morning amazed and full of a strange wonder because he did not know what had amazed him.For a little while after his eyes opened, he lay quite motionless; then he lifted his head slightly and shook it with some caution.This had come to be custom.The operation assured him of the worst; the room swam round him, and, with a faint groan, he let his head fall back upon the pillow.But he could not sleep again; pain stung its way through his heart as memory began to come back to him, not of the preceding night--that was all blank,--but realization that the girl of whom he had dreamed so long was to be married.That his dreams had been quite hopeless was no balm to his hurt.
A chime of bells sounded from a church steeple across the Square, ringing out in assured righteousness, summoning the good people who maintained them to come and sit beneath them or be taken to task; and they fell so dismally upon Joe's ear that he bestirred himself and rose, to the delight of his mongrel, who leaped upon him joyfully.An hour later, or thereabout, the pair emerged from the narrow stairway and stood for a moment, blinking in the fair sunshine, apparently undecided which way to go.The church bells were silent; there was no breeze; the air trembled a little with the deep pipings of the organ across the Square, and, save for that, the town was very quiet.The paths which crossed the Court-house yard were flecked with steady shadow, the strong young foliage of the maples not moving, having the air of observing the Sabbath with propriety.There were benches here and there along the walks, and to one of these Joe crossed, and sat down.The mongrel, at his master's feet, rolled on his back in morning ecstasy, ceased abruptly to roll and began to scratch his ear with a hind foot intently.A tiny hand stretched to pat his head, and the dog licked it appreciatively.It belonged to a hard-washed young lady of six (in starchy, white frills and new, pink ribbons), who had run ahead of her mother, a belated church-goer;and the mongrel charmed her.