It was upon a golden evening in June that little Billy bade farewell to his home, Miss Jemima and Kate going with him to the little wayside station. Cy, gotten up in great style, followed, while the rear was brought up by a motley procession,—all eager for the honor of carrying some of the belongings. The Squire, with Don the old Irish setter, stood in the doorway until Billy passed out of sight; then the two together, the old man and the old dog, went back into the silent house.
The path to the station wound its way through a field of ripening wheat, from whence the clear whistle of a partridge smote sharply though the fervid air. Billy paused, and, pointing to a tangle of blackberry, exclaimed: “There’s a nest there as sure as shooting, and I’ll go there to-mor—” A quick catching of the breath cut short the unfinished words, and the boy, with lips slightly drawn, quickened his pace. Kate, choking down her sobs, held his hand in her tight clasp, as she kept pace with his hurried step. Miss Jemima, steadying her voice, remarked with a sprightly air that there would be fine shooting when he should come back in the autumn. Then the little station came into view, looking very empty and deserted; two men loading a flat car were the only living objects to be seen. They paused in their work to greet Billy, and ask where he was off to. It seemed so strange a thing to Kate that all the world did not know.
The train was not on time, and the waiting became so painful that it was almost with gladness that they heard the warning whistle far down the track. A small crowd had gradually collected, and some one remarked: “She’s blowin’ for the bridge. It’ll be ten minutes before she’s here.” To the tumultuously throbbing hearts of the little party it was a positive relief when a puff of smoke was seen and the engine came rushing around the bend. Then there were hurried kisses; the bell clanged, a voice called out, “All aboard,” and the train was off. “Gone, gone, gone,” Kate repeated over and over to herself, as she gazed with tearless eyes into the dim distance of the now silent track.
As the party retraced their steps homeward the partridge was still calling his cheerful “Bob White” from amid the wheat, while from the shadowy depth of a laurel thicket came the sweet gurgle of the wood-thrush.
In the late summer, news—glorious news—came that the foe had been driven back, and their boy was unhurt.
Later, a man from the front at home on furlough was heard to say that “Billy Swan was a regular trump, and had borne himself like a veteran.” Kate walked elate, saying the words over and over, with a proud smile, “A hero, a regular trump,”—he, her own dear Billy. The old Squire, too, with ill-concealed pride in his boy, was once more like his former self.
Happy days—brief, hopeful days! Alas, alas! Many Junes have come and gone since little Billy was laid to rest in the old burying-ground, close to the wheat-field where the partridge calls, calls, the long day through. June roses scatter their leaves above him, and when the sun drops low, with long golden shafts upon the green mound which covers him, from far down in the laurel thicket comes the liquid gurgle of the wood-thrush. Kate looks into faces, once frank and bright, and full of youth and hope, now grown old and seamed with care, and she tells herself that “whom the gods love, die young.”