The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-01-29

The next Sunday, after be had
had bis dinner, he went out into
the same region, and found
himself al Sara's door. She was
busy over a garment of Char
ley's. who was sitting on the bed
with half a loaf in his hand. When
he recognized Stephen he jumped
down, and would have rushed from
the room. but changing his mind
| possibly because of the condition of
his lower limbs. he turned, and spring
ing into the bed, scrambled under the
counterpart, and drew it over his
head.
I" am sorry to see you working on
Sunday" Stephen said, with an en-
phasis that referred to their previous
conversation.
You would not have the boy go
naked2" she returned, with again a
touch Of indignation. She had been
thinking how easily a man of Ste
phen's social position could get him a
place if he would. Then r~ecolleeting
her manners, she added. :" should
get him better clothes if he had u
place. Wouldn't you like to get a
place now, Charley2"
Yes" said Charley, from under
the Counterpart, and began to peep
at the visitor.
He was an Unlocking boy-only
roguish to a degree. His eyes, as
black as his sisters, but only half as
big, danced and twinkled with mis-
chief. Archer would have taken him
off to his ragged class, but eve OF
rags he had not at the moment the
complement necessary for admittance.
He left them, therefore, with a few
eommonplaces of religious phrase,
falling utterly meaningless. But he
was not one to confine his ministra-
tions to words: he was an honest man.
Before the next Sunday it wa clear
to him that he could do nothing for
the soul of Sara until he had taken
the weight OF her. brother off it.
When he called the next Sunday
the same vision precisely met his view.
She might have been sitting there
ever since, with those wonderfully
patched trousers Ia her hands, and
the boy beside her, gnawing at his
lump Of bread. But many a long
t seam had passed through her fingers
since then, for she worked att clothes
shop all the week with the sewing
machine, whence arose the possibility
OF patching Cbarley's clothes. for the
o~verseer granted her a cutting or two
now and then.
After a little chat, Stephen put the
question, If | End a place for Char
ley, will you 90 to Providence Chapel
next SundayYa
Il will go ony,ohere you please,
Mr.. Archer" she answered, looking
up quickly, with a flushed face. She
would have accompanied him to any
casino in London just as readily; her
sole thought was to keep Charley out
of prison. Her father had been In
prison once; to keep her mothers
child out of prison was the grand OBJ
iect of her life. ~
We'll" be resumed, with some
hesitation, for he had arrived at the
resolution through difficulties whose
fogs yet fingered about him. "if he
will be an honest, careful boy. L will
take him myself"
"Charleyl CharleyP' cried Sara,
utterly negleetful of the source OF the
benefactiou; and rising, she went to
the bed and Rugged him.
Don't, Saral' said Charley. petu-
lantly. Il don't want girls to squash
me. Leave go, | say. You mend my
trousers. and III take care of my
self"
The little wretch" thought Ste
phen.
Sara returned to her seat, and her
needle went almost as fast as her
sewing machine. A glow had arisen
now, and rested on her pale cheek.
Stephen found himself staring at a
kind of TRANSPORTATION, back from
the ghostly 10 the human. His adj
miration extended itself to her def
and slender fingers, and there brooded
until his conscience informed him
that he was actually admiring the
breaking of the Sabbath, whereapon
he rose. But all the time he was
about amongst the rest of the people,
his thoughts kept wandering back to
the desolate room, the thankless boy,
and the ministering woman Before
leaving, however, he had arranged
with Sara that she should bring her
brother to the shop the next day.
The awe with which she entered it
was not shared by Charley, who was
never ripe for anything but fFolic.
Had not Stephen been Influenced by
a desire to do good, and possibly by
another feeling, too embryonic for de-
lection, he would never have dreamed
of making an Grand boy of a wiil-O'-
the-wisp. As such, however, he was
installed, and from that moment an
anxiety unknown before took posses
sion of Stepeen's bosom. He was
never at ease, for he never knew what
the boy might be about. He would
have parted with him the first fort
night, but the idea of the prison had
passed from Sara's heart into his,
and he saw that to turn the boy
away from his first place would
be to accelerate his ~gravitation
thitherward. - had all the tricks
of a newspaper boy indigenous in him.
Repeated were the complaints brought
to the shop. One time the paper was
thrown down the area and brought
into the breakfast-roOm dehled and
wet. At another it was found on the
doorstep, without the bell having
been rung, which could hardly have
been from forgetfulness, for Charleys
delight was to set the bell ringing
~furiously, and then wait till the cook
appeared, taking good care, however,
to leave space between them for a
start. Sometimes the paper was not
delivered at all, and Stephen could
not help suspecting that he had sold
it in the street. Yet both for his sake
and Sara's he endured and did not
even box his ears. The boy hardly
seemed to be wicked; the spirit that
possessed him was rather a potter
geist, as the Germans would call it,
than a demon.
Concluded meet qccek.