Litchfield enquirer., 1874-07-02

against memories, and it may be that her secret suffering sOftened her. 1 Before the child had been with Phillis l long, Janet Ayres was missing. ~She was labsent from her loom one morning, and a woman who was a neighbor said that she had shut up her house, and gone away. That was all that WAS Known by outsiders, but Phillis knew a little more. The night before the woman's disappearance there had come light tap at her window, ] and going outside to see what the sum- mons meant, she had found Janet Ayres standing as if waiting for her. l "Aw'm goin' away" she had said ab ruptly. Phillis's heart beat somewhat more quickly. Had she repented of her decis- 1 ion, and come to claim the child?
 "Why?" she asked.
 The woman twisted a corner of her shawl around her finger, and hesitated
 s'I ha' =eason," she answered, half doggedly. ''An' 1t wunnot work no ill- it may work good; but that's neither heer nor theer. l come to speak to thee about t-th' child"
 ssThee are not faltercd Phillis- ''thee does not mean"
 Janet Ayres stopped her.
 '1 dunnot mean no harm, 1 tell yo," she said, ''so canna mean that I am ma going to hurt it. towd thee I'd gi'en 1t up furiver. I only want to know-to hear a word about it-I hanna heerd word sin that meet. want to know how its doin'.''
 ''It is we'll, said Phillis, ''and happy"
 There was moments silence, i'll which the nervous hand dragged at the shawl. 1 Then the wretched creature lifted, in half-ashamed fashion, her eyes to those of Phillis's.
 ''Has she-forgotten?" she faltered. And that moment the shawl was dropped, her hands went up to her face, and she burst into wild, yet almost silent, weep. ing.
 "Dunnot tell me-" she whispered, in the midst of her sobs, ''Dunnot tell me; I know wi'out askin'. dunnot sec why I asked at n. She were only baby. Let me be minnet.'
 | So Phillis waited, curious contest go- | ing On in her mind, as she watched the shaking, shrinking form. She had not 1 forgiven this woman yet; but she was be- l ginning vaguely to recognize the stained, bruised humanity, and thus to doubt her own stern, just self. What if she was wrong after all? What if she had refus- ed what il was her duty to have given?
 When the woman looked up again, she saw i'll the eyes of her enemy a troubled questioning.
 elf thee would like to sec the child," Phillis began.
 The old doggedness returned to the face. ''I did na come for that" was the answer. 'I dare na enter; 1 dare na tempt mysen'. Happen the time Il come though I dunnot know" She stop ped and took from the bundle slung up- on her arm little package, handing it to Phillis with that touch of awkward shame-facedness in her air. l 'It's sumetin' as'I made mysen'," she said, ca dress and few oddments. She-she'n niver know who made 'em, so they canna harm her if you'll let her wear 'em," ending in a choked voice. s'There" she said, suddenly, ''that's n, so may as we'll be goin'. Good meet, if than talk good meet fro such as me. .'' l And- -sho- -tuHnad away
 Six months before Phillis Denham had | spurned this lost woman and nov How was it that this child had given them something in common-made them in some sense akin? A sudden impulse made her move forward and touch Janet Ayres with her hand lightly:
 1 'I do not quite know what I owt to say to thee" she said. 'I do not know why l feel that I have something to say. but if l have been wrong and-and hard, 1 ask thee to forgive me. l have needed pity; need pity now. l will deal tender ly by thy child. Goodbye. God help thee; God help us both.''
 And so they had gone their separate ways.
 | | Who at Grantley has forgotten the fire at Grantley Mills? Who will ever forget 1t who lived in the generation i'll which it occurred? The fire! they call it to this day, though there were fires before and | have been since. 'It was tn oil that did it." the old mill-hands say 'sYo see, when tn wenches oiled tn looms tn cans dripped, an there it were. Tn floors soaked through an through cnow to set tn place afre,-an' the first spark did fur 1t, an left no help. A. tn engines in Lanca'shire could na' ha' saved 1t. An so it went''
 | As for Phillis Denham, to the last hour of dim old age,-if such old age should come to her,-the fearful day would be her most vivid memory. She had come down to her work in the morning in heavy mood She had been disturbed the night before strangely, and she had not been able to overcome her excitement. Sitting before the fire with the child in her arms, she had been startled by a sound at the window, and turning sud denly, she had caught sight of vanish l ing face-a face that had plainly been looking in upon her and her tire-lit room. The sight made her heart leap and then almost stand still. She could not force herself to believe 1t fancy, and yet when she had opened the door there had been no one in sight up or down the moon-lit street. This was not all. So strangely nervous and exc;table was she. that in passing the office she had been startled again by the mere sight of tall man standing at the desk, with his back to- wards her, because his figure had seemed familiar.
 ''Did tha see tn new overseer?" she heard woman say, as she took her place; and her companion answered: 'Aye, to be sure, an good looIin' chap he is, too.''
 It was not more than two hours after, that girl at the loom next Phillis's look ed up suddenly.
 Whats that?" she said. 'Th' bell ringln'?" And almost the next instant, with Q paling face: 9Th engines stoppin', , she cried; ''sumat's up, wenches."
 They were at the top story of the huge building, and so the alarm did not reach them until the stopping of the looms, but a minute latter puff of smoke and a sound of hurrying feet and women's shrieks below told all the truth.
 '1t's firel'' shrieked the girl. ''It's firel" shrieked another and another, until voice upon voice took up the cry.
 Fire! Fire! Fire!' And every des- perate creature in the great room rushed towards the narrow stairway, with no thought but the hope of be1ng first.
 But the stairway was crowded already, and the heat and smoke were rolling up ward, and beating back those who were at the front, while the rest were fighting on behind. If the fire had been above they would have been safer; but 1t roared below and cracked, and poured out thick smoke from the oil-soaked flooring. and -l. Il