The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-04-24

life was to cling to this woman, 50 re-
pugnant to me usually, and moan out
faint contradictory entreaties that she
would stay with nae, that she would not
leave me; and then, at the same time,
chat she would run to that poor girl and
save her. "Oh, do go to her, do, do, or
he will kill her. He will have killed her
by now." -ro
KILLED her! Why, ma'am, whatever
are you talking ON? There's no one In
the 'ouse bat you an me. There amt
indeed. On my conscience there amt.
This, or something like this, Mrs. Cath
'ers kept repeating; but hardly heard
or understood. The frenzy of terror,
only half sabdued by exhaustion, was.
still ON me; and when 1 found she would
not move l tried to rise, and failing,
burst into fit of hysterical weeping,
which lasted so long that Mrs. Gathers
got quite frightened She ran for some
brandy and poured it down my throat,
and this partially revived me; but by
this time / was as weak as child, and
the woman had to half lift, half drag NE
on to the bed, and then stoop her head
low to hear my whispered request, urged
with tremulous eagerness, that even If
she were sure that there was no one In
the house, she would send at once to the
friends had been with Last evening, and
beg Mrs. L. to come TO me. u.
TO my surprise and sorrow, however,
this Mrs. Gathers would not do. She
had hundred reasons to the contrary.
There was no one to send, and l was not
we'll enough to be left, and if i liked to
write to Mrs. E. later she would put
the note in the pillar; all Of which did
not satisfy me; for with all my sus-
pieions Of the woman revived by her re-
luetanee to carry cut such simple and
natural wish, 1 could not feel sure that
any letter l might write would reach it's
destination. Besides, q better idea had
come into my head, and finding her OBJ
stinate on that score, I begged her to
help me to dress, and call q cab, declar-
ing that / would go to LIS myself.
That would save all delay, and they
would take care of me. could not and
would not sleep another night in that
house. -... .-..
Mrs. Gathers lost patience. .
"Tush, ma'am! What's the matter
with the 'ousew she said rudely, and
pressing me back On the pillows with a
hand strong enough to be unpleasantly
suggestive in my weakened state.
There's not soul stirred init but your
self after the gentleman went last night,
ard nothing aiu't happened except that
you've nearly druv Yourself into fever,
and got fit of the hysterricks with the
bad air in that beastly Museum, an
writin' mornin' neen an evenin', too, as
is enough to drive any one mad. l ex-
pect you was reg'lar wore out, and most
Like fell asleep aside of your bed asayin'
your prayers, and got awful Nightmares
in consequence, as was only natural.
Why, you was cryin' out and struggling
in one still wien | came up stairs. And
now Just you lie down, ma a'am, an take
a sleep to quiet you. Why bless you!
You'll be all right when YOU wakeY and
thankful to me | didn't let you go RAM
pagin' about when you wasn't sensible
what you was sayin' or doin'."
looked up in the woman's face and
saw that it was useless to try either
Argument or command ON her; for there
was darkly obstinate expression about
her mouth which told me she meant to
have her way. Perhaps if I pretended
to give in to her, and lay still for while,
l might be able to get up later and leave
the house without any further appeal to
her. That any such appeal would be
futile I felt sure. Indeed, her reselute-
ness in keeping me in the house and pre-
venting nae from speaking to other peo-
| pie, with her peculiarly persistent avoid
ance Of asking me any question, either
now or ON the previous night, as to what
had happened, preferring to put forward
made-up story of her own as though
she were going through a programme
learned by rote beforehand, made me
certain that she either knew more of the
secrets Of this gloomy house than any
one suspected, or was in the landlords
pay to keep them from being brought
to the light of day at any cost, even Of
life or reason, to a tenant. Put before
yourself what would be the natural curl
osity, wonder and sympathy of most wo-
men Of the lower orders on such an occa-
sion, and I think you will come to a
similar conclusion.
Acting on this idea, / made believe to
yield to her way Of thinking, and also
to her making me a cup Of tea, which
she declared would do me all the good
in the world. In truth, l was both
thirsty and anxious above all things to
regain strength enough to carry out
my purpose; and therefore when she
brought me up a large breakfast-cup
full, 1 raised myself and drank it off
greedily, although it struck me in so
doing that it was not good tea, and had
a strange, bitter favor. The next mo-
ment I found myself sinking heavily
back and my eyes closing. I opened
them with an effort, and looked at Mrs.
Gathers. There was smile on her face /;
bat it seemed to be getting fainter, as
though saw it through tnickening
mist; and when l tried to say, "You
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