St. Landry democrat., 1882-06-17

I
moment: not till she drew nearer, and.
reaching up. actually placed her finger
in thepoor pierced eyes could she realize
the terrible, mysterious catastrophe.
Lost in grief and bewilderment she
stood, uncertain what to do, till sudden
ly Walters voice from below broke tie
spell that seemed holding her. Instant
~ all her thought was turned to him;
she must try to tell him gently what had
happened that he might be spared the
sudden shock experienced by her.
fastening out of the rooms. she stood
at the landing of the stairs as he came
bounding up, her little face looking
pale with grief, and her hands still
clasped tightly together. Scarcely no.
ticing her, Walter was passing hastily
on. when she laid her hand deteininglv
on his arm, and said in a low, tremulous
voice:
80 Walter. don't, don't 90 in there
YETI
Her brotherstopped and looked at her
as if he thought she was suddenly losing
her mind. "What in the world is the
matter, Nettie, you look as though you
had seen some thing terrible?'
80 Walter, - she repeated in reluc-
tant, broken sentences, "the Lady
the Lady
In q moment the words had filed him
with vague alarm.
'sTeH me- Nettier" he cried almost
angrily, what is it-what do YOU
mean?" ~. e.. sr.s~.E
80 Walter, the Roman" Lady-has-
has had her eyes put out"
Walterpaused only an instant, star
ing at Nettie in speechlesss amazement,
and then, dashing past her into his
room, his own face the next moment
was rejecting the impression OF hers.
"Who could have done it.'' he cried,
at last finding voice. Who has ruined
my picture9 Oh. Nettie, who, who
could have done such thingen
. | have thought and thought said
Nettie, dejectedly, and l know it
could be no one but Crazy Peggy; | will
60 and speak to mother about it at
once.'
She was turning to leave the room
when Walter caught her, almost rudely,
by the arm. 9. Stopr' he cried, 81 will
not have you say anything about it;
father and mother never cared about
my paintings; everything and everybody
is against me; I will never, never try
again, and / don't want ever again to
hear of my picturen'
Poor boy, grief and anger had taken
full possession of him. and seizing the
unhappy Roman Lady he hurled her
under the bed out Of his sight, then
threw himself face downward on his
pillow.
Nettie did not know what to do; the
calamity seemed so great, destroying so
suddenly their long cherished hopes,
that there appeared no room for COM
fort or cheer. But she could not see
Walter in such grief without trying to
do something for him, and kneeling
down beside him she said gently:
DO try to think it all best, Walter; l
have prayed so much to God to let you
succeed that do not believe He means
it all to be failure; perhaps some good
may come of it that we can't seer'
"Oh, Nettie, please hush'' cried
almost crying in his comfortless
grief; "you talk so foolishly, and |
don't want to hear any of your own
fancies; you see the harm is done and
can't be undone, then what's the use of
talking of some good that we can't see!"
Poor little Nettie felt, indeed, that it
was useless to try to comfort Walter
just now, and while trying still to cling
to her trust in Gods promised help, her
own little heart could but feel how for
lorn hope it seemed to looked for good
from such apparent failure. She wished
she could talk with her mother about it,
but Walter was peculiar boy, and
when he said a thing was to be kept
quiet, he always meant it, and Nettie
knew it would not do to tell of the
trouble that had come to them.
Waiter was not ready for breakfast
the next morning, strange to say, and
Nettie, with face still sad and troubled,
went to his room to see what could de-
tain him. The poor boy looked pale
and sick
II don't want any breakfast, Nettie,"
said he, "just tell mother that l have
bad headache, and would like to lie still
q little longer
All, Nettie knew well enough what it
was that was making Walter i'll; what
f he should break his heart, and never
be well again! She had read of such
;hings, and the thought was more than
she could bear. Scarcely tasting her
OWN breakfast, she went absently
through her Saturday morning duties,
followed closely by the longing thought
hat she mast do something to help
Walter. Had not the busy mother been
10 engrossed with her many cares, she
would have seen something was wrong
rom the little girls face.
But suddenly, in the very act of wash
ng the dishes, a new, hopeful idea
ushed into Nettie's troubled brain, and |
he very moment the task was done,
way she few upstairs again to Wal