The state journal. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1883-1885, 1884-09-27
CHAPTER III.

1t was long past the cnnd's usual ped
time when the train reached Paris. His
sleepy, happy chatter which had broken
in upon the stupor of his mother like
some far off echo, had ceased for some
time, and his flushed cheeks rested
heavily on her shoulder. Her arms were
strained and tired, and as she stepped on
to the platform she staggered little.
She would have dropped the flowers,
which were troublesome TO carry,
cramped as her arms and hands were
with the weight of the child, but an occa-
sional sleepy murmur, ''My angel
flowers" prevented her.
ooh, how sweet the lilies are!' said a
woman passing her ''You bring back
the country with you; but they are too
strong-a little, for the child. "
But in the momentary faintness that
had come over her, Estelle did not hear
the warning.
After a second or two of rest, she made
her way to one of the doors of the station.
Some omnibuses stood outside, one of
which went close to her home. The
moments pause had given the other
people gn advantage. 1t was a
full, but the people seeing her
pale face offered to make room.
She could only get seat
far away from the door, The vehicle was
crowded, and the heat suffocating. But
she could wait no longer. She sank down
! in the narrow place made for her, faint
| and dizzy, only conscious of one thing
the fear that she:might let the child slip
from her arms. In this fear she held him
| tighter, so tightly that the flowers In her
| hand were pressed close against his
| cheek; SO close that his head partly rested
on them, as upon some fragrant cushion,
bruising their petals and making their
perfume still stronger. And the child
| slumbered on with flushed face and parted
lips, excited still, apparently, by the
beautiful things he had seen, for he
murmured every now and then broken
word as if dreaming of them.
"Mother" he cried once.
clam here, darling" she said, and she
| bent down and kissed him. He opened
his eyes once, and gazed at her for a
second, then the heavy, thick-fringed
lids fell again, and with a contented MUIR
muir he went off into a deeper sleep,
for after that he did not speak nor move
again.
| His mother leaned back in her place,
her face white and still, her eyes gazing
straight before her. And as the close all
of the crowded omnibus, heavy with the
fragrance of the flowers, seemed to lull
her head and limbs into heavy, unwhole
some rest, she did not see that one of the
fragrant white blossoms lay on the very
lips of her child, as if with kiss claim
ing him in his purity and beauty as one
of their own.
The omnibus came to standstill, and
the passengers descended. Estelle rose
to her feet How heavily the child slept
He did not even stir. She carried him
to the door, where the light of the lamp
fell full upon them. Then suddenly
something in the strange stiffness made
her look down into his face.
There was a slight pause, then the con
ductor, with good natured impatience
reminded her that he could 4ot wait al
night eFl'i y
f:Basilr' sue said, touching the child
cheek, "Basil, we are Just home. Don
you want to see the lights of the streets?'
She spoke in English, but the pause IL
the doorway, the strange still tone of he
voice, the unearthly pallor of her face
arrested the attention OF one or two whC
were still only a few steps from thu
omnibus, and they stopped.