The Indianapolis sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1880-1904, 1885-04-02

FOUNDED os FACT.
fBy Jcseph Hatton. author of 'Clytie." Eic.l
AT TIE zoo

Was stroilirg into the GEOLOGICAL Oardens
in lazy meod Friday afternoon to listen to
. lecture On Snakes
"Copgratulate me, cid chap" exclaimed
IN impuisive voice at the gates. and turned
20 find Regey Gardner at my elbow. Cant
stay now-just off 10 the lawyers" he said
as he hailed passing hanson.
what is it all about, Reggy2"
Il am going to be married. She's the
ioveliest woman in the world Come aud
lunch with me at the club tomorrow, and
and then go home 10 my mother's-you'll
see her there"
rs his hanson drove of looked after my
bright. CHEEKY. lucky friend, just entering
life with n newly-inherited fortune. Reggy
Gardner was typical young Englishmsn,
Observation-Disclosures, sturdy, fair-haired. gray
eyed, aud beaming with health.
Snakes. as suppose yoU know, decline to
accept food which they have not killed
themselves. The serpent mind seems to OBJ
tain uamixed satisfaction from the terrors
of its victims. Neither the anaconda nor
the common boa kills its ducks and rabbits,
doves and guInezpigs at once.
They are like wicked lawyers who keep
their clients about them, pretending that
they never mean to swallow them, estates
and ALL Now and then, long before the fatal
blow Is struck, the victims discover their
danger, and then II is dreadful to watch their
terror develop aud grow into madness. The
melancholy cries OF q couple of fowls could
be heard il tie serpent house at the 100.
The crowd OF lookers-on were breathless
watching the hutteriDg OF dove which one
CT the serpents had just seized and the death
sg0nies of rabbit which the rattlesnake,
poked up by the keeper, had kindly bitten.
Pitisul tragedies were being enacted in every
cage. On the score OF science people 90 Fri
days TO see the reptiles fed. Professor Hux-
icy does not lecture in the hnake-house. be
would probably say some bitter things to the
morbid audiences which collect there. l
wss about to seek the intellectual refuge of
the lecture room, when ths face of woman
arrested my attention.
Ii Was a cold, cruel, beautiful counte.
nance, classic in Its severity, with blue eyes,
and lips that had no red in them. The nose
came down in a straight line from the low
forehead, and was chiseled at the nostrils.
The mouth was rather a contradiction 70 the
other part OF the face. 1t was sensual vet
without touch of the generosity that some
times mod lies the sensual SO much that we
only call 1t sersucus. Madames eyes were
anaconda, which had just uncurled itself,
and was siding toward couple of 70 Wis that
were retIeahDg before it. Suddenly, from
an exoretsion OF intense expectation, the
cold, cruel face was lighted up with anger.
The next moment fan was dashed against
The glass TO urge the birds into the Jaws of
abe serpent. Madame was tired of waiting
for the end. A thrill of indignation ran
through me.
This IS 40 place for ladies'" l said aloud
to the keeper, that che might hesr me; but
SIZE continued an unrtsbained and active al
by of the serpent, intent upon forcing the
tsgic destiny of the imprisoned birds
Then, all Of sudden, there was hurried
movement OF the snake. q lutter of feathers,
and an expiring cry. The anaconda had be-
gun TO feed.
Madame gave a little Sigh of satisfaction.
aid, casting frigid glance at me, moved
away. Then found she was not alone. Her
cavalier was q foreigner, who looked like a
faded parsonage mstriculating for Tussuad.
My thoughts, however, were not of him, but
OF her. "a | strolled home, wondering at the
combination of angel and demon which is
sometimes found in female beauty, called
this lady "Adrastia," as the resemblance to
an Indian picture Of the goddess flashed
upon me. head full of strange beauty,
the hair a cluster of writhing serpents, @ face
OF lovely forbiddingness, with the agony of
Abe serpents tooth in it. and yet about the
of Nemesis. The two faces were ike and
unlike; and the living one took the place OF
the other IN my mind eclipsing the picture,
yet recalling shadowy "reminiscences OF it.
Adrastis never looked 50 glad when the
victims she slew deserved the death it was
her duty to provide as did this lady in the
London sneke-house when the anaconda
swoeped down upon its living food. ely
temnestTa might have worn q similar ex-
preston when she murdered Agamemnon;
and yet called the woman of the zoo Ad.
rsstia. and ] gave her. in my imagination,
hitting hesddress of snakes and serpents.
IL.
IL MAYFAIR.
Pail Nall swarmed with cabs and car.
Iiages. 1t wss in the height of the London
season We had lunched cozily at the club
i forgot Adrastis under the influence of the
Reforms dry champagne and Reggy's gush
about Mrs. Trentham. For the lady who had