Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-10-10

aAAA undercalculated
&@R~-dwelling conceived
~ and erected in the
~ ~extravSgance Of the
@~S San Francisco
builders hopes, and
occupied finally in his despair. Intended
originally as the palace Of some inchOate
California Aladdin, it usually ended as q
lodging house In which some helpless widow
or hopeless spinSter managed to combine re-
~spectablity with the hard task Of bread get
ting. Thatcheris landlady was q Of the
former class. She had unfortunately sur
vived not only her husband but his property,
and, living IN some deserted chamber, had,
after the fashion Of the Italian nobility, let
out tho rest Of tho ruin. A tendency to
dwell upon these facts gave her conversation
apeculiar significance upon tho first Of each
month. Thatcher had noticed this with the
s-ensitiveneSs Of an impoverished gentleman
But when, . few days after her lodgers sud
den disappearance, RnOte came from him
containing a draft in noble SHeOOs of oil or
rears and charges, the widows heart was
lifted, and the rock Smitten with the golden
wand gushed bencicence that shone in a new
gown for tho widow and a new suit for "John-
n.y. her son, a new oilclOth in the hall, better
service 10 the dodgers, and, let us be thank
full, q kindlier consideration for the poor littlo
blackeyed painter from Monterey, then
dreadfully behind in her room rent For, to
tell the truth, the calls upon Miss
Do HarO's scant purse by her I'M
Gle had lately been frequent, perjury
having declined in the Monterey mar
kct through excessive and injudictous supply,
until the hno Of dcmarcatioa between it and
absolute verify was 50 finely drawn that Vic
tor Garcia had remarked that he might as
well tel the truth az oEcc md save his soul,
since the devil was in tho market"
Mistress Plodgitt, the landlady, could not
resist the desire 20 Gcquaint Carmen Dc Haro
with her good fortune. Sic was always a
friend Of yours, my dear, and know him to
be q gentleman that would never let o poor
widow suffer; and see what no says about
YOU Here she produced Thatcker's note and
read: @Ten my little neishbor that I shall
como back soon to carry her andh sketching
tools off by force, and l shall not lot her re-
turn until she has caught the black noun
tains and the red rocks she used to talk about,
and put the Blue Mas mill in the foreground
Of the picture l shall ORDER
What IS this, little oncl Surely, Carmen,
thou needst not blush ct this, thy first grand
offer. Holy Virgin! is it Of q necessity that
thou shouldSt stick the wrong end Of thy
brush in thy mouth, and then drop it in thy
Iapl Or was it taught thee by the good Sis
ters at tho convent to stride in that boyiSh
fashion 10 tho sido Of thy elders and snatch
from their hands tho missivc thou wouldst
reads Moro Of this VIC would know, o Car
m~en-smallest Of brunettcs-speak, lttlo one,
even in thine own melodiouS speech, that /
may commendthe and thy rare discretion to
my own fair country women
Alas, neither the present chroniclcr nor
Mistress PIodgitt got any further informa-
ton from the prudent Carmen, and must fam
speculate upon certain facts that wcro already
known.
Mistress Garments little room was opposite
to Thatcher's, and once or twice, the doors
being open, thatcher hada glimpse across tho
passage Of q Llack-haired and q sturdy, boy
ISL little figure in . great blue apron, perched
on a stool before an easel, and on the other
hand, Carmen had often been conscious of tho
fumes Of q tobacco pipe penetrating her
clustered seCluSiOn, and had seen across tho
passage, vaguely cnvelopcd in the Same nicO-
tine cloud, an American OlymPian, in g
rocking chair, with his feet on the mantcl
staircase, on which occasion Thatcher had
greeted her with u word or two Of respectful
yet half humorous COURTESY courtesy
which never really oTCnds a true woman,
although it often piques her ~self-aPlomb by
the slight assumption Of superiority in the
humoriSt y woman is quick to recognize
the fact that the great and moro dangerous
passions arc always serious, and may DO cz-
Cused if in Sclf-reSpect shO is often induced to
try if there be rot somewhere under the skin
Of this laughing NCrcutio the flesh and blood
Of a Romeo. Thatcher was by ma
ture q defender and protector; weak
ness, and weakness alone, stirred the
depths Of his tcnderncSS-often, l fear, only
through its half-humorouS aSpects-and on
this plane he was pleased to place women and
children. mention this fact for the benefit
Of the moro youthful members of my species,
and am satisfied that an unconditional sur
render and the complete laying down at the
foot Of beauty Of all strong maSculinity is q
cheap Callicism that IS untranSlatablo 10
most women worthy The winning. For a
woman must always look up to the man she
truly. loveS-even if she has 10 go down on her
knees to do it
Only the masculine reader will infer from
this that Carmen was in lovo with Thatcher;
the moro critical and analytical feminine eye
will sec nothing herein that might not have
happened consistently with friendship. For
Thatcher was no Se~ntjmontaliSt he had hardly
paid a compliment to tho girl-even in tho
unSpoken but most delicate formOf attention.
There were days when his room door was
closed; there were days days succeeding these
blanks when he met her aS frankly and
naturally rs il he had seen her yesterday.
Indeed, on those days following his flight the
simple-mindcd Carmen, being awarc-beaven
knows how-thatho hal not opened his door
during that periol, AMI fearing sickness, sud-
den death, or perhaps suicide, by her appeals
TO tho landlady, assisted unyittingly in dis
covering his flight and detection. As she
was for n few moments rs indignant as Mrs
PlOdgitt, it is evident that she had but little
sympathy with the delinquent And be
sides, hitherto she had known only ConchO,
her earliest friend, and was true to his
memory, as against all AmericanoS, whom
she firmly believed to be his murdcrers
So she dismissed the offer and the man from
her mind, ard wen back TO her ~painrmg-a
fancy portrait Of the good Padre Junipcro
Sierra, agreat missionary, who, happily for tho
integrity Of his bones and character, died
some hundred years before the Americans
took possession Of California The picture
was fair but unstable, and she began to
fhinE SariOuSly Of SION poivtiDr which vr,s