San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-06-20

| ton.
Genes been complainin' some this
mo'nin'. she said. slowly, after little;
he he'd pore nights rest--skesly
caught a wink o sleep"
"Shuhl | wuz studyin' bout comm
around to visit with him some tonight.
but. o course, eff he's feelin' porely"-
He broke of with an anxious questioning
In his voice.
Il don't b1ieve bod keer to talk much
right now; he deep In his railroad wheel.
him said Miss Elizabeth. hurriedly.
Well. yeh must let me know eff thar's
anything l can do fer y all" said Mr.
Runyan, IS he gathered his reins. IN
be putin on now Mo'nin'. Miss Beth.
Cup. Jiml elk elk, elk.
The heavy wagon rumbled on. and pre-
sently after Miss Elizabeth went indoors,
and several ants came out of ambush. be-
| ginning hopefully to lay the ground work
| of new Qualifications
Who's tibet a-gassin' with yeh out
front, s'Beth?"
Miss Beth came into the mid one Of the
houses three rooms. whence the voice pro
ceeded why, ! reckon yeh must hev
heerd Mr.. Juke Runyan, Gene; he passed
the time O day as he druv by. an'-ast fer
you'ns"
Did. hey2" said Gene, in a thin voice
of sarcasm. He was something younger
than his sister Elizabeth, a man distorted
| from his birth, drawn and shrunken of
limb and body as If wrung out of fair
shape by nature in demoniac mood; yet
her freaks had left his head noble, as if to
add deeper hurt by showing what she
might have made him. Noble as to high
brow, clear eyes. and finely modelled lips,
though the beauty of these was stained
with querulous expression, born less of
suffering than of a profound realization Of
his difference from other men. He sat In
chair shaped to his meager proportions;
before him was a table laden with odd
tools, coils of wire. sheets of paper over
wrought with diagrams, and others of the
furniture that appertains to the man of
| inventive turn
He was working on a small wheel, the
hundredth continent Of his ambitious
hopes. he set it down as he looked mar
rowly at his sister What does luke
Runyan keer eff I'm we'll er sick s'Beth?"
II reckon he jest feels friendly, Gene"
"Hm-mI think so? Don't yeh reckon
he'd feel heap friendlier eff he wuz to go
by some fine day an see a string o Grape
vi TIC hIOD, DtIu!
I'D be ashamed to loose sech thoughts
Eugene Shattuc' exclaimed his sister,
Indignantly Il would so F yeh feel
tibet ways I'll go out in the kitchen,
don't hev to tex sech talk offn yeh, an
amt goin to-.
Gene laughed a little unpleasantly;
| then his face drew together painfully, and
he leaned his pale forehead on one hand
"Yeh d marry tibet man eff 'twuzn't fer
me, sBeth-me an the promise yeh made
to mother tibet yeh wouldn't never let
nothin' come betwixt us.
S'Beth's lips quivered; then she smiled
"Wel, | will ! reckon I'd wait till Iwuz
asst, anyways, which I've never been yit.
Folks can understand each other 'thout
passin' words, said Gene. sharply; AN
I've alwuz he'd the fancy But nc
diff'runce. S'Beth. you wait; thar's more
ahead of yeh then to be dirt haulers
wife. You wait till this yer wheel gets
done. thar'u be money by the pile fer
every last year I've lived in this wreck of
body a-pinin'. Well crost the seas an
we'll see the hull world. | know'tl I've
dreamt it'll Who knows, s'Beth-thars
| great doctors beyand the ocean-who
knows but what they can make me like
other folks?-make me straight an well
| Quit starin' at me tibet ways, Lzabetb
Shattucl won't hev itP'
She came to him swiftly, and shut his
eyes against her breast Something like
amused satisfaction curled his lips
Tibet sort O talk alwuz fetches her"
he was thinking
Il didn't go to stare at yeh, honey"
murmured his sister. sTm only study
in how l can do fer yeh to make yeh
| happy want yeh to quit maxim out
| like yeh lodged wuz hankerin to marry
away from yeh-me that promised never
to let nothin separate US.
She was close to tears Her nature was
familiar instrument to her brother, and
he moved the tune that pleased his mood
upon its tight drawn strings.
Not long after she had gone about her
morning work Gene was reused from his
muse by shrill greeting Amt yeh go
in to give me bid to come in, Mr. Shat
tuc?" Looking up he saw Looly Ann Beas.
| ley standing in the doorway She was a
| young woman, whose fresh face looked as
if it had been stroked upward in the plant
| time of babyhood; her hairless eyebrows
and denied upper lip rose abruptly at each
center; there was even an upward turn of
her chin, in which Nature had planted
hard little dimph, as if by way of vicious
| experiment.
"How're y'all doin2" she asked, cheer
fully
"On'y from fair to middlin', Looly Ann"
said Gene Come an shake hands"
He took grim delight in forcing folks
to take his bent right hand; he liked to
see them blench at it's chill touch, unnat-
ural in temperature as in shape.