Wichita eagle., 1888-09-09
Oh ANET.
By ]. W. DE FOREST.
.Copyright.l

| sCopyright]
"What q singular odorl' so.loouized
Miss HolcuIn, shutting the air with q
| slight tremor Of disgust about he,
noStrils-
! She said odor instead of smell, because
she was teacher Of several years stand.
ing IN one of the common schools of New
York. and had learned in the exercise Of
her profession to express herself with an
elegance of the JohnSonian species. Size
was accustomed to remark to her scholars:
Before You speak, slwayS consider Tot
only your thoughts, but also the language
Ii which you propose to give them utter
ance."
She was at this moment ascending the
third staircase of the cheap, plain, snd
even seedy lodging house il which she
had her INSTRUMENTATION. CT, in
other words, her one room IN which she
studied, slept and did such small cookin =
as was needed for her tea and breakfast.
In this simple fashion she had lived for
years, not merely because her earnings
were small. and lot at all because she
was stingy, but mainly because she was
noble, unseltish woman. who had it ct
heart 10 educate q youthful orphan
cousin.
1T is burning charcoal" she added
after an instant. Can it be that some
poor mortal is seeking his deathf"
School teaching alone had not given her
the wisdom to reach this suspicion. She
was reader of novels; she had an imagin.
alton and native longing after the I'M
usual; she was capable of conceiving u
suicide and of conceiving herself as saw
ing him. Where a practical. common
sense man would merely have smeit fire.
this fanciful, impulsive woman scented
a tragedy Of the heart. We shall see
which of these two characters best suited
the EFFICIENCY that was now agonizing in
this bare and musty old lodging house
The widest imagination is sometimes the
trueSt common sense.
1T may be that young foreigner"
thought Janet Holcum. She ran up an
other flight of stairs, hurried along a
musty, dusty passage and stopped before
a door marked by dirty fingers. Timor-
GUS and modest, she looked at it with hes
itation as well as anxiety; but the char
coal fumes Were stronger here, and began
to make her sick and faint; She felt that
she could not hesitate long. After rap
ping and receiving no answer, she put
her mouth to the keyhole and called, also
without effect.
'Oh deari what shall I dor" she
sroaned, confident now that a tragedy
was passing within, and looking about
her vainly for help. She had already
learned that this fifth story was unoccu-
pied except by the pale, slovenly, hag
gard young foreigner, whose step she had
frequently heard, pacing to and fro for
hours, over her head. AS she remem-
bered that he was n man, and that she
had never been introduced to him, she
thought of running down stairs and sum-
mOning some other man to save him. But
the poisonous air demanded instant
action; she tried the lock unavailingIy,
and then flung herself desperately against
the door; the miserable bolt catch gave
way, and she was within. Unable 10
bresthe in the mephitic atmosphere of
the room, she rushed across it. opened
window and thrust her head out. Look
ing back from this position, she saw, some
thing which made her shudder.
There was painters easel; on the
easel was a picture with its face turned
from her; behind the easel on the floor of
one corner of the room, was a wretched
bed, and on this, the chest and head con-
cealed by the picture, lay the motionless
form of a man. The moment Janet had
drawn one long breath of the out of door
air she FASTENED to this terrible corner.
No time to look at the man; no leisure to
query whether he were alive or dead; she
lifted him by the shoulders. dragged him
to the window and seated him by it in a
chair. Her only distinct consciousness
as TO his condition was that the temple
which dropped against her check was not
entirely cold.
But the appearance of the suicide, as
she held him up in the chair, was alarm
ing. His face ash colored, bis lips blue
and contracted. his head dropping help
lessly on one shoulder, he seemed to be
already in another world. She scarcely
noticed that he did not look TO be moro
than % years of age; that his long, curl
ing yellow bair, although neglected. was
beautiful; that his wasted and CHASTITY
features were classic IN outline. Two or
three times she cried loudly for assist
ance: Help! Murder" But outside
there was only wilderness of roofs; in
side, the musty old lodging house seemed
another desert. She was left alone with
her awful question Of death or life.