Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-11-03

sheltering leavesl All worldly thoughts
seemed to fall away from her, the weight of
and care was lifted from her
heart, and she felt like an eager child, bent
on her innocent quest
But what was this-the solid ground Civ
ing way beneath her feet, every step taking |
her deeper and deeper into bottomless ooze, |
her feet drawn down and held as if by lead |
en- weights! This was not the way it used |
to be along the banks of the little brook. In |
moment the full horror of the situation |
flashed upon her. Deceived by the dim light |
or rendered careless by her own wandering |
thoughts she had strayed further from the I
town than she had supposed, and what she |
had mistaken for the little brook was really |
an estuary of the sea, bordered by PREACHER |
GUS boys, a portion of the great waste Of tide |
land which the company were seeking to re
claim. Quick and sharp came other recollec-
lions. She remembered that children had
been lost there when at play She remem-
bered that every now and then some man or
woman had mysteriously disappeared from
sight and knowledge, and it had been whis-
pered about that they had been last seen
walking along the border of the tide lands.
But these were poor people of the lower
classes, about whom the Vanderpools had
given themselves little concern. She remem-
bered now-ah how sharplyl-that she
had read with a curling lip that
portion of the Young engineers ar
gument before the harbor commission
ers, when he was pleading for permission to
COON with his work wherein he had advanced,
as one Of his strongest pleas, that many lives
would be saved by the completion of the
enterprise. And now she, Jsdith Wander
pool, the last of her name, was about to
succumb to this most unheroic destiny 1t
was better So She would have chosen this
very way of death if she might She had
been tortured by one dread over and over
again during these years of poverty and
privation, and she gave little historical
| laugh as she remembered it now If she
should have broken down and died in the
midst of her unsuccessful struggle she had
not the wherewithal to buy her funeral
STROUD. Now no one would know, no one
would care.
Oh, the terror Of i'll Not death Many
were there who would know her and greet
her gladly; father. mother, brother, friends
| of her childhood-the only friends she had
kept. But that last thought To drop out
and never be missed; to leave behind her not a
human being who would care Why should she
grove over it nowl She had of her own will
separated herself from all human interests;
she had never cared for human companion
ship or love.
But, oh God! she didscare She knew it
now. Face to face with this terrible and
lonely death she had come to knowledge of
herself. Nursing her foolish pride and fam
lily traditions, measuring all the world by
false standards, she had wronged herself most
of all. What was it that had so touched her
in the humble home she had just left, break
ing down the barriers of her own reserve,
drawing her on and out of herself, until she
longed to claim some little part in itf What
was it but the glad and sacred atmosphere OF
pure family affectiont Oh, her life had been
empty; empty. And the one human love
that she might have had-she knew it now
would have made her a happy woman, she
had scornfully rejected Oh, if she could only
live her life over, if she could but take up its
tangled threads again with cleared vision and
BUNDLED heart.
1t was then that she sent up her first and
only cry for help Hitherto she had beer
silently resigning herself to death with 6
calmness and dignity BETTING Vanderpool
Now prolonged and nournful cry went out
over the marshes, startling the seagulls
which rose and wheeled aimlessly about
against the darkening sky. The cry wa.
taken uD and answered far out on ths
marshes. There was a sudden commotior
about the barge, lanterns flashed outside, anc
by their light she could see dark forms NOV
ing about. But she--she was sinking, sink
ing
When she came to herself she was in he
own little room. 1t was very quiet and com
Portable. Her landlady fitted in and out
with a look of earnest concern on her care
worn face. So the world was not so hard
after all. She-the Gorgon-seemed glat
that her delinquent ledger was alive, an
, said no word about the rent overdue. Come
, body had pulled the lounge, on which sh
lay, up to the stove, and there was q fir
there, the first for many weeks, for her ow
, fuel had given out in February, and she ha
? been freezing ever since-freezing heart an
body And what was that brewing on tn
+ stove, that sent such a delicious fragranc
through the roomi
) Now, my dear" said the Gorgon, pourin
I something into a clumsy earthen cup an
, handing it to her, "just you take this cup c
I coffee and bit of hot roll, and it'll set you u
4 in no time. You've been looking peaked an
mis'able this long time. Folk that feet
. themselves don't take no proper care. Py
e been thinking, this long while, that if you
just take your living along of II
t and give PLAINLY lessons to Sairy Ann
$ but | hardly dared ask it, you being sic
Q a fine player and she having no instr
= ment unless you'd maybe let her come I
o and practice times when Won was
e and could watch and see she didn't dirt
Q the pearl keys orspilen- Homely and roug
: as she was, there was delicate flush on h
% thin cheek as she checked herself III her bo
g presumption
o. Didn't dare ask iti' Miss Vanderpo
% would have acted as the child's nurse, scru
" oed floors, washed dishes if she had asked
10 The backbone of her pride was broken. b
re what was the woman saying nowi
d and now, if you'll let me tidy up a b
and make things half way decent for Il
Ii gentlemans been waiting to see you this loi
~ time
ht 1.-THE gentleman! What gentleman Nj
no Vanderpool was not used to callers. T
landlady answered her inquiry:
"Why, who but him that saved you'll HI
Ell that brought you here in his arms, looldl
RS like dead and all covered with midland
nd pretty sight you were, Miss Vanderpo
ife And awful work it was cleaning you L
ad If you be a ladyl"
st What made Miss Vanderpool's face afal
ad and her heart beat 500 1t might be any O
Of of a Thousand men. There was no reason,
Tho reason in the world, she told herself, why
ice should be any particular one.
ed Yet, as luck would have it, it was 10
Ashtoni No, not luck Chance rarely favt
such men as he All that they have is W
I'd, by hard endeavor, and persistent faith a
logged watchfulness. Luck is more apt
,he buffet them, to call out all the slumberi
If forces in them and show the stuff of VIII
we they are made. He had turned and follow
ad Miss Vanderpool at a respectful distan
W, that afternoon he had met her on the sire
lid 1t was getting late, and he had some old ia
of Toned notions, now almost out of date, pre-
tel dicial to a woman's going about at night,
IRIS protected, upon the streets When he S
bic the lonely direction in which she was tie
on ing, he had followed still more resolutely,
pa he knew the character of the men along
ler- water front better than she. And who co
he tell whom she might meet in that wretc
cry place at such an hour, When she stopped