The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-11-03
small when you think Of it, told you that
1t would be so lust before died.N

| IL would De so just De1ore uleu.
Here the girl, who had been speaking
with curious air Of certainty and with a
gravity and deliberation extraordinary for
one so young suddenly broke off to cough.
Her sister threw herself on her knees be-
side her. and clasping her in her arms i'm
plored her in broken accents not to talk of
dying. Jeannie drew Augusta's golden
head down on to her breast and stroked it.
every well, Gussie, won't say any more
about it," she said; but it is no good hid
ing the truth, dear. | am tired of fighting
against it; it is no good-none at all. Any
how, we have loved each other very much,
dear; and perhaps-somewhere else-we
may again" And the brave little heart
broke down, and overcome by the presci-
ence Of approaching separation they both
sobbed bitterly there upon the sofa. Pres
emily came a knock at the door, and Au-
gusta sprang up and turned to hide her
tears. Itwas the maid -all-work bring
ing tho tea; and, as she came laundering
in, a sense of the irony of things forced
itself into Augustus soul. Here they were
plunged into the most terrible sorrow,
weeping Mt the inevitable approach Of
that chill end, and still appearances must
be kept up, even before maid -of-all-work.
|
of-all-work, cannot away with the intru-
sion of domestic griefs, or any other griefs,
and in our hearts we know it and act up
to it. Far gone indeed must we be in men
tai or physical agony before we abandon
the attempt to keep up appearances.
Augusta drank little tea and ate q
very small bit of bread and butter AS in
the case of Mr. Meeson, the events of the
day had not tended to increase her appe-
tite. JEANNE drank little milk, but ate
nothing. When this form had been gone
through, and the maid-of-all-work had
once more made her appearance and cleared
the table, JEANNE spoke again.
| Gus" she said, 81 want you to put me
to bed and then come and read to me out
Of 'Jemimas Vow'-where poor Jemima
dies, you know. 1t is the most beautiful
thing in the book, and I want to hear it
again"
Her sister did as she wished, and, taking
down "Jemima's Vow" Jeannie's olpn
copy as it was called, being the very first
| that had come into the house, she opened
1t at the part Jeannie had asked for and
read aloud, keeping her voice as steady as
she could. AS a matter of fact, however,
the scene itself was rs powerful as it was
| pathetic and quite sufficient to account
for any unseemly exhibition of feeling on
| the part OF the reader. However, she
struggled through it till the last sentence
was reached. 1t ran thus: "And so Jemi-
ma stretched out her hand to him and said
Goodbye And presently, knowing that
she had now kept her promise, and being
happy because she had done SO, she went
TO sleep"
| "Ah" murmured the blue-eyed child
who listened. 81 wish that was as good
as Jemima. But though l have no VOW
to keep can say goodbye and I can go
to sleep"
Augusta made no answer, and presently
JEANNE dozed Off. Her sister looked at
her with eager affection. ''She is giving
up" she said to herself land, il she gives
up, she will die. know it; it is because
we are not going away. How can l get
the money, now that that horrible man
has gone? How can / get it?" and she
buried her head in her hand and thought.
Presently an idea struck her; she might go
back TO Meeson and eat her words and sell
him the copyright OF her new book for one
| hundred pounds, as tho agreement pro-
vided. That would not be enough. how
ever, for travelling with an invalid is ex-
pensive. But she might offer TO bind her
4
tame author, like those who worked In the
Hutches. She was sure that he would be
| glad to get her, If only he could do so at
his own price. 1t would be slavery worse
than any penal servitude, and even now
| she shuddered at the prospect of prosti-
tuting her great abilities to the necessities
| of such work as Nelson's made their
| thousands out of-work out of which
every spark of originality was stamped
into nothingness, as though it were the
| mark of the Beast. Yes. it would be
| dreadful-it would break her heart; but
| she was prepared to have her heart broken
| and her genius wrung out of her by inches
If only she could get two hundred pounds
| wherewith to take Jeannie away to the
South of France. Mr.. Meeson would, no
doubt, make a hard bargain-the hardest
| he could; but still, IL she would consent to
| bind herself for sufficient number of
years at sufficiently low salary, he would
| probably advance her o hundred pounds,
besides the hundred for the copyright of
the new book.
And So having made up her mind to the
sacrifice, with sigh she went to bed, and,
wearied out with misery, to sleep. And
| even Us she slept, Presence that she
could not see was standing near her bed,
| and Voice that she could not hear was
calling through the gloom. Another NOR
tai had bent low at the feet OF that Un-
known God whom men named Death, and
been borne away on his rushing pinions
into the spaces of the Hid. One more hui
man item lay still and stiff, one more &C
count was closed for good or evil, the echo
of one more tread had passed from the
earth forever. The old million-numbered
tragedy in which all must take part had
repeated itself once more down to its last
and most awful scene Yes, the grim farce
was played out, and the little actor jean
ME was white in death!
| To be continued.)