Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-07-12

mind eight music lessons given that day, dur
| ing all Of which the lingering Of certain pas
| sages on the part of my pupils had been exc
cradle and the time worse. But to return to
1 young Ruthven. Sister Janet was looking nj
me very gravely over her spectacles, and had
| laid her knitting on the table. She was speak
| ing very earnestly and grayely. too.
1T was near I o'clock this morning before
he got home. You know my room is on that
| side, and / can hear both steps and voices.
was quite frightened-I really was. for 1
thought heard . cry"
"A cry?"
| "Yes; q strange, low,sort of wall. tell YOU
what it is, Sister Anne-that boy is a Journalist
| / mean that he works in a journalists Office
and has to sit up all night and write things for
rich, Idle people to read at their breakfast
| tables, and the poor mother is breaking her
| heart seeing her darling-he must be that you
| know, for VINO could look upon him and not
| love him?-slavIng himself TO death TO earn
living. We are living next door to one OF the
| thousand tragedies hidden away in these
crowded London streets"
Surely Sister Janet was right We were
cheek by jowl with a tragedy, but not such
| one as she thought-not such q one as she
| thought
We had only, so far, heard the first notes of
| the overture. The curtain had not gone up
yet. The passion and the pathos and the pain
were yet to come.
But, in happy ignorance Of the day that was
coming, she and together-two lonely old
women-chatted over our frugal tea; for now
| the knitting was laid aside and the spectacfes
| were folded in their case.
That boy" said Sister Janet-how thor
| oughly the expression seemed to suit him,
there being, as it were, no other boy to speak
| OF In London city, or any o ther!-''is lust the
| sort OF fellow who ought to have q fine estate
and five thousand a year to keep it up with
Il have no manner Of doubt he would thor
1 xuit fhor
Very natural that he should, I'm sure. "
| Then she added meditatively: "How he would
delight in dressing that dear mother Of his in
silks and satins, and driving her about in ever
| SO fine carriages"
Yes" replied to this, lamely, and with
out enthusiasm, trying hard to prevent my
voice rising slightly at the end Of the word of
assent, and giving it family interrogative
| air.
Sister Janet slowly and deliberately put down
| the tea cup just raised to her lips.
do YOU mean" she began.
To which l hastily, and in some confusion,
| answered.:
"Oh, nothing much; only from various little
things / have heard, 1 should say the-ahem-
boot is rather on the other leg, IS the saying
goes"
''Sister Anne, you have been gossiping with
| servants. 1 remember now / saw that grim
creature next door talking across the palings
to our Amelia"
"well, she did say, and 90 did Mr. Cheese
man"
..Gossiping with tradesmen, too!'' said Janet,
raising hands and eyes.
was too generous to remind her OF the post
man, you may be sure; and in a few moments
she WAS eagerly listening to what had cleaned
from various sources as to the position next
door.
Very natural, very natural" she said, as my
narration ended. Mothers are like that 80
they say
This last with a sigh that echoed. Few
women, perhaps, can reflect contentedly on
their own chiidless state--can look back smil-
ingly upon a barren and loveless life.
No doubt they are" said, replying to Sis
ter Janets description of mothers In general,
but whether it is-eh?"
Good for the boys?" put in Sister Janet;
well may be not Still, 1 don't wonder at
Mr.. Cheeseman saying she would feed the boy
off gold if she could. ANY one, to look at him,
would-eh. Sister Anne?'
And Sister Anne, looking sadly out of the
window, replied:
"Quite So"
We were sailing in quiet waters IN those
days the current of our lives pleasantly fresh
ened by our interest in our new neighbors. 1t
seemed strange in the days still then to come,
10 look back upon such calm, unruf1ed times,
when Mr.. Cheeseman's opinion was a topic Of
interest and Amelia chattering across the pal
| lngs an event to be commented upon.
was the first to touch the edge of the storm
shook our quiet lives to the center and for
ever afterward seemed the pivots upon which
all other things turned, even making all things
else seem petty and small
One evening in the early autumn-at q sea-
son when the marigolds had made brilliant
show and then paled their amber fires and
dropped their golden heads-a time when the
afternoons shrunk up perceptibly and the dusk
crept on earlier and earlier day by day. was
at a house some distance of giving music
lesson, when case of sudden illness occurred
In the family. Now, i have always held the
maxim that possible help withheld is some
thing stolen, and it had 80 come about that
possessed some knowledge in such cases.
stald. All was fear and confusion, and could
be useful. so Sister Janet having to wait for
her tea, and being beset with fears as to my
having been run over by van or crushed by
| traction engine, were therefore considera-
tons that ought not to weigh for moment.
1t WAS late-fOr me very late-before l set out
upon the journey home. and / made various
short cuts down somewhat undesirable streets
| to reach the route of an omnibus that would
set me down close to the Crescent. Pardon
the egoism of the definite article. To us there
was but one Crescent in London.
At place where two roads meet came upon
an unpleasant group OF noisy roysterers, gath
cred about one center figure, the whole group
| IN close proximity to glaring and flaring gin
palace-a kind OF place / generally carefully
avoided, but had drifted on unawares tonight
Huddled in my shawl, and with my head
bent. was hurrying by, leaving the pavement
to the jewellers, when something in a voice.
something in the CLINT of sunny locks upon a
bare, bright head, something in the attitude Of
the one that formed the center of the crew.
brought me up short and sharp. might have
been the statue OF Lots wife for all the life or
stir that was left in me. Was / mad-dream-
ing? Had become all at once doddering old
woman, full OF strange. impossible fancies?
Were my eyes and ears playing me false? He
who was the loudest, widest, maddest of that
most unholy gathering could not be-oh |!
surely could not be the widows son, could not
be ''our boy" who, having smiled upon our
show of marigolds, made them fairer in our
No, 1t could not be. / was possessed, a very
poor creature, easily hoodwinked, ready prey
to the silliest OF fancies.
BY this time the doors Of that garish hell
had opened and closed upon the noisy group
How silent the street seemed as I hurried on
stumbling now and then in my cagerness to
fly from the place and reach Sister Janet and
our little parlor once again. Battling with my
own thoughts, striving to beat down the fancies
and the fears that seemed like living things to
Jiober at me from this side and from that, 1
was jolted over stony roads and finally landed
within few rods Of the Crescent. 1 wished 1
had not to pass by Mrs. Ruthvens house. II it
had not been so late / might have gone round
| and come down by the opposite end. As it
was, there was nothing for il but to put bold
face on matters, aud the fact of it being quite
dark by now made this easier than It would
have been otherwise.