San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-10-09

Il
! her most sensitive fiber, and yet she
hardly knew why. What were the joke,
in the newspapers about pretty type
writers? She had never CHANGED 70 sec
them. She laid aside her sewing with a
vague sense of uneasiness, and moved
about the kitchen mending the fire and
putting on the teakettle for the evening
meal-the family supper There was
seldom regular dinner cooked in that
house Hannah was always too much
driven by work to spend time to eat in
the middle of the day, and the hot meal
was reserved for the time when Dick
and Sybil would be at home.
Now there was a chicken to stew and
potatoes TO bake and not biscuits t. get
ready, ami when Sybil opened the door
the kitchen was redOlent of pleasant,
stea.ning OdOrS, and Hannah was having
the table in the sunny corner where the
sunset light streamed across tho red
geranlums on the window shelf and
made them glow like fire Sybil was a
tail, slender girl, with golden brown
hair shading III little curls and tendrils
her forehead. round and arched like
candid infants. underneath winch shone
large gray eyes dotted with yellow points
Of light. and shaded by long silky lashes
that rested when closed on cheeks of
clear healthy pallor There was little
color save in the girls red lips A GER
tain dreaminess of poetic young girlhood
seemed to hang about her, and she was
usually quiet and undemopslratlve But
the moment she opened the @oor, though
her back was turned. Hannah knew
something had gone wrorg with Sybil
But there was no remark made, though
Hannah watched with her mothers eye
that nothing ever escaped.
Dick came IN whistling to his supper
and enjoyed the chicken with boys
healthy appetite. He told some jokes
the hands had got off at the chemical
works, and how he had "stumped" the
foreman with problem, but Sybil was
too listless and languid to listen and
only pretended to eat Hannah remem-
bered what Ruby had said about the
pretty typewriters, and heavy stone
seemed Weighing on her heart as she |
stealthily watched Sybil, who excused
herself before supper was half over and |
went to her little room up stairs on the
preteXt of bad headache. There was
still an hour of daylight, and the sun lay
dreamily on the budding trees in Miss |
Ruby's garden and across the misty, !.
Ia HallS - Nr-l,irh la |
glimpse from her one small window. II |
touched. too, the coarse plastered wall |
and the little girlish belongings of the |
toilet table, so white and clean in maid |
en- purity. But Sybil closed the shutters
and pulled down the shade and put her
self on the narrow bed with her head
covered with an old shawl Convulsive
sobs soon shook the girls slight frame |
but she held her breath and shut her
teeth tightly to suppress all sound, for |
the partitions were very thin.
Hannah, however, had not waited to |
clear away the supper dishes. She left
Dick still engaged on his second plate of |
chicken, and mounting the stair opened |
The chamber door and CROPPED her way to
5he bed Sybil knew her mother was
towering over her, but she only clutched |
.he old shawl the more tightly and !
3uriei her &c il tbs pillow.
what is it, Sybil, iAy yirl?" Fannah |
!sked, trying - steady her voice AMI |
putting her wor,: Worn hand down on
the girls silky hair
ooh, nothing 1T all, mother. only spring |
seve" and low spirits, guess. Tie
light hurts me. can't bear it, and
and | WAS thinking E9v; hard it is TO be
always poo. and pinched and kept down |
in the world. But when think OF yol,
mother" she went on in cholcl voice. |
$50 brave and cheerful with all you do |
for us, am ashamed of myself"
faint that" said Hannah sitting
down on the side of the bed and gather |
ing her girl in her arms, and rocking
her with her head on her bosom as
when Sybil was little thing Some
thing has gone wrong at the office. | |
had a presentiment or warning like it
would be so. Now | must know the
truth. Don't tell me story. never
caught you in one i'll all my life
Il won't, mother" said Sybil, just
parting her white lips in whisper.
Mr. Dinsmore is angry with me, and |
guess he's more angry with Ned. He's
a hard man, and proud and passionate
and unreasonable when once aroused.
and perhaps he thought Ned, his son,
had been paying me too much attention.
And now lie threatens to send Ned to
California; and oh, mother, can't go
back there any more to work, and
know you need the money earn" and