The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-10-20
RUGGLEs AND THE CHARCAT.

KUGGlIES AND The CHAhCAT.
When Ruggles left the country town
|hich had given him birth and went to
ONION to improve his position. II was held
hat no had done a good deed, and had even
rsater things in prospect.
He had been the center OF IN admirinR
role, composed principally OF two maiden
unts and a privileged ssrvitor. but local
nthusiasm reached its height whom he re-
gned his appointments a. foreman IN a
oetmaker's shop and took an agency for
atsnt paper shoe soles. He himself Was
elvaded with = sense OF enterprise, and it
as long before he could pass the bright
bid letters which were placed above his
DOR to herald a career of fame without al
host painful thrills of exultation.
The chambers in which he had taken mp
Ii residence wsre situated in Z crowded
ert Of the city, but no ono else had to
limb 10 high a. the top floor; he rsiRned
acre alone, feeling supreme in his impor-
hnce, and proud in the possession Of .
mall round window which looked through
gap between two higher building, straight
ito the sky.
The flights OF stairs which had at frst
bemed a drawback to the situation, proved
FER all to be no insurmountabls objection.
8 = matter of fact, he only descended and
bcendsd them twice a day for meals; never
bRving his room during business hours. In
ese anyone should call.
No one ever did call, however; no living
bul came onto the landing whore he lived.
} far az he saw, though the boots he put ont
night were replaced in a satisfactory state
shininsss, with a can OF hot water in the
orning, and though hasty %oleanings and
Dlearings up'' must have taken place dur
4 his short absences.
After q while, when all his circulars were
fitten and al many as he could afford to
amp, a sense of lonliness grew upon Rug
es and became almost intolerable at last.
One day q bell which he had never noticed
efore. though il had hung opposite to him
u six months, suddenly impressed itself
pom his vision, and he wondered with an
ltensity more than adequate to the occa-
on what would happen It no rang it.
Fould anyone come?
IL was a problem he felt impelled to solve,
Tough he lacked courage to put it practi-
hlly to the proof, and by q coincidence of
vents an opportunity of acquiring the de-
red knowledge presented itself that very
Fening as he was going out: A door on a
bwar landing stood ajar, and q man inside
a. gathering up his papers wife a view to
bparture.
Rugglss stood on the threshold, hesitat-
II beg your pardon, but can you tell me il
our bell ringer" he asked at. last.
'.Don'tknow. I'm sure. ! have not tried
"And then?' with a feverish moistening
his lips.
"Nobody came. The charwoman had died
a the night. That WAS the reason my boots
nd hot water had not come up to time.
inc evening""
ut may be-" returned Rupgles, and passed
n his way out into the sunshine which he
ever saw, and through the fresh air which
lad no power to blow the cobwebs from his
rain. - 4 "
After that day he was never alone again.
[is bare walls became peOpled with ill-vls-
eed elm creatures that ran up his window
linds and peered at him from behind the
oois or through the bars of his empty
rate. And there was no longer any silence;
pr his head was full now of loud buzzings,
bove which he heard at times more I'M
amiliar noises, and his name called in
ones that he had not known before. He
hight elose his eyes and ears. but he could
OF shut out sight and sound; and the round
indcw, whose light fell on his table, was
Ike a great hooking eye which saw the n
uish of his soul nj was unsatisded,
At last came a temporary reprieve.
As Rupgles walked up and down his room
ne night in Naressing-gown and shippers
pmething came behind him. and. looking
YER his shoulder n~ervously, he saw that il
as a little black kitten playing with the
%..saels of his waist girdle that hung behind
18th one paw, then with another, and as
ugeles stopped to watch her gambols she
DllOd over with them in an ecstasy of de-
ght.
It was only the oharwoman's cat, a half
farved, wretehed animal, which had
prayed upward in search of food, and has
cen beguiled into momentary forRetfulness
I her wants, but to Ruggles il meant COM
anionship, and that was salvation
From that time he used every effort to
lre the cat to his rooms; and she, con-
bious that her lines had fallen at last into
~lsasant places, was not loath to be so lured.
She was black with her own blackness
nd another outside blackness which she
ad contracted in coal cellars and odd
orners underneath the stairs; yet RugRles
flowed her to lie on his bed, whore she left
istinct ''forms'' on the white counterpart
bat his maiden aunt had instructed him
)lonld only need washing once a year, and
Uttered her to drink over night the milk
hat had been brought in for his morning
Ea. For while she WAS there he could speak
md hear his voice. and his room was
ntenanted save for himself I'M his provi-
entially-arrived companion.
So the charcat throve and prospered.
But a day came when RugRles watched
he door OF his room in vain, and waited
rough the long uneventful hours with the
dds and ends OF meat that he had brought
4 with him from a n~eighboring restaur-
hit. equally to no purpose. Night came,
Mt the charcat was still absent, and with
is loneliness all the old horrors returned,
|rown in his mind concerning their origin
nd tendency.
Toward the middle Of the next day he
generated TO the dark regions under
round. where the chafwoman in charge of
be chambers was supposed to have her
yelling place. As his feet left the last
lair and cnme OIL to tho stone basement
fith a hollow reverberating echo, a woman
merged from the shadow of an arcbed
(iough challenging his approach.
II came to ask about the cat" said Rug
los.
'"ThNn you needn't ask here; No. As set
ed her yesterday-threw a boot at her
cad, and good job, too. She was skeered
I q rat and never earned her wittles."
"ls sht--deadY' was asked in hushed
bnes that would have heen appropriate To
cathedral isle, or might have been used
" n widowed mother drcading the loss of
Ter only child.
But hey woman never heard. The dark
|ess bad once moro swallowed her up; and
hiB, with the heavy solitude, became 40
farming TO Ruggles that no turned hastily
pa went back, .quickening his pace to a