The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-20

ne went Dack into the long gallery and
walked up and down. his head bent. his
hands locked together behind him.
The moonlight poured in at the curtain
less window, the fire cracked. Tired at
last, the colonel seated himself in the pad-
ded chair and took the mortgage from his
pocket and looked over it. He leaned back
IN the chair 20 think-and went 70 sleep.
A dash IN the gallery-it was the sun Of
Christmas day In the morning.
The colonel, stiff and cramped, swoke
with start. Where was he's The paper
on his knee fell to the floor. Then he re-
membered everything.
He rose stern and implacable. He needed
the money that mortgage represented; the
house wss tumbling down for want of re-
pairs. Look at the debris of the falling
wslnscoting. He would run into town to-
| day aud make calculations. He would have
the Office all to himself; everybody else
would be celebrating Christmas, and to-
morrow he would see the mechanics.
And Tomorrow would be his revenge!
lie went TO his room to battle his face. The
Christmas sun attracted him to the window,
and he looked out upon the morning world,
| newborn as when the first man saw it;
newborn as It shall be when the last man
gazes upon it some far Off last morning.
be looked much younger than he had
looked last night when he went into the
gallery where madame sat in the chair
Cnloe. wearing the new bandana the
colonel had given her. had spread the table
with a piece of old rich damask, and
wrsathed the plates of hot batter bread and
chicken with evergreen in honor of the day.
But the colonel was in . hurry, aud be
thought Chloe would never have the coffee
ready. He felt that heiwas very much bur-
ried indeed; he must make arrangements
for spending every cent Of that $4,000 In
repairs on the house. --1avsia
Heihad to read the gospel for Christmas
day:sd ga san 10
"Hewas in the world, and the world was
made by him, and the world knew him not.
he came unto his own, and his own received
MN not'-alI through he read 1t, Chloe
standing reverently by, his mother smiling
and understanding little or nothing.
Then he attacked the viauds.
Once he glanced up and found madame's
bright eyes upon him, you're quite young
again, colonel" she said. "Goin' to town."
Only for a while, mother" he replied.
''l1l be home for Chloe's turkey"
In hurry to CO. it seemsF
you know / must catch the train"
You don't even look at the damage done
by the fallen WALL
II examined it last night, In little
while I'll have a good many things made
better-as soon as l can sell certain house.
But must go now"
always did play second part in your affairs
Oldp and madame was working herself
into one of her passions. Il wasn't always
old wasn't always deserted on Christmas
day. / was the belle o. the county. One
Christmas / was the toast, and the stems
we're broken from the glasses that they
might not be set down with drop in 'em.
One o. my ball slippers was filed with
champagne, and my health was drunk in
thatl Wasn't there duel down by Talbot's
branchs and No, no, l wasn't always
a wrinkled beldam. My silks would stand
alone, and for a wager ratified up the aisle
one Christmas day till the rector had to
stop readin' the lesson till was seated AS
for my waist, your hands could clasp it and
the fingers meet. And here you are, glad
to be rid o. me- and dictatin' to me and
readin' Che gospel with profane haste. No
body ever thwarted me but a woman who
came between you and me and caused the
man would have married to take the wo-
man meant for you. A grocer's daughter,
coffee importers girl, to go against mel
So much for Alice Ramsayp
Why did she speak that name? Could she
not see how hard her sons face becRme1
Mother" he said, II must go now.
Chloe is waiting with the wagon
Don't 1, know what has allied you all
alongE" cried madame at all came back
70 me yesterday when that wainscot fell
III lorBOU III DeIOFe. w nat! on look at
me like that Your mother Is weak, light
headed, is she's You must treat her like a
child, eh! Go look back of that wainscot
that fell; look at that third bullet-hole in
the plaster. Go, sayw
when come home, mother" said the
colonel.
But madame had risen to her feet a ter
rible smile on her face, her eyes blazing.
Treat me as a child" she cried, "a child
70 ha 1OZAnpd and avcrIsadi / am a uOp1an
an old woInan--your motherl Go to that
wainsoot, l tell you'll command you'll"
She extended a small. thin finger, her
head thrown back in way the colonel re-
membered had made him tremble years
ago.
Fearful Of missing the train, thinking to
get OIL easier Ii be appeased her, he went TO
the part OF the room she indicated.
There is nothing here" he said.
"You lieI" cried his mother. Nobody
has touched it, | put il there. She asked
me to let her leave 10 for you, and put Ii
there for safety. never promised to speak
word TO you about it, only to let her
leave it for you"
Something in his mothers manner chilled
him.
He looked into the hole In the plaster
was there something theres He took out
his pocket kuife and dug il into the hole
again and again, and then he dragged forth
screw of yellow paper. He opened it.
Anderson has asked me to marry him."
it read. Again: ''If this quarrel between
your part OF the country and mine has not
altered your feeling for me. write to me-
say word to me who am all alone in my
agony, my father in battle, you away from
me. ] will come to you if you only tell me
to do so. But your silence will mean that
am no longer anything to your
More, more he read, thinking of that let
ter he had sent by lost Pompey, and which
he now saw had never been delivered What
thoughts did not surge through his poor
brain as he stood there swayed by the
passion OF that old letter! s.is
Then-Aaderson assuredly knew nothing
of this letter; he knew Anderson, and he
knew he would never have married the
woman who olung to another man. Alice
had hardened herself thinking her love
spurned, and had welded Anderson.
90, mother motherl p all at once he said,
in strange voice, and again "Mother !
mother!n as lmping TO her he put his arms
about her, quite as though he ran to her
for protecting love. 3fs
With cry madame sank back in her
chair. too
"My boyp she said. ''Gfy dear boym
pattinR his head az she might have dore
when he was child, though not knowing
why she wept, nor why he knelt there only
that lon2-standing quarrel of some sort
between them was over.
1t was some minutes before the colonel
I (.