The National tribune., 1892-09-15

before door. As he did so it was opened sud-
denly and mana young man--threw an In
ert small mass of something living against an
opposite brick wall with curse. And in the
room he saw an unkempt woman sitting with
redeemed eyes She was laughing, and she was
his mother. And then the door closed with
! bang.
Pasuuale knew what it was which the man
had thrown out, and he knew what the black.
ugly drops were upon the bricks, and why the
little heap of fur, after long shudder, lay so
still.
Pasquale was only seven, but he knew the
classics of crime and death.
He held his hand before his face and fed.
He never quite knew how he passed that
day.
Children know agony-who doubts it?
At night he stole back to the same place.
He saw there was light in the one window
Of the den. Just outside two Cinnamon were
haggling over the price of very dead FISH.
A shadow on the shawl which was pinned over
the square of glass suggested Camilla. lie
knew then that the kitten had followed her.
Just where it had fallen in the morning he
found it. He turned il over carefully. Its
under side had fattened. 1t had in a few hours
become a has relief of life. Its little red
tongue protruded, aud its eyes cleaned CLASSIFY.
Pasquale had torn out Ole sleeve of his shirt;
in that he wrapped it. 1t was approaching
midnight when he finally buried it. As he
came out into the Bend with cowed, bowed
head, he heard the new organ grinding out the
old tune.
Love-a.not," said Pasquale to himself.
And then suddenly lie found that he was
hungry. Watching his opportunity, he soon
managed to steal morssl of dried fish and
some bananas. Sitting behind his rampant of
empty beer kegs, he ate them. and finally fell
asleep. That night the ribbon of sky blaZed
out in stars and faded into empty gray, but
Camilla did not come at all.
Time swallowed up the weeks. By day Pas
quale wandered about, played in the gutter.
swore, fought, aud lived the life of the gamin
of the Bend. Sometimes he saw Camilla, aud
wondered a little that she found SO much TO
laugh at. However, it grew to be sweeter than
the sweetest thing in life to have her give him
a ty kiss, or even to Scod him. She was all
he mad now, and since his kittens death he
had never wished to see his mother
As for the man who had killed it, he had
seen him once lay his hand on Camilla's shout
der; and such food Of miserable rage had in
undated his being as had rendered him helpless
for hours. lie could only lie. and choke, and
groan, hiding behind deserted shed.
Oh, to Kill him
! To see his black blood drip, drip on the
stones! The spots left by that of the kitten
were still visible On the brickwork, and as they
ger with handle like cross.
But in spite Of the death of the kitten and
the song Love not" with its meaning for
Pasqusle, he still loved that sister, that merry,
/ laughing sister. And the nights when she stole
| 10 him and threw her thin, brown arm over
| him as he lay in his retreat were the happiest
hours of his life. Her lips nj ght reek Of cheap
! gin, but that was nothing. lie knew she loved
| him and no one else did. She was all that was
| left TO him-this child Of seven.
Camilla had grown strange. She seemed to
| laugh very little, and her walk was weary and
! tagging. But size still came TO him at times
and petted him in her rough way.
Then suddenly her visits ceased. And most
! singular Of all, he never saw her at day paus-
| ing at the stalls to beg of the people who sold
| that all might live. For three days he stole
| down the alley where the door was and the
| window with the shawl pinned over it. Once
| be saw his mother open 1t and whisper some
| thing to the man he hated. and the man bad
| fastened away looking about him steaithiIy as
| he went, but not seeing the boy over near the
| wall where the brown stain of the dagger was
And he thought Of the days when he had
J been seeking his kitten.
| The next night when it was quite dark he
| ran breathlessly down the alley TO the window.
The shawl was down. Within the room lie
| could sec his mother talking to a man, and
! could see that she WAS drunk, leering and NUT
tering at the shadows.
And the shadows were many, the only light
/ being that of a talow- candie thrust into the
mouth Of q beer bottle. 1t had been cut TO al
! low it TO enter and the knite q common case
/ knife lay beside it on a chair at the head of a
! pallet Of straw.
| Aud on the straw2
Yes. You have guessed it!
Camilla.
And over her the shawl, dragged from the
| window, lay with hideous smoothness, disclos-
ing a certain starkness Of the slim feet. Md
1 though her eyes were closed there was still
| pom them, and upon her sharp cheek bones, a
| daUD Of cheap rouge.
After Pasquale saw tie feel which had been
the feet Of Camilla he remembered nothing
| more
That there was crowd that the man was
cuIsing aud binding wound, that he had bit
| ten human flesh 10 the p0ae, and that his own
arm was broken when they tore him from
Camilla's side, he knew.
Before they took him ont of the only enyi-
TGnments he had ever owned he begged a
singular favor. He staggered across the alley
TO the wall, and with thumb which reekeG
with the blood Of tie man, he daGbed into
fresh prominence the faded brown mark like a
dagger which showed family upon the bricks.
de was singular little devil that boy
And as the wheels Of great wagon bore
him swiftly away, he muttered furiously 10
himself, with alternate curses aud weeping,
some words which no che understood.
Bat. possibly, thcy were tbs words lie
breatEeq 80 constantly in his dslirium at the
hospital Tbs nuiSe said they were:
+" LoVe-a-Bot."
And Pasquaie died.
And they said that 1t was better SO. as he
Iii. l...s-