San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-05-25
SISTER MARTHA.
By AUGUSTA HARMED.

drops wrung from the soul of stalwart
man, to whom an outward show of emo
ton was kind of agony. George Bligh
had shed no tears when his mother died
or when he buried his last sister and
was left alone. But now he was crying
like child. These were the drops of
awe and pity that are said to purge and
purify the heart.
He never knew how long he thus sat.
The sunlight faded out of the room and
travelled westward. His Maltese cat
jumped upon the table, stepping softly
among the neglected dishes. The par
rot, in weak, cracked voice, kept scold-
ing and fussing about on his perch.
"Hullo, George" he would cry, "don't
be fool" He had lived long time on
shipboard, and the sailors had taught
him the use of bad language, and some
times he varied his advice to George by
the introduction of ''swear" word
But the captain did not hear him. He
was reviewing all his past. He seemed
to be standing outside himself, where
he could see his life in all its defornity-
the warping and perversion of his better
nature, layers of hardness and selfish
ness that had gathered in moody, un-
sympathetic years, the appetite for greed
and gain that had grown upon him
stealthily like creeping mold. He had
struggled for advantage like other men,
and some weaker brothers had neces-
sarily gone to the wall. A strong,
masterful, self willed man, he had made
his purposes tell in the world of affairs,
while he shut himself away from his
neighbors and lived in a narrow groove.
A good lover, good hater, valiant
fighter, half way measures were not
possible to George Bligh. But now his
purposes all looked poor and mean and
sordid. He had lost his only love long
years ago. Had fiercely denounced her
because he believed she had swallowed
the evil reports of his enemies, and the
good that was possible to him had turned
to bitterness, the wound in his nature
had gathered gangrene and proud flesh.
But these hours had brought yinie
back to him. She seemed to have come
from the pale shades of the other world,
after their long separation, and to be
standing there in the room with her
gentle, beseeching face. He could think
of nothing but Vinie, and her presence
and nearness seemed to wrap him around
in soft atmosphere of forgiveness and
reconciliation. He remembered her as
she was when girl among the morn
ing glories and tall hollyhocks of the
old Mayhem garden, with the tender
rose and snow of her pure skin, and the
sun shining on her dark curls. He re-
membered all her little movements, her
smallest words, the glances, half playful,
half loving, she had given him, the
blush that came so readily to her cheek
when he appeared.
How was he ever to approach Vinie
across that impossible gulf of years that
had been dug between them2 He had
promised Mrs. Whitcumb never to re.
veal the secret of her perfidy, and al
though the woman was viper he must
keep his word. Should he stride boldly
into the old Mayhem homestead and FIND
Vinie there by the window where he
had known she was sitting all these
years, although he had never looked hel
way, and clasp her and kiss her ant
claim her for his own? And would sht
understand without speech and come tt
him with the confidence of child?
The man was shut out from all sight!
and sounds by the little world of emo
ton in which he lived. He was away
back in his youth, wandering again will
Vinie in the Pelham woods on sprin!
morning when the laurel was in bloom
and all the intervening, fruitless, with
cred time had dropped away. The da,
had sloped to twilight, then melted int
darkness when he raised his head, for
strange sound had pierced the quiet stree
through and through. 1t was the SCUM
of many feet, the running of men an,
boysclose pressed, breathing hard, dow
the roadway. Suddenly church bel
changed out, then another and another
He stepped to the window, opened it an
thrust forth his head into the still ever
ing air. A significant smell of burnin
came to his nostrils, the sound of stealth
cracking and swapping flames greete
his ear just as a woman's shrill voice bt
gan to shrek, Fire! Firew
A snaky red tongue shot up anon
the apple trees close to the bounds {
Captain Bligh's garden. He locke
about bewildered for a moment irwin
to get his bearings. Suddenly it cam
over him like a blow that the fire Wa
making Roadway in the l. part of I'll
old Mayhem house. He heard the el
gines and hose carts rafting down tt
street, but he never knew how he g,
out of his house or scaled the interve,
ing fences and walls between his garde