The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1892-11-23

"Oh, dol shan stay herel l shan t
be an expense to him any longer. l will
go away somewherel"
She broke down in a fit OF bitter
weeping.
"Now, Miss Bessie, dear, you mustn't
cry that way; you really mustn't. I
loved your mother before you, and love
you"
But the poor, little, old comforter was
almost crying herself.
Years before, the Kirkes were the
people of wealth aud position in that
part of the country. But one trouble
after IN other had come upon the house.
First, the wife Of the master died.
Maud, tine daughter, married man
whose only crime was poverty. He was
frail, scholarly man, quite untitled for
fierce struggle against adverse fortune.
He fell i'll and died. A year later his
wife followed him, leaving their caild
to its grandfather, Godfrey Kirke. To
the latter had come the tiual blow when
his only son Robert, his hope aud pride,
had run away to sea, Then in the
house, which since the death of the mis-
tress had been a cherries and dreary
place, began a rigid reign of miserliness
and consequent misery.
Bessie broke from her friend and ran
upstairs and into her own little bare
room. There was no fire in the CRATE,
though the day was cold with the pene-
trating damp OF a wind from oil the
ocean. She went to the window and
stood there looking out across the fat
brown marshes, to where the waters
tossed, greensh and turbulent.
"a horrid day." she said, with a
shiver, "but it cant be worse out than
in."
She put on a short old Astrahan
jacket, little felt hist and a pair of
much-mended cloth gloves. Then she
went quickly down and out.
the dusk, the dreary November dusk,
was filing the room when the old man,
plodding over his accounts, laid down
his pencil and rang the bell. Mrs.
Dotty responded. Mr.. Kirke kept but
one other servant df Mrs. Dotty could
correctly be termed servant), and she
absolutely refused to enter the protest.
ing presence OF her master.
"Tea."
"Yes, SIR"
The meek housekeeper withdrew.
Ten minutes later she brou ght in n tray
on which were tea, bread, butter, two
cups, two ssucers and two pateN. Mr..
kirke poured out his tea, shook little
of the sugar he was about to use back in
the old silver bowl, added carefully n
few drops of milk and cut a slice OF
bread.
"Butter has gone up three cents in the
last week." he said. 81 can't afford to
use butter"
So he munched his bread dry, with n
sense of exaltation in his sei.imposed
penance. lie would not open the
poorhouse.door for himself by using but.
ter. But, somehow, the rank tea tasted
ranker than usual. Surely the bread
was sour. And the gloom outside the
small circle that the lamplight illumined
seemed singulurly dense. What was
wrong? What was missing2 What was
different9 He paused, his hand falling
by his side. The child---as he and Mrs.
DJtty had always called her--the child
was not here. She used to slip in SO
quietly, take her seat, andt when her
meager supper was over, glide away just
as softly. Yes, little as he noticed her.
she was generally there. He rang the
bell sharply.
"Where is she2" he asked Mrs. Dotty,
when she popped in her mild old head.
There was no need to particularizs. Mrs.
Dotty cast swift, searching look
arourd.
''Isn't she herel"
Without waiting for reply, she
turned ana ran up the stairs to Bessie's
room. Tnere she knocked. No
answer. She opened the door, wcat ~.
The room was empty.
Hastily she descended the stairs.
"Shs is pat in, SIR"
"Wherc Is she2"
al don't know, SIR"
Impatiently Godfrey Kirke pushed his
chair back from the table
"You ought to know; it's your busi-
ness to know. But it doesn't matteI--
| it doesn't matter in the least"
Down to Hanna in the kitchen went
Mrs. Dotty.
"Did you see Miss Bessie2'
"Yes'm. Passin' westward couple
OF hours ago-yes'm."
"Ohr
Mrs. Dotty breathed relieved sigh.
Bessie had probably gone to Rose Dever'
house. The Devers lived almost mile
away. As storm was blowing up she
would most likely stay there over night.
About ten O'Clock Mr.. Kirke's bell
again tingled out. Again Mrs. Dotty
appeared before him.
''Has the child come in2"
"No, SIR"
"Do you know why she went out2"
IL suspect, SIR"
swell, speak up"
"She overheard our conversation to.
day."
4" "k.A II.