St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-25

First. she filled the fre-box of the
kitchen range with wood; then she put
on the tea-kettle, with only little water
in it. Then she made haste to see that
both front doors were securely locked;
she ran for the package. came back,
waited for the kettle to steam freely,
and then held the flap Of the envelope
over the steam a moment until it be-
came quite damp. She recalled every
motion which the late lamented police
man, Mike. went through during his
demonstration; she moved the envel-
ope slowly to and fro until all of the
sealed portion seemed equally moist;
then with table knife she carefully
raised the flap and extracted the con-
tents, putting them into her capa-
cious pocket. But how could she
return the envelopes fiat to the desk?
the difference in their bulk would be
noticed. All! She had it-hurrying to
| rial she snatched a newspaper, folded it
| to the size of the envelope, found it too
| bulky, tore it in half, put it into the en-
velope and peplaced the flap, which she
| then pressed on the cooler part OF the
range top. just as Mike had done with
| his experimental letter over the stove
| in their tenement. She repeated this
operation with the other envelopes and
| then, remaking the package, returned
| it to the desk. 1t seemed that her feet
would scarcely hold her up until she
! had unlocked the door, so that 1T would
| yield to her miStreSS'S latch-key; when
she got back to the kitchen she felt so
faint and criminal that she made haste
to seek assistance from prayer and
cooking brandy, taking the brandy first.
She repeated both doses several times
| during the day, for it seemed that
| between her secret and her tear
she would lose her reason. Her
mistress returned without the new
girl, so Norah made several excuses to
visit the chan floor during the day,
] and during Il visit had the salts
faction Of Sc, HRS. Frapp close and
lock the desk. Still she felt as if she
| might faint at any moment, and should
! her mistress attempt to revive her the
mysterious papers might drop from her
| pocket. Going to her room, she wrapped
all the papers in a handkerchief; she
took the package to the kitchen and hid
| 1t under pile of rubbish in one of the
| closets; af,l. dark she would make an
excuse to 90 out, find boy near the
Whitway house, and send the papers to
| her old master without any intimatiOn
as TO w:'o the sender was. If Frapp was
! right in statement of what might
happen wei, they to fall into the hands
of any one who might want to do him
harm, WhtWay would know what to do
with them: il not, at least there would
be misery Of mind some day for the man
| who had wrOnged the best employer she
ever had
But tie lateS were against her. Din
ner was scarcely ended when some peO-
pie called. and Nora had to ice cham
payne and then prepare some luncheon,
so it was neatly midnight before she
was at liberty. She thanked heaven,
though. that the next day would be
market:i- ',ay-the day before Christ
| mas. : sad the right to the after
moons l. la'1yS and holidays. in
Whc!! ne marketing for her own
little !; She would go down town
to IT, mere, she had learned,
Wh;v ed; she would watch for
him y "am6 out; of course he
wou, Washington market; she
wouu sim, speak to him again,
and = package into his overcoat
poke. bad seen his wife do with
some j other days. Perhaps he
woud = basket with him-of
course il ...:;'d; SO much the better
she Won 49, it in that. Then with
what un .p cted joy and relief she
would purchase the turkey with which
she was going to surprise the little
Catfreys-they hadn't tasted turkey on
Christmas since their father died.
The sky was growing dark Christmas
eve as Whitway left his desk, went
slowly down the stairs, and. still slowly
and with bowed head, toward the mar
ket. Usually he was in haste to get
home. but tonight the thought of what
he wanted to do in the way of presents,
heavy as his heart He had been carrying
home work to do at night, so as to earn
little extra money, but one of the chill
dren had suddenly been discovered with
its feet literally on the ground, as chill
dren's feet always manage to be just
when their parents pockets are empty;
another child had been slightly i'll, and
medicines cost money. There could be
no presents, nor any turkey; piece of
corned beef and pound CT candy would
have to be the measure of the family'ss
festivities. His wife was loving and
patient; his children affectionate; things
might be worse, but oh, if he might
only have all opportunity to make them
better. Other men had gone down only
to rise again; would his own time never
come?
Nora had purchased her turkey before
going on guard-she hadn't been able
to resist the temptation. With her prize
in a stout paper bag, she followed her
old master to the market, and through
it, wondering that he passed the poultry
stalls, where his practiced eye should
have told him were as fine turkeys as
could be found anywhere. She saw him
stop at meat stall, look at one cut
after another, and finally purchase not
very large bit of corned beef. Morals
heart melted. Was her old masters
family to eat such common food on
Christmas while her children were to
have turkey? Had heaven forgotten
the good? 1t would never do for her to
speak to him while he was betraying
his poverty so painfully. Perhaps he
would stop at some other stall where
appearances would not be so much
against him.
street and started homeward. Once or
twice. in the crowd, Nora tried to reach
his side unobServed and slip the pack
age into his pocket, but she feared be-
ing seen; besides, she noticed, to her
dismay, that his pockets had outside
flaps. Suddenly a new plan came to
her mind. She hurried to his side, and
said:
merry Christmas. Mr.. Whtway."
"Ah! Nora" exclaimed Whitway,
with his hearty old-time manners, 1.-THE
same to you, good woman. Been get
ting your Christmas turkey. eh? Well,
hope your children have healthy APP
petites?"
THAT'S one the blessin's that's never
lachln' wild the poor, sir.''
Right you are, my girl, as | happen
to know-that is, I've heard So"
"Sare, they're welcome to their APP