New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-29
THE TWO SALOMES.
XIV.
rorCHING TRUTHFULNESS.

n"0 49, She could hardly be said to be thinking
n.". lover. She was merely not thinking al all
r,o,;da nieht was all about her The mon
Inv ~ ,avel was never mOnOtOnouS to her, least
o'O v ,o,v She liked to hear the movements of
VI o. birds in the trees. She liked to take in.
-. all its inexpressible, serious beauty the very
~ this bewitching land. this land which had
bcaed her body.
us Gerry sat in the doorway She could hard
,"as,rain herself from telling her daughter that
=. must not stay out IN the night air Bat she
00',nambers, that the night air 10 longer harmed
~. ,;rl Nothing harmed her. There was not an
". Wv, that had passed since her coming here that
III m. been full of healing and bcnefcence to
c.,nme For the first time she was in a climate
- thoroughly congenial that merely 10 live was
s,..snc She was we'll. She had thrown off the
',.,minc symptoms with that rapidity OF which
a,h is sometimes capable when influences are ac-
euatey adjusted
Vow her mother could not remove her gaze from
A.. sinht figure that was alert with life and
..;,h that happy prcscience which in itself is an
elixir. 80,
h.a been given to expressing herself with great
.,rencth she would have said that she hated it.
yverythinQ in her eyes, was wrong; for was not
.xavvtliuC UllIereUJ 1TOul SNcW i$usidHu' anu W
W. comuelcd daily to see such people as job Maine
and his wife-that experience alone would have
made her miserable. And these were almost the
,n,v neople she saw. She had to buy chickens of
.hem at cxorbitant rates. If Mr.. Maine did an
.;,,nd for her he charged her we'll for it, OF late
saome had insisted upon bringing out parcels
t,om Augustine when she returned from her work
nth Mrs Darrah And IL was only Of late that
~, Gerry had really decided that Salome was
.mn,v able 10 do this. 1t was so strange not TO
h continually shielding the child and taking care
az her Al first the mother would demur, and tho
,,,, would say: But you know. mother. l haven't
,rc,n,ent phthisis any more" and she gayly did as
she pleased
Now. as Mrs. Gerry, with relaxed mind and
hoav sat in the hard, straight chair in the en-
trance 10 their hut Salome suddenly left her mus
ines By moonlight and walked straight up to her
mother She leaned against her in silence for
moment. After while she asked
"Do look like any of my relations, mother ?"
Mrs. Gerry was used 10 abrupt remarks from her
daughter, 50 she only smiled slightly as she an
Swered:
aYou always used to look like my mother, and
A. times like her father. Now you grow every
day to have his expression. You are so mixed;
but then we are all that way"
alike her father? That would be my great
grandfather then, wouldn't he? What kind of
man was he? You never talk about him.
"Perhaps haven't But then one doesn't give
much talk to grandfathers and have had other
things to think about-you, for instance
Mrs. Gerry was instinctivey bracing herself
She hardly knew why. Salome was liable to take
I'M within and follow it. And she had always
been pertinacious in the most unexpected dircc-
tons.
"Yes, I know I've been a great anxiety to you
But what kind of a man was your mothers
father ?" repeated Salome.
Still she was not thinking very strongly even
chen Of what she was saying. While she had been
standing out there in the moonlight 1t had occurred
quite powerfully TO her that she was not at all
what she would have called a New-England girl
Such girls were proper and narrow and rigdly
upright; they never had an accidental thought,
whose possible pulses" were not Immediately
stined They were, above all things, reliable. )"
They were reliable because they could not help
being so.
This was the way Salome Gerry inwardly de-
scribcd the typical Yankee girl. If she did not
choose her adjectives correctly she none the less
thought that she so chose them And she would
have described herself before she left home in
those words Particularly would she have warned
herself against the possible pulses of those acct
dental thoughts Il was the irregular things which
must be avoided 1t was the irregular, eXcep-
tional things which had such astonishing power {;
and astonishing power, in the creed OF the com
mon-place must Of course make for evil-until II
should be labelled and arranged. Anything which
had been labelled and arranged, however, could no
longer be considered abnormal or exceptional.
As Salome stood leaning by her mothers chair
these thoughts went confusedly through her NINA
She was often confused in these days Everytmhs
outside was so different, and all her inward hie
was still more different, if that were possible
There were brief snatches of time when Saiome
would feel an acute wonder as to why she felt no
repentance for the crime she Lad commieu' ~
WAS crime. There could be no doubt Of that.
And Moore had spoken very severely OF such d
crime. Though, perhaps, that man down In Tampa
had done it for his wife. 1t was rather curious
that Salome came to assert TO herself that the man
in Tampa had done this deed for his wife.
Now she recalled her somewhat wandering
thoughts and asked once more what KIM OIL ma"
her great-srandfather had been
This time Mrs Gerry replied promptly
Everybody loved him."
The girl fixed her eyes on her mothers lace.
But was he good ?" she inquired
ale WAS NOT what we call conscientious" was
The answer
Mrs Gerry made quick resolve She TOOK
Salome's hands and gently drew the girl into her
arms
"Hc was not a Northern man. lie was porn
down here in the West Indies He was-weli-l
know what YOU are thinking You are like him
in many ways. But did not know It, only
suspected it before we came South Now Know
you belong in the South. 1t is in your oioou'
this feeling YOU have since you came here.
Salome did not seem particularly impressed win
this information. She lay with her head quieuy
on her mothers shoulder and her arm around her
mothers neck Her eyes were intently fixed upon
the banana leaves which were slowly waving oacN
aud forth in the soft wind.
Al last she said:
sMss Nunally and were talking about hered'y
the other day. She thinks that ii we really oe-