Democratic messenger., 1893-12-23

blows, enough starvation! The brute the
brute! Oh. | seem still to see his red. sod
den face so ncar-his surly curses ring and
ring in my brain. Baby. do you think
they We found him yet: IL wasn't our fault,
was il. that he stumbled and went over the
stairs? Six flights down-ugh, lie is ~
ing there in the shadow can see him-I
can see him-still 80 still-alone lie must
be dead. Yes, he must be-
She laughed and the sound was strange
n mournful cooingt nat seemed to rise from
the ruins Of a soul
Terror enlarged her eyes as through the
falling snow she saw "a police officer ap-
proach-a man She knew.
Hello, Nance, What are you ,loin ont
in the storm. hey" he asked kindly
Nancet Yes, it WAS she-threc years old
er, three years sa,ldcr.
ITS Christ mas eve" she faltcrci fore
ing smile, 'and ] wanted To show Teddy
the shops. the crowds. :
Got brui>s ON your face again, Rad
ley's at his old tricks. ELI: It'd bc good for
you if he died"
He did not guess what horror his words
had aroused. hut she bent her pinchcd.
tremulons mouth down to the pale child's
face, nodded and hurried past him.
''Sce that girl?" the officer asked of n
friend who strolcd up To him. "Ive been
watching her go down. step hy step. This
New York. queer place. II terrible place
j sometimes stand on my heat here and
watch the people pass. know lots Of
them. and more about them than they
think. Well, that Eirl just gone 10y has
made bad job of her life, n bid mess Of
it,"
~. 4. 4.
ing and scared. The baby hers" asked
the listener.
YES the poor kid heard her tell he,
story once to police judge when her
scamp Of a husband was up for street fight
ing and She tried to get him or II was
like this: Three years ago she was singing
on the stage. and as pretty as II rose her
face was. remember seeing her in The
Mikado.' Pretty, Well. that isn't tn,
word for IL. She had such baby look in
her eyes and round her lips you'd never
thought man could have had the heart "a
scold her. much less beat her. Well. she
fell sick and lost her voice She was all
alone in the world and poor into the bar
gain. When she was hard mn and lies.
perafe. she somehow met that fellow Rad
ley, who WAS mixed up with So many racing
swindles a few wears ago. He was flush
with money, initiated the swclls, lied 10
her. guess and persuaded her Ia marry
him. Luck was against her He lost ev
cry penny when Lady Betty went under in
the Suburban. and then he became like
fiend went from bad tn worse and now he
has hardly u sober moment. They live in
n terrible hole down by the bridge lie
beats that poor little wife Of his Some
night he'll Kill her
By the time this brief recital If her sad
history was finished Nance had gone some
distance up broadway strange. hopeless
figure among the busy crowd.
In the shelter nf n doorway she counted
her last coins. There were Just a. cents.
When they were gone what was left. All,
what: Nance knew She was taking her
farewell Of life today. and she would take
II Rrandly, lavishly. spending all
IL WAS this feeling of reckless finality
that made her hail "a ear and sink into a
corner AT another time she would have
suffered much before spending the money
required for fare. hut it seemed small
consideration in view of this being the last
time.
The familiar streets were coming. Soon
they would pass the thcater where she sang
three years before. An uncont reliable mag
netism To the spot made her alight and
stand looking up at the brilliant crystal
lantern in the lobby. How long ago the
life there seemed. Was il only years since
she had seen Mark Torrance: Not centuries
since that white, winter nightS Not anoth