The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1894-11-17

wet with tears which now she d1d not
try to hide, "I'm sure we all
thought twas you. He always looked
at you the whole evening"
"But he talked to you. And didn't
he give you that shell box?"
"But he brought you flowers"
Poor women! For the first time in
all their lives they spoke the one
thought that had meant more to
them than everything else. Even
Bob Barton's name had never passed
their lips since that day when the
news came that it was disgraced for
ever by his fathers crime. They
know, in a way, what had come to
him-that he had felt the disgrace as
only a sensitive soul can feel; that
with hopes and ambitions blighted,
he had passed the fifteen years of his
fathers Imprisonment in bitter lone
illness; and that his life since then
had been devoted to the broken old
man, who came out from the prison
walls enfeebled in mind and body,
and helpless as a child.
s"He must "a been awful poorl"
Miss Harriet spoke again, after long
silence.
eyes, s'pose he was"
Il don't believe there's enough for
decent buryin'."
II don't believe there is"
There was silence again. The gray
cat wakened, yawned, and stretched
himself; then he jumped down from
his cushion and rubbed his sleek
sides against Miss Harriet. She did
not notice him, and he, surprised at
such unusual neglect, stalked to the
door and requested after his fashion,
to be let out. Miss Harriet rose me-
chanically, picked up her knitting,
and opened the door. She sat down
again, and slipped the yarn over her
finger, but, at the first stitch her
hands dropped idly in her lap. The
old clock licked on. The noises in the
street had ceased. The fire was out
and the room cold; but still the sisters
sat there, unmindful of all save the
past. Finally, after much fidgeting
in her chair, and many uneasy CLAN
ces at her sister, after opening her
mouth several times only to close it
again, Miss Harriet broke the silence.
"Sister?"
Her voice had half-frightened
quaver in it.
"Well?"
Miss Margaret's tone was SO much
less sharp than usual that Harriet
took courage and went on.
"Why, you know that money we've
saved, in case we should get sick or
anything?"
Harriet paused to note the effect of
her words.
"WellY
There was no surprise in the tone,
no change in the pale face.
"Why, seems to me we could get
on; it only took us ten years to save
it, and we amt very old and-and-
we're pretty healthy-and we can be
more savin' if we try. We don't
need that carpet much; and we can
get along without them new dresses
mine hain't been turned but once"
"Well, what do you want to do?"
Miss Margaret's tones were sharp
enough now. 1t irritated her to have
Harriet so long in coming to point
which had been evident to her from
the beginning. But it was something
that she did not exclaim at once
against the spending of their care
fully boarded fund, and Harriet went
on bravely:
"Why, I'd thought mebby we could
take that money and bury him decent
-and"-
"And what?"
"And get little headstone." Har-
riet's voice had sunk almost to whis-
per. "Father thought so much of
him, you know"
Again there was silence. Miss Mar
garet rose, folded and laid by her
work, locked the door, wound the
clock and took up the lamp.
"Come to bed" she said. ats
half-past ten"
They put out the light and went to
bed. If they slept or walked, if they
shed tears in the darkness, if their
poor hearts ached with the pain of
forty years ago, they did not tell
each other of it.
They were astir early next morning.
The September sun had hardly be-
gun to warm the world when their
scanty breakfast was over, the dishes
washed and put away, the old carpet
swept and the room busted.