Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-09-15

Maxey was GREATNESS to know what
the cautious physician would next do.
lie was afraid he would think that An
nettc had dwelt long enough on gloomy
| things FOR one day. To his intense relief
Dr. Lamar seemed disposed rather to
| encourage her to talk
Yours was narrow escape, Miss
Eye, he said, land one for which Your
friends must all be very grateful. +"
The pathetic expression in the pale
| face deepencd.
My friends! All have are with me
| here. have no others; no, not one. -
Tho tone was so forlorH and desolate
that Miss Maxey's eyes filled with tears.
Surely, surely, this cannot bev'
"Ah, 1t seems strange to you because
your life has always been bright and
happy. You cannot understand. Even
IL the little time l have been in your
pleasant horne that old life of mine has
begun to seem like dream. 1t comfort
ed me so to have escaped from it that
have done al could to forget it,
| But you must have had q good home
and refining influences. That is betray-
ed in al that you say and do.
Annette's whole soul seemed to be in
her reply:
| "All that / have to be thankful for 1
| Owe to one Sublime woman, whose frail
Efe stood between me and degradation
and ignorance, who put her very hearts
blood into making me what l amr'
She stepped abruptly, overcome with
emotion.
Your nlothor?' suggested Ellen.
Yes, yes, l shall always call her so!
Ny mother! Forgive me for not having
told you all about it before. But if you
knew how it panied me to bring back
the old associations and the old feelings
you would not wonder at my silence.
Just now / was trying to please myself
with the delusion that 1t had gone for
ever
1T hasr' cried Maxey and his sister
in one breath Ellen crossed the room
impulsively, and lneelirg on tho floor
beside Annette's chair tool, her hand in
hers and comfortcd her like sister In
c little time Annette was able to speak
coherently.
IF 1 had not always been SO sensitive
and so bashful, it would not have mat
tered so much, hat it was so hard for
me to make friends. l had always to
| wait for somebody else to take the initia-
tive And then when / met persons
whom l believed l could have loved and
trusted, as sure IS that day came, the
acquaintance was suddenly broken Of,
and we Were separated.
Separated? by whon?''
'By-by Nr. Dye. lie did rot wish
me to have friends, am sure. I hope
do not wrong him, bat think so, be-
canse nothing disturbed him more than
to find me talking with a stranger. Ny
mother pitied my isolation, and she Of
ten tried to interest i'll me companions
Of my own age, and then the informa-
ton would come that we were to break
up our little homo again and go to some
distant place to live. That is why had
no friends. We staid so short a time in
any city, we changed our living place
so oftcn-I cannot say horne-I never
knew what that word really meant til
l came here. But / an only 1nystify ing
you, my kind friends l should tell you
what l know OF myself from the begin
ming.
WAY back, beyond ali that / can
really remember, there is n vague, i'm
perfect sense of something different,
which come; to me most wildly some
times When I am not trying to think Of
it But my first distinct recollection is
Of playing with my little rag doll at a
window, very high up, looking out over
the roofs. Mr.. and Mrs. Dye We're with
me, and / called them father and moth
CT. ] always WAS afraid of him, and he
avoided me, but ! loved my mother with
tie strength of double passion. can
dimly remember that at that time both
of them We're rather different in their
looks from what they seemed in later
years. Mr.. Dye has changed greatly
He used to be very well dressed and
careful of his appearance. That was be-
fore he took so greatly to drink. Now
he seems to have no care. My mother
was pale, slight and sad. She went so
much when l first recollect her that her
eyes We're always red Her husband made
her very unhappy. He never used vio-
lence toward either of Us. He rather
seemed TO pity u.s. but there is an un-
kindness that is quite IS deep as the IN
kindness of hard words and blows He
was silent and moody man and was
very little III Che house.
'Inoticed as soon as was old enough
to notice at all that he did not like to
have me even look at him / sometimes
caught him watching me furtiveiy, but
as soon as he saw that i knew it he
would turn away quickly. Ii it was not
SO absurd, should have believed he was
afraid of me. And SO my mother was a
broken hearted woman. Bat The less she
had in common with her husband the
more she devoted herself to me- She Of
ten told me that she lived only for me,
and when l think how feeble she was
and what a struggle existence was to
her cannot help believing she told the
truth. She taught me all / know. She
saved her pennies and went without
clothes to buy me books. In the long
days and evenings when we were en-