Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-11-08

WINDOW. on which a canvas was out
stretched At sight of that Gonna
started and grew deadly pale. Her
eyes turned eagerly 10 the motionless
Agure-a hope that was half dread.
nan JOY swept over her heart and held
her fer a moment sra llbound. Ihsn she
crossed h o and seized the lamp
ana held IL close 10 his face. while the
scSiy glare Lit up the senseless eyes
the hard, sharp outlines of the fieshless
inns. ibe hollow Oh .ks, the chang
and stricken beauty OF the man whom
she had last seen him on the hillside
slopes of Giovoli
She knew him at once. No change.
CHASTITY. could deceive eyes so
ienh-a love No true as hers. She knew
MN, and, knowing him, fen down on
e Knees az his side. her heart beating
win The wild music OF recovered Joy,
her great dread silenced by her greater
~ ssaon- She crouched there. scarce dar-
ing to breathe, while the la~mp'sdying
rays struggled amidst the gloom, and
the pale, sickly light of dawn cleaned
through the unShuttered windows She
touched his hand-it was cold as death,
She glanced around, there was no fire
IN the empty stove, the window panes
We're broken and the cold evening air
swept in and chilled even her strong
frame as she knelt there. She glanced
at the child.
Go and fetch some charcoal and
wood" she said hurriedly: and see.
here is money; buy wine and bread.
too. Make what haste you can, for
PHYS sake.
Il will be as quick as q bird" he
said eagerly, and few down tn broken
jagged stairs and out into the street,
while she knelt there alone. chatting his
hands between her warm, rough palms.
murmuring ~incoherent. tender words
born of the great love her heart had so
long held, her great JOY that she had
found him, wen thus.
lie was very iii, dying Of starvation.
misery, cold-here, in n great and pop
ulous city; here, where the gold that
her sister sQuandered on n toy 10
amuSe, IL jewel TO adorn her, would
have bought him life and health.
The night went by. An old ron
looked in once and asked her f she was
a friend of his.
He has not been here long" she
said. Il think myself he was mad. /
have seen him sit for hours there be-
fore that great canvas, muttering ever
and anon, doing nothing ever; and then
when his money failed and he grew i'll
and weak, there he lay as you see him
now. have done what I could. though
many would not have given him house
room. seeing he had fever, and was
poorer even than I. and can never give
ma N nnnnnr TN a,sn In narrnaN =
You were very good murmured
for Your charity"
Good! " said the woman "No, not
that l was tempted often to turn him
ont or leave him 10 end his life there.
1t must come to that ere long, but
somehow 1 had not the heart to do it.
1t cannot last much longer, though-he
will die very Soop."
ooh, hush walled Genna, as she
threw herself beside the stricken figure
and held the cold. thin hand to her
warm. he1ting heart.
The woman nodded slowly and went
away. closing the door and muttering
To herself:
"A sweetheart. no doubt. Well, l
hope she has something with which 10
pay me. She looks well off, at all
events. But she Is foolish TO waste
money on Ole as good as dead. Better
bestow il upon the living"
The long. slow day rolled 7. Genna
never left her post. Toward evening
he grew Q~uieter. The incoherent words
no longer followed each other in mo-
notoDous sentences. He fell asleep, ana
slept a deep, dreamless slumber that
was good to See-that made the patient
Watchers heart beat high, and filed
her with raptuous thanksgiving as hour
after hour passed on, and his breath
grew easier. and his limbs lost their
deadly Coldness.
Then only she left his side and crossed
over TO the window and gazed eagerly
at the great picture stretched there in
the gloom and darkness of the desolate
chamber. 1t was the painting he had
spoken Of.
She saw the long stretch of hills
with the sunlight falling like molten
gold on their crests.
She saw the long procession of priests
and people, and swaying censers and
waving banners and singing children;
then All, what was this! Across
the two central figures Of the procession
was a long, black smear, which COM
pletely obliterated their faces.
She knew In n moment what ii was.
Nita had spoiled her own likeness and
Genna's at the very moment when the
picture was completed-at the very
moment when the artists hopes were
highest, and his dreams of success
seemed about to become certainty.
She shuddered as she gaZed.
"Oh. how could she do it?' she moan
ed. How could she?'
The tears rose to her eyes as she
gaZed, dimming her sight, binding her
to the colors and figures before her.
She knew of the long hours and wasted
labor represented here, and al was
married and ruined by n woman's cruel
malice. All this magnificence of thought
this glow of color. this glory where
Imagination and realism We're blended
together-all were wrecked, totally and
forever. by 4 hand ruthless and unspair-
ing rs only a jealous, INSCRIPTIONS wo-
mans HIND could have been.
"And she was the child I loved"
murmured Genna, and then turned
away. to sick 1T heart, too full of won
der I'm the bewildered anguish OF her
aching brain. for any thought to COM
fort her now.
Faint xniaa ofn1a ~, hap ror oS che