The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-02-14
JEANIE'S LOVE LETTERS.

gregated round the doorstep of the tall
tenement house in which she rented one
small back room. They were hooting
and jeering at a man seated in his shirt
sleeves on the doorstep. placidly smok-
ing huge German porcelain pipe The
man did not seem in the least disturbed
at their jeers and shrieks, but smoked
on. with his eyes fixed upon the one
grimy roofs.
Jeanie pushed her way in.
What's the natter"
'Yah-Dutchy. Int e a blooming soft,
Give a boy a shillin' to go and fetch IN
something to eat. and is wiling ere for
IN! INT e a style! Wonder 'ow long he'll
wite?"
WHO is he?"
"A blooming Dutchy. e carnt speak
no English. e carnt-'as TO mike signs
and nobody ere carnt speak nothing
else. Int e a softy.'
The girl paused and looked at the man;
there was something in his patient atti-
tude that aroused her pity. Some softer
remembrance of the days before she
came to this great, wicked London came
over her. The mans eyes, so blue, clear
and bright, and the healthy tinge of his
wholesome face smote upon her with
pang Of recollection of the honest
Scottish faces she had left with con-
tempt for their content when she had
started for to see London.
She went up to the man and signed
to him to follow her indoors. She tried
to make him understand that he had
hppo pohhaH hot
answered her were quite unintelligible;
he smiled, shrugged his shoulders, spread
his hands, and looked at her with that
calm trustfulness one sees in dogs and
children.
She smiled, nodded, pointed up the
stairs and then ran out of the house.
She returned with a loaf of bread and a
half pound of sausages for him, and a
roll for herself, she would make that do;
he was a stranger. alone and friendless.
She put the things in his hand. point
ing down the street as if to indicate that
she had brought the things from the
boy. He seemed to understand, took
her hand and raised it to his lips; the
action was SO simple, so grateful, that
she felt ashamed and ran up the stairs
to her own room.
Her cOmfortleSS brea kfast Of a dry roll
the next morning made her a little re-
gretful of her charity the night before.
He must shift for himself as i have had
to do" she thought, and she went out to
her days work
When she returned in the evening she
found him standing outside his door.
He bowed and smiled, opened his door,
and showed his various purchases on
his table. He had evidently found his
way round to shops.
She went up the stairs. feeling the
least little bit disappointed that he did
mt rnnrIira her holm He
seemed different from the jaded, vulgar
men and women she came in contact
with in her city life. The air Of the
fields seemed to cling to him still. She
thought as she toiled up the weary
stairs how sweet the country must be
looking now. Was the sun shining on
the hills at home and making the waters
of the loch sparkle-the bonnie hills that
she would never see again? Friends were
dead, and to a tail0resS at u shillings a
week it was indeed far cry to Loeb
Awe
sketch of a sweep of wide hills, with fir
forests clinging TO their sides, little
cluster of houses with wide oVerhanging
roofs and shutters to the windows. y
figure was standing in the doorway of
one Of the houses.
THAT is his house, said jeanne TO her
self What a funny thing to do, TO
send him back one of Loeb Awe, and our
house up on the braes."
The next day was Sunday; she usually
passed the morning in bed. tired out
with her weeks work. When she came
down about the middle of the day she
met him coming in, evidently in his
Sunday best. Could he have been to
church? Well, it was clear he had not
learned the manners of Eureka court
yet.
She tried to express her thanks by
looks and smiles. He seemed to under
stand and laughed, and then she felt
with a quick touch Of dismay that he
glanced la surprise at her untidy dress
and towzled hair. Jeanne did not tidy
herself until afternoons; then. in an enOr-
nous hat and feathers. and much be-
curled head, she perambulated the ada
cent streets in company with girls of her
acquaintance, not yet vicious, only ig-
norant, vain, and craving for little of
that happiness which seems TO all girls
their birthright.
That same hair in papers now
she blushed as she recalled the fact-her
hands were grimy, her face unwashed.
His eyes noted it.
They did not meet again during the
week, but next Sunday morning found
Jeanne with her hair out of papers and
her hands washed; she was lettering at
the street corner when he came back in
his spruce clothes. She gave him pert
nod: she felt annoyed with him for some
unknown reason. and that evening made
herself as resplendant as possible in her
cheap gaudy finery.
He shall see that I can be smart
too she thought, and tossed her head
as he appeared.
He stopped. and. drawing a notebook
from his pocket, rapidly sketched a
church-frOnt upon it,. She shook her
head. He looked puzzled; then his quick
fingers drew the outside of one of the
commonest type of Westinghouse. She
shook her head again, and moved off.
Somehow she did not like to show him
how she spent her Sunday evenings.
The weather became very hot jeanne
dropped more and more in the unhealthy
wOrk-room and stuffy streets. He
seemed to notice it, for on Saturday
a path, and figures walking about and
underneath the figures 2:3O. Could he
be asking her to go for walk? She
waited in to see.
At 2:30 a knock same at her door
There he was. with his square, ugly.
good-natured face smiling at her. She
felt awkward going down the stairs with
him. What could they do during a
whole walk if neither could speak to the
other? But that walk did not take
place. The smart tie around her neck
had been the price of her dinner: she
turned faint and reeled. then sat down
on the stairs and burst into tears
She hardly knew if she was VeXed or
pleased to find herself picked up like a
baby and carried up to her own room
and laid upon her bed. She sat up and
drank some water, while he stood look
ing perpleXedly at her, and she blushed