The Portland daily press., 1895-10-26

and court, caresslng ana fondllng MIN anu
sending him dclcacies He was always
shy, and he shran1 from their earesses,
which gave him laego inquietude than
pleasure; he thought Il long time OF these
marks of friendship.
"The lady on the top floor has given me
these toys. Why has she done SO, when
she does not know meY' he asked OF MS
sister, with a keenness which gave heart
breaking understanding of the working OF
his brain. sit is, without doubt, because
I am hunchbaok. a"
Work was plenty and the bank grew
heavy in a dark corner of the bureau
drawer. July was approaching, and prep
arations were already commenced for their
departure. A trunk had been bought and
costume for the child, who, enchanted,
talked of nothing to his schoolmates but
his trip to the seashore.
At the last moment everything was up
set by ali unfortunate accident
The young wife of clerk on the fifth
floor had given her wedding gown to the
sister to be retrimmed in the prevailing
fashion.
One evening in playing with the ink
bottle Cab let it slip from his slender fin
gers, and it's contents ran unluckily on the
white satin skirt.
They did not scold him. Alas, moi The
CONSERVATION in his face was too painful
to see. His sister stifled cry of terror.
Silently, nervously she sponged the ma
terial and measured the extent of the dis
aster The ink had outrageously spoiled
eight yards of satin.
Between a loss to the client on the fifth
floor and pity for Cab there must be no
hesitation The clerk s wife was not rich,
and her wedding dress was h9r only re-
source for fete days and occasions of cere-
mopy. Then again the little dressmaker
was proud and did not wish the people of
the house to know the cares and sorrows
of their home. The most practical and
dignified thing to do was to run to the
Bon Marche and try TO match the stuff.
Eight yards at Is francs yard made a
total of 100 francs, a rude breach in the
bank, fund for the journey.
1t was finished 1t would be necessary
to give up the visit for this year.
The girl embraced little Cab and went
to sewing again.
The following winter they worked
steadily on the first floor The autumn
had been rainy, and little Cabs health had
suffered in consequences. His bones achcd,
he had a fever and pains in the head The
doctor examined him, stroking his beard
meanwhile, and again ordered the child to
Berck as soon as the Weather became
warm.
This time it was decided, cost what it
might, they would start for the baths at
the end of May.
The sewing machine recommended
again, and its grasshopper chorus was
heard far into tho night.
They had bought Cab picture book
with nothing but views of the sea. Here
were ports with their forests of moats
ranged along the walls of the quays. Steep
cliffs and rocks washed by yeasty waves
ana nsnlng boats disappearing at sea HKd
. flock of white winged birds.
The child talked of nothing but the
ocean. He saw it in his dreams and solne-
times in broad day he thought he saw
through tho fog which filed the inner
court strips of coast beaten by the tide and
IaI GO vessels with swollen sails.
Occasionally he took from the mantel a
large shell and held it to his ear. He
would stand thus, his neck lost in his
shoulders, listening for hours to the noise
of the sea which seemed to him to come
from fan off-from very far off.
The winter was exceptionally damp, and
did not meet little Cab any more on the
porch of the house. The physician had ex-
pressly forbidden that he go out.
From time to time / saw him at the
window. His eyes were sad, sunken, and
they looked far off, while his slender fingers
designed vague ships Oh the window pane
Then, suddenly seeing me in my window
observing him, and thinking himself spled
upon, he made an angry gesture and drew
the muslin curtain.
Toward the middle of March I saw him
no more. His bones ached with increasing
severity the pains in his head were res
doubled, and his legs could no longer sup
pert him. He lay now the entire day
stretched out on his little bed, turning foF
the hundredth time the leaves of his pic.
ture book, where he saw the ocean and the
vessels with their white sails.
He had not given up the idea of his trip.
''When are we going to start?" he asked
his sister, and when she explained that
they would have to wait for warm wealth.
er he replied in his thin voice:
''But am in a hurry. | want to be
cured quick very quick, so that will not
see you cry any more
He had looked up the names of the towing
on the route, and he already knew them
by heart. Chantilly, then Clermont,
Amiens Abheville and then the ocean
s'Once we are there, am sure my bones
will hurt me no more
In waiting he had constantly by him this
large pink she'll from the chimney, and
with his ear against it's mother of pearl
lining he listened to that distant murmuf
of the sea that was to deliver him from all
his miseries.
Toward Easter / heard no more thu
zeavy rumbling of the sewing machine
They worked no longer on the first floor,
but I saw a light in the window far into
the night showing that some OF wal
watching by the bed of the sick child.
''He is very low, the concierge said to
me in low tones Us she pressed Instructive
ly against her skirts her sturdy, chubby
faced boy. "He cannot live long. Pooi
child! 1t will be deliverance'-
One morning met on she porch nan
row coffin, carried by two men and fox
lowed by the family
1t was little Cab, who was starting or