The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1895-09-13


her room and never again recited
the saloon. But from that hour ST
was a -abnegated slave to Allinsol
and was afraid that Barty would tai;
revenge upon him.
One crisp, cold morning in the lat
fall she stood among the fading flow
ers and yellow leaves in the garden
with an ache of intuition in her heart
She had changed much in fc,
months--no longer a child. not yet
woman. Presently Atkinson called t
her, as he had done on other morn
ings. A dull red, painful to see dark
ened her face.
He carried the gripsack which h
had brought to the place. Silently
entirely subdued, she walked besid
HIM down the canon, and though h
tried his best she stood among tn
fading flowers.
just beyond the great bowlder wher
he first met her he said good by. >
He made a pretty speech and gave he
good advice. She only gaZed and gaz
ed at him with helpless, vacan
stare, which SO irritated him that h,
dropped her hand and walked away.
Stupid creatures" he said to him
self, I've wasted a summer trying
to put soul into this odd creature. ;
While she in the dead leaves where hi
had left her standing dropped to The
earth, shaking from head to foot wi ii
fearless sobs. She bit the dry leaves
and scratched her face with her hands,
and there in the afternoon of the day
Mrs. Squeers found her
x Il * *
1t was seven years since Vernon Al
linson left the little girl Cat Eyes
standing in the mountain path. He
had Just returned to San Francisco,
and stood shaking hands with an ac-
quaintance. a young man much young
er in years than he and knowledge OF
years.
How long have you been in the
city,
. Landed on California soil at 10
this morning."
Straight from Paris"
In roundabout way, straight
from Paris =
"'Then you have not seen the ii,
gress. "
"Nor heard of it, what is itG''
1T! Ha ha. ha! It's at Ma
CURES and it has set the town crazy
in three nights. =
"A woman, see. said Vernon,
inditferently.
"A woman you do not see.' said the
other, 'or you would not speak so
inditIerently. Oh, Vernon. such a
woman! \ glittering. dazzling Great
ure, whose acting and face are indies
cribable. You have never seen any
thing like her, | know.
Hard hit are you, my boy; very
hard hit You forget that | have
iined on the theatre beauty of Paris.
London and Madrid, and had my vir-
tue chilled in the cold of northern
Ioveliness and scorched by the fires of
Georgian eyes. Do you think IN be
captivated by an amateur in your
primitia metropolis at the Golden
Gate
"You may laugh at me, but you
will not laugh after you have seen
ler -
Then by all the saints take me to
Ter at once.
They were comfortably seated. \
torn of applause announced the APP
,cmance of the debutante. "A gilt
eriEg. dazzling creature, incompara-
de and Undesirable. " He caught
himself repeating his friends words,
nd from that moment his eyes never
eft her while she was in sight of
hem "Tigress! Tigress! Why the
fgress?" he thought, then felt the
ppropriateness of the title.
Onl ~ a tigress with the freedom of
he jungle in its limbs could have
uch a superb grace of movement and !
of contour. And such eyes. /
,hat were they: They were mirrors
{ topaz rejecting the gaslight. And .
,as! Tie thought it rich amber in
be shadows and spun sunshine when .
he lights fell upon It. And yet il .
'as the impression rather than the ap-
earance that made him repeat again
nd again. "Tigress, nay beautiful
'igress, so quick are We to lay claim
, what leases us.
In the middle Of the play he took the
iamund pin from his cravat. and the
from his coat, thrust the
in through the flowers. and threw
le improvised bouquet at her feet.
he saw the CLEAN of light coming.
nd the hand which had thrown il,
nd flashed her wonderful eyes on his
zee. He shivered in the fascination
them. She picked up the bouton-
iere. pinned it carelessly to her
reast. then made an interpolation in
lie part she was playing, and sang -
h, do you remember the well-beaten
rail
hat led from the camp to the spring?
nd the pot pies we had from the
squirt and quail.
nd the evenings when we used to
sing?
he shady old camp is all gone TO de
cay.
he ham bone has dropped from the ;
pin.
he roof and the door have both rot l
ted away
nd the chimney is all tumbled in.
The glorious voice arose untram-
elled. The warm rich notes filled
ID thrilled the place. The words of :.
e old song sung at so many camp
'es seemed to float and linger over
e heads of the people. y large part :
the audience were Californians of
e old days. and the familiar tune
It'll its memories made many a griz :
ed face wet with tears. !
Vernon did not applaud. She had !
ny at him and for him. This was
e girl he had thought stupid in the
1untain path, shaded with pines.
ven years ago. Cat Eyes" had :
own to the subtle grace and charm 5
the tigress. He had been so blind, !,
blind. Who had made this change? Il
fierce jealousy took possession of
N. What man had taken up this :
autiful creature, .illinson forgetting :,