The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1895-11-26

ant to talk to Lispeth II walk with Lis
pcth and say nice things to hor and call
her pet names while ho was getting strong
enough to go away. 1t meant nothing Mt
oil to him and everything in tho world to
Lispeth- Sho was very happy whilo tho
fortnight lasted, because sho had found u
man to love.
Being n savage by birth, sho took no
trouble to hide her feelings, and tho Eng
liShInan was amused. When no went
away, Lispcth walked with him up tho
hill us far rs Narkunda, very troubled and
very miserable. Tho ohaplain's wife, be-
Ing n good Christian and disliking any
thing i'll tho shape Of fuss OF scnndal-Lis-
pcth was beyond her management en-
tircly-hnd told tho Englishman to tell
Lispoth that no was coming back to
marry her. "Sho is but u child, you
know, and, l fear, at heart u heathen,"
said tho chaplain's vito. So all tho 10
miles up tho hill tho Englishman, with
his arm roun Lispeth's waist, wa as
surfing tho girl hat no would come back
and marry her, and Lispcth mudo him
promise over md over again. She wopt
on tho Narkunda ridge till no had passed
out OF sight along tho Muttinni path.
Thon sho dried her tears and went in to
Kotgarh again II said to tho chaplain's
wife: "Ho will como pack md marry me.
-ip AA'c SciiO w "a II ltoi)lC W il UIttIll
So" And tho chnplain's vito soothed
Lispoth and said, "Ho will como back"
AT the end of two month Lispcth grew
Impatient and WAS told that the English
man had gono over tho seas to england.
Sho knew whore England was, because she
had read little geography primers, but of
course sho had no conception of tho nature
OF the sca, being IL Hill girl. There was
an old puzzle map of tho world in tho
house. Lispoth had played with it when
sho was u child. She unoarthed it again
anu put 1t together of evenings and cried
to herself IL tried to imagine where her
~Englishman WAS. AS she had no ideas of
distance or steamboats, her notions were
somewhat 1t would not have
mauo tho least difference had sho been
perfectly correct, for the Englishman had
no Intention of coming back to marry q
Hill girl. He forgot all about her by tho
timc ho was butterfly hunting in Assam.
He wrote IL book on the east aftcrward.
Lispcth's namo did not appear.
At tho end of three months Lispcth
made daily pilgrimage to Narkunda to see
If her Englishman was coming along the
road. 1t gave her comfort, and tho chap
lhin's wife, finding her happier, thought
that sho WAS getting over her "barbarous
and most indicate folly" A littlo later
the walks ceased to help Lispcth, and her
temper grew very bad. Tho chaplain's
vito Thought this II profitable time to lot
hor Know the real state of affairs; that the
EnSlishlmnn had only promised his love
to keep her quiet; that he had never meant
anything, and that it was wrong and i'm
proper" of Lispcth to think of marriage
with an Englishman, who was of q su.
pcrior clay, besides being promised in
marriage toe girl of his own people. Lis
pcth said that all this was clearly inpossi-
bic because he had said he loved her, and
the chaplain's wife had, with her own lips,
asserted that the Englishman was coming
back.
"How can what he and you said be UNI
truc!'' asked Lispcth.
"Wc said it rs M excuse to keep you
quiet, child, " said tho chaplain's wife.
'Thcn you have lied To me-" said Lis
peth. You and hep
Tho chaplain's wife bowed her head and
said nothing. Lispeth was silent, too, for
a little time. Then she went out down
tho valley and returned in tho dress of "a
Hill simultaneously dirty, but without
tho nose and earrings. Sho had her hair
braided into tho long pigtnil, helped out
with blnck thread, TINT Hill women wea-.
Il am going back to my own people, -
said she. "You have killed Lispcth.
There is only left old Jadch's daughtor-
the daughter of u pahari and tho servant
of Tnrka Dovi. You are all liars, you
English!"
BY tho timo that the chaplain's wife had
recovered from tho shock of the announce
ment that Lispcth had reverted to her
mothers gods the girl had gone, and she
never came back.
She took TO her own unclcan people say
agely, rs If to make up tho arrears of tho
life she had stepped out of, and in q little
time she married IL wood cutter, who beat
her, after the manner of puharis, and her
beauty faded soon.
There is no law whereby you can ac-
count for the vagarics of tho hcathen,"
said tho chaplain's wife, "and I believe
that Lispcth was always at heart an inf
del" Seeing she had been taken into tho
Church of England mt the mature age of 5
weeks, this statement does not do credit
to the chnplain's wife.
Lispcth was n very old woman when she
died. She always had n perfect command
of English, N when she was sufficiently
drunkc could sometimes be induced to tell
the story of her first love affair.
1t was hard, then, to realize that the
blcarcd, wrinklcd creature, so like "a wisp
or charrcd rag, could ever have been Lis
pcth of the Kotgarh Mission. "-Rudyard
kipling.