The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-01-09

bay, from DdnVllle, IdnSy IdlIy c4ly-
began to tire.
He tired of the mate purity of the
young girl.
1t amazed him, so much purity and
ignorance combined.
In three weeks he had won what? A
few kjssesi
So it happened that, one morning.
Tangy looked into the waving fields of
blue grass for him and he did not come,
nor the next daoy, nor the next.
She began 10 droop a little and there
were days when she sat on the hillside
late into the twilight, until the great
yellow moon touched those distant
spires with a light all golden; watching
and waiting as women have watched
and waften since the world began
The summer days gave place TO au-
tumn.
The leaves turned crimson on the
knobs, and the walnuts dropped from
the trees, one by one, as they ripened.
The children came out from Cornish
vile 10 gather the nuts, in little soded
aprons, their baskets on their arms.
They flied the woods with their cries,
and they laughed at Tangy, mocking
her white face and sad eyes.
So passed September; and October
came with its sombre skies, its wet days,
when the pine needles stick TO the leaves
in the woods; and its days that are bit
ter cold.
Then Tangy began to suffer.
The little money left by her mother
dT-windled away.
She tried to get work in the town,
plain sewing, or even washing, but she
was repulsed with cold looks at first.
then with taun'ts, though only half
comprehended, 50 innocent was she,
sent the red blooding mounting 10 her
cheeks.
Starvation stared her in the face.
The gray skies frowned down upon
her.
The sunshine had gone out of her life
as it had gone from the hilltops about
her.
She prayed to God for sustenance in
the hour of her need; then She sat by the
dying embers of her scant hearth,
awaiting humbly the answer of her
prayer, numb, cold and half starved, yet
full of that childlike faith that we are
told is able to move mountains.
In the still hours of the night young
Darlington dreamed a dream; and in
that dream he Ibeheld Tangy on the hill
side with the sunlight about her, deep
ening all the red of the sumac leaves in
to bright crimson.
Against this brilliant background,
Tangy stood out in relief like a fine
cameo.
Her fair skin shone transparently, but
the plumpneSS was gone from her
cheek and the light from her eyes.
Her sweet face was haggaTd and
drawn, and, as in his dream. Darling
ton peered into it, her eyes grew sud
denly fixed with a look of abject horror,
and her mouth half opened as if there
had issued from her lips a dying Shrek.
She beckoned to him once, twice, with
a. hand that was thin with ernaciation,
the sight Of which Te-awakencd in him
all the fires Of love that in those weeks
Of absence had tried to smother. know
ing well no good could come of IL to
him or her. Then turning. she lost her
self in the red sumac leaves of the copse.
''Tangy, Tangy, L am coming" he
cried out in his sleep. wait, am COM
ing"
He sat up in bed, awakened by his
room mate, who shook him again and
again.
I'm the name of all that's holy, man.
he thundered, "who is Tangy?"
Then he shook Darlington again.
wake up, old fellow, and tell me all
about this Tangy."
But Darlington, now fairly shaken out
of his dream, only turned over in bed
and pretended TO sleep.
The great clock ON the school building
struck three.
He counted the strokes.
He could not sleep.
Tangy haunted him, her wan look, her
despairing eyes, and her poor, little
thin hand 'beckoning.
He rose with the first streaks Of dawn,
dressed nOiselessly, and saddled his
horse, set out over the familiar pathway
TO Tangy's home.
BY and by the sun rose and shone mel
lOyly Through a kind of haze. 1t was
the beginning of Indian summer.
His horses hoofs woke the echoes
along the hard, white pike. The brisk
air stirred the blood in his
veins.
His heart beat fast as he neared the
knob that rose above Tangy's home.
Poor little Tangyi How long it had
been since he had seen her. II should
never be so long again, he thought, with
bOyish fOndness. II she stilled loved
him, young as he was, he would take
her away and make her his wife.
He laughed aloud as he imagined her
his wife, in dainty raiment. with the
love light shining in her sweet blue
eyes.
He threw the briddle across the
horses neck, and crept through the
brushes to surprise her, to tap on the
window and surprise that look of love
he knew so well, for her face was like
mirror, revealing her every thought
The little cottage was very quiet.
She was asleep, the lazy girl; and on
such morning, with the sun shining
Justify to make up for past dark days.
Every living thing in the woods was
basking in its rays. He tapped at the
window lightly, then once again, a lit
tie louder. There was no answer, and
he walked to the door, the dead leaves
cracking under his feet.
He had never entered Tangy's cot
tase. Her drawing room had been the
hillside. She had entertained him there
in view of all the world.
II seemed q kind of sacruege TO enter
il now; but the door stood jar and he
pushed il open
Coming out OF the bright sunlight, he
Al first, saw nothing, then his eyes,
growing accustomed TO the d.mness of
the room, he saw the figure OF NO
man lying face downward on the floor
By her side sat another woman, also
upon the floor. her head bent forward
and her hands clasp about her knees.
Darlington <nelt beside the PROSTATE
woman and turned her head skhe could
see her face.
1t was Tangy.
He had known il before he looked. and
though Il was the face Of his dream. he
was not prepared for the terror Of the |
half closed eyes, or the horror Of the !
mouth. partly opened, as IL she had |
died utter.ng a CRY for help.
He raised his eyes. heavy hdded and
faxed by the shock If this terrible face /
that had once been 50 beautiful. 10 the |
bowed head of her companion.
Who has done this?' he asked her.