The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-11-25

her-as she had so often seen It with
the actual eye from the ramparts-she
saw the clustering mass of warm red
roofs and walls, the outlying towers,
the church, the one long. straight
street; and with outstretched arms she
doomed it-doomed 1t with a perfect
senses of the Righteousness of the sem
tence.
Yet, strange to say, that which was
uppermost in her mind and steeicd her
soul and JUSTIFIED the worst, was not
her daughters wrong, but the long
years of loneliness, the hundred, nay,
the thousand petty Sights of the past,
bearable AT the time, and i'm detail, but
intOlerable in the retrospect. now hope
was gone. She dwelt on these, and the
thought of what was coming filed her
with fearful joy. She thought of
into the next room, and throwing the
light or the rough face of brickwork
that closed the great window, eyed the
cracks eagerly, and scarcely kept her
fingers from beginning the work. For
she understood the plot. One man
working silently within. in darkness,
could demoiiSh the wall in an hour;
then n whistle, rope ladders, a line
of men ascending, before midnight the
house would vOmit armed men, the
nearest gate would be seized, and the
town would lie at the mercy of the
enemy.
Presently she had to so her dauEh-
ter, but the current of her thoughts
kept the same course The girl was
sulen. and lay with her face to the
wall. and gave short answers, venting
her misery in the common human fash
ion on the one who loved her best.
The mother bore it. not. as before. in
the patience that scorned even an up
braiding but grimly, setting down each
pecvish word to the scorn that was so
soon to be paid She lay all night be-
side her child, and. in the small hours
heard her weep and felt the bed shake
with her unhappinesS; and carried the
scorn farther-farther, so that day, and
the twittering of spc:Tows. and the
booming Of early guns, took her by sur
prise. Took her by surprise-but work
ed no change in her thoughts.
She was so completely under the in
nuence of this idea, indeed. that she
felt no fear: the chance of discovery,
and the certainty in tnat event of pun
ishment without mercy, did not trouble
her in the least. She went about her
ordinary tasks until late in the after
noon; then, without preface, told her
daughter that she was going out to
seek lodging.
The girl was profoundly astonished.
"A lodging?" she cried, sitting up,
For us?"
Yes" the mother answered, coldly.
"For whom do you Think"
And you will leave this house"
"Yes."
"But whon?"
Tonight"
Leave this house--for lodging-to-
night?" the girl faltered. She could
not believe her ears. why? What
has happened?"
Then the woman, in the fierceness OF
her mood turned her arms against her
child. Need you ask?" she cried bit
tcrly. "Do yo want to go on living IN
| this house--in this house, which is your
fathers? To go in and out of this door.
and meet our kind neighbors, and talk
| with them on these steps? To wait
| here-here where every one knows you
-for-for the man who will never
| Gomez"
The girl sank back. shuddering. The
woman covered her head and went out.
Presently she returned, and in the gray
of the evening, which within the walls
fell early, the two left the house, the
| older carrying a bundle of clothes, the
younger whimpering and wondering.
and so stupefied by the suddenness OF
| the movement, and the others stern
purpose that she did not observe tnat
they had left the door on the latch, ana
the House on the Wall unguarded.
The people with whom they lad
found Il lodging. a little room under the
sharply-sloping tiles. knew them by
name and sight-that in SO small