San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-12-19
THE : SUNDAY : LIGHT.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1897.

trimmed glasses
1T is of yourself and your own af
fairs desire to talk, Eliza You have
been exceedingly ceremonious with me
since your return. %
Liza met the issue with pretty ges
ture of despair Why should she submit
TO the probe held in that delicate, aristo
cratic hand
81 have no affairs worth discussing
Mrs Strong My mother has urged m,
coming up to the Louise, but asked he
why and she could not say. No one
here needs me now. Mile. Moncrief was
never tired of telling me that was
brought up from the quarters to study
with Gabrielle because she needed the
stimulus of competition. The tauni
made very little impression on me III
I those days Either must have been
dreadfully spiritiess little animal OF
else love carried us triumphantly over
every social barrier We knew nothing
about class distinctions then, my dar-
ling and L She loved me and l loved
her.
my daughter was very fond of You,
child. 1t was by her request that all
her things were sent to you, said the
mistress of Sans Souci in the softest
saddest of voices.
Liza's eyes were luminous with I'M
shed tears.
81 know, know / miss her so. ! go
| to see her every day."
There was something weird in this
soul communing. The narrow literal
ness of Mrs. Strong's comprehension re-
coiled from it.
"You go to see whom, Eliza? don t
grasp yonr meaning"
Gabrielle, my dearest-out there
under the pine trees in the lonely old
burying ground ON the point. She is
more real to me than you are, with your
whitening hairs and your blue veined
temples; more real to me than my
mother, who has accumulated flesh and
years. Lookr' With hand that trem-
bled perceptibly she touched bunch of
blue periwinkles pinned at her waist.
81 gathered them at the foot of her
grave. They remind me of her eyes.
go out there and tell my darling every.
thing. / should stifie to death, else. She
knows. She understands. She pities.
The pathos in her clear, young voice
was potent to move Mrs. Strong to al
act of unusual condescension. She left
the writing desk before which she haC
been sitting all this time and came ovel
to share the sofa seat with her over
seer's daughter.
"Gabriella's mother pities you, too
Eliza"
"Youl You pity me? Oh, why die
you urge my father and mother to senC
me away from them? l know it wa
meant in kindness, but what has /
done but unfit me for-them-for m,
life?
''They do not know what all thi
means to me. With Gods help the,
never shall But what am to do will
my spoiled self, my despoiled days
shorn of everything / have been edu
Gated to prize? Oh, what have you all
in your laundering kindness, done t.
me?"
1t was the irrepressible cry of a sou
in protest against the eternal unfitness Of
its environment.
Mrs. Strong put herself on the defen
sive with dizzy sense of topsy turvi
ness. What She, the mistress of San,
Souci, apologizing to Eben Martin,
daughterl
Call it a mistake, if you choose
child 1t was certainly meant in all
kindness. / must confess did not an
ticipate-all-all this. T"
IAN what, Mrs Strong?'
The lady moved uneasily under the
quiet compulsion of the girls splendid
eyes
Really, child, you understand the
art of making things difficult. OF course
you must know that you are uncom-
monty pretty"
There was more sadness than of girl
ish vanity in Liza's smile as she an.
swered:
II don't want to make things more
difficult than they are. That is the rea-
son have been tardy in paying my re-
spects to you. wanted to get myself
well in hand before came to see you
AS for my looks, mother and the boys
blessings ON their unconventional
heads-are trifie outspoken. might
be doll for the frankness of their fat
terry. Better-far better if / were
Then there would be none of this hot,
bitter, futile rebellion in my soul"
She flung her hands outward and up
ward with passionate sob. When she
removed them, it was to find Mrs Strong
leaning back among the sofa cushions
white, agitated, convicted. She wa
| aghast at the mischief she had unwit
tingly wrought
81 forgot you are not robust You ar
not going to faint, Mrs. Strong? Shall
call SuZanne!"
The lady opened her eyes languidly.
81 am not going to faint, and d
not want Suzanne. was trying 3
think of something to say to you, some
thing comforting, Eliza But | am S
agitated.
81 am sorry to have agitated you
That is why did not care to come.