The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-07-23

GO q
y word" said Selma,
and to my mind, Mr.. Tolley, it's a
bit ola pity it ever went so far
GAS how?" said Bale. He was very
gloomy and quiet, and unlike himself,
and she had ceased to feel afraid Of
him.
In this wise, Mr.. Tolley," she an
swered. II never chose your com
pany, and l never liked it. I look
on what you've said to me as a
liberty. And defy you to say 1 ever
showed you a sign of encouragement
to It. "
That's true enough, said Bale
gravely, and without touch Of irony.
I'll do you that much credit. You've
made it pretty clear as you disliked me
from the beginning"
"And that, the girl retorted, els
why 1 look on what you've said in the
light of a liberty, Mr.. Tolley."
1T won't be repeated" Bale an
swered. Good night"
He fingered as if in expectation of
an answer, but the girl turned away
without a word. The garden gate
clicked behind her, and Bale was left
standing in the roadway.
"Well," he said to himself, 'it's
what I looked for, and it fits my
merits" He pulled handful of loose
tobacco from one pocket Of his jacket
and a pipe from the other. Then,
having stood for a minute or two with
out a movement, he filled his pipe, lit
it, and walked away.
The girl meanwhile had reached the
cottage kitchen. She took candle
stick from the high chimneypiece, and
set it ON the table with an angry
emphasis. She stirred the waning
fire with the same petulance, and,
having thrust a thin silver OF two of
wood between the bars, she knelt
down before the CRATE and famed the
embers with her apron. When they
blazed she drew out one of the sticks
and lit the candle. As the wick be-
gan to burn she looked up and gave a
faint cry at the sight of an unexpected
figure in the room.
'Mother" she said, with a hand
upon her heart "How you frightened
mel'
Hast no cause to be afraid O. me,
wench, her mother answered. so
Bales got the sack, has he?"
"Got the sack?" Selma echoed.
"No. He was never in my service. o
''He never got any wages, poor
lad" said the old woman. "That's
another matter, however, In yom
service he has been this three year.
"Well," returned Selma, 81 never
had any truck with him, and I never
wanted any. And now, if that's what
he wanted to know, he knows it. "
Yes" said the old woman, knitting
away with the same tranquility, "yor
let him know it. "
why, mother" cried the girl
'what would you have me do? Die
you expect me to say 'Yes! to him?'
NO, my dear. 1t would ha' give1
me rare sore heart to hear it. Blu
I've known him since the day he was
born, and I've been sorry for hin
many time. He's a nobody's child
poor Bale is. He was bred on charity
and he was made to feel it. He's gon,
wrong, my dear, like a good man,
more, because he'd hardly ever tn
chance to go right; but there was tn
makin's of fine man in him. Yol
was quite right to say him nay, but
could wish as you'd been gentle will
him.
Selma lit a second candle and sa
down beside it with her sewing.
ellis father was travelin coniur
or, said the old woman, after a lon
pause. 81 saw him once alive, and
finer figure of man l never saw.
helped to lay him out, poor fellow
that same night. He broke his back
bone with a cannon ball dom som
iuggier's trick with it. They said a
the time he was in liquor, and he'd II
right to do q dangerous thing Xix