The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-11-11
1nk.nL a. IL A hd1 "a
THE Dl0RTGnGE 0N R0DERIGK DHU.
BY ANNE HAMILTON DoNNELL.


''She nights well've said it" she
thought, bitterly. "She nights
well've said, you don't iron 'em
smooth enough, Tilly Gamble, an
you wouldn't wash 'em clean.
guess / knew what she meant. Poh,
l should hope you amt goin' to cry,
Tilly, or I'm ashamed O. you, yes 1
ami
But in the night Ti!ly's tears per-
sisted in pushing their way out. She
could not wink them back. In her
plain little nightgown she sat up
straight in bed and gazed into the
darkness unseeingly. Mechanically
she put out her hand and patted Roddy
DOCS warm little body beside her
over and over again; it comforted her.
Somebody else has got to let me
iron," she was thinking. ''Pve got
to do something. lift I don't, an
an the money gets all gone, then
I'll have to carry Roddy boo to the
'sylum-Oh, 1 can't, L can't"
Poor little Tiily! The thought of
that was more than even her stout
little hearfcould bear--to have Roddy
Doc taken away from her! 1t had
stared her in the face ever since her
mother died. That was nearly a year
ago now.
If Mis- Primble an Miss Kath'ripe
had given her up an the Peters
moved away-''an' they're goin' to-"
moaned Tilly in the dark; what should
she do? She couldn't 60 out to work
there wss Roddy Doo And the
money-mother's money-was almost
gone.
Another trouble-but Tilly would
not think OF that-was the little shanty
house they lived in. By and by the
man that owned the land was going to
tear it down and build great, new
house. By and by,-its very indefi-
niteness comforted .Tilly, and there
were nearer dangers now to brood
over. Until ''by and by" she and
Roderick Dhu were permitted to live,
rent free, in the tiny, unkempt house.
"But you can't live in free houses
without eatin'," ran on the child's
anxious thoughts: can you can't eat
when there aje't anything, an folks
won't let you iron their clothes. Oh,
dear met
It was very late when at last the
stiff little figure swayed back on the
pillow asleep. There followed hard
days for Tlly. She hardly knew how
she got through them, the load on
her heart was SO heavy and the dread
of the "'sylum" loomed so before
her.
The Peters moved away, and, one
by one, Tilly's slender little means of
support seemed to desert her. She
kept her trouble to herself. and, when
there was no help for it, she set her
little white teeth and got Roddy Doc
ready. 1t was very short process.
The night before the day she had set
to carry him to the orphan asylum she
lay awake all night, with the baby in
her arms and his sweet, warm breath
tanning her cheeks. Her trembling
fingers pa.ted him necessarily, hour
after hour.
Just as the faintest daylight began
to creep into the world Tilly's inspi-
ration came to her. 1t took away her
breath. 1t set her pulses beating
with wild, triumphant JOY. She
hugged Roddy Doc fiercely against
her breast and then crooned over him
till he went to sleep again.
'tI'il do il. I'll do it, she whis-
pered. '1'll 60 today--oh, I'm goin'
to keep Roddy Doo-I've found
way!"
Gershom Flint was the richest and
the hardest man in Prospectville
People said he had been keen and
snug and hard as his own name. The
boys nicknamed him Skin Flint, aud
to all appearances he admirably fitted
the unsavory name About half the
houses in the town were under mort
gage to Gershom betide
them,-and 4 sharper man could not
easily have been found to carry so
many of other peoples burdens.
That was what people said. If old
Mary Jessup, who had kept Gershom
Flint's house for him for 20 years,
thought different, no one knew it. If
she could have told of many quiet
good deeds done duringall these years,
she never did tell. Her face, as grave
and stern as her masters, was as in
scrutable. They lived their lonely,
uneventful lives in apparent indiffer
ence to people andpeople's tongues.
At his breakfast one day Mary in
terrupted him in an unusual war She
was smiling, and her master felt a
sudden wonder that he had never seen
before how really good looking Mary
was.
There's some young ones to see
you, sir, Mary said. They come to
the front door, an they're waitin'.
There's little gal an baby"
''Childcen-to see mel" Gershom