The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-03

waved his hand.
This is my place." he said. MY own
till can no longer pay the rent This
is the Palace of the Poet-the outward
sign Of his wealth and success"
Tell me. will you?-what has happen
cd?"
He buried his face in his hands. Il can
not" she head him murmur from that re-
treat oh! 1 cannot tell you. Even
now"
Then. why did you send for me2 Tell
me at once or I will go away" She
stamped her foot impatiently. Have you
have you-disgraced yourself?"
THE Book-the Poems-the First Fruits
Of my genius" he stammered. MY hope
| my dream"
"Well?''
The returns; they came in at last. They
had sold-they had sold"
"Wen?"
MOT one single copy. Not one single
! copy. Eliza Scholastica-I mean Elsie
1 was crushed-I am crushed still. They
turned me out of my piace-I don't Won
| der al it'll think l had gone silly. 1
/ was stunned and went about foolish, not
able TO see anything right. And now I've
] come to the end of my money. And l sent
for you, Elsie" he rose and pointed 90
the window beneath which stood a sofa,
in order that you may I'M
derstand why. die am an
other Chatterton. The cold world
has killed me. You can tell the cold
world so, on Tuesday morning. l have no
money; no employment; no friends
IN London. l will die in
the moonlight like any other poet
Come, come tomorrow evening and see
me stretched out like him, beneath the
window in the pale light of the moon"
we will go and have some dinner to-
gether somewhere" she said, preserving
total absence of sympathy with this
project After dinner we will talk again
AS for the poems, she produced the vol
ume from her pocket See! / always
carry the book. The yare-" she made
an effort, and succeeded-it ought to have
been Obvious, but it was not-"they are
wonderful; they are truly beautiful!'
"Oh! Elise!" He took her hand and
burst into tears-real tears of sorrow, con-
ISOLATION and relief. They were also the
tears which hunger readily encourages.
CHAPTER IV.-INSPIRATION.
They dined at a Holborn tavern, Elise
paying the modest bill After dinner thew
went back to Gray's Inn and climbed the
stairs again. The unfortunate poet spoke
no more of Chatterton. He had djned .
physical comfort had returned. and with
IL the desire of life. The November day
was now closing. 1t began to get dark.
snail we have candles?' asked Elise
Ihere are none the poet replied "Af-
ter dark | go and walk about"
II is cold. viii you light the fire?"
Ihere are no Goals" he said Last
night went out and cut away a bannis-
GER ana burned 1t. Shall I get another?'
No; must go soon.'
She sat down feeling wretcbed and ba1o
less How to help a great hungry man
when one has no more than f70 year?
She then, in the twilight became aware
that there was bottle on the sideboard.
and that the poet was pouring out small
glassfuls of the contents and tossing them
on. by the fragrance she concluded that
the bottle contained whisky.
If you have no money" she said how
can you buy whisky? And why do YOU
! drink it?"
Il drink it," he said, because 1t makes
me forget. When 1 drink it all kinds of
Things come into my head-things that 7
| have seen in the streets: they come hack
tome changed-giorifed" He poured. out
another glass and drank it. 9."Oh. It is
splendid. They work out into stories while
! l walk about-they do ii all by Themselves
without my helping a bit. In the morning
forget them" He tossed off another
glass After this bottle is finished there
| will be no more. Then 1 shall initiate
| Chatterton's example and go off grace
fully"
II cannot understand you. But YOU
brighten me with your talk of Chatterton
| and your drinking"
The visions come, 1 tell you. Not in
| verse-that is the wonderful part of If
! There isn't any verse at all-not a single
poem. Since the miserable volume came
out L haven't had the heart to write anv
more poems
We'll, why not write what YOU call the
visions? 1t would be something to do.
And there is no chance of your getting
them published, at any rate"
They come, he went on. taking another
glass when have got to certain stage.
I'm nearly there now Shall tell YOU 90
He turned upon her eagerly. zone is
| coming now. Shall / tell you? Some
times they're wonderful"
In the dark room, in the narrow. nnisera-
! BILE garnet, the young man began to tell
the vision of the evening. He walked up
and down in the short limits of the room.
He talked rapidly; he spoke as if he was
seeing and describing and reporting a
thing. When it came to dialogue il was
as If the people of his Imagination were
actually speaking.
Elise sat up, listening. Good heavens!
He was inspired. Could a man with euoh
powers of imagination as this write eucn
poor and lifeless verse?
re IlHlSneQ. AT the conclusion his speech
was somewhat thick and his shoulders a
little heavy. She got up and put the cork
In the bottle. Drink no more tonight. 3"
she said. Promise me. You have had
your vision Promise me. l will send YOU
something to go on with. You shall drink
again if you like tomorrow. l will lone
again soon
/ He promised. He threw himself down
upon the sofa, without thinking of Char
| teTton, and fell fast asleep.
Elise left him. AS she opened the door
she looked back. The moonshine actually
streamed in through the window and fell
upon the sleeping figure. She shuddered.
for il looked like the dead figure of Chat
terton. But purpose was in her mind
She hurried down the empty staircase and
found an omnibus in Holborn.
Half through the night the girl wrote.
She wrote as she remembered, word for
word. the vision which had been revealed
by the poet. When she had finished she
put the sheets together and left them. In
the morning she read them over before
going off to her work. Yes it was a strong
story, a fiery story a story full of life
and passion. She was herself amazed at
! the strength of IL and the fire of II Che