The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-04-16

Il LIZ NDNyltENAN Il OAN
lady l spoke of-dld everything. Made
herself a perfect slave to him"
Bought his Clothes?"
oh" groaned the wretChed man, 81
suppose so. What did / know about
babys clothes? And she wouldn't
answer my questions-said he was all
right and didn't want for anything, as
| could see with my own eyes. l tried
making presents, used to send game
and things, found out her birthday and
save her a Jewel. took every chance /
could get to work off the obligation,
hut it was no use. She gave me a
birthday present after I'd given her
one"
"Well, if moths will go into spiders
webs" remarked his companion, they
must take the consequences
Sometimes they get helped OUT he
replied. Some beneicent gOdlikc he
ing puts out an omnipotent finger"
lie looked at her and she looked at
/ him. At this moment they seemed to
have known one another intimately for
years. The moon again.
Tell me everything" she said, "and
I II Htlp You out.
So then he told her that he had been
giving up the habit of frequently vis-
iting his son. CoWdrdly and weak, he
knew. but the thing was too Confound-
| edly awkward, too embarrassing alto
/ gether.
But she writes. She writes a full
! report every week tells me what he
weighs and when he's got a fresh tooth
| and how he crawls about the carpet
| and into her bed of morning, and Imi-
! tates the cat mewing,and drinks | don't
! know how many pints of new milk a
/ daV, and all that sort of thing. | be
/ linve the rascal has the appetite of a
| young tiger, and yet | can't pay for
/ what he eats! The nurse was long ago
! dispensed WITH so that I've not even
/ her board to send a check for, that they
| might by chance make a trinc of profit
! out of. 1t seems too late now to sim.
! ply tax" the child away, and there
! leave it; ! haven't the unSpeakable
! shahbiness, the brazcn impudenCo, the
| mean sclfshncsS, to do such a thing;
| and, besides. he might come to any sort
! of grief, poor little chap, in that case
/ There's no doubt in the world that her
! taking of him and doing for him have
! been the salvation of his health, and
perhaps his life And I know, by what
| she tells me, that he regularly dotes OF
! her-as so he oueht--and would how
! his very head of if we took him fror
| her. What could do with him if / die
take him? I've no home. and nobody
to look after it if | had, and hired ser.
wants are the deuce with a lone mar
! at their mercy. 1t would be worse now
! than it was at first. And sO"-With ;
| heavy siCh-"yOu see the situation. In
just swallowed up body and bones
drowned fathoms deep, in a sea of deb
an dObligation that | can never by any
possibility struggle out of, except
He paused and blushed.
! Except" continued Rose, with the
| candid air of a kind and sensible sis
ter, except by marrying her, NOl
mean Yes, I see the situation. | APP
| preciate your point of view. | should
understand if it were not that she un
qucstiOnably laid the trap for You de
liberatcly-just as that spider laid his
for moths and flies. And marriage by
capture has gone cut
"Oh, don't say that" the man pro
tested in haste. II would not for 1
moment accuse her of that. She wa.
Mabel's frend--it was for her-it wa:
out of pure Womanly compassion fOl
the motherless child, at any rate, il
the beginning. And even now | have
no right whatever to suppose
But YOU know it, all the same. Ev
cry word you have said to me tells ms
that you know it. You may as well b,
frank"
He squirmed a little in his chair, bu
confessed as required.
"Well-but it's a caddish thing t.
say think she does expect it. Ant
hasn't she the right to expect it? How
ever that's neither here nor there. Tn
point is, that in common honor ant
honesty, in common manliness, ! SHOULD
repay her if I can; and there's no 9th
| er Way-at least, | can't see any othe
way, 1t is my fault( and not hers, tina
| don't take to the notion, for a bette
woman never walked, nor one tina
would make better mother to III
boy. But, somehow, you do like t.
have your free choice. don't yOu?"
"And ought to have it," quoth Rose
with energy. And must have it, an,
shall. Now listen, Mr.. Bell"-address
ing him i'm such tone of cOnfidenc
and enCOura cement that he felt sur
she was going to cut his bonds forth
With-"yOu have asked me to help you
and | can help you. 1t will be perfect,
easy, situated as | am here. He vii
not miss her after a couple of days
and she has really no earthly righ
either to him or to you. and it wOul
give me the greatest pleasure you ca,
imagine. This is what you must do
she leaned forward in her chair an
gazed earnestly into his paling face
"you must just hand that baby over t