The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1898-01-12

that acknowledgement running the coln-
missaliat department, 80 10 speak, she
did next T. nothing for him. Mis>-the
lady l spoke cf-iid everything, made
herself perfect slave 10 him. .
Bought his cluthc>:'
"Oh," erGaned the wrCtchcd man,
Il suppose 50! What did l know about
q babv'S clothes: And size Wouldn't
answer ny GuCstiCns-said Ee WAS al
right and didn't want for anything, as
! l could sec with my own eyes. | tried
| making presents, used 10 send game and
things, found out her birthday and gave
her a Jewel, took every chance / could
yet to work off The obligation, but 1t
was 40 use She gave NO a birthday
present after Id given her one. y
"Well, if moths will go into spiders
webs, " remarked his companion, they
! must take the consequences.
Sometimes they get helped out, " he
replied. Some beneticcnt, Sodlike be-
ing puts out Ill oMnipotent finger
He looked at her and she looked ut
him. At this moment they seemed TO
have known one another lntlmatel y for
years. The moon again.
Tell me everything" she said,
land III help yen out. -
So then he told lcr that he had been
giving up the habit of frequently visit
ing his son. Cowardly and weak, he
knew, but the thing was tCo contound-
edlv awkward, too embarrassing alto
gether.
But she writes She writes a full
report every week, tells me what lie
weighs and when he's gotta fresh tooth
and how he crawls about the CARPET and
into her bed of morning and initiates
the cat mewing, and drinks L don't
| know how many riuts Cf new milk Il
day, and all that sort of thing. be-
licve the rascal has the appetite Of 4
young tiger, and yet can't Iay for
what he eats. The nurse was long ago
| dispensed with, so that I've not even
| her board to send check for, that they
| might by chance make triGe Of pr0ht
ont of. 1t seems too late now to simply
| take the child away, and there leave 1t.
| haven't the unspeakable shabblneSS,
the braZen impudcnce, tic lAean self
| ishncss to do such a thing, and besides
| he might come to any sort Of grief, pGCr
| little chap, in that case There's 10
| doubt in tho world that her taking Of
| him and doing fer him have been the
salvation of bis health ard perhaps his
life. And l know by what she tells me,
| that he regularly dotes Gil her-as SO he
ought-and would howl his very head
! off if We took him from her. What
! could | do with him if l did take him:
I've no home, and nobody to look after
it if / bad, and hired servants arc the
| deuce with 4 lone man at their mercy.
| 1t would be worse now than it was at
first. And so''-with heavy sigh
| "you sec the situation. I'm just swal-
| lowed up, body and bones, drowned faith
| oms deep, in sea of debt and ohliSa-
ton that can never by any possibility
struggle out of, except
He paused and blushed.
Except" continued Rose, with the
candid air of kind and sensible sister,
"except by marrying her, you mean:
Yes, l see the situation. I appreciate
your point Of view. | should understand
it if it were not that she unquestionably
laid the trap for you deliberately, just
as that spider laid his fer moths and
fies and marriage by capture has gone
out"
"Oh, don't say that" the man pro-
tested in haste. Il would not for 4 mo-
ment accuse her of that. She was Ma
bells friend 1t was for her-it was Of
pure womanly compassion for the
motherless child at any rate i'll the be-
ginning, and even now have no right
whatever to suppose
But you know it all the same.
Every word you have said to me tells
| me that you know it. You may as well
| be frank
He squirmed little in his chair, but
| confessed as required.
"Well-but it's Il caddish thing to
say think she does expect it. And
hasn't she the right to expectit? How
| ever, that's neither here nor there. The
point is that in common honor and hon
| esty, in common manliness, | should re-
pay her if | can, and there's no. other
way-at least can t see any other way.
1t is my fault, and not hers, that
! don't take to the notion, for a better
woman never walked, nor one that
| would make better mother to the boy,
but somehow you do like to have your
free choice, don't you:'
And ought to have it., "Quoth Rose
with energy, land must have it and
shall. Now listen, Mr.. Bell''-adGrc$s-
| ing him in such Il tone of confidence and
encouragement that he felt sure she was
| going to cut his bonds forthwith. You
have asked me to help you, and l can
help you. 1t will be perfectly easy, sit
uatcd as am here. He will not miss
her after Il couple Of days, and she has
really 10 earthly right either to him or
to you, and it would give ne the great
est pleasure you can imagine. This is
what YOU must do. She leaned for
ward in her chair and gazcd earnestly
into his paling face. You must just
hand that baby over to me. ';-Exchange.
In Deep Water.
Joncs-Miss Verbose has just en-
barked on one Of her conversational voy-