The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1898-12-17
You Have the Cecil Wings Best Wishes for Prosperous New Year.

I'm Hetty, who used to give you mint
stick. Santa Claus is coming tomor-
row"
A door opened and the mother of the
child called the little one.
ooh. how do you do, Mrs. Thorn?"
said IIet.
Come here, Alice" said the woman
and grasped the child and bore her
away Het laughed.
Her face was very cheerful as she
walked away, followed by the glances
of the women. Her face was very
cheerful as she went along steadily,
without haste, no evidence of confusion
about her. She went past all the holi-
day haste and confusion as far as the
park and sat down on bench there,
looking straight before her. Snowfakes
dropped round her, upon her; sparrows
came close and hoped to her feet, and
she did not pay any attention. The
hours passed, o'clock came and the
whistles of factories discharging their
hands for the day. Morgan's hands
We're also discharged, she thought. She
was miles away from Morgan's, but she
could see one of the hands, thinner
than he used to be-" going to his room,
where he cooked for himself"
She flung up her head. She would
not think. A furrow came between her
brows. Six o'clock! Labor had also
stopped in that picturesque" place
from which she had come in the morn
ing, and-who had called the place
picturesque" All, the pretty girl in
the car, the girl who spoke of willing
sacrifices.
She started to her feet. She could
not rest. She had rested for two
years. The electric lights flashed out
as she went down the handsome ave-
nue., her feet sore from the unusual
strain put upon them, but tireless. She
passed by elegant houses. She Won
dered if the pretty girl lived in one of
them. She walked and walked, any
where, anywhere, and all round her
were happy faced people, some bearing
huge trees of evergreen to be trimmed
tonight amid jollity and pleasure. Ev-
erybody seemed to have bundles. Wag-
ons ratified past loaded down with mys-
FERROUS packages, and everything was
haste-happy haste. Lights glowed in
the windows of the houses brighter
than on any other night in the year De-
licious scents of cXtraVagant cookery
assailed her nostrils from areas. The
sky had cleared. Myriads of stars shone
above her. one in the east gloWed like
a beacon. The star in the east! All
this happy preparation came from the
: first rising of the star in the east! And
tomorrow would be Christmas day!
Even the picturesque" place from
which she had come would have its
share in the rejoicing.
Seven o'clock! Eight, Then she made
for one point. eXhilarated, glad. Walk
ing and walking. she came to it. She
was on bridge, where people paced in
couples, in groups - lovers quarrelers
; ana worse Strangely enough, she
thought again of the pretty girl in the
car and wondered if che" had called
and met papa" She looked over at
the water. 1t was like the crinkly hide
of Il creeping beast oily. thick.
Was there nothing else for her to do
before that? Harry! She faded away
into the gloom. \ clock struck 9! How
her mother and Lizzie must be worry
ing!
She got into the region of Morgan's
and found shop open and inquired
where Ludlow lived She found the
house. The windows We're all dark.
Harry must have a back rOom where
he sat and read after working hours.
She would like to have seen his window,
just for . moment to have singled out
his window.
She was still looking up at the front
of the house when the door opened. She
jumped aside. She thought it might be
Ludlow coming out. and she could not
face him. But n woman had come to
the doorway and stood there. Once more
Het looked mp to the front of the house.
Then she turned away. At the corner
she looked back. The woman still stood
in, ba win
all black She rounded a corner, and the
house was gone.
Now for the long. cool rest, away
from thought and the dire effort to sup
press it, Her mother should have peace.
Lizzie should not have n living shame.
She was in the glare of an electric
light, and she sped across the street
and got into hyway.
Then to the river-the river, Walk
ing, stumbling along. she heard its
plash. its unrest. so monOtonous that it
was like rest. She was under the bridge
now, creeping along by Shiny stones.
Hush! Was that some one following?
Mo- it must have been her own feet over
the flints. She reached the corner of a
pier and looked down at the tide so near
her feet. Suppose that pretty girl in the
car should
A clock struck 10, The train she
should have taken for the west was
gone!
She looked up to the sky. Her eyes
on that eastern star, she suddenly said
aloud, "Mother."-her heart calling for
companiOnship in the hour of her great
Observation-Disclosures,
Then her arms outstretched. her body
swaying over the black river, one other
name rang out upon the night. Harry,
Harry Harry" and she let herself drop.
But there was an arresting force She
felt herself drawn back.
"Hetty," voice said, 'I saw you. I
followed you. I knew this was the day
when you would come from that place,
and I was restless and walked the
streets till now. My girl you shall not
keep me from you any longer 1 love
you more today than l ever did before.
, Look at me, look at me, Hetty, my
poor girl, my dear wife. You shall keep
Christmas with me - Christmas, the
time of love and-forgiveness."
Her head went back on his shoulder
from sheer weakness and his eyes look
ed down into hers. Il never did it," she
murmured family. II will tell you now,
when it is all over and only you and
God ora paor IF was moor father Won