Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1898-10-01
John MarShall'S Sphere
CONTINUED from srd psge.)


that'd make her = good husband, and
she's deserted her ole, blind gran father
that's KEEP home over her head the
best he could, worl1in day in and day
out to do it. Henceforrard amt got
no granddaughter. El," strengthening
himself, Gift me down the family BIZ
J BILE Find me the place O. the births -
The miller took the book from the fair,
white CLOTH Polly had ever kept it in to
protect it. "Now, her NAME" the net
maker said, and the miller guided his
gnarled finger TO a certain line. Here
/ cast her off," Dampening his finger,
he ran it across name, leaving a long
black smear upon the white surface 81
| amt got nobody in all the wide world
that's got my blood in EN-" And he fell
back in the miller's arms. crying aloud
for Polly, his dead daughters child, the
girl be had worked for all her life.
Marshall left the two men. He wan
dered about the place for an hour or
more, ringing in his ears. When he
returned to the house, the netmaker
informed him that as there was no one
to keep the house it would be forthwith
closed, the miller having offered to pro-
vide for the forsaken old man for the
rest Of his life or until something
| might be heard regarding Polly.
Marshall packed his bag On the 9th
Of August he was in his native city
once more, a hot, sweltering city. A
pile Of letters awaited him, for he had
not left any address behind him when
he went away in search of nature, and
the epistles had accumulated. There
was but one from Jane Cristowell. Jane
told him that the viscount she had met
on the Adriatic had gone beyond all
precedent and begged her to admire him
sufficiently to accept him, the title of
viscountess and house in the Faubourg
st. German. She had sent the viscount
adrift, and she laughed at him when
ever she thought of him. Then, after
all, did Jane care little for the man
she would marry? He softly laid the
letter aside. He staid indoors all dav.
Toward evening he opened his bag and
emptied it of its contents. Out fell a
handkerchief with piece of paper In
its folds
II took your money to pay for my
ticket to Memphis, - wrote Polly. ct
think you understand me better than
the rest, and maybe if I'd been in your
sphere we'd been more friendly. don't
love FL and L can't marry him be-
cause
"Ahar' cried Marshall, shifting his
| forehead "What an idiot 1 have been
not to see the truth. She writes, Il
don't love FL and can't marry him be-
cause love somebody else Poor Polly,
you love somebody else and can't marry
10 nd
the title of viscountess because She If
Jane loved me, would she write only of
the viscount and how she couldn't help
laughing at him every time she thinks
of him? 1 fear he was sans teeth, sans
everything, even bank account. For
give me, Jane, but 1 am not we'll &C
quainted with you yet But Jane has
lots of protectors--her father and me-.
and whom has Polly? Not that cur
mudgeon of grandfather, with his
melodramatic striking Of her name from
the family Bible; not the miller Has
she nobody to befriend her, nobody TO
| save her? She has. She shall not die if
fool and a snob can do anything. And
would Jane refuse to let me go TO Mem
| phis after the poo, little woman?''
That night he went toward Memphis
When he reached the city, he under
stood the horror of a sickness ne had
only hitherto read about. He heard
| the tap, tap of the hammers ON the rude
implanted collins He saw the long
trenches which were graves for 20 at a
time Sisters in black gowns and stiffiy
starched caps fitted noiselessly past
him III the awful heat, entering houses
with the mark ON them, He saw thieves
| bearing forth valuables which only the
dead might claim. And where WIS
Polly?
Hewent from station to station. EpeE
the commission could tell him nothing.
he took to questioning the sisters when
he met them, for Poliy's love of the uu-
known man appealed to him as nothing
had ever before appealed to him. He
would find her, restore her to the man
she cared for, maybe set the man up in
business If he were poor. Yet how could
he be poor when Polly loved him enough
to die for her love-pOor Pollyl
A sister approached him. He was
about TO address to her the inquiry he
had made a hundred times when she
| forestalled him.
''Mr. Marshall?' she asked quietly.
| ''Sister, 1 am searching for young
| girl named Polly Lasher, he said in
return. For two days / have looked
| for her here. -
81 came from her, the sister said
"She saw you pass by yesterday, and
she begged me to watch for you and
| give you this. - He took the paper she
held out to him, wondering, and read
in Polly's irregular writing: Il couldn't
pay back the money, h-t ycu'n forgive
me- Please remember the time told
| you I'd seen you at Katco-you remem-
bered me, you know. I'd often seen you
with the children in Katco before that
| day you saw me. When / knew you
saw me, l came home 1t was after I
had seen you that 1 couldn't care for FL
no more. told you in a note / slipped
in your handkerchief loved some one
4 haci doc I'll fc Won I 1xscca1 xv>,, kI,o