Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-03-24

as dog that you have kicked" said
Master Win. "and wished had been one.
| too. For the woman came and leaned
upon me-faugh-and paved my hair and
would have burst, or, it may be. clouted
| her on the ear. Had I not remembered
| that she was our only hope-indeed. but
for Your mothers sake and Anna's-I
| would let drive at the bosom with my
| foot"
| 1 said something here
"Oh, that be hanged for tale. CWill did
| not often swear) 1 knew 1
| clapped eyes on her that the trollop was no
| more of a lady than Tip. our cat, that
rakes the roofs in the midnight! And as |
| say, II 1t had not been for your mother, 1
| would have knitted her and thrown her
| over the window to the dogs. like that
other bosom in the Bible-Jezebel. was that
| not her name? 1 heard Mess John read
| 1t was, too!''
| Then all suddenly / had ease indeed"
| VIII went on, for 1t CHANGED that Jezebel
| looked out of the window over my Shout
| der, and there upon the plaza she saw
| King Ahab kneeling. if you please on the
| hard mud to our Anna, decked out like a
| stripping from an play-acting booth. all fine
| with beads and tags and gauds And she,
well-looking down at him like the little
| vixen she is
| Well-then tell you. she was in rare
| taxing: My lady thought no more of
breathing down my neck. By the head of
Noll, will a cat lick her paws when she can
| lick cream? Jezebel stamped her foot and
| clenched her hands, looking as IL she
| would have leaped down from the win
| dow upon the pair of them. She strobe UP
and down like one of Lays troopers in a
| covenanting house. and when at last the
door opened 1 expected her every moment
| TO lily at Anna as she came in.
And she would. too-only that. the Don
came first. and the brunt OF her anger fell
on him. He auailed and stammered-as,
| indeed. you heard him. His own fine Cas-
| lillian failed him in the hour of need as if il
| mad been foreign tongue.
| Foul toad, spawn of mud bank she
cried, you would betray me to my face,
and that with a silly. ape-faced girl, the
slave of slave? BY our lady will mar
| her. She shall no longer witch fools with
her upward glances. l will pluck out her
| eyes-pyke them corbies do"
AT this. thinking that she would do even
| as she said, l came between. In a moment
| she had a dagger drawn on me- the which
| she stuck through my forearm Then
| plucking 1t out again she flew like a fury
| upon Anna. and if you. Philip. had not got
ten between them, | trow she would have
had it in her heart
Thus far, Will 1 may as well tell the
rest in my own plain tale. l dbl step be-
tween the two, for Anna kept her ground
saliantly as the wife of the commandante
rushed at her with dagger uplifted
Hold, Janet Mark 1 cried loudly catch
| ing hold of her; do not kill your own
child"
She struggled wildly for a minute as I
held her by the wrist
She is your own child your little Anna
Mdih. repeated IN a calrner tone.
And the second time the spoken words
did not fail of their effect
Little Anna Mark she repeated after
me, uncertainty, pausing between each
word.
AYE, Anna Mark indeed" 1 continued;
the babe you babe farewell to on the steps
of Moreham kirk. l kennel YOU Janet
Mark even as soon as l clapped eyes on
your
1 expected every moment that she would
turn on me and order us all to the gallows,
being in fear lest her husband should dis
cover her for the thing she was. But mis-
judged the woman. Sin like this womans
debases the heart, but it does not kill nat
ural affection
She looked at Anna long and keenly, The
sti1etto or thin-bladed albacete knife
dropped from her hand She ran forward,
caught her daughter by the shoulders, and
eagerly perused her features.
1T Gamma belt canna-it Gamma" she
cried aloud in country speech; This is no
my wee lass-my bonny wee lass that l
left sac far awa'r'
Anna stood mute. looking Questioningly
from one to the other of US.
This is indeed little Anna Mark" said
my mother, speaking for the first time,
but Philip doats. You are not her mother.
Her mother was an evil woman,
deress. She was transported for her crime.
She was sold for slave in the plantations
of Carolina
Now, thought I, we are done for in
deed.
Recognizing hostile voice, Janet Mark
turned on my mother.
who you?" she said, with a sud
denly whitened face.
Il am Philip Stansfield's wife" answered
my mother calmly. land this is my SON.
Janet Mark lifted her hands and hid her
| face in them.
Phillip Stansfied's wife," she murmured.
and again. Philip Stansfield's wife, God
be mercful to me sinner
Then she turned to where her husband.
Don Nicholas, standing. open-mouthed.
not understanding a word of our discourse.
but following with hungry curiosity every
gesture and action.
She held out hand to him.
Take me away" she said in Spanish.
She kept her eyes averted from Annals
pale face, with its look of wondering inno-
cence, in which was yet no fear.
My little Anna Mark she repeated
wistfully. like one in a dream.
And as the door closed upon the COM
mandante and his wife my mother sank
down in a dead faint into Will Bowmans
arms. Anna and 1 looked at each other,
while Eborra's mother muttered incanta-
ton after incarnation il to appease an
angry demon.
And truly all the demons of circumstance
and misfortune seemed to dog our track,
and for the first time in all our wander
ings l began to despair.
CTo be continued)
Discourtesy in Public Places