The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-05-26

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nearer to it,
At the end Of this conversation | wa!
as much in the dark as had been a
the beginning.
But one thing had been borne in up
on my mind very forcibly Of late. an,
that was the change in Susan Ellen
Ever since that memorable night sh.
had been a different girl, and seemed
only the shadow Of her former self.
l attributed this state of things to
morbid, oversensitive conscience which
would persist in attaching great blam,
to herself for having left out that win
dow sash. One phase Of her charac
ter, however, l was at a loss to ac
count for, and that was the sudder
and unaccountable aversion she ha(
taken to Aunt Samyra's poor old vel
low cat.
Formerly, remembered, she had
been the cats greatest champion, and
many . time had shared meal with
pussy; but now she actually shivered
il the animal happened to brush
against her.
But 1t was many years before l dis.
covered the cause of that aversion
Aunt Samyra was dead; pussy had
died and been buried by me with
many tears under the cypress tree in
the back yard; Susan Ellen had mar
riede Mr.. Wentworth. the young man
who had been her escort to the concert,
the night of Uncle Ralph's death; the
old home had been broken up and l
was drifting about the world in an
aimless way.
Susan Ellen had invited me to spend
a week with her, and as her husband
was away on business, we had ample
opportunity for the exchange of long
condolences about old times.
One night, as we sat by the fire, the
subject happened to turn on Aunt
Samyra's old yellow cat, asked her
why 1t was that she took such a sud
den and unaccountable aversion to that
poor animal?
, 1T is something I have often want
ed to tell you," she answered. but
somehow always shrank from doing
SO. At first I was afraid, and after
ward I just kept putting it off because
l knew l ought to have told it at first.
You remember the night Uncle Ralph
was killed?"
II certainly do"
"Well, that evening went to a con-
cert with Mr.. Wentworth. We got
home about 1890 and stood talking
at the front gate a few minutes, he
meanwhile calling my attention to the
comet, which was then the universal
topic Of conversation. I felt guilty
standing at the gate, for Aunt Samyra
had often told me not to do so. and
involuntarily glanced toward the
house, expecting to see her looking at
me. Instead, two curious objects in
Uncle Ralph's window caught my
eye.
"You remember It was such bright
moonlight that one could see very dis
tinctly; you remember, also, about my
washing the windows just before I'm
Gle Ralph came to visit us. The bot
tom sash was In, but hoisted on
piece Of broomhardle so as to take
the place Of the top sash, leaving the
bottom Of the window open.
Nov then, on the window sill,
walking backwards and forwards,
looking at the comet, too, l suppose,
was Aunt Samyra's old yellow cat,
while Uncle Ralph, with his head
poked out from the window, was also
the comet with rapt in
tentness.
my first feeling was one Of guilty
he was looking at the comet
now, to be sure, but if he were to
glance in my direction, and then to tell
Aunt Samyra!
while l hesitated what to do, pus-
81 began running herself against the
piece of broom-handle that held up
the window. The broom-handie am
afraid, had been put up in very
insecure fashion; l realized
this in a flash 8s noticed Uncle
lalph's pistol lying on the window
sill. And had barely realized it when
the broom-handle slipped, the window
came down on the pistol, and you
heard the shot, and know the rest"
She paused and took deep breath.
And now l want to know which
was responsible for the murder, the
cat or the cOmet?"