The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-12-28

"This bitter night! Is it any bit
terer than the New Years eve four
years ago? You were not so consid-
crate then"
AS the cruel taunt fell upon her ear,
the proHd woman shrank and quivered
as if beneath a physical wound, and
her husband, turning to the Italian
girl, who at his entrance had risen and
stood fixing her great dark eyes upon
him in mournful entreaty, he harshly
said: "Thc poorhouse is not mile
from here, and it is meant for such as
you-go to it,
II know not where it is, good gentle
man. and the weather is very hard,
and the child so little"
"My child was turned out of his
home in just as hard a night as this
four years ago, and do you think l
will let beggars brat enjoy that home
while he is wandering shelterless, and
there, there, 90! You cannot stay
here to-night-you cannot stay. Go
to the p"orl,u~e-n'!
He opened lii. door as he spoke. and
the girl walked proudly out, casting a
look as she passed upon him who thus
pitilessly dismissed her that well
matched his own; but noticing it only
with frown, Morton allowed her to
pass, closed and locked the door, and,
placing the key in his pocket, turned
upon his wife, who, absorbed in her
own bitter musings, had hardly noticed
what he was doing until now.
"There, now, go to your own bed,
and lie there listening to the wind and
the bowling of the sea, as l do night af-
ter night, and tonight, of all nights in
the year, fancying he may be whom
you turned out to perish-you, the
woman whose fine feelings and tender
pity must call in beggars and their
brats from far and wide to warm them
at my fire, and feed them with my food,
and pet and pamper them, while my
only child is vagrant and wanderer
upon the face of the earth"
He strobe from the room, and she
whom he thus bitterly accused covered
down to the floor, and crouched there,
weeping bitterly her pride, her beauty
her very womanhood abased to the
dust
The hours went on, and still she sat
moaning there, while the fire died
down, and the stillest, darkest, coolest,
bitterest time of that bitter night came
creeping in its deathly chill over the
earth. So, crouching, her tears and
sobs all exhausted, and torpid apathy
came to replace them, Mary Morton
heard the feeble wall of child's voice
the last despairing cry of one ready to
perish, as it seemed, close beside her,
and presently traced it to the closed
door through which her husband had
elected mother and child hours before
She tried to unlasten the door; then,
recollecting herself, flew up the stairs
and confronted the stern, unsleeping
eyes of her husband, still dressed. and
only thrown recklessly upon his i. d.
"Give me that key!' demanded the
wife, her eyes blazing with mood as
resistless as a tornado--a mood once
not 80 uncommon in a proud woman's
life, and manifested now for the first
time in four long, terrible years. "Give
me that key, / say. That woman and
her child lie dying at your door, MUIR
dered by your cruelty? You, to dare
to blame me, and now have done what
| would never do. The key, the key,
l say!'
He silently drew it from his pocket,
and, scizing it, she flew down the
stairs; and he, after moments hcsita-
tion, followed more slowly, for his con-
science had already accused him sorely,
and his wife's bitter words had Sec
onded his motions.
He found her leaning over a pros
trate figure, huddled together upon
the doorstep, and, as he stopped to
help her raise it up, she wildly cried:
Yes, lift the corpse of her you have
slain, and offer it q sacrifice to the
memory of your son, as all these years
you have sacrificed my living heart with
one torture after another"
"Wife, you talk willly-you are be-
side yourself But this is not the time
for us to speak of ourselves, with the
poor creature lying here"
He raised her in his arms and carried
her through the kitchen to the dining
room, and laid her upon low, broad
lounge; then removing the shawl en-
veloping head and neck, exposed the
lovely classic face, all its rich color
faded to ashen pallor, the lips drawn
apart sufficiently to show the line of
glittering teeth, the eyes closed, and
the last tears they had shed frozen in
the long eyelashes lying so dark upon
the palld cheek.
"She is very beautiful SAID the
man.
"She is dead said the woman, and
without more words removed the wall
ing child from the mothers stiffened
clasp, wrapping it warmly, and laid i:
beside the register from the furnace,
where it Immediately fell asleep. Then