The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1901-03-08
SCARLET
AND GOLD.
THE STORY OF A GIRL AND A
BRITISH SOLDIER.

brick pierced near the ground W1tn CABIN
windows, through which one may see
brawny men with bare arms and shirts
open to the waist raking the furnaces
that never die; powerful fellows are
these, and In the fierce heat and dazzling
glare the sweat stands upon their brows
and breasts and arms until they seem life
like figures cast In redhot gold. Upon the
other side 10 a building which would be
pretty anywhere, but which by virtue OF
the contrast with It's opposite neighbor Is
worthy Of being perpetuated on canvas
by some master Of the brush.
It Is q small cottage built Of white
washed cob and covered with q steep
roof Of old tiles. 1t stands end on to the
street, and facing the front door Is a
barn exactly like the cottage save that II
has NO windows The intervening garden
space il protected by a wooden fence,
home made of odds and ends of timber,
so that some Of 1t Is of upright planks
and some of 1t Of undressed poles laid
horizontally, the whole looking unconsid-
cred and naturally artistic. A kissing
gate In the middle Of the fence-1 wonder
Ii there such another gate In London?-
gives access to the garden. and the only
touch Of modern days upon the place is
q gas lamp on the cinder footpath.
It was In September, and the westering
sun fell upon the place, bringing out all
the rich glow In the tiles, tinging the cob
walls with a rosy flush and concentrating
itself In the scarlet flowers of hedge of
beans and In the reds and yellows Of q
bank Of single dahlias. Already the gas
In the lamp had been lighted, but the
flame showed wan and sickly against the
clear blues and ambers In the sky. An
old man In q frayed black coat was sitting
In a Windsor chair by the open door, a
clay pipe In his nervous fingers and q
white mug with blue band round II
standing full of beer close by him on the
window sill. And by the gate, with her
back to the old man, stood a girl Of two
or three and twenty listening to what he
said, with a sad and tired expression on
her face, listening passively, making no
reply.
She was q superb specimen Of young
womanhood, with grandly nodded limbs
and a head of more than common power
borne proudly on the round white column
Of her throat and neck, womanly wom-
an, too. with large eyes curtaind by soft
lashes, and a mouth of which the sweet
ness softened the determined squareness
of the Jaw In the mellow evening light,
which brought out every color In mar
Vicious degree, her lilac blouse became q
thing Of beauty, emphasizing the strong
and supple roundness Of her arms and
falling gently on the soft curves Of her
bosom. Only the look of apathy marred
the perfection of the picture that she
made, and when for a moment 1t vanish
ekd at something her grandfather said 1t
was replaced by an expression Of disgust,
almost of dread.
His voice rose thin and querulous:
"I'm not driving you to it. I'm not put
ting any what you might call compulsion
on you to do 1t. I'm only asking why you
won't do 1t, and that's what l want to
know"
He paused, waiting for the answer he
did not seem to expect:
"The rent was paid on Friday, and the
club was paid today, and there's five and
ninepence left, and that's the last. 'Tisn't
for my sake I'm asking you to do 1t.
S'pose it's only fancy that there's any
disgrace In going to the Union. But,
fancy or not, the mother thinks there Is,
and she don't want to go. And l don't
want her to go. And l can't save her
from going. And you can"
The sentences came slowly, punctuated
BY full stops, but the girl did not move,
and the old man sucked at his empty
pipe and spoke again.
"Seven and forty years ago she came
here, and it's hard that a woman who's
lived so long in a place can't live in 1t
for the little time left to her to live any
where She feels 1t, does mother. She
don't say 80, but she feels it. l know"
For the first time there was note OF
tenderness in the quavering voice. Jess
can't bring herself to it, she said, and
It's not fair to ask her to try That's
what she said, but IL she only had seven
and forty days to spend she couldn't
spend 'em here on five and ninepence. ]
put 1t to you, now, could she?'
The proposition was undeniable and re-
| quired no reply.
"When a man can't work, he sets to
| thinking things out. 'Tisn't for my sake
I'm telling you, Jessie, and I've been
thinking of this. If so be as mother and
I goes to the Union. you can go into serv-
| ice, and then you needn't do it, but it's
an i'll kindness transplanting such old
trees as we, and l makes out that mother
deserves some returns for all she's done
for you, and if you do do 1t she can 'bide
here along until she's carried out for
| good and all, and there'll be bit from
| Christopher to pay somebody to do the
chores for her. He's a man of his word.
Is Christopher, and he told me so. and
mother could accept of 1t from him.
Twouldn't be charity II so be as you do
It."
Reientlessly and pitilessly the old man
hammered the phrase into his grand
child's brain. Fluency came with the
speaking, and he drove on with his argu-
ment.
"And what Is 1t I'm asking you to do
for mothers sake, mind you, not mine?
! Marry a man as worships the ground
| you tread on and a steady man as'll be a
good and faithful husband to you. His
business IL prospecting too. He've got
another man going round with a pram
| and bought two more cows only a fort
| night ago. It's a sound thing, is milk. /
don't say he's fine figure of a man, but
he loves you true, and he'll make 1t all
right for mother" Then suddenly piti-
full vibration rang in his voice. "Fol
mothers sake, Jess"
"I hate him." said Jess, and the quiet
way in which she said 1t carried convic
ton even into her grandfather's mind
but he carried on the struggle, the poor
frail old man, for love of his even more
frail old wife, pleading with the young
woman to sacrifice her love on the ALTA
Of piety.
you'd get used to him soon," he said
'sHe's a steady man, is Christopher"
Then Jess turned round and looked al
him, and the setting sun or perhaps the
thought within her dyed her cheeks ant
throat scarlet.
'There's James," she said simply, and
the name aroused her grandfather's angel
SO that he forgot the necessity of dlplo
macy In such matter as this, and irrita
ton and scorn strung his voice to an even
shriller pitch.
James, he said scornfully. "And
what's the good Of James2 You're like
all other girls. Go mad on a worthless
soldier man because he's tricked out In
scarlet and gold that's no more use to him
than tbs to those dahlias by you"
"Jem's a good man." said Jess.
"a good man, and a better lover,>
s'pose. Goes away for three mortal year,
and never sends 30 much as a postcard
to say he's alive or deadl Pretty sort OF
lover to my thinkingp'
"HeM come back" the girl said wist
fully.
"And what'll he fnd7 You gone, the
Lord knows where, me In the Union and
| mother In the grave. Don't waste anoth
or thought upon him. Take a man who
loves you and can afford to keep you. Dc
It, Jess"
From sheer WEAKNESS Jess seemed te
give way.
go indoors, granddad, and I'll thinh
| ahout n You'll got chilled sitting there