Evening star., 1901-11-23

cards over the long room where every
@ @klIa OF game in fashion might be had with
moderate stakes. and for the fresh air of
tne W1ld heath, with the forest beyond in
"hich one could wander in solitude and
saiety' Sc save Tor an occasional gypsy and,
II one got out of hearing and sight of the
Wehs' the chance of footpad Here also
are taVerns for those who wanted drink
ana retreshment-the Flask, Jack Straws
castle the Spaniard. the Wells tavern, and
many others. For a woman in trouble,
such as the young widow the loneliness of
the meath especially recommended the
pace, Tor here she could walk or sit and
ghost or the black devil
ne could trouble her no more-yet she
ccuia not forget him-she expected him.
sne reared to meet him; 1t would not have
n,i.t utpfiseo @ ner II. all alone upon the heath
WIN with no one In sight, she had come upon
MN MIN lace to face, stepping down perhaps
from the gailoWS tree, clanking his chains
IN the breeze; beside the heath where there
was always some griSley form smeared
With pitch 1t would seem a trouble only
expected II he had suddenly appeared to
ner While she sat among the gorse and the
heath ana the wild crab trees, and had
lSlo MS huge clammy black hand upon her
shrinking shoulder, crying Mine! Miner'
with those hungry eyes and those grinning
Whlte teeth l say that she was never free
from this obscission; it was absurd be-
cause the man she expected over and over
again was hanged, hanged. hanged, by. the
neck till he was dead, dead, dead. He
Coulu 90 her no more harm-always this
horrible creature was present to her in her
brain. When she should have slept he
sat at her bedside; in her dreams she saw
MS merry eyes and they threatened; they
sald plainly as If they spoke aloud Il
snail claim you-some time or other; in the
other world you will be mine-I shall claim
you; shall drag you down with me to the
place where the souls of negroes are sent,
you shall share that place with me, for
you are mine, you are mine. Those whom
GOO hath joined together man, not the
hangman, not the diSsecting surgeon with
his knife can ever put asunder."
She was young. At four-and- -twenty-one
is not always miserable: one forgets every
thing disagreeable; the sun shines, the
flowers spring up. the breath of summer is
fragrant, the pulse of youth beats strong;
people laugh and talk; there arise other
thoughts belonging to the name of youth
and spring; new occupations engage the at
tention.
The memory of the courtyard in Newgate
became dim and fading horror; the
thought of the fetid cell and the marriage
service lost most of it's terrors, but there
still remained yet, grew daily less terrible
and less threatening.
Two months passed in this retreat. No
one knew her poverty; she lived in a sin
gle room of a cottage, her rent and living
being cheap. In the morning she drank
the waters and walked IN the garden or
wandered upon the heath. She was no re-
cluse; she sometimes accepted invita-
ton to breakfast; in the evening she at
tended the long room, when the music
played. Here she made acquaintances and
conversed with the company.
1t may be supposed-nay, it is only nat
ural-that a woman so young and at
tractive-because there was certainly no
woman so beautiful at the Spa, would un-
der these circumstances, look upon mar
riage a fitting remedy for all her ankle
ties. Unfortunately her position, the
widow of an honorable, herself decorated
with that title-the sister-in in-law of no.
BILE earl was in his way. Most of the
visitors came from the city; many were
homely if substantial, tradesmen whom a
title brought upon their knees; others were
merchants, wel-todo possibly, who regard
ed title with awe, but expected wealth
to go with 1t; the beadx and fine gentle
men from the inns of court also looked
for money and found out in some secret
way that the young widow had none; there
were also beauX and fine gentlemen whom
Isabel found commonplace and empty
headed; there We're wits and poets, with a
good many who aspired to be thought wits
and poets; she found them intensely vain;
while they declaimed upon the sordid ma
ture of riches they grasped at every guinea
and they had no eyes for the beauty they
were so fond of singing; they were always
SO to speak, gazing into the looking glass
and admiring themselves and their own
cleverness
One morning Isabel made an unwel-
come and disquieting discovery. 1t was
thus Out of the fifteen guineas that Law
in her purse when she came to HAMPSTEAD
after two months, only three remained.
This old worry forced upon her the dis
agreeable necessity of reflection. Such was
the gravity of the situation, that reflection
brought more disquiet, and the longer
she reflected the more she became filled
with the sense of her helpless position
What was she to do when her last guinea
was gone? Consider how she was placed
She had a father whom she had offended
In five years, though she had on many oc-
casions made an attempt to gain his for
piy he held
with her; she knew him too we'll to build
much hope upon reconciliation, because
ridged and unbending in his judgments as
he was austere and narrow in his religion
She had a brother who was himself Is
austere, as rigid and inflexible as be-
came a member of his small conventicle.
She had brother-in-law. He was a ruined
profiigate living in a poor way, unworthy
of his rank in corner of his empty house
She had thrown away or lost her old
friends when she ran away with the man
who loved her-leaving for his sake her
father and her mother, her family. her
friends, and all. There remained the
new friends-the people to whom her hus~
band had introduced her They received
moved in the intimacy of their own circle,
She was the daughter of a cts and thev
were gentlefolk. 1t was impossible to think
OF appealing to them for pity or for as
sistance. In society, as in business there
Is no friendship and there is no commas
sion. One must pay or go out. The door
is always open to those who go out, but to
their appeals for help and pity and for
friendliness, the door is always shut. No
voices Of lamentation or distress reach the
assembly in the card room, the masquerade
or the route.
Consider further what such a woman I'm
such position could do for herself. She
had learned no art. craft and no accom-
pishment; she had been brought up to re-
gard the woman who works for living as
a creature beneath herself. There is hut
one resource left to her, she must marry.
Failing that chance there was one thing
left she might-she must-make a personal
appeal to her father, he could not refuse her
the bare means of subsistence; she would
go to him as the prodigal son (who had her
self spent her last guinea). and would
humble herself. Perhaps he would relent:
II not, she might perhaps (but then she
knew not the pangs of starvation), set her
self to starve upon her fathers doorsteps.
And then as sometimes happens. just at
the worst, just as the moment when help
was almost wanted, help arrived.
(To be Continued.