The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-08-03

a.yQI
There is something wrong ABOUT inc
49,, raid the artist dogmaticaily.
What is wrong with her. asked Inc
doctor.
.-Eycr,thinE Is wrong. Her hair. Tor
issuance. 1t does not harmonic. Green-
c,.ar eyes-a dazzling white skin, with
cash Of freckles--and black hair. Black.
That is what Is wrong with her-
Harvey is rather severe on. on . a~.,s,ss
sometimes" said Mrs. Lane, the aIust
sister HE finds the sunsets here very
crude in tome and the mountains lack
composition. a..
..He does not make allowance Tor the
fact that this Is st!l new country.
said the doctor. ''Give us time, and wen
Improve. But there is 20 denying that the
Young woman Is q beauty: though her
hair is black, it is her own
CONC need not be q. doctor to tell that.
sa;d the artist. otherwise might be
tempted to think that she had calied IN
fhe assistance OF art, whose noble mis-
sion il is to change the unreal into lhe
impossible
.'p1s,e SEEING to be satisfied with her.
esid Mrs. Lane, land she 1s a more Aas -
tidous critic than any OF US
F.ls;e was her fpe-year-old daughter
flaxcn-haired, pretty. a little wllfui ana.
fer a spoiled child. as unspoiled as coulo
be expected She was, at the moment,
holding the strange girls hand ana run
ming. dawdling. pulling forward. hoidins
back, and skipping beside her, in Inc chlio-
isl, way which is so attractive to the
,,nrnarried observer. The Orange girl
hnYnored the childs moods. without show
inr any EXPRESSION OF responsive Gayety
ON her stolid face. Elsie does not usual
" take to strangers" said her mother;
.'and to tell the truth, I am glad she
,r,i1 lat "a "a
fancies this g1Tl, ana so VIII let Hie iase
q little rest
Just then the backWoods landlord ca1he
out on the porch
tniy little girl seems to be charmed
with your daughter, Mr.. Adams, SAID
Mrs. Lane. with the unconscious air OF
ccnferring a compliment, which city
folks sometimes assume in dealing win
the most democratic race IN the World
their country cousins.
Whether 1t was equally unconscious re-
continent of that patronage. or for some
other reason, Mr.. Adams frowned QUICK
", as his eyes followed hers in the d.
rection Of the two girls. These had.
by this time, crossed the dusty little ROAD,
climbed the low bank covered with whor-
tleberry bushes, and were on the point OF
entering a patch of wood, the outwofks
of the great forest beyond.
'.aere you, ILL.," he called sternly. come
away out OF that brush"
Little Elsie looked back over her shoul-
der. halted for a moment but, apparently
at a whisper from her companion. shrlll-
cd cut small defiance and tugged at Inc
latter's hand to hasten her into the woods.
Tho face Of Adams grew black Inc
cords on his neck stood out. as he fairly
roared, in a passion Of unaccountabie
anger:
Come back here. you Lilith! You hear
me"
AT that the older girl slowly faced
o;ound and reluctantly began retracing
her steps Adams was still purple with
anger. .sLeggo that little gals hand. and
go back to the kitchen, Lilith Adams!
The little cir! obeyed. though with
snoulderinr eyes fixed on her fathers.
step by step, obliquely towards the rear
of the building. The look, the act. her
suppressed passion, horribly suggested the
manner OF dog driven from a bone.
The spoiled child was cowed, without
Knowing why. Her Indignation took ex-
p' ession in a very small fnvective, old
cro.s-patch!" Mrs Lanes lips formed
something that looked like the monosyl
liable, ''Brute!"
The two gentlemen said nothing. There
vas lady present.
The party consisting CT Mrs. Lane and
her child. the artist brother and Doctor
Greene had been compelled by the break
Ing down OF their blackboard 10 spend the
afternoon ana night at Adams Camp,
which was not a house Of refuge, but only
q lumbernan's boarding house in the
winter season. The owner had not well
coined their coming very graciously. but
he could not refuse shelter to woman
ana child in the wilderness. and the near
Est place Of entertainment was ten miles
pway.
They had come half prepared for a cold
,eceptIon after the collapse Of their wag-
On. whose driver had hintea with rustic
faution. that 1.-The old man. was doubt
3ul character. All cross-questoning fall
"a to elicit from him anything more def
Stte than Adams was not popular.
Dressed for a more specific charge, he
sould only ..allow'' that people talked
ecrssderable about the sudden death OF
HIS wife" and Everybody" said that he
treated his daughter harshly. But +"
he hastily added, ''she never made no
complaint, and 1t didn't seem to be no.
body else's business"
After dinner the doctor and the artist
smoked a sociable pipe together. some
distance from the house.
Queer name, that said Harvey;
tilttt, don't remember having ever met
lady Of the name outside Of poetry Or
he Bible he added donbtfuty.
,.The Talmud.'' corrected the doctor;
but I haye-and even the whole name.
curious tn1nS anOul IL, LcO. } cN Seio
his afternoon. it don't fit:
"I'he ccmpleNon?"
mo. the name"
II don't understand
'',yor I, either. She isn't my Lilith.' :
..Naturally. That S. not yet hope"
. But the doctor was silent at last he
poke. slowly as became man in
middle: 1.-The Jilith Adams that know
4 ad red hair-blood-1ed."
..I told you that there was something
rrong about her." said the artist
The doctor. unheeding went on: 'Yon
ever met young Doubleday. who went
ut to Manila on the same transport
tsh me, last year. He was an army
eutenant, and we happened to mess to-
ether took a great liking to him.
e was barely twenty-one: just out OF
,llege. with an equal vacuum in his
ocket and IN that part OF his head
herein the wisdom of experience is sup
psed TO be restored. He had story.
nd here is the point Of 1t, as he told
to me. and am sure that he told the