The Savannah morning news., 1903-11-29
BY ALFRED HENRY LEWIS

like to see deal of worry.
"All that is mighty sweet" I re-
turned, and every word flower. And
yet, what is the wrong?"
And simply nothing, after ALL" she
replied. only it's so much more hor-
rible to see it with your eyes than hear
it with your ears" Peg put note
into my hands. ut came through the
post; and doubtless means no more
than the malevolence which was au-
thor to it."
The note had no name; nothing to
indicate its parentage. 1t read:
Revenge is sweet! 1 have you in
my power; and l shall burn you as
, savages burn their victim at the stake.
1 pray that you live long to extend
my pleasure. Think not that you can
, escape me. 1 would not that death nor
any evil thing should take you out of
= my hand for half the world"
The nameless devil!" 1 cried. TT
is a womans hand of writ, though the
letters are made purposely big and
sprawling. Have you any thought at
/ who she should be-"
No" returned Peg; II can not so
much as guess"
! Peg and talked the question up
and down, 1 asking and she answering,
and with the end we were where we
started, that was nowhere at all. The
Rev. Campbell came into my conjec-
turings, he and his maybe mate; but
l did not mention them, for what
would have been the use of feather
ing Pegs imagination with a sur
mise?
But, in good truth, 1 came to you"
said Peg at the end, not for any hope
of solving this. That would be frank
ly impossible. Rather I am here to
get drink of your courage; for, faith!
/ though l wear as brave a face as l
/ may, my own betimes runs something
Z CT
gave me her dainty hand, mimicking
the manner of a MAINLAND now, my
big comrade, having had my cry, and
got my draught of courage, l shall go
| back to the Presidents Square; and
there l shall forget the whole story
/ of this miserable letter. That is
she had gone into the hall and was
| closing the door now, with only a strip
! of her sweet face looking into me
forget all except how l cried at your
! knee and was very, very happy be-
cause you were good and kind, and
! let me cry"
When the door was shut I picked
up the note which Peg had left and
placed it in the private locker of my
| desk. Then 1 sat me down and
thought revengefully on Pegs wrongs,
! and the hatefulness of him who should
think her harm. But her dark, deep
! eyes were forever coming in to look
on me, and at the last 1 had a MEM
DRY for nothing but her beauty; and,
celebrating thereon, I considered how
beauty was in itself a benediction i'm
/ piled of Providence, and a sermon;
and that l got to reading Burns and
! | confess-howeVer often l had spoken
of them as so much sWeetened oatmeal
there arose in me a delight from
/ those verses as though they were the
! songs Of birds. And throughout the
whole, from Pegs crying at my feet
/ until I'd put Burns away in his place,
the drone of the General, laundering
| on tariff, and finance, and standing
armies and sinking funds, was in the
air; and all futile so 1 thought, and
dreary and workaday and common
place.
Somehow, for all of Burns and my
meditations after Peg had left me,
my heart felt poor and robbed. Also,
! 1 turned less and less patient with the
| General, humming at his coming speech
like a great bee in a bottle. At last
went in to him and gave him my tart
opinion of his doings, for all the world
like an actor with a part to study, or
some girl primping and preparing for
conquest before a glass.
Have you so forgotten English" l
cried, that you cannot tell your views
to the people without first telling and
retelling them a score of times to
yourself?'
But the General was in a high mood
and no more to be dealt with than
tempest.
Take your irritation out for a walk,
SIR" said he. Take a walk for your
nerves Something has combed your
fur wrong wise; and 1 don't think it
could have been politics. You pro-
digiously remind me of one in love-
and who has ear-patience for nanght
save the voice of his mistress"
Out to walk I went; did not think
the General worth a retort. You are
not, however, to follow his hint, and
lose and leave the plain footprints of
the fact. ] was no more in love with
Peg than was he; 1 examined myself
on that head and made myself par
ticularly clear. Like all men who are
physically big and strong, and, more
over, like all men border-born and
taught that duty from the ground up
of protecting ones weaker than them
selves particularly women-folk and
babes, l went as naturally to Peg S
side in her troubles as ever went deer
to drink. 1t was in my nature and my
lesson to do this. Sympathy is a plant
to grow most quickly on toughest soil;
and folk of my shagbark sort are ever
soonest on the ground, and stay the
longest, when the cause is the weeping
cause of woman.
And there you have the explanation
of my intrest for Peg. The General,
himself, was just as headlong; his SYM
pathies fair went about on tiptoe in a
constant search for weak ones in dis
tress. Not humanity alone, but ami
mails; and I've seen him go forth into
midnight sleet and Iceland Death
tearing at his lungs with a cough-to
bring in n bleating lamb. 1t was,
then, but partisan sympathy, and not
love in the bud. which / felt for Peg;
and turned much fortified and quieter
in my own thoughts, when, following
rigid search of my breast, 1 made
it out
Noah, whom ran across in the cor
ridor, went with me for the walk. We
broke away northward across the city
to be free of the crowds which came
and went about Gadsbuy's and the In
dian Queen. When we were more alone
and with the roads to ourselves, I told
Noah of the nameless letter to Peg.
"And that is a fine feather in the
cap of Henry Clay" 1 cried this en-
ployment OF nameless villains to write
threats to girl"
Now let me set you straight" said
Noah. "Pve gone to the ends of this
foul work. 1t is not the Clay so much
as the Calhoun interest which fur
nishes the venom. The General is
turned around; he believes it to be
Clay 1 assure you, the enemy is a
Calhoun coterie from South Carolina"
but what is their purpose?" ask
ed. calhoun is Vice President: he
will preside over the Senate and be
part of the administration. Why should
he seek to mar it?''
mark you, I do not say" replied