The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1903-01-31
CHAPTER VII.
A WARNING UNHEEDED.


The door of the spillman cottage stood
Wide open. Mother Spillman sat just
Inside OF It. Her tall figure, crowned
with a mass OF snowy white hair and the
bright figured chintz OF her big arm
chair. made conspicuous spot of color
Visible from the public road.
she had made Malvina locatc her so
that she could smell the mignonette and
keep en- eye on the front gate. She had
never yet brought herself to the point
or admitting hat her small establish
men. could oe successfully managed
without her personal supervision Miss
Nalvina had stepped up to the Matthews
to see how onvl was getting on after
the unusual excitement and fatigue Of
the day before. She rather enjoyed
s.mothering'' the pretty thing. She was
not to be gone long, and before starting
she extracted a promise from her mother
that she would not leave the house. She
quoted from the manual upon which her
own infant mind had been trained.
II know / can trust you mother, for
you never deceived me In all your life.
Then she had kissed the withered fore
walk. quite unconscious OF the remark
able tumult she had stirred beneath the
fresh white kerchief she had folded over
her mothers bosom when assisting her TO
dress that morning.
When she was sure she was quite alone,
the old woman developed unsuspected ca
pacity She got up and made the tour Of
her small home experimentally, first with
her cane and then without IT, Presently
she flung herself back into her chair
with petulant sigh.
''She doesn't know me. My daughter
does not know me. Isham used TO say
when I got my head turned In one di-
rection there was no power on earth that
could make me look i'm another But
know I've got IL turned TO the right an
gle. I'm not called on To tell Malvlna
everything. L know what Malvina thinks,
] know what they all think-the old
woman has gone daft. As like as not, IL
j was TO tell Malvina, she would go 10
Matthews the first one with apologies for
poor mother II won't do. l shant be
done. i wanted them for Tom, ! want
ed them for Henrietta and Rufus Brox
tons boy, and II he can't have them no
body shall. Where did put them? What
did do with them? oh. my poor head.
Are you really going to fail me when 1
have so much to do?"
Tears flow sluggishly from the eyes OF
old age. The fountain OF that relief sup
ply dries up quickly under the scorching
fires OF life's passionate years. Mother
Spillman pressed one corner OF her white
kerchief TO her dim eyes. Her withered
bosom rose and fell convulsively. She was
sobbing. whether because she was de-
ceiving Malvina Systematically and pur-
posely as TO the condition OF her sprain-
ed ankle and other matters or because
she was not carrying out a cherished
xzlo iQfa antn 10
scarcely knew herself. Lying back In her
big chair. she lifted red lidded eyes TO
the ceiling and frowned.
''If could Just leave Malvina entirely
out OF the question and think exclusively
about him. could straighten out this
snari much quicker and easier. Some OF
these days I'll make II all right with her.
Now I've got TO work for him.
The papers which Jimmy Martin had
found I'm the garden and brought TO her
had disappeared again in the most mystic
rious manner. Either. she reflected
mournfuliy. her memory was getting so
freacherous that she could not recollect
where she had originally hidden them TO
keep them from falling into Miss NAL
vfna's hands or else they had been stolen
from her.
She had three theories touching their
disappearance. either OF which was suffi-
cient TO fill her soul with bitterness
Malvina had found them and restored
them TO Horace Matthews without ever
a word to her about the transaction. jim
my Martin had been bought by the law
yer at an advance price over the one she
had paid him TO hold his tongue and had
burglariously secured the package while
she slept, or she had herself carelessly
included them among some papers she
had recently destroyed
''But know them by heart. could
swear To every word in them II only some
one would believe In me- II I'm failing so
fast that don't know a legal document
from pudding recipe. II I'm grown such