Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1903-11-06
A DREAM MELODY



Colin Stuart opened his eyes, and
struggling into a sitting posture saw
that he was in the shabby bed sitting
room in the dull side street which for
a dreary time now had been his
home"
He was still only half conscious and
painfully weak, but gradually his brain
cleared a little, and bit by bit memory
came back.
80 she didn't turn me out, after all!
She must have looked after me, too,
and found money for medicine and
food. Her bark was worse than her
bite, poor creature! l daresay she's
hard pressed enough herself at times,
especially if many of her dodgers are as
improbable as l am"
How much did | owe her, now, be-
fore I was taken i'll? How long have
| been lying here in ~enrium. and,
worst problem of all, what am to do
with myself now l have my senses
back again? Life was pretty rough be-
fore; it will be impossible now"
AuOl16I SlduC0 IOunu Tic AOOAA
freshened his memory again-the open
piano, the loose sheets of torn music
carelessly strewn all around. However
long the Illness had been in duration,
no loving hand tended him, only grudg-
ing service (given, perchanee, as an
alternative to an inquest) had been be-
slowed on him.
II remember! I'd reached the end of
all things; not n penny left-no
work-season flat-couldn't sell music
or get 1t sung, not one solitary en-
gagement through all those awful
weeks. Only the clothes | vas wearing
left! Not a friend in the whole world
| could turn to for ~help-bread and wa
ter for a week-then water without
the bread, with tne Frenchman's ex-
perience to follow; no one had l
taught the horse to live on one straw
a day than the brute spited me and
diedi
But I didn't die! No; here 1 am, IN
fortunately, alive. I've been under the
waters of fate once, and like other
bodies risen to the surface. | shall
go down again directly. Mrs. Wilcox
thinks she can turn me out without be-
ing had up for manslaughter or any
thing of that kind. Shall l rise the
second time through the casual ward
or be allowed to die quietly in the
gutter? Heaven knows; l don't"
Another long, weary pause, at the
end of which the landlady popped her
head in at the door, gave a grunt which
might either have been satisfaction or
disgust On realizing the invalid was
conscious-better; then diyed back to
the kitchen, emerging therefrom a lit
tie later with a basin of very weak
soup and a piece of bread. which she
set down with a clatter on a small ta-
BILE near the bed with the remark:
you can feed yourself again now;
the time it's wasted every day a-look-
ing after you no money could ever pay
for" rM
I'm sure I'm very grateful" was
the shamed reply. Have l been i'll
long?"
Morn two weeks" ungraciously,
IAN me scared to death with all this
talk o. smallpox about"
Colin started violently.
But it can't be that-there liz no
RASH
Good thing for you it wasn't was
The sharp retort. Its delirium, the
doctor says. You've been APPLYING
that there piano to death, but there
amt enough on those bones to suit
me; it's all noise an no meat in pia-
nos. Never no more musicians take
my rooms, and out you go just as soon.
as ever you can set foot to the ground
Il mustsowe you an awful lot" he
murmured, brokenly. Il see medicine,
and food, and wine, besides the rent
you must be a kind of pantomime fai-
ry disguised as-as"-
Don't you go poking your fun at
me" she broke in shrilly. I'm a Door
hard working honest woman Fairy.
indeed, The very idea. What you've
had you've paid for, or, it stands to
reason that you'd have gone long ago."
paid for" blankly; why, when |
was taken Ill l was behind with my
rent
"And who'll blame me for paying
myself out of the money in your pock-
et?" hectoringly. There you was a.
lying dead $50 it looked at frst) on
the floor, and when the doctor was
fetched, he says food, fire, wine an
good nursing. Who's to pay?' says I.
and he says, You'd better look among
his things for his money. In the mean
time, use this, giving me a sovereign.
One of the other dodgers sat with YOU
while Isrun ou for the medicine, an
afterward we went through your things
together.
Ten pounds there was in two five
pound notes. an Is shillings in silver.
| jist got the gentleman to sign his
name to its being all right. which.
thank heaven, he's here an can prove,
an In course | took out the three
pounds owing for rent, an paid the
doctor back his sovereign, an used
the rest as it was wanted. What's left
Is In that there box onsthe table, an
another weeks rent due tomorrow"
She was hard. but honest. Thare was
still q remnant of gold among che sill
v~er-enoueh 10 last, please heaven. un-
I'll he was strong enough to crawl
about again, with the hope Of earning
. precariouz living.
Where the money had come from
goodness alone knew! A purse Of gold.
where not one copper piece had been!
As Colin lay back on his lodging