The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-01-31
By ALFRED HENRY LEWIS
Copyrighted, 1908, by
A. y. Drexel Biddle.
Entered at statIoner's
Hall, London.

attentive IN what might 90 reg noHOT
than the Vice President himself, and
with him were the members of that
cabinet triumvirate who had cast in
their narrow lots with him. Even the
stately Mrs. Calhoun would be gracious
in a far-off sort. while the ladies
Berrien and Branch relaxed from a
former fridigity, and if not torrid,
were at all events of the temperate
zone when the etiquette of the floor
would bring Peg and them in contact.
| AS for the vigorous Madam Ingham,
she was so overcome of her labors in
| elevation of Houston that following
| dinner she could do nothing but repose
herself However for so much as she
remained in the picture, she beamed
| alfably in a fat, Vermilion way, and
her red face was like the setting SUM-
The male Ingham, being in prodigi-
Gus fettle, would fain waddle onto the
treacherous floor with Peg in his hand
for a dance; for Ingham was sensi-
bly, elated of his valor since Eaton,
whom he held in fear, was not pres
ent, but off in Baltimore on some long
drawn duty about new rifles-meant
] fear me, for Nullifiers, should their
! pot of treason over-bol. / will say
this of Ingham, however; for all his
| rotund uncouthneSs, he went through
that dance without falling down; a no
small feat I should call it, and one to
| give me TeleI, since LOT In6 While II
| lasted / was held on tenter hooks over
Pegs safety, and would hover about
ready to rush in and save her should
| affairs go badly between Ingham and
| the glass-like floor.
There occurred one incident of harsh
ness 1 could have wished left out. 1t
was when that Frau Huygens drew up
| to Peg and would greet her as though
| there were no such name as Krudener
and no such story as the slight she
cast on Peg in the Russians dining
! room. The gross Frau Huygens was
| arrayed in her one garish frock of
many colors, and which her prudence
to save money and buy no more frocks
had made so well known.
Frau Huygens, trained to the VEN
ture, doubtless, by her husband, who
still dwelt in fear of Van Buren, and
those passports which should return
| him to the Hague, swept before Peg
| with the grace of a cabbage on pa
rade. When Peg, in response to her
! greeting, was silent and would only
| look on her in a baffled manner. as
though her memory were at bay, Frau
Huygens exclaimed, with a Dutch
thickness of reproach which no one
might initiate with a pen:
Madam, don't you remember me?"
"Well, then" said Peg, as one who
makes every polite effort and yet fails,
Il remember your dress very well, but
| your face is strange to me-
With that l swooped on Peg and
whisked her away, for 1 had a horror
of what might follow.
And there cried Peg, with an
unctuous gurgle, was it not a best of
fortunes, Watchdog, that she should
give me that opportunity? Now we
are quits; and | think, too, 1 have
| her in my debt
There was nothing to be said to this
and l made myself content with
thoughts of how we were no worse
off.
Late one afternoon, when the hour
was drawing towards the close of the
day, 1 had planted myself at a win
dow and was looking across to the
| Presidents Square, and, since her ga
bles were of necessity in the corner
OF my eye, carrying Peg vaguely in
| my meditations 1t had been a STILL
! MINDLESS day Of the early spring, but
for all il stood so late of the season,
with a heaviness in the air that smell
ed of snow.
Now 1 am not one readily to be borne
upon by imps in blue, and would COM
monty give you the reason of my
gloomy mood, if gloom l were a spoil
to. But this was the day odd for
| me, since l was pressed hard with a
sense of disaster and the feeling as of
some threat in the air like a knife, that
| liked not at all and understood still
| less What was it to so hang upon
me like milestone or sibyl-spoken
prophecy of death? 1 would try to
laugh it down. but the smile / wrung
from my unwilling lips owned so much
of bitterness that in mere defense l
surrendered myself to a pensive resig-
nation instead as being of two evils
the lesser one, and so paused for what
| mi oh descend
disaster pended, of that my spirit went
convinced; and 1 folded my hands and
waited for the future to announce it's
name.
While I was thus by the window it
began to snow. 1t was of your left
over storms which have been held cap
| tive in caverns of the clouds, to at
last escape and overtake the world a
month or more behind the proper time,
There was no stir to the air, and the
day went still and moderate; and yet
/ never looked on such a fall of snow,
with flakes big and soft as a baby's
hands. Even as I gazed. the ground
under my eyes turned from a new
spring green to white, while the trees
across were snow from roots to very
finger-tips, and showed in milky fret
work against the low dullness of the
sky.
AS I stood watching these white
| changes IN the tace or th1ngS-fOr the
spectacle would charm me like mes
merism and made me forget my fore
bodes-the General laid a gentle hand
upon my shoulder. This, too, had it's
side to startle for the General, while
as tender as a woman, was in nowise
demonstrative, and not one to be pat
ting your shoulder or slapping your
back.
In dim fashion those thin fingers
would add themselves to that threat
of sadness. and stir a new alarm in
side my bosom.
What is it?r I asked, as though he
solicited my notice to something ur-
gent or unusual; what should it be
ow?''-my voice not firm, but tremu-
lous.
The General looked On me with an
affectionate, consolatory eye, and yet.
somehow, his glance would fit in omi-
nously with my feeling. 1 could tell
how I stood at the point of bad It'd
ings.
And at that he began far enough
away. for his first words were of the
long ago.
Il was thinking" said he, "of that
time my horse was shot and pinned
me by the leg in the fight on the Tom
bigbee. Do you recall how you sprang