The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-06-06
XIII.
In THE MORNING.

In THE MORNING.
Katharine stood for a moment stupe-
fed: In front of her, shadowy, like a
ghost, rose this man. gaunt and tall:
by the lifting Of the fog she saw that
he was in tatters. What was he do
ing on the steps in the dark? And
Lily was gone.
mo, you don't" he said to her. Il
thought there'd be some Of you coming
along tonight. Is it hunger working
up with the fog, or is it remorse and
d~espair?"
Katharine made no reply. Where,
oh. where was Lily?
IF it's hunger and the fog, you'll
get over it when you've had something
to eat. In course of time you'll get
used to hunger. I'm always hungry"
"Who are you? Let me so-let me
CO."
Not this way, then" he replied
for she made as if she would rush
at the river-"not this way. Pretty!
Don't do it. Have patience. Lord! if
you'd gone through as much as I have,
you'd have patience. Don't do it."
AS she spoke, the black wall of fog
rolled between them again. Kath-
arine stole away under its protection,
but she heard him repeat as she re-
treated: Don't do it, Pretty. Have
patience"
It is now nothing but a memory Of
the past; but sometimes the gaunt and
tattered figure of this man, holding
out his long arms between her and
the river. returns to Katharine'S mind
and stands up before her; she sees him
blurred in the fog and the dim lamp
light: she hears his voice saying:
Don't do it. Pretty. Have patience"
Who was this man, this failure and
wreck Of manhood? and why did he
Turk in the b%lackness upon those steps?
Then her misery comes back to her
again, her dreadful hunger and cold
and WEAKNESS and desolation, and
Katharine has-change but one letter
and the pathetic becomes pathetic,
pathos turns into bathos-to "lie down"
-woman's grandest medicine-unti!
the memory of that night leaves her
again.
The fog was so black again that she
had not the least knowledge Of the di-
rection she was taking. Under each
lamp there was a little yellow CLEAN Of
yellow light. Beyond this a black wall
all around it; when she stood under a
lamp it was just exactly as if she
were built up and buried alive in it
with a hole for a little light through
yellow glass in the top.
Sometimes steps came along and
faces came out of the black wall and
looked curiouSly at her as they passed
and disappeared. 1t was the face OF a
young mar making his way home and
marching confidently through the fog,
or it was the face of a policeman who
looked at her searchingly, asked her
if she was lost, told her how to get
back to the Strand, and went on his
beat; once it was a girl Of her W age
who stood beside her for a few
inmates and looked as if she wanted
to speak, and then suddenly ran away
from her. Why did she I'll away?
Why, indeed? And one it was a very
ugly face indeed, which greatly ter
rified her, a mans face. unshaveH for
many days and therefore thick with
bristles round the mouth, a face with
horrid red eyes and swelled cheeks.
Have you got the price Of a half
pint upon you:' he asked roughly.
81 have not got one penny in the
world" she replied. ;
Lily in fact had all the money be-
longing to them both-ninepence.
you've got your jacket and your hat.
Gimme your jacket and your hat" He
proceeded, in the language common to
his class. to touch briefly on the in
justice of suffering on honest mar to
20 about without a penny in his pocket.
while a girl had a jacket and a hat
which might be pawned. Perhaps he
forgot that it was Sunday. But other
steps were heard. and the creature of
the night skunk away.
Katharine knew that she was still at
the Westminster end Of the Embank-
mcnt. because the great clock struck
the quarters and the hours apparently
quite close to her.
She remembered that she had been
very near to Death-a shameful.
wicked. violent %death-tlle death Of
those whose wicked lives have driven
them to despair. One more step and
she would have plunged into the dark
waters rushing and tearing up the
stream with the tide. Size tried to
picture to herself what she had es-
capped; she recalled Lily's words; she
would have been. by this time, a dead
body rolled over and over, knocked
against the piles of the bridge. caught
by the ropes or DargpS. banged
| against the boats. At last she would
! have been picked up somewhere; no
one would have recognized her, and
she would have been buried in the
raupers' corner, forgotten forever. fut
imagination. like reason, refuset5 to
work to order unless it is fortified by
| strong food. The words she recalled