Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-29

Square 1t was no more than half a mile from he
own villa on the boulevard, and she had long know
the decent old couple-German Jews-who lived an
carried on trade in the house whose front hun
the sign of the Silver Cock. The face of the build
ing was covered with carved timbers of grea
age the door of the shop stood far back with
a black and ancient porch. Behind the
shop were a couple of rooms where
Meyerstein and his wife lived above 1T
one large room, with window which
jutted far out the narrow street In ~
this room, which was reached by a sepa- i
rate door in the left side of the porch and
crazy fight of dozen winding stairs lived
Sophy, and thence she sailed out daily
to give her lessons to her two pupils
By the window she sat, the night of the S
Kings name-day on a low chair The
heavy figure of a girl carrying Tampa
specimen of her landlords unappreciated
stock-stood unemployed on the window
sill. The room was dark, for the path of
light from the luninations which made
the roadway below white, threw hardly a
CLEAN on it's somber walls; but Sophy had
no need of a lamp, and every need to
her money. She sat in the gloom, busy in
thought, the fresh evening air breathing
soft and cool on her brow from the open
window
Swift to build on slenderest foundations,
avid to pile imagination on imagination
till the unsubstantial structure reached the
skies, her mind was at work tonight. The
life and stir, the heat and turnult, of the
CITY were fuel to her dreams; chances and
happenings were all about her; they seemed
to lie, like the water for TanUalus, just be-
yond the reach of her fnger-tips; her eyes
pierced to the vision of them through the
dusly blackness of the ancient room.
In response to the confused cry of the life aroun
her, her spirit awoke. Dead the dear dead
but Sophy was alive. But to be starving Frenc
teacher in Kravonia-was that a chance? Yes
a better than had been offered her at home or i
Paris. From tiny birthnark which glowed a
times her cheek, Marie Zerkovitch had give
her the name of the Lady of the Red Star and ha
prophesied many things for her in SlaVna. Wei
hoI -,1o With har fh,1c for- o1tSf
always be so? Should Slavna lag behind? VIII
would come now? Ever the highest for Soph
de Gruchel The vision of the royal escort and ii
pale young leader flashed in the darkness befor
her eagerly attendant eyes.
Suddenly she raised her head. There viii
quick voley of cheering; it came from the Golde
Lion, whose lights across the square a sidewis
craning of her neck enabled her to see. Then ther
was silence for minutes. Again the sound brok
forth and with it confused shoutings of a nam
she could not make out. Yes-what was it? Mis-
titch-Mistitch! That was her first hearing of tn
name.
Silence fell again, and she sank back into he
chair The lights, the stir, the revelry, were nc
for her. nor the cheers nor the shouts. A momen
of reaction and lassitude came on her, a monen
when the present, the actual Tapped her round wit
its dim muddy flood of vulgar necessity and sordi
needs. With a sob she bowed her head to NEE
her hands-a sob that moaned famine of life {
light, of love. Go back to your lessons, Soph
de Gruche" What voice had said that? She spran
to her feet with fists clenched, and whispered t
the darkness: - MOI"
In the street below, Mistitch slapped his thigh
Sophy pushed her hair back from her heate
forehead and looked out of the window. To tn
right, some twenty yards away and just at the en-
of the street, she saw the figures of three men, /
the middle was one who bulked like Young Fa
staff-Falstaff with his paunch not grown. He wa
fanked by two lean fellows who looked small besid
him. She could not the faces plainly, since tn
light from the square behind them The
seemed to be standing there and looking pas
the sign of the Silver Cock along the quie