Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-16

his voice as he advanced toward her with
an impetuous utterance Of her name:
'Anitra!'
She shrunk not at the word, but at his
movement, which undoubtedly was abrupt;
but Immediately recovered herself and,
meeting him half way, cried out in the
unnaturally loud tones of the very deaf:
They don't bring my sister back She
Is drowned, drowned. But you still have
Anitra,". she exclaimed In child-like tri-
umph. "Anitra will be good to you. Don't
forsake the poor girl. She will go where
you go and be very t3edient and not get
angry ever again..
He felt his hair rise. Something in her
look, something in her manner of making
evident the indefinable barrier between them
even while expressing her desire to ac-
company him. made such a disturbance in
his brain that for the moment he no longer
knew himself, nor her. nor the condition of
things about him. If she saw the effect
she produced, she gave no evidence of 1t.
She had begun to smile and her smile trans
formed her.. The wild look which was never
long out of her eyes softened into milder
CLEAN, and dimples he had been accus-
toned to see around lips he had kissed
and called the sweetest in the world flashed
for moment in the face before him with
story of love he dared not read, yet
found it impossible to forget or see I'M
moved.
What trial is this into which my un-
happy fate has plunged met thought he.
Can reason stand it? Can l see this
woman daily. hourly and not go mad be-
tween my doubts and my lover
His face had turned so stern that even
she noticed 1t, and in a trice the offending
dimples disappeared.
You are angry" she pouted. You don't
want Anitra. Nod II it is SO, nod and L
will go away
He did not nod; he could not. She seemed
to gather courage at this, and though she
did not smile again, she gave him happy
look she said
L
since sister has gone. 1 don't want any
If 1 can stay with you and learn things.
/ want to be like sister. She was nice and
wore pretty clothes. She gave me some,
like this dress. It's black and all bad
round the bottom where l fell into the
mud"
She looked down at her dress. 1t showed,
in spite of Mrs. Deo's effort at cleaning it,
signs of her tramp through the wet lane.
He looked at it too, but it was mechanical
ly. He was debating in his mind formid
able question. Should he grasp her hand
insist that she was Georgian and demand
her confidence and the truth? or should he
follow the lawyers advice and continue to
accept appearances, meet her on her own
ground and give her the answer called
for by her lonely and forsaken position?
He found after moments thought that
he had no choice; that he could not do the
first and must do the last.
You shall come with me- said he
quietly. Will see tndt you nave every
suitable protection an care"
She surveyed him with the same unmoved
inquiry burning in her eyes.
Il don't hear said she.
He looked at her, his lips set. his eyes
II don't believe it, he muttered just
above his breath.
The steady stare of her eyes never fall
tered.
You loved sister, love me" she whis-
pered.
He fell back from her This was not
Georgian. This was the untutored girl
about whom Georgian had written to him.
Everything proved it, even her hands upon
which his eyes now fell. Why had he not
noticed them before? He had meant to
look at them the first thing. Now that he
did, he saw that he might have spared him
self some of the miserable uncertainties
of the last few minutes. They were small
and slight like Georgians, but very brown
and only half cared for. That they were
cared for at all astonished him. But she
soon explained that. Seeing where his
eyes were fixed, she cried out:
Don't look at my hands. l know they
are not real nice like sisters. But I'm
learning. She showed me how to rub them
white and cut the nails. A woman did it
for me the first time and I've been doing
it ever since, but they don't look like hers,
for all the pretty rings she bought me.
Was l foolish to want the rings? l al
ways had rings when / was with the
liked them. And Mother Duda liked rings
too and made me one once out of beads
1t was on my finger when my sister took
me home with her. That is why she
brought me these She didn't think the
bead one was good enough. 1t wasn't much
like hers"
Ransom recalled the diamonds and the
rich Sapphires he had been accustomed to
see on his brides hand.
But this did not engage him long. Some
method of communication must be found
with this girl, which could be both definite
and unmistakable. Feeling in his pocket
he brought out pencil and a small pad.
He would write wuat he had to say and
was hesitating over the words with which
to open this communication, when he saw
her hand thrust itself between his eyes
and the pad, and heard these words ut
tered in a resolute tone, but not without a
hint of sadness:
81 cannot read. l have never been
taught