Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1907-02-07
THE PLIGHT OF
A PLAYWRIGHT
BY Mrs. couLsoN KHRNAHAN


ODtdlnlnB no answer 10 MS piOlu9O "a
pressions of apology he struck
match and found that he was alone.
He continued his course down the
dirty, carpetless stairs, past two desc
lafe-lool1ing landings, dimly lit by
sickly wall-lamps. and passed out into
the November fog.
He was glad it was foggy for under
Its kindly shelter he could better dis
pose of a parcel unobserved. Its des'
alnation was the pawnshop. The
lDaWnshop in question nestled affec-
hsunately up to a flaring saloon.
Gilroy united his parcel and dis
closed a dressing-case. The pawn
N,a0ker took out the articles one by
enc and examined the hall-marks.
what do you want for it, he in
ERired, with no show of interest
twenty-five dollars answered Gil
soy promptly.
The pawnbroker burst into harsh
laugh. 81 will give you ten dollars, he
said.
Gilroy took the ten dollars.
A misty rain was falling when he
Sound himself once more in the street
He turned up his coat-collar, buried
his hands in his pockets, and strobe
angrily along the slippery pavement,
past the flaring shops, past third-rate
music hall-then into a dismal street
and through a covered passage into
still more dismal square which was
the young mans present abode.
Gilroy mounted the endless stairs
two at a time, not stopping till he
gained his own door. Once inside, he
lit his lamp and turned eyes of dis
gust on his wretched apartment. His
bed, all unmade, stood in one corner
under a window. An oil-stove standing
an the fireplace was still ornamented
with frying-pan in which he had pre-.
pared his breakfast. The remains Of
a meal Uttered a table.
A church clock struck the hour Of
nine. Gilroy compared his watch, and
then hurriedly cleared his table Of
erockery and eatables-then ne opened
a bag Of MINIS. and emptied 1t on to
the table, got his ink, pens, and blot
ter from the dressing table, and sat
down to write, mechanically filling a
pipe as he did so. He had scarcely put
pen to paper when a curious rasping
sound fell on his ear. It seemed to
come from the next room. It kept on
so long that it irritated him, and he
rose and opened his door and peeped
out.
a stream of light shot across the
passage. and on the opposite wall was
the shadow of a slim girl doing some
thing to a door. 1t suddenly struck
him that il might be the girl on whose
dress he ha3 trodden. and, re believed
torn it. Re was impulsive by nature
so he stepped out into the passa re
and looked full at the shadows sub
stance ! was a red-haired girl in a
grey, closodtting gown, and she was
trying to DO something to the lock
with a screwdriver. On another i'm
pulse he addressed her.
rs you lock wrong" he inquired.
Let me lclr you
The girl dlrtod heightened glance
at him: tnea, seeming 3atisned-for
Marcus Gilroy had a boyish, frank
face-shC said. THANK you-there liz
something w2ong--it won't CATCH"
A moment mere and the young man
was knee.i1g AZ the door, examining
the lock, while the girl held the can
die.
What pleasant room you have"
Gilroy said, when he had fixed the
lock
YES" said the girl, but its com
fort sometimes makes me wretched.
For, oh; there are sore terribly poor
people in this place. L turns me sick
sometime TO look inyo the rooms op-
posite Yet I look wlen | cant sleep
Il see poor wretches creeping up the
stairs, to huddle inro horrible rooms
TO pass tho night They come at all
hours Of the aight-little children
too-poor little children! There is a
window at every lan11g. and as the
weary wretches creep up, up, a meagre
light shines "A moment from these win.
odws: and the rOOms-there are no
blinds
The girl ceased suddenly, a consci-
Gus blush overspreading her fair, oval
face. She remembered that she was
talking to a mainland a stranger.
Gilroy found no words-he looked at
the pure young face with that impas-
stoned light of sorrow and sympathy
upon il and was as one dumb.
Another of his impulses came to
him. You have typewriter" he
g