Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-20

Am II"
"Our contract is an old one. It was
made when we were both poor and
content to be so, until, in good season,
we could improve our worldly fortune
| by our patient industry. You are
changed. When it was made you We're
another man."
Il was a boy" he said impatiently.
''Your own feeling tells you that you
were not what you are" she returned.
II am. That which promised happi-
| ness when we We're one in heart, is
| fraught with misery now that we are
| two. How often and how keenly l have
| thought of this l will not say. 1t is
enough that I have thought of it, and
can release you"
"Have ever sought release?"
I'm words. No Never"
I'm what, them"
I'm a changed nature; in an altered
spirit; in another atmosphere of life;
another Hope as it's great end. In
| everything that made my love of any
worth or value in your sight. If this
had never been between u.s." said the
girl, looking mildly but with steadi-
| ness upon him; tell me- would you
seek me out and try to win me now?
All, mol"
He seemed to yield to the justice of
this supposition, in spite of himself.
| But he said with a struggle, You think
| not"
Il would gladly think otherwise if I
could she answered, heaven knows!
| When I have learned a truth like this
al know how strong and irresistible it
must be. But if you were free today,
! tomorrow, yesterday, can even l believe
| that you would choose a dowerless girl
you who, in your very confidence with
her, weigh everything by Gain; or,
| choosing her. If for q moment you were
/ f1Ica pnn11oh n prui6inpr 11rin-
ciple to do so, do not know that your
repentance and regret would surely fol-
low? I do; and l release you. With Il
full heart, for the love of him you once
were"
| He was about to speak; but with her
head turned from him, she resumed.
You may-the memory of what is
past half makes me hope you will
have pain in this. A very, very brief
time, and you will dismiss the recollec-
ton of 1t, gladly as an Improbable
dream, from which it happened well
that you awoke. May you be happy in
the life you have chosen!"
She left him. and they parted.
Spirit" said Scrooge, "show me no
more! Conduct me home. Why do you
delight to torture me?"
lone shadow more!" exclaimed the
Ghost.
mo morel" cried Scrooge. mo more,
I don't wish to see it. Show me no
more!"
But the relentless Ghost pinioned him
in both his arms, and forced him to OBJ
serve what happened next.
They were in another scene and
place; room not very large or hand
some, but full of comfort. Near to the
winter fire sat a beautiful young girl,
so like that last that Scrooge believed
| 1t was the same, until he saw her, now
comedy matron, sitting opposite her
daughter. The noise in this room was
| perfectly tumultuous, for there were
more children there than Scrooge in his
agitated state of mind could count;
and, unlike the celebrated herd in the
poem, there were not forty children
conducting themselves like one, but
every child was conducting itself like
forty. The consequences were uproar-
ious beyond belief; but no one seemed
to care; on the contrary, the mother
and daughter laughed heartily and en-
| 1oyed 1t very much; and the latter, soon
beginning to mingle In the sports, got
| pillaged by the young brigands most
ruthlessly. What would [ not have
given to be one of themi Though /
never could have been so rude, no, no!
I wouldn't for the wealth of all the
world have crushed that braided hair,
and torn it down; and for the precious
little shoe, I wouldn't have plucked 1t
off, God bless my soul! to save my life,
As to measuring her waist in sport, as
they did bold young brood, l couldn't
have done it, I should have expected
my arm to have grown round 1t for
punishment, and never come straight
again. And yet | should have dearly
liked, own, to have touched her lips;
to have questioned her, that she might
have opened them; to have looked upon
the laShes of her dOWncaSt eyes, and
never raised blush; to have let loose
waves of hair, an inch of which would
be a keepsake beyond price; in short,
[ should have liked I do confess, to
have been man enough to know its
value.
But now a knocking at the door was
heard, and such a rush Immediately
ensued that she with laughing face and
plundered dress was borne toward it
the center of a flushed and boisterous
group, just in time to greet the rather,
who came home attended by man
laden with Christmas toys and presents.
Then the shouting and the struggling,
and the onslaught that was made on
the defenseless porter! The scaling
him with chairs for ladders to dive into
his pockets, despoil him of brown
paper parcels, hold on tight by his era
vat, hug him round HIS neck, pommel
his back, and kick his legs in ire
presSible affection! The shouts of Won
der and delight with which the develop
ment of every package was received!
The terrible announcement that the
baby had been taken in the act of put
ting a dolls fryingpan into his mouth,
and was more than suspected of having
swallowed a fictitious turkey, glued on
a wooden platter! The immense relief
of finding this false alarm! The joy,
and gratitude, and ecstasy! They are
| all indescribable alike. 1t is enough
| that by degrees the children and their
emotions got out of the parlor and by
one stair at a time, up to the top of
the house; where they went to bed,
and so subsidized.
And now Scrooge looked on more at
tentively than ever, when the master
of the house, having his daughter lean
ing fondly on him, sat down with her
and her mother at his own fireside;.
and when he thought that such another
creature, quite as graceful and as full
of promise, might have called him
father, and been a spring-time in the
haggard winter of his life, his sight
grew very dim indeed.
"Belle," said the husband, turning to-
his wife with smile, 81 saw an old
friend of yours this afternoon"
"Who was it?"
"Guess!"
"How can I? Tut, don't I know"
she added in the same breath, laughing
as he laughed. "Mr. Scrooge."
MIR. Scrooge it was. L passed his
office window; and as it was not shut
up, and he had a candle inside, 1 could
scarcely help seeing him. His partner
lies upon the point of death, hear;
and there he sat alone. Quite alone in
the world do believe"
"Spirit!" said Scrooge in a broken