The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-02-20

distressing .himsel: painfully. for he
was so weak that his nurses turned Ills
head on the pillow; he would fesBlY
motion them away. In such abefa.
lions he would sometimes appeal, in
changed. thin childish voice. te The
obscure. toil.worn pioneer woman Who
had died while he was lad. Mother,
was good boy; always got up
when you called me, didn't I? helped
YOU iron when the other boys were
playing-mother. please don't let that
old woman stay and cry here!" Or he
would plead: Mother. tell her. say
you tell her I didn't know her son
would kill himself couldn't tell-he
was a damn coward, anyhow-excuse
me, mamma. didn't mean to swear,
but they make me SO awful mad!"
There was girl who came, some.
times, from whose presence he
shrank; girl he had never seen; nor,
indeed had he ever known in the flesh,
any of the shapes which haunted him.
They had lived; but never had his
eyes fallen on them. Nevertheless,
their presence was as real to him as
that of the people about him whopa,sse
could hear and touch and see. It did
not take Winters imagination long to
piece out the explanation Of these ap.
partitions; they were specters of the
characters in those dramas of ruthless
conquest which Mercer had culled out
Of newspaper stories" and aff1davits
and court reports and forced upon
Keatcham's attention. Miss Smith
helped him TO the solution, although
her own ignorance Of Mcrcer's meth
cd was puzzling. How did he ever
know old Mrs Ferris?" she said. "He
called her Ferris and he talks about
her funny dress-she always did wear
q queer little basque and full skirt aft.
er all the world went into blouses-
hut how did he ever come across her?
They had place on the James that
had been in the family 100 years and
had to lose on account of the Tidewa-
ter: and Nelson Ferris blew his brains
out
Don't you know how" asked the
colonel We'll. I'll tell you my guess
sometime. Who is the girl who seems
to make him throw fit so?"
I'm not sure; imagine It is poor
Mabel Ray: there were two of them.
sisters: they made money out OF their
Tidewater stock and went to New
York to visit some kin; and they got
scared when the stock fell and the
dividends stopped: and they sold out
at great loss. They never did come
back; they had persuaded all their
kin to invest: and the stopping Of the
dividends made 1t difficult for some Of
the poor ones-Mabel said she couldn't
face her old aunts. She went on the
stage in New York. She was very
pretty: she wasn't very strong. Any
way, you can imagine the end Of tho
story saw her In the park last win
ter when Mrs. Winter was in New
York; she turned her face away-poor
Labell" ...
Through Janet Smiths knowledge
OF her dead sisters neighbors, Win
ter got a dozen pitiful records Of the
wreckage OF the Tidewater. Mighty
interesting reading" he thought.
grimly. but hardly likely to make the
man responsible for them stuck on
himself" Then he would look at tho
drawn face on the pillow and listen to
the babbings of the boy who had no
childhood; and the frown would melt
of his brow.
He did not always talk 10 his moth
or when his mind wandered; several
times he addressed an invisible pres
ence as Helen" and Dear" with an
accent OF tenderness very strange on
those inflexible lips. When he talked
to this phantasm he was never angry
or distressed; his turgid scowl cleared:
the austere lines chiseling his checks
and brow faded; he looked years
younger. But for the most part. It was
to no unreal creature that he turned.
but to Col. Rupert Winter. He would
address him with punctilious civility.
but as one who was under some obli-
cation to assist him, saying, for in
stance, Col. Winter, must beg you
not to let those persons in the room
again. They annoy me. But you
needn't let Mercer know that. Please
attend to 1t yourself. and get them
away. Miss Smith says you will. Ex-
plain to them that when get up
will investigate their claims. I'm too
sick now!"
Conscious and free from fever, he
was barely able TO articulate, but
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