The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1910-01-20

lui loHe. III he dies OF munger! OH,
my God, of hunger! What have we
done then? tell you" she continued.
i cannot bear it! 1 cannot bear it,"
she looked from one to the other as
appealing to eac in turn to share her
horror, and to act. 1T is wicked, it Is
wicked" she continued, in a shriller
tone and with a note of defiance In
her voice, land who will answer for 1t
if he does? I-not you! 1, who tricked
him, who lied to him, who 1ured him
therei"
For a moment there was a stricken
silence in the room. Then. And what
had he done for herr" Asgill retorted
With spirit-for he saw that if he did
not meet her on her own plane she was
capable of any act, however rulnous.
Or, II not to you, to Ireland, to your
KING, to your country, to your hopes"
He flung into his voice all he indigna-
ton of which he was master. "A trick
you say? Was it not by a trick he
ruined all? The fairest prospect, the
brightest day that ever dawned for Ire
land! The day of freedom, of liberty,
She twisted her fingers feverishly to-
gether.
Yes" she said, yes! Yes, III I
can't bear it! 1t is no use talking" she
continued, with a violent shudder. You
are here-look!" she pointed to the
table strewn with the remains of the
meal. "But he is-starvtng! Starving"
she repeated, as if the physical pain
touched herself.
You shall go to him tomorrow. Go
yourself" he replied in a soothing tone.
Oh Oh hl cried; aMe YER a,xaa
but not surprised by her attitude. But
there's your brother" he continued, re-
lieved. HE will tell you. I'm sure, that
nothing can be SO harmful as to change
now. Your sister" he went on, ad-
dressing The McMurrough, who had
just descended the stairs, she's wish
Ing some one will go to the Colonel and
see II he's down a peg But I'm telling
herr
It's folly entirely, you should be
telling her." James McMurrough re-
piled, CURLY and roughly. Tomorrow
at sunset, n not an hour earlier, he'll
be visited. And then tn be YOU,
Flavvy, thatll speak to him. What
more is it you're wanting?"
:! speak to him?" she cried. 81
Couldn't"
But it'll be you'll have to- he re-
piled roughly. Wasn't it so arranged?'
Il couldn't" she replied, in the same
tone of trouble. Some one else-if you
like"
But it's not some one else will do"
James retorted.
But why should 1 be the one-to
go?" she walled. She a Colonel Johns
face before her, haggard, sunken, fam
ished, as, peering into the gloomy, fire.
lit room. she had seen it that after
noon.
For a very good reason her broth
er retorted with a sheer. He looked at
Asgill and laughed.
That look startled her as a fash of
through darkness. .Why?" she repeat.
ed, in a different tone.
But neither her tone nor AsgilI's
glance put James McMurrough on his
guard; he was in one of his brutal hu-
mors. "Why?" he replied. Because
he's a silly fool. as I'm thinking some
others are, and has a fancy for you,
Flayvy. Faith, you're not blind" he
continued, and know it, I'll be sworn,
as well as 1 do. Anyway, I've a notion
that If you let him see that there is
no one in the house wishes him worse
h you, or would see him starve with
a lighter heart-I'm thinking it will be
for bringing him down, If anything
WILL"
She did not answer. Outwardly h
was not much moved, but inwardly the
horror of herself which she had felt as
she lay upstairs in the darkness, think
ing of the starving man, choked her.
They were using her because the man
loved her! Because hard words, cruel
treatment. brutality from her would be
10 times more hard, more cruel, more
brutal than from others! Because such
treatment at her hands would be more
likely to break his spirit and crush his
heart! To what viler use, to what
lower end could a woman be used or
human feeling be prostituted?
Nor was this all. On the tide Of this
loathing of herself rose another. a
stranger feeling. The man loved her.
She did not doubt that statement. It's
truth came home to her at once. And
because it placed him in a light in
which she had never viewed him before.
because 1t recalled a hundred things.
acts. words IN his part which she had
barely noted at the time, it showed him,
too. as n whom she had never seen.
Had he been free, prosperous. triumph
ant, the knowledge that he loved her.
that he. her enemy, loved her, might
have reyolted her-she might have
hated him the more for 1T. But now
that he lay a prisoner, famished. starry
ing, the fact hat he loved her touched
her leart, transfxed her with an al
most poignant feeling, choked her with
a rising flood of pity and self reproach.
S there you have it, Flavvy!,
James cried ~complacently. and sure.
you'll not be making a fool Of yourself
at this time of dayt."
fC,onfin,1ed Naxt yyao1