The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-20

Thus driven. ST do, indeed" he
averred. II see great harm in outrag-
ing the wise opinion"
"Oh, the wise opinion!' came her
hooking echo. You see, 1t is the opin-
ion Of others that matters to you, Mr..
Westcott, and not your own
1T Is not, of course, my affair"
"It is not" she promptly agreed
| ST shall trust" said Westcott stiff1y,
| mot only to your better judgment, but
| to-to-to-' plainly he did not know
to what to true-"to your valuation of
my good opinion" he concluded i'm
pressively.
| fatter yourself" she flashed back, de-
| family. "a goodnight to you, Mr.
| Westcott."
| "And you must never, never tell"
| "Never! echoed the small Elizabeth,
solemnly.
Never" echoed the smaller Miles.
| Because" went on Zellah, as she
bent over them in the chill dark Of the
Christmas morning, because if you
ever tell one word about it there will
Observation-Disclosures
| A long-drawn ''Oh-h-hv' came from
them. The tree was very small one,
and the candles were the green bay
berry wax of their daily use, and the
| scarlet garlands were only the red for
| est berries, but to their round eyes 1t
was blazing spectacle Of delight.
| "A Christmas tree!" whispered Eliza
i beth in awe-struck tones. Miles could
only stare.
| Yes, Christmas tree" repeated
Zellah gayly. A joyous sense of adj
venture and Of daring, mingled with a
subtle, feminine satisfaction at this de-
| fance Of cautious Westcott, filled her
| across the room, and, bundling the
children up in comforters, sat hugging
them to her while they watched the
candles burn.
So wrapt was she that she did not
hear the step on the stairs. Without
warning the door was flung open and
Uncle stood staring in on them as on
a scene accursed.
Her offense seemed such a trivial
thing to the girl, SO harmless and child
ish disobedience, that she was total
ly unprepared for the catastrophe it
brought upon her.
She, Zellah Cotton, to be brought into
Icourt like a common i'll doer, Denounced
by her own uncle. stared at by dread
full ring Of neighborS!
Over her head had ratified the hail Of
the magistrates rebuke; she had heard,
too, as in dream, her uncle's voice,
tiamenting this disgrace to his house,
but accepting the Lords will in tones
of fervor, and then, cutting into her
consciousness like a knife, the sentence
hours in the public square beside the
pllIory, bearing about her neck the
placard, IA Maynard and contumacious
person"
Beside the house Of correction they
halted and Zellah mounted the small
platform beside the stocks. Justice
Bliss pinned on the paper with it's con-
demning description and shook his
griZZIed head in stern sadness over it.
| Without turning her rigid head she
was aware of the faces increasing about
her. Frankly curious, in the fore
ground trooped the children-lured by
this new spectacle from their mockery
Of fat old GOody May chained to post
at the corner Of Prison Lane for hav-
ing slapped her husbands cheek
nelghbors' children, some of them,
whom she knew and played with. star
| ing at her with awed horror; others,
the children Of servants and slaves and
freedmen, staggering and laughing in
the ignorant cruelty Of their young
years.
Behind them saunteredf the sailors
from the Conrad, gaping and jesting at
her beauty, and all around, crossing
The square in tWos and threeS, came the
townspeople in the release from work
that lecture day brought them.
She drew her hood further over her
head, and as she did so she lowered her
eyes and saw three figures crossing the
square-Betty Morrison, gay in her new
London cloak, and her mother, and
William Westcott. In that moment it
seemed 70 Zellah that she tasted all the
shame that life can hold.
A laugh rose from the children, ever
| pressing closer to the platform foot,