Middletown transcript., 1911-02-04

4 =
J delivered bis message curtly.
You're wanted at the hospital,
Maxwell. A man came here just
now to tell me. Wife's hurt.
Automobile run over her. Ut
was bis way to shear bis CONVEX.
satlon with these foreigners of all
trimmings. They understood so
much better.
But one. word escaped the
sweat.smeared fellow in the
trench. WhoP and there was q
whole tragedy in the tone.
Why, l believe it was Mr..
Stacy, the millman, yon know.
He had forgotten for . moment
the limitations of his hearers
understanding. Now he remem.
bered as he resumed. She got
in way. No one to blame In the
hospital. You may go-for to.
day.
i He walked away, for the ex-
preston of the mans eyes
frightened him. I've seen such
looks. he said afterward, in the
eyes of animals / have killed
ljust as the shot struck.
There was no one to whom
! Manuel could speak; indeed all
desire for speech had fed. In
his ears rang loudly, drowning
the busy clatter of the work
mems tools, but one voice, the
Yankee drawl of'the boss, and
the words buzzed and hummed
necessarily. Maria, the little
eighteen.year-old wife, mother
of the two babies-she-she was
killed-and he had killed her.
the millman-he of the hated |
wealth!
The voice drove him merci-
lessly to the doors of the hos.
pital. There he paused, hatless, |
breathless, a gasping, perspir-
ing figure whose words issued |
in broken syllables. But they |
knew, they understood. They
led him to a cool, shadowy room,
sat him down, and tried to pour
glass of ice water down his
parclled throat. He waved them
aside frantically, in his foreign
fashion.
She-Maria-the little mother
where is she2
It was a kindly faced surgeon
who answered him, a cruel
Nemesis to the heated imagina-
ton Of the frantic husband. We
do not know yet. The words
we're slowly enunciated for his
better understanding. She is
on the operating table now. You
know -he illustrated with re.
assuring gestures-we make her
bet:er-perhaps. You cannot
see her now. Win you wait
here?
Manuel had caught that word
perhaps. He knew its import
was doubtful, possibly hopeless.
He started up. Mono wait.
He choked the words ont. Mel
go now.
The good doctor thought he
must go to the little children,
that he would return when she
was conscious and they had dis
covered the extent of her in
juries. Well, he nodded ac-
quiescently, that will be as well.
Come back, let's see-his watch
opened with a click-to night at
seven. We can tell you then.
Manuel reached the door, and |
stumbled down the steps in the
glaring sunlight. He had but
one thought now. She had been
killed, his little wife, and her
murderer should pay the penalty.
He put his hat on his head and
hurried away to find Tony. Tony
worked in the gang at the stone
crusher, loading the heavy teams.
In was a little way out, but
that was nothing. Heat, fatigue
hunger, nothing mattered now,
when the little mother was dy-
ing, perhaps, under the hands of
the cruel surgeons. Nothing,
that is, but revenge.
He found Tony sweating be-
meath the weight of an immense
stone, his hands torn and raw,
his eyes bloodshot in the blind
iug glare of the sandy bill. Going
close, he muttered his request.
You got him-the gun9
Tony felt in his back pocket.
Yes-HhyF he returned la {
conically.
Me take. He held out his
hand. Cat, she make noise
nights-keep babies awake. Me
kill. The malevolence Of his
eyes belied the utterance of his.
lips, but Tony, ever ready to
Il