Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-12-06

you'll How dare you speak to mel"
WHAT he calculated, astounded
crestfallen.
She sped home: In the black aIcove
her cheek upon the pillow, stealthily
she cried herself to sleep.
She thought of the fiat, of her
mother work ng night after night in
the little kitchen, of the racket ris-
ing from the rough sleep to her
window, disturbing sleep in the close
alcove. She thought of the days be-
fore her, each one like its predeees-
scr, and of her mother finishing her
life on one of them without ever
ooh, what a fool I was!"
Summer passed, fall brought cold
rains, and in the sombre streets the
first snow fell
| Walking home one evening through
the fine avenue where. perversely, she
still tormented herself by gazing at
that other world. she saw striding
| toward her a tall figure, with glis-
tening hat and pumps and a fur
lined greatcoat. In a flash she felt
an acute. burning pain below her
heart. 1t was he again.
He stopped before her. They stood
motionless. needless of the people
who brushed past them with askance
, looks. Presently. she found herself
walking slowly beside him in by
street. his hand beneath her arm. He
began to speak. and the rich vibra-
ton of his voice made her tremble.
why did you do 1t? Whv were
| you so cruel? / have had terrible
time ever since. Whenever | see a
slender figure indistinctly in dark
street my heart leaps into nv throat
and l think: Tt is shel' When 7
close my eyes. / see you. Whv did
you run away from me? / would do
everything for you. | would like to
see you always as you looked that
day in the silver dress. love you. :"
you do?'' she asked. in voice
which she did not recognize as hers.
She felt his arms about her. In
the shadows of the empty street. hft-
ing her nearly off her feet. he kissed
her, and she smel!ed a delicious odor
of lilac water She knew nothing.
All was lost. When he left her a ter
walking with her for several blocks,
she had promised TO meet him the
next night.
The next night she told her mother
calmly that she was going to visit a
shop-girl who was sick. The old
woman, starving for gossip asked
Bertha all about the invalid. The
daughter was forced to invent long
story. 1t was her first direct lie to her
mother. She told herself another-and
tried to believe it-when, setting out,
as short of breath as il she had beer
running, she kept repeating: 1T will
be all right. There is no harm In go
| ing to dinner; is there? He has been
| slandered; he is good-shouldn,t |
know? He loves me, for he said so
Then, why should he not marry meY'
She entered Broadway. At once
upon her beat binding light; from
| thousands of globes scintillating be-
| fore theatres, from many fantastic
signs aloft, which, rocket-like, burst
every moment into brilliancy, from
the green glare emitted by shop win
dows, turning all faces CHASTITY. In
| this Illumination, lowering her head
! she fastened through the crowd like
guilty person fearful of de .ection
| She bumped into woman who was
sauntering along, swinging a hand
purse, gaily dressed. wearing a
great hat full of feathers. Bertha
looking up, recognized her. II was
| the wife of the glass-cutter.
The woman's face was close to
! Bertha's. The intense green light
from q shop window illumined It,
| turning to purple the rouge on the
| cheeks, revealing fully the furtive
| anxiety and the exhaustion stamped
on the deteriorated countenance.
She recognized Bertha and smiled
with an expression which drew q stiff
! crease down from each corner of her
mouth. She exclaimed:
"Why, hello, what are you doing
! here?'
Her utterance seemed like cordial
welcome.
Bertha turned and walked away
blindly. knocking against pedestrians.
She reached the cool, dark streets
| She went on and on, at random, like
| a somnambulst She turned up at
| the clear sky, spread out like a great
| canopy of blue-bla velvet, and was
amazed to see shining there the
countless stars, cold, calm, unaffected,
immutable-just as they had always
! been. -
| She reached the hat-house and
| slowly climbed the four staircases
! She opened the door George was sit
ting in her rocking chair, talking tc
her mother.
He had on a fireman's uniform. Fl
rose, trembling from apprehension
unable to speak, his face transfiguret
by a look of dumb devotion.
For a moment she could not ".
'ieve it true.
Then, in a falling voice; "Oh
| George!' she cried, and reached oui
her hands to him.
(The End
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