San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-12-06

70. "a
Sidonia had raised an arm, in
stinctively, to defend her. eyes
She war cuffed, pummelled, kickeG
on the shins, and had her hair
dragged-all in a moment. kSyl.
vane, the tawny-tressed young
fury, was like a, cataclysm. But
the younger girl was game. She
struck back, clutched hair in her
turn, and used her nails. The
devils jutting from the, parapets
above laughed down ON the tussle
irppaftially.
Sidonia was getting the worst of
it. Weight and height will tell.
She was breathless, trembling, and
her lip was bleeding. Sylvane had
a scored cheek and had been struck
in the eye. She laid hold of Sid
onia's velvet cloak, and with a
wrench tore it loose and away from
her. Uttering animal-like snarling
sounds, she clutched at the girls
poor wreck of front-lacing
bodice, at her tattered chemise, at
the rotten stuff of her petticoat.
There was ripping and tearing
In a few strenuous, painting mo-
ments Sidonia was conscious that
most of her clothes were gone.
"Ho, no." grunted the bear
leader, and GATHERINGS man threw
back his head and laughed like a
schoolboy.
Sylvane seized her adversary by
the shoulders and shook her till her
teeth ratified.
"I'll teach you to throw dirt at
me-you little witch-brat."
But she reckoned without the
spirit that informed her opponents
lizard-slender body. Sidonia Jerked
free and hit out, man-like, with a
clenched fist. She caught the other
fairly in the face, and Sylvane
staggered, dark blood running
from both her nostrils.
"Good for you, little uni! said
the bear-leader, who played no IA
vorites in a straight-out dog, man
or woman fight.
Sidonia glanced toward him
dazedly.
Convulsively her thin, crossed
arms covered her bosom. She
pressed knee to knee, bending
down upon herelf. The devils
gloated, the two men grinned, and
Sylvane, frightened by the bleed
ing of her nose, tried to stanch it.
with the corner of her lifted petit
coat, standing squarely, mean
while, upon the girls tattered gar
ments.
Don't look so scared, sweeting,"
rumbled the bear-leader. "Your
uncle will look after you," and he
moved forward.
This was monstrous. It re-
sembled that sort of shameful
dream from which one wakens with
a gasp and a feeling of unbounded
relief. If this hairy man should
lay even finger on her, Sidonia
felt that she must die! Flight alone
remained-hight from the night
mare, from uncomfortable contacts.
Everything was gone except her
horror of the bear-leader.
Still with her .ossed arms
pressed against her bosom and
bending nearly double she darted
She must escape, Her
limbs trembled and a blackness
swan before her eyes. Nothing
was real save horror and deathly
sickness at the pit of her stomach.
The world span like a tee-to-tum
and she fell forward on her
face.
"Ohw said the Countess Sabine, |
much as If mouse had run sud-
denly before her. She stopped
short, for young girl had ap:
peared as if from nowhere, lurched,
and fallen face downward right at |
her feet. The Count and her step
son, Gervais, who were immedi- |
ately behind her, stopped also. No
body seemed to know quite what |
to do or say.
Sabine, resplendant in cloth of |
silver and flesh-colored velvet |
edged with ermine, her hair drawn |
back from her brows and caught |
in a silver ret, looked down at the |
girl with faint interest. The
Count had instantly averted his
eyes, for he practiced an austerity
as rigid as that of the strictest for
est hermit, and Gervais, who had
seen nothing but a streak of flesh
that darted and fell, felt the re-
uctant blood stain his face as
though it were the body of his
sacred girl that lay on the cobble.
stones under the thin sunshine. He
stared fixedly over the heads of
those Immediately in front of hi /.
The NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. enough \
a moment before-gszed fish.
eyed.
A dark young woman, shabby
and sick-looking, emerged as the
PROSTATE girl had done-from no.
where in particular. She carried
a cloak of sky-blue velvet. and
without paying attention to any
one dropped straight down on her
knees beside the girl and laid the
mantle over her.
"My good woman, what's the
meaning of this?" said Sabine
sharply.