Show elizabeth z 4 ab e h the narrow hot stifling atI fling concert hall mas as filled to overflowing with the class of people who follow in the wake of the song and dance eirl girl in the far veit paying lavishly for the entertainment furnished by a weak unmusical voice singing to the ac compa ciment of a wheezy piano or a fiddle called by courtesy a violin on this occasion the audi i ence composed mostly of miners and cowboys were treated to a surprise aur prise I 1 for the birl girl who sung and danced was both young ant an 1 pretty with les less rouge ani ant more natural charms than thin any of her predecessors in the con cert hall bill stage she could sing too and that with out straining her voice into a dis corrance cor dance and she danced the most difficult fancy dances with a grace and intelligence that showed not only superior training but an artistic conception of its value and her stage i byplay by play and aide side coquet coquetries rles were as I 1 effusive and harmless as those of a child the too vivid color of her yel low hair was undoubtedly aus du to chemicals but it was wai one strong con i c cession to tho the tastes of her audience she waa was billed as the girl with the yellow hair flair and tried faithfully to live ilya up fo to her reputation she was with quaint humor that had a serious side tolt to it a popular travesty dancing down the I 1 rude platform stage between the lines any oll place under my hat in I 1 home weel sweet horn home to me AS s the he danced to the edge of the stage ahe stopped staging and for a moment stood poised motionless on the tips of her slim well formed feet her face rigid like a mask a quick look of terror in her eyes A man roughly dressed with bis his trousers tucked into his boots had just enter ed the place iio ile carried a buggy whip in his hand band and was greeted with cries of sit dowal stop later the and thankful for to the diversion of th s criticism the rho girl with the yellow hair flair started her song anew and sung with so much spirit and charm that she was wildly applauded and danced off oft the stag stage kissing her hand with ble grace to her fascinated audience who encored her rudely and loudly only to be told by the manager that the she would not appear again she had bid retreated to the back of tie the hall to an u alcove that served set ved as a dressing dressIn groom room where the man who had disturbed her singing found her both young and pretty A sudden p pallor ilar bal settled on her hot face when abo be turned to meet him what br gs go you here john dem ming sho she asked with constraint coni and nce am 1 I I knew if it you die dis corred covered wiio wilo I 1 ayas yon you woud be b aary wua me fr coming to tills this place where where oh b bow how could coul you maka make it eo so lard hard for me when be I 1 too was learning to forget I 1 in cot not hero of my own tree free will rose you may feel sure of that when we two parted we parted for keeps and I 1 haven t any claim on you I 1 its t a s 0 m e 0 one n e e esc 8 e ellza elizabeth bet h g gasped a s pe d tb the e girl her lips whitening has anything happened to elizabeth oh I 1 will never forgive you in this world or in the next if come w with me then if it you want I 1 0 what brings aa mere inere john derning to eee see her alive said the man he ile was not purposely brutal but his tones were hard and even hard bard aa as nails the woman caught his hi arm elizabeth dying my elizabeth oh ob god my punishment has come too soon and I 1 have worked eo so bard hard and lived only tor for her take me to her at once she had caught up a be flowered hat with much lace lice tailing falling in festoons tea toona from the brim and woud have rushed from the place but the man mail stopped her not tn in that rig rose foi for gods god 8 take sake something to cover you from pry bryin in eyes from elizabeth elizabe th who rioe doe suot blow quick len ion t this a 9 cloak wrap it round you and throw the hood bood over your head now come hn HIR buggy was at the door and he swung her into it and drove away as he had bad done so many time times in the past when she he had the first right to bla his care As they rode rapidly over the four miles between them and the farmhouse where her child lay dying the she had time for a severe and ing retrospect she had bad never meant to abandon Fl Izabeth but the law of the state had bad given the child to the father and the step she had bad taken in a fit of foolish jealousy had become irrevocable john demming had not been an unkind husband so far aa words or deeds went but he believed that any woman who had a roof root provided to cover her head and three meals meats dally daily should be happy an ab ence of unkindness was his eole sole claim to tenderness the woman at his side fleeing through the night could feel the granite of his nature in i he touch of bis his rigid arm as he drove he was more like cast iron than flesh aci sai blood even so it waa was not from that she he bad had run away in the two years since she bad not heard beard from him or of him she groaned aloud as the of her ber child and th the a awful rerun to which the law had compe compelled com led her the man sitting b tc bc c side ld her was no looser her husbard she asked askel who has cared for elizabeth A good woman a nurse and the hid hild was fond of her but abs ab bw always wanted you it really Is that the he can remember she aaa asked for you often but I 1 hoped ahe she would forget and be happy 1 I am not afraid to see her she straightened herself proudly my SIT innocent child will know her mother has done no I 1 was driven to the step I 1 took people have aid laid no harm of 0 me but they talked ot of you and rachel domes dornes until my heart broke I 1 dare say ay I 1 was foolish to beleve leve them she waited ti vi hear bear him deny or affirm but when be he spoke again it was to his horse and soon they were at the farmhouse go in 1 he aid said more gently than be he had bad yet spoken she Is la in the th south bedroom down stairs she threw off oft her cloak us as abol h passed through the narrow entry try and ul at of what hat she wore stood by the bed 1 on which a little ir r girl lay transparently thin and wan reaching up wasted arms to this radiant figure at her bedside I 1 my beauty mamma my angel and they were la in each other others a arma arms 1 I I knew you would como come to take me away with ith you with you mamma lou ou 1001 just like you do when you come to eee see mo me every night but papa said it wasn gasn t jt you As it elizabeth t know the nurse a pleasant faced client silent woman hovered near and john demming coming in stood at the head or of the bed with hie bli arms crossed on hta his breast the little girl fixed her dark sunken eyes on her mother mothers a face on the numbus of yellow hair on the despised tawdriness that her father wanted concealed and a beav enly emile smile broke over her thin feat urea ures my aly mamma my beauty mamma she said with a sigh of ineffable satisfaction is and with that sigh the lit tie tle elizabeth had passel passe 1 beyond tho the linea lines of contention john Demm demming lag forgetting for the moment everything but that rose wan was the mother of his dead child held out his hands to her la in her great anguish but before eho she could respond the nurse said quietly I 1 your wife va wanta ants you mr bir dem ming she wag was looking at some one in tho the doorway beyond rose a bold looking young woman oman with snapping black ces and defiant manner who carried herself with the air of oue who felt at home it was she who had been richel downes mrs at L I 1 in chicago record herald |