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Show I FICTION BY FBESTWRiTERSj THE EYES "WITH SORROW i . , 3 BY i ,-j I DU LUCILLE BALDWIN VAN SLYKE L5 I Tommy O'Brien, aged ten. dearly ored to awe all the new children who Kgred Into his part of Dix Street with JUie uncannv tale of ' de nutty lady 'Wot lives in de swell end of de street." Jn't throw no tils yet. nor she don't akea H that she kills nobody she's kst nutty ' "Oxcusc thad I ask.'' murmured the ttlr? Srlan perplexedly, "whad ees ft thad you call boog 'ouse'" I lommv and Geraldlne eyed their lend with pitying disgust. "Gee," ex-Odcd ex-Odcd Tommv "ain't 1 never goln' to Irn youso N" Yolk talk?" T'Oxr-use " murmured Nazlleh penl-fitly, penl-fitly, "me. I theenk you haf nod tell f ees ad me thees thad you call" her ' (lee wftvcrffl hut with Oriental pa-snce pa-snce she made the attempt, 'thees iu jus' call wo-orm ouse " And when Tommy had recovered PP om the noisy mirth Into whic h Na leh'e attempt at Idiom had thrust m he made on' last gigantic effort I Q explanation -Bughouse is being eo nuttv dal iy has to chuck youse In Mattywau Me lad haln t got 1 at had yet. but e don't notice nothing 'nd she don't .how nohodv she ust to "nd de Kent FlC is a nnrsf goll wld a white cap a llh ivln' wld li f-r rill de time " ,"Au' the .-etle babee Ihail go dead7 YO" le nutty ladee don' forge-el heem?" Izllch demanded, hugging her bab other o lose that he beat her with fn dimpled fists. I "liar- v. r,t I'm llln' -ouse " i .-iter-uCl5led Tommy for the twentieth time; N ifier de kid pr.es deal de lady goes ipP her nut nd den's de time de gent pes me mnddi r all de sw.e clothes I de huggv 'nd t'ings dat dey has for ,load I. Id Me mudder'd show you De of de ( lollies et hut de buggy - pells count of me kid brother Is a Kd walker n v. 'Nazlleh -i Im.J She had hoped It Did he ;i nice story: all the stories ie heard w re treasures to carry home l"niii ntar. hr mother, and Abu saad, her grandfather to toll them nllf they counted laces In the twl-fhi twl-fhi But her sensitive heart knew tat this slory of l hi- "nutty' lady was r too sorrowful 'o t. 1! those sad-eyed "I tells you wot I does." promised Tommy generously "Tholsday I goes me up Dix Street w id de wash nd Nuzly, youse can help fetch 'nd likely youse will get a squint at her she i Hr " ' "AN" THE I.EETIX BABEE THAD GO DEAD 1 T1!L NUTTY LADLE DoN' F0BGE-8T HELM?" 'or did he not know all the thrilling etalls of the lady s "nuttlnees"? Was Ot his own mother Intimately con-ected con-ected through her profession l she 's a laundress) with the entire af lir? But when little Na:leh Sewaya leard the story only half comprehend-iT'frB comprehend-iT'frB Tommy's vernai ular. her lovely Usky eyes aked myriad questions J. lat her faltering English could not rpresa. Geraldlne Schmidt who had heard 16 story before and always treated the Itlre affair with maddening Teutonic , Idifferenee made a stolid attempt to J lucid ate Tommys narrative "She alndt regular bughouse, Nuzly, ie explained while N'azlleh groped for Vie meaning of the ,ord ' nutty' . "Bhe sit in de baclc yard de eent ha3 1 fixed up awful swell for her Gee. Its on de corner 'nd dey's a buneh of trees around he's koi a swell fence made up high out of bricks 'nd all around de top of de fence is Jugs wld wege-tables wege-tables growln' In em 'nd dey's a swell . Kate 'nd Inside" his voice dropped Impressively, "Inside dat gate dey's a fountain squirtin" nd a bunch of chairs around 'nd de nurse goll sits a-watchln' de nutty lady 'nd de nutty lady alts a watchin nothln' " At last N'azlleh began to comprehend Me I know. ' she Interrupted eag-erl. eag-erl. ' thad ladee she haf the eyes sreeth sorrow she nod see? Ees that nod whad ou call nutty9 Me, I know the B eyes weeth sorrow on a time thad my fathaire ees keel rnv inothaire mo8' nearlee haf those keen of eyee! Eef a ladee haf a sorrow In her heart" Nazlleh's slender hands were pressed against her dingy dress aud her dark eye-- were wide with horror "an' she hold thad sorrow mooch too tight een her heart an' nod let cet come from her eyes weeth tears by an by thad eyes ees all blind weeth sorrow eel ees a theeng ver" sad." "Honest, did yer mudder get It?" demanded Tomm eagerly. N'azlleh nodded slowly "She haf eet : she nod ncvalre talk; she nod nevalre smile; she nod nevaire cry; she look thees way" the little girl's eyes stared blankly and her mouth drooped "but come a time Allah Al-lah sen' to her thad geeft of tears, an' thad sorrow whad you theenk, thad sorrow czz weep out of her eyes nod all." Nazlleh sighed, "but mos' all an' then she ees speak with me. her daughtalre an' weeth Antar, thees ba-bee. ba-bee. an' weeth all peoples thad she haf know onlee but she weel nod speak about thad sorrow eet ees thad mr fathaire ees keel." "Gee," said Tommy thoughtfully, "I don't want dal for mine! Do lady, she's got It good 'nd plenty! It s de real t'lng she don't know nuthln' wait till youse sees her she won't let on she 3ees youse she looks right t'ro youse." The baby walled fretfully Nazlleh lifted hint from the curbstone to put him in his perambulator. "Thees babee " she panted proudly, 'eef grow leeke the eole waggln' so mooeh he weigh eef I nod haf thees cart " The "role waggln' " was sucking his sister's neck so lovingly that she could not talk for joy When his moist ca-reea ca-reea was ended she plumped him on the shabby ushionj and clapped her hands "Ale! Ale!" she cried "Who haf a ride leeke a reach babee? Antar, Antar An-tar Bewaya, mos' bes' nice babee een Ameer-en' Een a perahmboolate! " For the perambulator was the pride of her heart- To obtain it she had cheerfully toiled six weary Saturdays, washing floors for the Dutch baker lady, while Antar fretted unceasingly in a sticky keg with a labol that guaranteed guar-anteed the contents to be "twenty-five lbs. net, strictly pure currant jell " The Dutch baker lady had not parted with the precious vehicle cheaply by any means, nor until the springs of the wreck refused to support the weight of her own pudgy offspring But to Nazlleh's eyes It was wonderful, wonder-ful, its sides were still shiny with the gummy arnlsh daubed u ion it by the ' jew second hander" who had sold it to Mrs. Schmidt; its guard straps were still sticky from the sweets that the O'Brien baby had lavished upon them before he became a good "walker." Mrs. O'Brien had fairly wept when she sold It to the "second hander " . "You'll niver have the like of this In yer shop again, Mister Solom'n." she assured him; ' t was the rich as bought It 'nd havin' lost their oung, God rest his pretty soul, they give me the buggy for me own that's the age of one they lost you're fair robbin' a poor dead baby by payin' no more for it," It was certainly true that the poor battered cart did retain, somehow, something of Its former smartness The glory of the collapsible hood that would no longer collapse, the wonder ful rattle of the wheels with the rubber rub-ber almost rotted from the tires, were things to be very proud of. but best of all was the little gilded monogram on the foot hoard, much tarnished to be sure but still a memory of the first wee occupant, Nazlleh puzzled a great deal over the Involved curves of the old English lettering, it was much prettier pret-tier than that in the sehool book, almost al-most as pretty a3 the graceful Arable that her grandfather taught hex to love. Antar nearly wore the skin from his dimpled fingers trying to pull the pretty gilt trifles away While he pulled he made soft, adorable baby noises; N'azlleh solemnly believed he was "readln' the nice story " and If his seraphic smile meant anything he surely read a very happy tale In her rapture over the cart and its beloved occupant she began to move away from her friends without any consciousness of their being. She smiled dreamily as she strutted between be-tween the handle bars and the dilapidated dilapi-dated hood; the handles were far too wobbly to trust going down grade She was pretending that she was a very rich lady taking her own little boy to a wonderful confectioner's shop where she was going to buy him a large thick handful of fuzzy spun sugar candv and a little round mamoul with figs Inside. Tommy sighed heavily as he gazed after her. "Dat's a date fer Thoisday." he 6ereamed. "youse remember to hand around, Nuzly." "I leeke thad I go." t ailed Nazlleh Geraldlne drooped despondently. "Halndt you going to take me, too, Tommy"" she ns':ed. And Tommy rose scornfully. "Don't butt In,' he advised bruskly, " 'nd youso won't get irun down " On Thursday, cheerfully tugging at one handle of the clothes basket, for perhaps after all It was not only love that had moved Tommy to ask her, will m w& mm ''w' -TOMMFE-no.RRF.KN, EES THAD NUTTV LADKE - I I LEE ICE TUAD YOO CALL PRFE9EEDEN" OR MEbuNAIRH T " politely; "eet ees mos' keen lhad you ask me Tommee-oo-breen." "Gee'" murmured the love-st rleken Tommy, "dat roll's cot (p swelleal manner In dls whole town I wouldn't mind takln' her anywheres." Nazlleh took her first Journey to the up town end of Dix Street Her darkly fringed eyes opened wider and wider as she stared at the bits of lawn and at shining houses whose windows, "efery one haf laee same keen' pattern pat-tern thad othaire weendow haf." and when they finally reached the charming charm-ing old corner guarded by high brick walls she drew a deep breath "Tommee-oVbrcen " ?he- asked softly, "ees thad nutty ladee ihi ladee of a sultan or a beg?" "A what?" "A reeeh mans leeke thad you call precseeden' or melonalrs?" "Nope," he replied, she hain't, but I bet you any money he eould be a nald-erman nald-erman If he'd get out In de district he's de goods, he is." Around the corner at the big gateway gate-way the put down the basket and Tommy reai bed up for the bell. The boy peered cautiously through the gratings 'Squint," he ordered tersely. "She's there " Nazlleh nodded, too awestrlcken for words; she shivered as she stepped close lo the ornamental bars and then she looked for the first time at the "nutty" lady. Slender and drooping, sitting listlessly list-lessly in a great willow chair, white fingers twisting a bit of gay ribbon, gray eyes staring at nothing at all Nazlleh drew a long sighing breath, her expressive little hands flew to her heart. "Allah mus' sen' thee tears, lofely ladee." she whispered her own dark eyes filled with sadness, "Allah, mus', lofely ladee, weeth eyes of sorrow!" "Gee'" gasped Tommy as the maid opened the gate, "cut It out! Nuzly, youse looks nutty vourself!" Often In the days that followed the little Syrian sat brooding over the recollection rec-ollection of that drooping woman. Onee she caught up Antar and hugged him so closely that he squealed all his funny little Oriental squeals. "Don' you go dead, an' make me nutty," she whispered passionately; "me eef you do thad I weel sla ap you good, leeke that bad Dooteh ladee sla ap thad bad Dootch babee!" And once at night, when she lay awake watching the wonderful stars, ehe made n little prayer, stretching out her hands as she had seen Father Shls-klm. Shls-klm. the priest, do. when he prajed. - "Eef you please, Allah," she murmured, mur-mured, "I leeke thad you take a leetlo time jus leetle, to sen' thad lofely ladee the I-eft of tears-to take away thad eves Of sorrow, p case. amen. If Tommy O'Brien had not been a voung man of many afralrs. his mother's customers would have certainly cer-tainly enjoved a more prompt delivery of their clean linen. There came a Thursday when Tommy slipped away surreptitiously on a little matter of his own and quite forgot that he was to carrr clean sheets to the Nortons' housekeeper His mother, sorely vexed, called to Nazileh as she wa3 returning return-ing from school. last he succeeded- a tiny gilt letter was loose In his dimpled hand. "Ah! Ah! Aie!" he squealed. The staring eyes were very bright now, they wandered "earchingly about the pretty garden, and finally they saw the waving baby hand. She dragged herself out of tho chair -NUZLY. DOES YOCSE KNOW WHERE ML BOY I ' M WTNTf T "Nuzly' " she cried from her base-ment base-ment window, and Nazlleh. drilled with an Oriental sense of obedience to one's elders, rlew with a swiftness that belied her languid grace, "Nuzly. does youso know where me boy Tom wint'" Nazlleh's dark lashes drooped on her olive tinted cheek "Me I am mos' sad thad I nod know." she answered evasively "Walt till I get my hands on 'Ira," promised Mrs O'Brien ardently, wait till I do." Nazileh waited patiently, waiting comes easily to Syrians. "Whad eea eet thad you wan ?" ahe asked politely. "I want these sheets carried oop the treat to the big house." answered Mrs O Brien. with many loquacious details of why she wanted them carried and what she would do to her son for not carrying them and generally speaking whai she thought of a boy who hrd ln-herlted ln-herlted such lax tendencies from his father. "Thad 'ouse weeth the nutt ladee, queried Nazileh breathlessl . "Me. I weel take thad theenge for you." "You're all right. If you are a dago." Mrs O'Brien answered effusively as she handed the bundle to the child; "Cod bliss ye. it's not your fault that you Is one." "Oxcuse," murmured Nazlleh politely, po-litely, i eei nod da ago. Me, I ees come from Ian" of Syree-ah' Halfwa down the block she paused thoughtfully Ro geet Antar, he weel ride an' carry the theengs." she decided. Presently she was once more Jour-neylng Jour-neylng uptown with the sheets carefully care-fully tucked in the foot of the battered perambulator, and Antar, drowsily singing himself to sleep, safely strapped strap-ped to the cushions She arrived at the great Iron gates quite breathless, but when she reached she could not quite touch the bell She could see the iofely ladee" sitting In her willow chair This time the . hair was verv near tho graveled path that led to the doorway of tho house Just as the child reached for the bell tho nurse disappeared within the house The gate waa not quite fa9t. Nazlleh pushed It open softly and pulled the perambulator inside, and then when she had fixed the rickety brake, she started cautlouslj down the path with the bundle of sheets, tiptoeing when she passed tho lady, but the lady never looked, she sat staring at nothing noth-ing at all, twisting a bit of gay ribbon In her white fingers Antar was not quite asleep pres-eutlv pres-eutlv he sat up and gurgled with surprise sur-prise he did not like to sit still In bis wonderful perambulator, be w anted to move His fingers fumbled at the handle of tho brake, it Jiggled delight-fully delight-fully The graveled path sloped ftently toward the lady, the brake clicked lu self loose from the fat little flngera. and the cart rolled smoothly down the path toward the drooping woman But the woman did not see; her eyea were indeed, 'blind with sorrow." ntar sighed softly, then he leaned over the straps and began bis old game of playing with the little gilt monogram on the footboard -Ale-na.um." he gurgled, very much as any baby gurgles, "a-ah a-ah he sanu contentedly. ' The drooping woman lifted ber head, she seemed to be listening, she frowned a little, she was very thoughtful. Antar gave an extra hard pull. At and crept slowly down the path she knelt by the battered old perambula tort and her fingers, too. were playing with the little monogram "R E N." her voice said sweetly, "R E N spells baby doesn't It? doesn't it?" and then she drew a long sobbing breath and there came to her the "gift ot tears " A frightened nfe flow acreas the garden, a man-sen. iuf hurriedly pushed the little cart with the laughing baby down the path, and Naz.yeh entne out of the klt( hen doorway Just In lime to see ther' carrying a white, limp woman with closed eyes Into the house. 1 In her terror she pushed the rickety , perambulator home so fast that Antar I bounced - about in an ecstasy of baby I glee, and all the while he hid In his fat little hand a dingy gilt letter "N." t All through that afternoon ?nd far I Into that awful night a Httle girl tried to forget those white, shut eyes; all through a dreadful morning In a school-room she hid her face In her hands and would not speak And when noon came she could endure It no longer, but dragged herself up Dix Street and stared through a great Iron gateway. The fountain was there and the prUly chairs. Just as they had been yesterday, but this time there was only a man sitting under the trees. After a long time Nazlleh cahed u him. "Meester," she cried softly and de-spalrlrgly, de-spalrlrgly, "I leeke thad you please tell ad me thad iofely ladee that nutty ladee ees she go dead leeke her leetle babee?" The man got up and went over to the gae quickly. The little girl dragged out her question ques-tion once moro "The ladee the pretty ladee " The man swung the gate wide. "Are you the one who brought that baby here7" he asked. Nazlleh nodded. And then the man did a very 6trange thing, he caught her In hla arms and kijsed her. "God bless you, child," he whispered throatlly; "she isn't dead and and she isn't going to be 'nutty' any more, she's going to get well just think of that!" H Nazileh struggled to her feet, her dark eyes lifted themselves very Bweetly. "Thad is mos' nice of Allah," she said, "he haf sen' thad geeft of tears Jus' to weep away thad sorrow thad eyes thad was weeth sorrow. Me, I am mos' mos" nutty weeth gladness the lofely !adee!" H And suddenly, shyness overtook her. She made the pretty Syrian obeisance as her mother had taught her, touch- M I ing her heart, her lips and her head with her slender hand and then she whirled about swiftly and fled through the gateway. HI nd as she ran she sang a funny lit- 1 tie sobbing song under her breath to tSUT I IGGl D FIKRHELF (H'T Or TJTC CH.WK AND KNELT UY THE BATTERED OLD PERAMBULATOR the same little tune that ehe often sDf I to Antar: I "The loMv ladee" she sang, "The lofely ladee Me, 1 lofe tho lofely ladee I |