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Show i 21 A FORBIDDEN- CHRISTMAS i jg By HASTINGS j FOR the third time tho girl moved her spinning wheel. "If I am too far from tho fire I freeze, and If I am . too near the lire I cook," Bhe laughingly complained, setting set-ting her wheel awhlrl again. "It Is a bitter night." her old uncle agreed from hi corner of the settle on the other aide of the cobbled chimney-place of. rough stones and mortar, where the great logs were blazlnjr merrily. Young Westcott. on tho ijettle beside him, raid nothing at all, but Ids eyes followed her every movement with a sort of reluctant fascination. They had been following- her ever since her arrival In the Maan:ichi'Ui) colony, six months before. He had never seen such a girl nor dreamed of such bright bewilderment of boauty. Something In the silence, perhaps something In Westcott' s eyes, which rested on her, seemed to disconcert the girl, for he cast about for a subject sub-ject of remark. Dropping her distaff, she bent to rouse the children "Wake up, Utile folkt I must take you up to bed. Miles, dear; wake up: The apples you set to roast are all cinders. Elizabeth, ivako up!" ' Tho little girl sat up with a start, nor round, sleepy eyes opening In bewilderment. bewilder-ment. "Is It Christmas yot?" she demanded. Tho old man roused as at a shot nd hLa deep eyes under their shaggy irows bent peerlngly upon them. "Christmas!' he repeated, with angry emphasis. "Where have you heard of Uhristmou?" "Zellah said," stammered the little jlrl, "that In merry England " "Merry England!" came grimly from )hc old man's throat. "She said they did no work that lay, but had a great dinner, and some let up a tree from the .forest with candles on It " "Yea," said the old man, "there wero not enough abominations In England Bith their masking and mumming, but Ihcy must needs bring In this German Summery. And what did she tell you Baa the meaning of It?" The small brother rescued her with a remembered phrase. ' They are so glad that the Lord Is born," he repeated In his grave little blng-song. "And that Is the way for a righteous people to show a holy thanksgiving? )y slicking up a tree like a popish Idol In the house and ilgging it with hculhcii caiMlli-s'.' We keep no Christinas Christ-inas htrc. The laws provide punishment punish-ment for anyone who keeps that day tvlth a feast or even ceuses from his jsual labor. Pot this folly from your minds lit me hoar no more of It, ind do you." turning to his niece, "keep your tongue irom running on such nailers, 1 charge you, for your soul's lake." Thus driven. "I do. indeed." he averred. "I jee great harm In outraging outrag-ing the wise opinion " ph. the wise opinion!" came her mocking echo. "You see. It Is the opinion opin-ion of oihers that matters to you, Mr. Westcott, and not your own." "It is not, of course, my affair " "It Is not." eho promptly agreed. "I shall trust." said Westcott stiffly, "not only to your better Judgment, but to tor-to " plainly ho did not know to what to true "to your valuation of my pood opinion," he concluded Impressively. Im-pressively. "Perhaps that is not so great as you flatter yourself," she flashed back, defiantly. de-fiantly. "A good-night to you, Mr. Westcott." "And you must never, never tell!" "Never!" echoed the small Elizabeth, solemnly. "Never!" echoed the smaller Miles, "Uecause." went on Zellah, as she bent over them in the chill dark of the Christmas morning, "because it you ever tell one word about It there will-never will-never be another tree." A long-drawn "Oh-h-h!" came from them. Tho tree was a very small one, and iho candles wero the green bay-berry bay-berry wax of their daily use, nnd the scariot garlands were only the red forest for-est berries, but to their round eyes it was a blazing spectacle of delight. "A Christmas tree!" whispered Elizabeth Eliza-beth In awe-struck tones. Miles could only stare. "Yes, a Christmas tree," repeated Zellah gayly. A Joyous sense of adventure ad-venture and of daring, mingled with a subtle, feminine satisfaction at this defiance de-fiance of cautious Westcott. filled her with merry excitement. She whisked across the room. and. bundling the children up in comforters, sat hugging them to her while they watched the candles burn. So wrapt was she that she did not hear the step on the stairs. Without warning tho door was Hung open and Uncle mood staring In on them as on a scene accursed. Her offense seemed such a trivial thlnfy to the girl, so harmless and childish child-ish a disobedience, that she was totally total-ly unprepared for the catastrophe it brought upon her. She, Zcliah Colton, to be brought Into court like a common 111 doer, denounced by her own uncle, stared at by a dreadful dread-ful ring of neighbors! Over her head had rattled the hall of tho magistrate's rebuke; she had heard, loo, as In a dream, her uncle's voice, lamenting this disgrace to his bouse, but accepting the Lord's will in tones of fervor, and then, cutting Into her consciousness like a knife, the sentence of punishment. She was to stand two hours in the public square besldo tho pillory, bearing about her neck tho placard, "A wayward and. contumacious person." ' ' . '''"-.'." "''"-: ' . -"'.'"''. ' ' : ' - ' '''','''. : -y. ' ' '. 'I " - w w- '-V .'. - - ' '.;' '! : . :- - -v - ; . ' -v. , . , .; : .- . . ;. .- . , ..y r f v.- :y;::'Z:fP Vi IP M ' -.-:,; -M mA- ' - 'm M0r.-ky - v- - i V , - ' triV . :.-y:i.' :..V : :;v":-. ' .'-H:;.v . v . v,;:.r. I" ' . , ,. .; ."-v- . . .. , " BrcrcsforU stood a moment blinking at I115 nnbigonistthen witb'.' rush ' . be made fiercely cit him certain of his Identity In the wtntei twilight. "Merry Christmas!" she gave bacl( with a iulck uplift of spirits. It v) to Le a Merry Christmas after all, her pride declared defiantly. She won turn1 lng tlifi tables on them all. "Clvo us yowr bundle," the captain, tld her, swinging It under his left arm shlli hi right went skillfully out to encircle her cloak-shrouded figure. "And now, lass, for th earnest money," mon-ey," ho whimpered, dragging hur toward him. Furiously ho tiled to wrench herself away, but dropping the bundle tho captain cap-tain held her fast and pressed one hand over her mouth. "Nay, I hke not screams, though these will do me no harm," he chuckled, roused to incautlon ly his additional supply of rum. "llody of the dragun, girl, stop struggling! 1 mean you no harm. W'hero are your manners? A i kiss Is a wmall thing a small thing," he repeated, with a tipsy laugh, "and a kiss I mean to have! Come; stop this " A sudden hand at tho captaln'B collar col-lar Jerked him a god four feet away, and a blow under his chin added another an-other foot to that distance. Surprised, but sobered, by the attack, Bren-sfurd sloii a moment blinking at his antagonist, an-tagonist, then with a rush he rnado llerccly at him. Tho captain wa.s tho heavier man and Inflamed with rago and rum, but the other had the longer reach and the quicker sight. Suddenly there was a rush, a thud of blows nnd a gasp of laboring breath. For a second both figures were indls-tlngulshablo indls-tlngulshablo In a lightning give and lake; then, one on top the other, they went down. It was 'Westcott who first arose, and he assisted the captain up by his collar. col-lar. "Take yourself off unless you want more," he commanded. breathing heavily. The captain shook his dizzy head, holding his mantle to his lnglorlously blc-edin.i; nose. "I!ody of the dragon, but you are a sledge hammer!" ho grunted, eyeing his conqueror with something between n fighter's admiration admira-tion and a man's resentment. "I meant no harm; the lass agreed to corne with me and I wns but claiming my passago money. A kiss Is a small thing." Westcott looked from one to the other. "You agreed to go?" ho said. "With him?" "To England." the girl answered. "I wanted to go back to England." "And I'll lake her back now, and she still wants to go," the captain thrust In, "with no more talk of kissing either. She's a good Utile lass, nnd your folk made a vllo show of her." "Aye." said Westcott, "but never again. Zellah, do you want to go-now?" go-now?" he cried out passionately, his face deathly pale in tho dim light but for the livid bruise on ono cheek. "Do you want to go now?" "No, oh. no; not now!" nho answered him. breathlessly, her eyes held and confused by that new brilliance In his. "Why, It's tho chap that stood beside hor to-day," tho captain muttered. A whistle sounded from the shore: he replied re-plied with another and held out hl.i hand to Westcott. "No offense, sir," he said. "I know when a game's done," and ho melted away In tho darkness. Westcott took one quick step to the girl am drew hor close. Tilcre wero no questions, no replies. ' All had been a.sk-d and answered between them in lhat breathleps moment. She lay still in his clasp like an exhausted bird, and under the weight of her light form his heart throbbed with an almost terrifying terrify-ing Joy. "Zellah," he whispered brokenly. "Zellah, I lovo you. Oh, how I lovo you! . You wil, ,lve on horCi with me?" Tenderly ho pressed the little hooded head bark against his arm to read her face. His first kiss was salt with the tears she shed. She did not know why. but In her eyes, when she shyly raised them to his. was a light so glad a happiness hap-piness ro divinely radiant that grief and pain seemed only far-away things whose memories could not even darken the new-born glory of their dream. Another ball and another reached her, and then her heart gave a great leap, for across tho square came Will-lam Will-lam Westcott. sending her tormentors to right and left. Then he Htepped up on tho platform by her side, locking down at the crowd in grim alertness. She bid not look at him. After that first throb of relief came again the terrible ter-rible inrush of shame, with added poignancy. "5o away!" phe said suddenly in a choked little voice that she hated for Us tremor. He did not stir. "Go away" she reiterated one-e more, and after that rhe neither spoke nor looked at him. Wc-Gtcott rcarccly understood hlmxelf the force that had brojght him there or the strange new emotions surging through him. He had held back from the girl, distrusting her latent possibilities possi-bilities while she was yet innoont of offense, but now that her humiliation was oftered to eery eye he had sprung to pharc it, his reproach lost in the thrill of an unknown feeling more poignant poig-nant than pity or Bhame. When the Interminable time was at last over and Zellah, stiff and chilled, stepped d.nvn from the little platform, ho put himself at her side. "Go away from me I want to see no one," she ilung out nt him, and with bent head darted down a side mtreet. Her route led her to the shore, which she skirted for a time, floundering through the damp snowdrifts in the rough wagon road. Zellah eyed tho water with gloomy fascination. She wished miserably that she possessed tho courage to tling herself her-self into It and so end at once the menace of the to-morrows. "Ship ahoy, there!" rang out n Jovial voice, and. lifting her bent head, the girl saw a young man almost in front of her. "Let me pans!" he commanded him fiercely. "Presently, presently. I mean no harm. I am Bob Hreresford. captain of the Conrad yonder, and very much at your service." "By St. George and tho Dragon, but this Is no place for a malel like you! Where are you going?" "God knows!" she answered wildly, her voice breaking. "Nay." he returned, coming nearer, his eyes shlnlne; more and more. "Bob Urcresford knows. Corno wiih me out of this place where they made a mock of you. Come back to England. lass." "To England?" she faltered, held by the bluff decision of his manner. "Aye, to England, on the Conrad. She weigs anchor at 3. when the tide turns." Again Zellah looked at tho ship. On tho Conrad to England! England seemed heaven realized. It did not matter where she went nfter she got there; anything was better than taking up her life again here. The captain saw her eyes flash, her lips take on resolution. "But but I would have to go In secret." se-cret." she put beforo him. "Aye," ho laughed, "wo'll stow vou safely away till out of harbor. Never fear for that, my lass You arc of the right stuff, you are." "And then I know not If I can get money enough for my passage. I have but a few pieces. Is It much?" "Tut. a trlllc! All will be made right with a kiss now for earnest money, my prettlness," ho laughed, bending toward her. She sprantr away; but beforo Bho could speak the hot Indignation ho saw flame Into her face ho dashed Into apology. "A dozen pardons, mistress. There, do not run; I meant no harm 'Twas but a poor Joke a sailor's Joke." She camo slowly toward him again, searching his face, and he had wisdom enough to keep it serious and at a proper distance. And so, after more talk, .she promised to meet him there at that place at half after four with such belongings as she could get together to-gether W7hen her father's huge timepiece, sagging down her pocket, warned her of the approaching time, she lifted her bundle from Its hiding p'ace and started start-ed down the shore. "Merry Christmas, lass!" softly called the waiting figure, as she hesitated, un- "Nay, Mr. Colton." young Westcott remonstrated, touched by her flushed face, "she did but tell them of the ustom, not commend It to them." She look the little ones up to bed and B'hen the girl presently returned she lound her uncle asleep. Reluctantly Westcott rose to go. "It Is late," he murmured. She nodded, with unconscious ruefulness. rueful-ness. Westcott took a quick, step nearer ber, his fur cap gripped tensely In both bands. There was something that he had come over half-minded to say that evening, something the sight of this girl always tempted him to 6.iy. He distrusted her beauty and his de-fire de-fire for It. Undeniably there had been tender anticipation an-ticipation In tho girl's face. It went out now before a flush of hot shame, and her eyes wero twin fires of pride. "You ore so thoughtful," she said, with a scornful llttlo smile, whoso mockery he felt, but scarcely understood. under-stood. "I will come to-morrow," he promised, prom-ised, lingering. "To wish mo Merry Christmas or eee If I am wickedly abstaining from Work?" eho Impishly persisted. "1 could not think any such 111 doing of you," he answered gravely. ' Ill doing?" she hotly flared back. "Do you. In truth, see any ill doing In bbservlng the day?" Besldo the house of correction they halted and Zellah mounted the small platform beside tho stocks. Justice Bliss pinned on tho paper with Its condemning con-demning description and shook his grizzled head In stern sadness over it. Without turning her rigid head she was aware of the faces increasing about her. Frankly curious, in the foreground fore-ground trooped the children lured by this new spectacle from their mockery of fat old Goody May chained to a post at the corner of Prison Lane for having hav-ing slapped her husband's cheek neighbors' children, some of them, whom she knew and played with, staring star-ing at her with awed horror; cithers, tho children of servants and slaves and freedmcn, sniggering and laughing in the ignorant cruelty- of their young years. Behind them sauntered the sailors from tho Conrad, gaping and Jesting at her beauty, and all around, crossing the square in tvos and threes, came the townspeople In the release from work that le-cturo day brought them. Sho drew her hood further over her head, and as she did so she lowered her eyes and saw three figures crossing the square Betty Morrison, gay in her new London cloak, and her mother, and William Westcott In that moment it . seemed to Zellah that she lasted all the ; shame that life can hold. A laugh rose from the children, ecr pressing closer to the platform foot, and a snowball struck her chin. Involuntarily In-voluntarily her hand went to the bruise. Tho laughter gained and another ball flew past her ear. A Pick terror shook her then, for she knew well to what rude lengths the rougher classes went in their treatment treat-ment of pltlorled offender;;. True, she was not pilloried and she could dodge their missiles, but her pride would never furnl.sh such a pitiful arn use-in use-in en t. |