DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22217#0032
20
BILL Y'S BITE.
"Do you hear me, Kate? You're awful dreamy and queer—
I'm saying it's almost night."
" Night! night!" feebly and hazily breathed Kate. " Good-
night."
Her lips stood still, and her eyes, though fixed on the
crimson pane, were strange and big and unearthly. Billy
stared at them in awe, and then moved a hand quickly before
them to break the steady stare and draw it to himself. There
was no response. Her eyes remained fixed on the pane.
" Kate ! Kate !" he cried in a scream of alarm.
A slight spasm—almost shaping into a smile—crossed the
pinched features; the eyes gazed unwinkingly at the pane—
the breath came and went in long-drawn sighs—paused—came
again—then paused for ever. Kate had slipped through to
another world, where her feeble and groping hand would surely
be gently taken by a Guide who Himself knew all suffering and
temptation and weakness that can afflict frail humanity, and
who will surely be as pitiful to the benighted savages of our
land as of any other.
Billy screamed and wept, and threw himself on the still
form; and at length even the comical fiend, who had got up
on the table to execute a flourishing hornpipe, became annoyed
and got down to put a stop to the unseemly disturbance.
Rodie, too, who became stupid and sullen with drink just as
his partner became lively, roused himself sufficiently to stagger
across the room towards the hole, vowing that if he could only
trust himself to the support of one foot he would use the other
in stopping Billy's howling.
" Kate stares up, and won't move or speak to me," cried
Billy in gasps, as soon as he was conscious of the nails of the
comical fiend almost meeting in his ear.
" Maybe she's croaked at last," suggested Rodie. " See if
she breathes."
Joss hopped in, and soon answered in a gleeful negative.
"It's a good job," said Rodie, "for she'd never have been
of any more use.-"
" Three cheers for her death !" cried the comical fiend, and
as there was nobody to laugh at his joke, Rodie being too
sullen, Joss laughed the required quantity for a dozen people
himself.
Rodie tried to kick Billy, but, finding himself unable to
stand on one leg, he contented himself with some horrible
threats, and then they went back comfortably to their drinking.
BILL Y'S BITE.
"Do you hear me, Kate? You're awful dreamy and queer—
I'm saying it's almost night."
" Night! night!" feebly and hazily breathed Kate. " Good-
night."
Her lips stood still, and her eyes, though fixed on the
crimson pane, were strange and big and unearthly. Billy
stared at them in awe, and then moved a hand quickly before
them to break the steady stare and draw it to himself. There
was no response. Her eyes remained fixed on the pane.
" Kate ! Kate !" he cried in a scream of alarm.
A slight spasm—almost shaping into a smile—crossed the
pinched features; the eyes gazed unwinkingly at the pane—
the breath came and went in long-drawn sighs—paused—came
again—then paused for ever. Kate had slipped through to
another world, where her feeble and groping hand would surely
be gently taken by a Guide who Himself knew all suffering and
temptation and weakness that can afflict frail humanity, and
who will surely be as pitiful to the benighted savages of our
land as of any other.
Billy screamed and wept, and threw himself on the still
form; and at length even the comical fiend, who had got up
on the table to execute a flourishing hornpipe, became annoyed
and got down to put a stop to the unseemly disturbance.
Rodie, too, who became stupid and sullen with drink just as
his partner became lively, roused himself sufficiently to stagger
across the room towards the hole, vowing that if he could only
trust himself to the support of one foot he would use the other
in stopping Billy's howling.
" Kate stares up, and won't move or speak to me," cried
Billy in gasps, as soon as he was conscious of the nails of the
comical fiend almost meeting in his ear.
" Maybe she's croaked at last," suggested Rodie. " See if
she breathes."
Joss hopped in, and soon answered in a gleeful negative.
"It's a good job," said Rodie, "for she'd never have been
of any more use.-"
" Three cheers for her death !" cried the comical fiend, and
as there was nobody to laugh at his joke, Rodie being too
sullen, Joss laughed the required quantity for a dozen people
himself.
Rodie tried to kick Billy, but, finding himself unable to
stand on one leg, he contented himself with some horrible
threats, and then they went back comfortably to their drinking.