TUESDAY, OCTOBER Ji, ifos.
THE MORNING ilSTORTAN. ASTORIA. OREGON.
31
I
A Latter Day Sphinx
By Zoe Anderson Norrla, Copyright, 1905, by Zos Aaderson Norria.
I CAN'T My that I was prepOMM-ssed
In Ornella I Ir1inniiN fnvor from
the first In Kpl' of Imr exrellwit
, Introduction front some dear
writer friends. Thi-re was In Ikt na
turo an Inexplicable something til HI
cult to understand, a certain sphinx
11 k t-nUn, an lnipiiitrali!lltr, tin wnrl
nma of tlin animal that rover up Ita
track for fear of detection, that look
iimhi Hie world aa ll natural enemy,
from which It must romi-ul all llilnir
lMll!e of concealment.
t'urui'lltt waa from tin f.ir weal She
wa shM to bars dad some little mie
t'tna wllb her work of writing with a
niHgasIne or two. Evldeutly she w rote.
Alwnyl upon tier Ueak waa a tyi
writer, Into which some paper lind
been (-piled. There, were oflwi miflu
' lhed Sentences upon Mil paper.
However, In contradictory evidence
iu uw nothing of ber work In print
tlmtls, mat to nothing. On the wall
of tier sitting room ne wspnper article
elaborately llltiMrated with photo
graphs taken ly herself waa displayed.
The photograph were good, thn article
mediocre.
This waa the solo specluieu of t'orue
lla'a work ever exhibited to tno.
8he lived In a thro room flat at the
toy of a great new building of (lata In
uilxerable neighborhood.
After our first Introduction then
.were montba that I did not see Corne
lia. Then she railed upon me.
Afur a little In her quiet way aha
ixtko of a young German wbotn abt
bud met.
, They were engaged, she anld. 8o.i
they were to be married.
KI10 wna glad. Ptio waa very tired of
4) Iia man aa tt I a-svt'L- ei.a itm iHlnnri at tut
I1V 1 WlintHMV W I'l a IIIOAHKM !' 1
rtewapaMTa. of trying to follow up her
work, of watting for It to appear at)
that they would aend her Iter money.;
The. existence wna a strain Uon tin I
nerve of any woman. Khe often won
dered bow I endured It. Except that I
wroto with audi exceeding rapidity
.when I did write 1 pawed over the
luiplW-d Inference that this waa seldom
"he waa aura that I would ancrumn.
With that she aroae and extended ni t!
an Invitation to meet ber fiance. A she
atowl In the light of the window I ob
served the crowlike blackneaa of bet
balr without a curl, the stralghtnce ol
ber now, a peculiar pallor that waa not
Of New York lu ber complexion.
Prompted more by curiosity than
anything else, I accepted ber Invitation
and In due time made a vUlt to her
flat I climbed alx breatbteaa fllghta,
part light, part dark, and entered.
I waa amarcd at alght of the young
Herman with whom ahe waa Infatu
ated. I compared the two, reatlng tny
eye flrat ou one and then on tho other.
Team youugcr than Cornelia, apparent
ly be waa almi far her Inferior In point
of Intellect. I waa astonished that alie
could for a moment eonaldcr btrn. It
may have lcen that bla lack of knowl- J
edge of tho language accentuated bla
Intellectual Inferiority, but before I had
made my adleua I found myself regret- j
ting the fact that an American woman, '
particularly an A merlon 11 woman gift- j
d with the ability to write, could aoi
descend. The difference In Intellect:
waa not my aole regret. The difference j
In tbelr height! Cornelia waa exactly 1
one foot taller. j
Htrange to aay, It aeomed that at In-
tervaU ahe Nt the neccaalty of my
I wia amauu) at aiorrr or thi jovna
UEBMAN.
presence and the need of turning ma
Into a confidant of both aorrow and
happlneaa.
Verbally aba confided the happlneaa;
luatlnctlvely I felt the aorrow In a
telepathic way common to ma. -
Soma montha afterward aha made ma
k rlalt
1 She aat very still In a rocking chair,
looking out my window with lacklna
tnr eyea. She folded her handa In her
! 0 and began to talk to me,
"Ha has gone home," the told me.
father aent for him. You know
1 t Alfred belonga to a very arlato
tt family In Berlin."
y all do, from their own a
" I Inserted.
red doca," ahe said flnnij. " 4Totl
ell that from bla manner, bla
sc." . k.
"Kill Hoi 1 1. in Ijiglisli."
"lie him l:n hardly lime." remarked
ahe, ") leitui Hie r.iiKllsli. Ho Im
proved much before he went away. I
taiiglit him. I could Hot aee blui off.
One grletc i to watch the bout leave
the dork.
'T.ut I bep. him get ready. I write
to him every dny. So hi I am going to
Mm. I -lia'l imt opivt n -letter from
blm for ri wck or t.vo. The Icmt may
be delnyel tli.it li'ne of year-the
Horn., you know; the wind. Hut
that wl'l 11 t p'-vei t my writing to
btin every ii- y. H mil I am n ilug to
blm," dn reienlii. "lie wanted ln
Id nmrry biui before be went away,
'who w nr 1 AHE cu.
but I refused to do that. I refnued on
account of bla father, who la very
stem. If Alfred married without bla
council! be would disinherit blm. Ho
would never forgive him If be married
without bla content."
"Hut a bird In the hand, you know,"
I argued, "la worth a flock In the at
moapberf." Rhe turned ber ipilet eyea on me. If
there existed a apnrk of humor or rel
lah of It In her nnture I bad yet to dis
cover It.
"I am quite sure of blm," ahe said
"I have every confidence In him, lu bis
lutegrlty and In bU love for me."
Apparently thla ended the argument.
The light fliiHhlng on a face In her
brooch attracted my attention.
"Whom la Itr I Baked, leaning for
ward and touching It. "I have never
accu you wear It before."
This partly to change the subject,
which failed to trend toward happi
uia, and purity to know. The face In
terested me.
"It la a picture of my mother," ahe
an Id, taking the brooch off and band
lug It to me.
I held It In the light and In the ahad
ow, looking at It, at the dusky face, at
the calm dark eyea.
"It la something like the pictures of
Pocahontas," decided I finally. "She
looks aa If abo might have a trace of
ludlan blood."
"My great-grandmother." sold Cor
nelia, "was a beautiful Indian iquaw."
I compared ber fuce with the face of
the brooch. Tho likeness was remark
able tho same straight hair, the same
Mtrnlght note, the snme enlm quiet of
couuteuunce, the rcHM of the Indian,
subtle, watchful, alert to danger, but
poxHCNtlng nt the snme time au lmeii
ctruble calm, the Inheritance of centu
ries of watch fulness.
"It won't be long now," reiterated
Corurlln, "before I shall go to blm."
"Hut suppose you never hear from
hliu," I NUggcxtcd, a bit brutally. "Sup
pose be never writes to you or ask
you to conic."
Thinking thla over afterwurd, I en
deavored to convince myself that I said
It with a beulgn puroae of fortify
ing ber agabist the Infidelity of man, of
placing ber on her guard, but I never
quite succeeded.
Agnln she turned the quiet Impene
trability of her gaze upon me.
"I think," ahe said, "that I could even
stand thut." t
Hut her checks wera blotched with
the tears that she bad shed the night
before.
It was Impossible to refrain from ad
miring such strength of character.
Of myself I went to make her a little
visit some alx weeks later. I found
ber lu rooms disfigured by uptorn car
pets, by awathed furniture.
"You are going, then?" I queried. '
"Aa soon aa I ran get ready, per
haps next week, perhapa the latter part
of this. I am selling my things bit by
bit. I thought at first that I Would
buy my wedding clothes here, but they
are much less expensive In Tarts. lie
will meet ma there. Are you cold? 1
will light the gaa fire." And, touch
ing a match to the logs, ahe brightened
the bare rcom.
We aat In chain before the Imitation
logs.
"I' think ! shall have two very hand
some dressea made In Parta," she re
sumed "one black, the other white,
both of lace. I shall have them made
plainly. Alfred's father la very rich.
lie goes to the baths twice a year. ! s
shall go with them, of course. I have '
been studying Schiller, Heine, all the
Herman' Doetifj so as to tie well VeraeC
In them when I get there. .
"I have been studying German, too,
and rubbing up my French. Alfred will
want his American wife to make a
good Impression on bla people," abi
concluded, her dull eyes on the fire.
"You anticipate no unbapplneae from
the fact that he la younger than yon." 1
said. "Such tnarriogin seldom make
for bapplneas."
"I never Iforruw iinhapplinti," she
told me.
This rebuke afflicted me momentarily.
I was ellent, studying the fire. Then I
lonkcd at her. There was no expmt
slou In ber face one wi y or another. It
might have been made of Miotic.
Hy and by I got up to go. 8he, too,
nroHC. Contrary to all precednit be
tween ux, I put my arm around her. 1
klxted ber cheek.
"I hope you will le happy," I sighed.
"After all, life la very short, and love
Is the scurccut and aweeteiit thing lu
It."
As I ilcHccnded the wenry stairs, part
light, part dark, ami emerged Into the
street, I discovered In my heart Just a
llttlo eury of this great hnpplnens In
store for Cornelia. He fore I reached
home I contrasted It, w ith some degree
of lillternexs, with my own life of
coimtunt work. My room was like a
cave for loiieilnexs when I entered It
The nuliicnn of ber propped left Its
Impression upon me. It remained to
such an exteut Indeed that before tho
week waa over I climbed tboae stairs
once more to ber three roomed flat.
I regretted my dlMmm of her. I
wlidicd by miiiio slight iM-rsoual service
to compensate In-fore she went away.
I found the fiat doited. At my knock
the woman who lived In the adjoining
fiat opened ber door and thrust out ber
bend.
It was a frowsted bend, not yet well
combed, am it roxe from a collarletn
throat.
"Are you looking for MIm Hard
iiihiiV" she asked.
"Yes," I answered.
"She has gone home to the west'sho
said. "She went borne yesterday."
"To tho westr I exclaimed. "1
thought"-
Wie fractured my sentence by com
lug Into the ball. Fhe shut the door
and stood braced, ber back agalnat It.
"That poor glrll" he lamented, "I
never felt so sorry for anybody in my
life as I did Tor tlmt poor girl."
"Why?" I quet!oued.
fcbe had paused theatrically, await
ing this quentlou to roll the history of
Cornelia's wretchedness on her tongue.
"f'bo was the strange! girl I ever
saw," she began explaining. "She nev
er told you anything. You hud to find
out everything for yourself.
"I never saw anybody so still mouth
ed as that g rl wa. Hhe dldu't tell me.
hut I found out that If It hadn't been
for her jeople In the west she would
have starred here in New Y'ork. ' Ouim
In a great while she got registered let
ters. They had money In them. She
bad to sign for them. That was how I
knew tbey had money In them. She
never got any work from the newspa
pers at first maybe a little, but not
afterward. I think she got ao Infatuat
ed with the little German ahe couldn't
write. Writers are like that sometimes,
they tell me.
"She went without everything after
the German went away. She let hlra
have some money because his father
hadn't sent him quite enough, be aald.
I heard them talking about jt In the
ball. That left her almost penniless.
Hhe never complained, but you could
hear her talking to the Iceman and the
milkman, apologising to them. Some
times she kept perfectly still In ber
room when they rang, pretending she
wasn't there."
She shifted from one foot to the oth
er. Apparently Cornelia's history waa
to be strung out Indefinitely, at least
eo long as I cared to atand and listen
to It
I cut It abort
"But what about the young German
she was going to marry?" I asked.
Sho shrugged ber shoulders. ,
"He weut away," sue aaiu, "ana
never came back. He never even wrote
to ber. She didn't say so. No, but I
watched the mails. I saw that there
never was a letter with a foreign post
mark; not once. You never heard her
complain. She talked to me of going
to him, of having ber dressea made In
Parts, of going to the baths In the sum
mer time, of bla father, hia mother and
his listen.
"To bear her talk yon would think
ahe was to be the happiest woman In
the world, hut the walla are thlu, and
I could bearher crying In the night
Many and many a time I have waked
and heard her crying In the night
She shook he'r head and sighed.
"You couldn't guess It from the way
ahe acted," abn finished, "but he never
wrote to her even one after he went
away."
Hooka awd Potato.
Tbe well known intelligence of rooks
la curiously Illustrated by their use of
potatoes. A clergyman In north Wales
noticed that twice In the course of
tbe year the ground beneath a rookery
waa strewn with small potatoes. This
happened In tbe breeding season and
also In tha antumn, before the winter
atorma begin,' when the' birds reassem
ble to carry out repairs necessary'
against rough weather. Tbe potatoea
were all about the same size, but the
observer was at a loss to discover their
use to the rooks. An old parishioner
supplied him with thla explanation:
Tbe rooks employ the tubers for meas
uring the inside of their nests to satis
fy themselves that tbe dimensions are
correct for tbe accommodation of their
eggs. The potatoea when measured
agreed very closely with the alie of an .
average rook's eggLondon Standard. I
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