Characters...

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 23, 22 October 1936, Page 6

Characters...

! The little old lady could not set- > ] tic down to her knitting. Perhaps | I her nerves were upset by the wakeful ! I night she had spent listening to the ! i merciless drip of the bathroom tap. < ; perhaps they were simply responding ; > to the heady spring scent in the air. | 1 The pale blue bedsock lay neglected, j j The little old lady moved into a > ! patch of sunlight and felt the warth j I seep through her frail body to the 1 I marrow of her bones. ; 1 “Dear,” she said, “would you let | ! me see a page of your paper? I read ! i it the other day and it was full of a • I horrible story about a murderer. < ; But that was long ago. 1 I “Very long ago," I agreed, “You I < should follow the news more ! < closely.” , ! ; The little old lady was quite > ! apologetic. She fumbled for her | ! spectacles and began to react wander- J ! ing haphazardly among rhe adver- 1 I tisements and giving Jean Batten > J smile for smile. “She’s a dear, brave j I girl!” I ! "Found hanging dead over the , ; picket fence of a vacant section.” i ; stated the paper baldly. The little > | old lady started. It reminded her of } ! the murderer. ! ! And here was a young man who. ! I had fallen from a tram and killed ; { himself. So young to die! Here a > ) thief had broken into a house and } ! stolen food ... an Intoxicated j ! motorist had crashed into a post ! i and crippled a woman ... a young ; ! aviator was dead . . . the nations J ; were arming. ... ; I Low moans escaped the lips of ; I the little old - lady.i Horror piled | < upon horror until she could read no j ; more. This tragic world about her! ! j She lay back in her patch of sun- ; ’ light and dosed her eyes in anguish. > I The patch of sunlight perhaps ; I knew her of old. It was very gentle. > ; The violent newspaper world j < slipped into nothingness and she ! ! slept. She had escaped to the warm, i ! safe little prison she loved. | ! She smiled when she woke. < ! "Lovely morning ..." I ; _o.m.a. ;