your displeasure. You're a wicked, hard-hearted wretch." She
stood breathless.
" Is that all you've come to tell me ?"
She stared at him in a frightened manner, and then with down
cast eyes said: " No, I—l carne to make a request."
" I'm good enough for that, am I ?"
" The request does not concern me; only my sister."
This word seemed to give her courage. " She works much
and suffers more—she has had much trouble. You don't know
her, sir," she proceeded, spiritedly. "I am certain, unless you
have no heart at all, that you would not harm her."
" That is not my intention."
" But you have notified us to leave, and without cause."
" I want no children in my house."
" The children,"—and she pressed her hands tightly together
in her attempt to control herself,—" as though they had disturbed
you. The rooms please sister, they are inexpensive, quiet, and
are light for her work. But now she must move out and she is
ailing." Rosa's voice trembled, " she has trouble
Stoger felt something warm rising within him, but long accus
tomed to repress such feelings he only asked harshly, " I should
like to know how that concerns me ? If she is in need, why
doesn't she turn to her friends ?"
Rosa up to this time was all entreaty, but now she proudly stood
erect. " Why doesn't she turn to her friends ?" she cried, with
bitterness. " Because a helpless and forsaken woman like she
has no friends, and bechuse there are, besides you, others who find
sport in the tears of a widow. She wants no assistance; she seeks
Only her rights. Her husband was a chemist who lost his life
through the negligence of his employer, and his death not only
broke sister's heart, but it left her children without bread. The
courts of justice must compel, by right, the manufacturer, several
times 'a millionaire, to recompense her; every law of God and man
is on her side. But what can she, a stranger in the land and
without friends or counsellors, do to assert her rights ? What
defense does she have against all this injustice ? None With
empty promises she has been put off from time to time. 0, if I
only were a man," and she clenched her little hands and raised
them threateningly, "so that I could revenge this injustice. My
poor sister," she continued, softly, " you are so good, so unsel-
The Free Lance
[JANUARY,