Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-10-01
Insanity Mis- Arnot was all sympatby-ser

Insanity Mis- Arnot was all sympstby-eef
quick WON ans heart was touched.
"Can Lean anything be done?" she asked,
more timidly than she had before spoken.
"No!-Dot unless ye remember suthin' about
these pills." He exhibited q box containing
about half a dozen. "I forget the direction-I
dent seem to remember much, any way, these
If we've ever took 'em ye'll remember whether
the regular dose is eight. They amt but six
b re. But perhaps ye never tuck any" he ad-
ded, de prec6tingly.
"NO," said Miss Nelly, CURLY. She had usu-
ally keen sense OF the ludcrous, bu5 some
how Mr.. Hawkins eccentricity only panied
her.
"win You let me see you to the foot of the
hill?'' he said again, after another emoarrass-
ngpause.
Miss Arnot felt instantly that such an act
would condone her trespaSs in the eyes of the
world. She might meet some OF her invisible
admirers-or even her companions-and, with
all her erratic impulses, she was nevertheless
woman, and did not entirely despise the verdict
of conventionality. She smiled sweetly and as
sented, and in another moment the two were
lost in the shadows OF the wood,
Like many other apparently trivial acts in an
uneventful life, it was decisive. As she ex
pected, she met two or three of her late ap-
plauders, who, she fancied, looked sheepish and
embarrassed; she met also her companions look
ing for her in some alarm, who really appeared
astOnished at her escort, and, she fancied,
uitie envious sther evident success. fear tina
Miss Arnot, in response to their anxious in
Quires, did not state entirely the truth, but.
without actual assertion, led them to believe
that she had, at very early stage of the pro-
ceeding, completely subjugated this weak
minded giant, and had brought him triumph
antly to her feet. From telling this story two
or three times she got finally to believing that
she had some foundation for it; then 10 a vague
sort of desire that it would eventually prove to
be true, and then to an equally vague yearning
to hasten that contamination. That il would re-
dOund TO any satisfaction OF the Fool she did not
stopI to doubt. That it would cure him of his
folly she was quite confident. Indeed, there are
very few of us-men or women-whO do not be-
lieve that even a hopeless love for ourselves is
more conducive to the sslv alton of the lover
than a reQuitted affection for another.
The criticism Of Five Forks was, as the reader
may immagine, swift and conclusive. When it
was found out that Miss Arnot was not I" the
Hag" masqueradng as a young and pretty
girl, to the ultimate deception of Five Forks
in general and the Fool in particular, it was at
once decided that nothing but the speedy union
of the Fool and the "pretty shool- marin" was
consistent with ordinary common sense. The
singular good fortune OF Hawkins was quite in
accordance with the theory of his luck as pro-
pounded by the camp. That after the Hag"
failed to make her appearance he should "strike
lead +" in his own house, without the trouble
OF g prosPectin,," seemed to these causists as
wonderful but inevitable law. To add to these
Hateful probabilities, Miss Arnot fell and
sprained her ankle in the ascent of Mount Lin
coin, and was confined for some weeks to the
hotel after her companions had departed. Dur
this period Hawkins was civilly but grotesquely
attentive. When, after a reasonable time had
elapsed, there still appeared to be no Immediate
prospect OF the occupancy of the new house, pub
lie opinion experienced singular change in re-
gard to its theories of Mr.. Hawkins's conduct.
1.-The Hag " was looked upon as a saint-like and
long suffering martyr to the weakness and incon-
sistency of the Fool That after erecting this new
house at her request, he had suddenly gone
back on her; that his celibacy was the result
of long habit of weak proposal and subsequent
shameless rejection, and that he was now trying
his hand on the helpless schoOl-marm was per-
fectly plain TO Five Forks. That he should be
equally plain. Miss Nelly suddenly found her
self invested with rude chivalry that would
have been amusing had it not been at times en-
barrassng; that would have been impertinent
but for the almost superstitiOus respect with
which it was prOffered. Every day somebody
from Five Forks rode out to inquire the health
OF the fair patient. 81 ez Hawkins bin over
yer, to-day queried Tom Flynn, with artful
ease and Indifference; as he leaned over Miss
Neily's easy chair on the veranda. Miss Nelly,
with faint pink flush on her cheek, was con-
strained TO answer, ono" well, he sorter
sprained his foot again a rock, yesterday" con-
tinued Flynn, with shameless untruthtulness.
q" You mustn't think anything o. that, Miss Ar
not. He'll be over yer to-morrer, and mean
time he told me TO hand this yer boOkay with
his re- CARDS, aud this yer specimen 2" Aud
Mr. Flynn laid down the flowers he had
picked en- route against such an emergency,
and presented respectfully piece of quartz and
gold which he had taken that morning from his
own sluice-bo ''You mustn't mind HaWkinss
Wavs, Miss Nelly" said another sympathizing
than that theer Cy Hawkins but he don't un-
derstand the ways o. the world with wimin. He
hasn't mixed as much with society as the rest OF
u.s. he added, with an elaborate Chesterfeldian
ease Of manner ,''but he means well. Me An while
a few sympathetic tunnei-men were impressing
upon MIR. Hawkins the necessity of the greatest
attention to the invalid. "It won't do 4wkins'
they explained "to let at there gal 90 back T.
SanFrancisco aud say that when she was sick an
alone, the only man in Five Forks under who's
roof she had rested, and at whose table she had
EAt.'-tlia considered q huk
d0nable exaggeration of rhetoric,-"ever threw
of on her; and it shan't be done. II aln't the
square thing to Five Forks" And then the
Fool would rush away to the valley, and be
received by Miss Nelly with a certain reserve
of manner that finally disappeared in flush 0.
color, some increased vivacity, and pardonable
coquetry. And so the days passed; Miss Nelly
grew better in health and more troubled in
mind, and MI. Hawkins became more aud more
embarrassed, and Five Forks smiled and rubbed
It's hands, and waited for the approaching
denOuemeEt. And then it came. But not per-
maps in the manner that Five Forks had imag-
ined.
of eastern tourists rode into Five Forks. They
had just "done" the valley of Big Things, and,
there being one or two eastern capitalists among
the party, IL was deemed advisable that a
proper knowledge Of the practical mining re-
sources of California should be added to their
experience OF the merely picturesque in ma
ture' Thus far everything had been satisfac-
tory; the amount of water which passed over
the fall was large, owing to a backward season;
some snow still remained in the canons near the
highest peaks; they had ridden round one OF
the biggest trees, and through the PROSTATE
trunk OF another. To say that they were de-
lighted is to express feebly the enthusiasm of
these ladies and gentlemen, drunk with the
champagny hospitality Of their entertainers
the utter novelty of scene, and the dry, exhilar-
ating air of the valley. One or two had already
expressed themselves ready to live and die
there; another had written a glowing account to
the eastern press, depreciating all other scenery
in Europe and America; and, under these cir
cumstances, it was reasonably expected that
Five Forks would do its duty, and equally i'm
press the stranger after its own fashion.
Letters to this effect were sent from San
Francisco by prominent capitalists there and
under the able superintendent of one of their
agents, the visitors were taken in hand, shown
"what was to be SEEM" carefully restrained
from observing what ought not to be visible, and
so kept in bIssful and enthusiastic condition
And so the graveyard of Five Forks, in which
but two of the occupants had died natural
de tths, the dreary, ragged cabins on the hIl,-
sides, with their sad-eyed, cynical, broken
spirited occupants, toiling on, day by day, for a
miserable pittance and q fare that self-re-
speeding eastern mechanic would have scOrn-
fully rejected, were not part of the eastern
visitors recollection. But the hosting works
and machinery or the "Blazing Star Tunnel