The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-04-28
to speak, delivered him as trust into her ,,

osih air, anu strange incense rom the
woods perfumed thei. young blood and
wonder that they fingered on the white road,
that their feet climbed unwillingly the little
bill where they were to part, and that when
they at last reached il, even the saving grace
of speech seemed to have forsaken them.
For there they stood, alone. There was
no sound nor motion in earth, or woods, or
heaven. They might have been the one
man and woman for whom this goodly
earth that lay at their feet, trimmed with the
deepest azure, was created. And seeing this,
they turned toward each other with a sud-
den instinct, and their hands met, and then
their lips, in one long kiss. fi " |
And then out of the mysterious distance
came the sound of voices and the sharp clat-
ter OF hoofs and wheels. and Jenny slid away |
IA white moonbeam-from the hill. For |
moment she glimmered through the trees,
, and then reaching the house, passed her |
sleeping father On the veranda, and, darling |
! into her bedroom, locked the door, threw
open the window, and, falling on her knees |
beside it, leaned her hot cheeks upon her |
hands and listened. In few moments she |
was rewarded by the sharp clstter of hoofs |
on the stony road, but is was only a
| horseman, whose dark figure was
swiftly lost in the shadows of the
lower road. Al another time she
might have recognized the man, but her eyes
and ears were now all intent on something
else. 1t came presently, with dancing lights
musical rattle of harness, cadence of
hoot-beats, that set her heart to beating in
unison, and was gone. A sudden sense of
| Loneliness came over her, and tears gathered
1 in her sweet eyes. Fle.' l.f
She arose and looked around her. There
was the little bed, the dressing table, the
roses that she had worn, last night, still
fresh and blooming in the little vase. Every
thing was there, but everything looked
strange; the rose should have been with
ered for the party seemed SO long ago; she
could hardly remember when she had worn
this dress that lay upon the chair. So she
came back to the window and sank down
beside it, with her cheek, trifle paler, lean
ing on her hand, and her long braids reach
ing to the floor. The stars paled slowly
like her cheek; yet, with eyes that saw not,
she still looked from the window for the
coming dawn.
1t came, with violet deepening into purple,
with purple flushing into rose. with rose
shining into silver and glowing into gold.
The struggling line of black picket fence be-
, low, that had faded away with the stars,
came back with the sun. What was that OBJ
iect moving by the fence? Jenny raised
|, her head and looked intently. 1t was a man
, endeavoring to climb the pickets, and falling
backward with each attempt. Suddenly she
rose to her feet as if the rosy fiushes of the
dawn had crimsoned her from forehead to
! shoulders; then she stood, white as the wall,
with her hands clasped upon her bosom.
Then, with single bound she reached the
1 door, and with flying braids and 1uttering
skirt, sprang down the stairs and out in the
garden walk When within few feet of the
fence she uttered cry-the first she had
given--the cry of a mother over her stricken
1 babe, of a tigress over her mangled cub, and
: in another moment she had leaped the fence
and knelt beside Ridgeway, with his faint
ing head upon her breast.
"Mv boy-my poor, poor boy! who has
q done this ?"
1 Who, indeed9 His clothes covered with
: dust, his waistcoat was torn open; and bis
, handkerchief, wet with the blood it could
not stanch, fell from cruel stab beneath his
shoulder.
"Ridgewayi-my poor boy-tell me what
, has happened"
Ridgewsy slowly opened his heavy blue
veined lids, and gazed upon her. Presently
CLEAN of mischief came into his dark eyes
> smile stole over his lips as ne whispered
!; slowly:
.'It-was-your kiss-did it-Jenny, dear
: | had forgotten-how high priced-the arti-
? Gle was here. Never mind, Jenny !'-he
J feeDly raised her hand to his white lips-''it
y was-worth it," and tainted away.
Jenny started to her feet and looked
. wildly around her. Then, with sudden
: resolution, she stopped over the insensible
J. man, and, with one strong effort, lifted him
in her arms as if he had been a child. When
her father, moment later, rubber his eyes
and awoke from his sleep upon the veranda
:
9 striding toward the house, with the helpless
I, body of man lying across that breast
~ where man had never lain before-a goddess
- at whose imperious mandate he arose and
y cast open the doors before her. And ther
y when she had laid her unconscious burden
- on the sofa, the goddess fled, and a woman
. helpless and trembling, stood before him
woman that cried out that she had skilled
!. him"-that she was "wickedi" and that, ever
!. saying so staggered and fell besides hel
Late hrnr1 AID oil hat An(N1 L.
= could do was to feebly rub his beard, and L
81 say to himself vaguely and incoherently
:. that jimmy had fetched him."
=. CHAPTER II.
Y. Before noon the next day it was general,
d believed throughout Four Forks that Ridge
- way Dent had been attacked and wounded
% at Chemisal Ridge by a highwayman, who
IA fled on the approach of the Wingdam coach
"a 1t is to be presumed that this statement me
IS with Ridgeway's approval, as he did no
~ contradict it, nor supplement it with any
,s details. His wound was severe, but no
n dangerous. After the first excitement haC
10 subsidized, there was, l think, prevailin,
n impression, common to the provincial mind
ar that his misfortune was the result of the de
/. fective moral quality of his being a stranger
IN and was in vague sort of way warning
N to others and a lesson to him. "Did you
n hear that San Francisco Teller was tool
ID down the other night? was the average tone
10 of Introductory remark. Indeed, there wa
a general suggestion that Ridgeway's pres
80 ence was one that no self respecting, high
,e minded highwaymen. honorably con
n sentative OF the best interests of Tuolumn,
n county, could for moment tolerate. ~
"a Except for the few words spoken on tina
Dt eventful morning, Ridgeway was reticent o
of the past. When Jenny strove to gathe
M some details of the ARRAY that might offer
m clue TO his unknown assailant, a subtil,
m twinkle in his brown eyes was the only re
o. Spouse. When Mr.. McClosky attempted til,
4. same process the young gentlemen threw
re- abusive epithets. and eventually slippers
a teaspoons, and other lighter articles within
N the reach of an invalid, at the head of hi
w questioner. ST think he's coming round
is jimmy" said Mr.. McC'losky, she laid for m
10 this morning with candlestick