The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1877-03-16
CHAPTER XIV.

"Why, child! Pm astonished at
your exclaimed Aunt Judy. "Don't
make fool of yourself, I beg"
"But, auntie, Hal LaSelle has gone to
destruction! I know he has And he
was once so good and noble! Imight
have saved him, but nobody else could
do it."
"You precious simpleton," replied the
good woman, allowing her hands to be-
lie with a tender caress the words of re-
proof she uttered, "you needn't think it
possible for any woman to save a man
from ruin who proves himself unable to
stand without her aid. I have no pa
tience with the pulling sentiment that
time and custom have so long sane
toned which imagines it necessary for
any woman to immediate her life upon
the altar of any mans destiny to keep
him in the paths of rectitude."
"But, auntie, if my memory is not
largely at fault, this venerable lover of
yours, this suitor with the snowy hair
and glistening beard and brow, who has
so deeply captivated you that you look
young and beautiful again, is not him
self a paragon by any means, for his
different stories do not always tally.
You tell me that he is a widower, the
father of Hal, and one of the best and
most abused of men, and yet I remem-
ber that he told us once that he was still
a bachelor; that he had remained true
to the fancy of his boyhood, and all that.
1t seems that he. can tell story with
two opposite interpretations as readily
as any other man."
'He had an object in misleading us
for the time being, Edna. He did not
want me to imagine who he was unless
he could first know that I had been true
to his memory, so he spoke in para
bles."
"FdLSehoOds, 1 should call them, aun-
tie; and so would you, if John Smith
had uttered them"
"Well, I am satisfied, and 1 don't
know as it's anybody else's business"
"Does he love you as devotedly as he
wopld if you and he had married in
your youth ?"
"a great deal more devotedly, child
We have both erred and suffered, and
have each grown broader and more
charitable, as well as wiser through
life's mistakes"
"Well, auntie, I must say consider
your brain badly out of order. You
forget that you have grown DID,"
$50 has he grown old, but cannot see
it. only see his spirit"
'It will bevery hard for you to assim-
ilate your tastes and desires to each 9TH
er's needs when you are both so thor
oughly set in your ways"
'The spirit never grows old, Edna,
and ours is union of soul with SOUL"
Edna laughed outright.
'It's languishing, lackadaisical out
gush of vapid sentiment, that's as fla
as dishwater to every one but the spec
tally interested" she said, merrily.
"POor child" replied Aunt Judy, pat
ronizingly, ~ do not wonder that you
heart is steeled against the idea of posi-
BILE happiness in matrimony"
"Auntie," exclaimed Edna, as if anx
iOus to change the subject, "dfd you rec
ognize Mr.. LaSelle when he first cam
here to luncheon ?"
"That's leading question. You ma,
draw your own inference"
Edna was puzzled. She could no
draw satisfactory inference, and what
ever Aunt Judy's thoughts may hav
been, she kept their further expression
in check, and INDUCED in an air of mys
terry that precluded further inquiry upol
the part of Edna.
"phere's something dark about tn
whole matter that I am wholly unabl
to solve" the young mother solilo
quized, as she bridled her curiosity an
busted herself in preparing needed gal
ments to keep her babies comfortabl
clad, while the good old lady overhaule
her own wardrobe and gave earnest bee
to necessary preparation for her ar
preaching nuptials. A wedding in Idah
Flat was an occurrence heretofore un
heard of. There were no laws in th
Territory requiring a would-be Bene
diet to procure marriage license; ther
were no ministers or magistrates to prc
nounce the ceremony, and the prospec
of mule-back journey to the dlstap
settlements was anything but an agree
able anticipation to lady on the shad
side of fifty, with comfortable avoil
dupois of over two hundred pounds wit
which to endure the strain and joltin
of ride to which she was wholly una,
custOmed.
''If we only had my team and wagol
which John disposed of and left me /