Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-11-01

ing in an entanglod mass OF debris. OF
course she had perfect right to suit herself
about the kind of a man she took for a hus-
band. but he certainly had not thought she
was such an utter coquette. If ever woman
gave man reason TO think himself as good as
engaged, she had given him that reason, and
yet she refused him as coolly as she would
have declined a second plate of soup. There
must be some truth, after all, in the rant of
the poets about the heartlessness and tickle
ness of women, although he had always hcen
used to consider it the merest bosh Sudden
~ lie heard the train moving. lie was per-
haps fifty yards off, and grumbling anathe-
mas at the stupidity of the conductor, started
to run for the last car. He was not quite
desperate enough to fancy being left alone on
the Nevada desert with night coming on. He
would have caught the train without Difficult
ty if his foot had not happened to catch in a
tough clump of sage, throwing him violently
to the ground. As he gathered himself up
the train was n hundred yards off, and NOV
ing rapidly. TO overtake it was out Of the
question.
stop no stop" he yelled at the top of
his lungs. But there was no one on the rear
platform to see him, and the closed windows
and the rattle of the wheels were sufficient to
render a much louder noise than he could
make inaudible to the doing passengers
valve to make up for lost time and the clat-
ter of the train faded into a distant roar and
its lights began to twinkle into indistinctness.
'Damnation :"
A voice fell like a falling star Gentle
men do not use profane language in ladies
company"
He first looked up in the air as on the
whole the likeliest quarter for voice to come
from in this desert, then around Just on
fh. f,fl ui1 nc
smiling with n somewhat constrained attempt
at self-possession Lombard was a good deal
taken aback, but in hissurprise he didnotforget
that this was the young lady who had refused
him that afternoon.
II beg your pardon he replied with a sti q
bow II did not suppose that there were any
ladies within hearing
II got out Of the car supposing there was
plenty of time 10 get a specimen of sage
| brush to carry home" she explained, "but
when the cars started, although l was but q
little way OF, 1 could not regain the plat
form ;" which, considering that she wore a
tle-back of the then prevalent fashion, was
not surprising
Indeed replied Lombard with the same
formal manner
But won't the train come back for us -
she asked in more anxious voice.
"That will depend on whetherwe are missed
Nobody will miss me. Mrs Eustis, if she
hasn't gone TO bed, may miss you
But she has. She went TO bed before l
left the car, and is asleep by this time"
That's unfortunate" was his brief reply
as he lit cigar and began to smoke and CON
template the stars.
His services, SO fer as he could do any
thing for her, She should, as a lady, COM
mand, but if she thought that he was going
to do the agreeable after what had happened
couple of hours ago, she was nightly mis-
taken.
There was silence and then she said, hes
itatingy, What are we going to do 7"
He glanced at her. Her attitude aud the
troubled expression of her face as well as her
voice indicated that the logic of the situation
was overthrowing the jaunty self-possession
which she had at first affected. The desert
was staring her out of countenance. How his
heart yearned toward her If she had only
given him a right to take care of her, how he
would comfort her What prodigies would
he be capable of to succor her? But this ris-
ing impulse of tenderness was turned to chok-
ing bitterness by the memory of that scorn-
full mo sir" SO he replied coldy, I'm not
in the habit of being left behind in deserts,
and don't know what it is customary to do
in such cases l see nothing except to wait
for the next train, which will come along
sometime within twenty-four hours"
There was another long silence, after which
she said in timid voice, Hadn't We better
walk to the next station y
At the suggestion of walking he glanced at
her close-tttng dress, and II sardonic grin
slightly twitched the corners of his mouth as
he dryly answered, 1T is thirty miles one
way and twenty the other to the first sta
ton"
Several minutes passed before she spoke
again, and then she said, with an accent al
most like that Of child in trouble and about
to cry, I'm cold"
The strong unceasing wind, blowing from
snowy mountain caverns across plain ON
which there was not the slightest barrier of
hill or tree to check its violence was indeed
bitterly cold, and Lombard himself felt chilled
to the marrow of his bones. He took of his
overcoat and offered it to her.
NO" said she, you are as cold as | am. p"
You will please take it" he replied in a
peremptory manner; and she took it.
''At this rate We shall freeze to death be-
fore midnight" he added as if in soliloquy,
Il must see if 1 can't contrive to make some
sort of shelter with this sagebrush."
He began by tearing up large number
of bushes by the roots. Seeing what he was
doing, Miss Dwyer was glad to warm her
stifened muscles by taking hold and helping
which she did with a vigor that shortly re-
duced her gloves to shreds and filed her fin
gers with scratches from the rough twigs.
Lombard next chose an unusually high and
thick clump of brush, and cleared small
space three feet across in the center of it,
scattering twigs on the uncovered earth to
keep off its chill.
Now Miss Dwyer, if you will step inside
this spot, l think l can build up the bushes
| around us so as to make a sort of booth which
may save us from freezing"
Sba gilapt1x 1iI Iop ba dipanta1 o,,Hh ha
ceeded to pile the brush which they had torn
up on the tops of the bushes left standing
around the spot where they were, thus max
ing q circular wall about three feet high.
Over the top he managed to draw together
two or three bushes, and the improvised wig
wan was complete.
The moonlight penetrated the loose roof
sufficiently to reveal to each other the faces
and figures of the two occupants as they sat
in opposite corners as fur apart as possible,
she cold and miserable, he cold and sulky,
and both silent. And. as if to mock him, the
idea kept recurring to his mind how romantic
and delightful, in spite of the cold and dis
comfort, the situation would be if she had
only said yes, instead of no, that afternoon.
People have odd notions sometimes and it
actually seemed TO him that his vexation with
her for destroying the pleasure of the present
occasion was something quite apart and in
auulton 10 MS mann grievance against ner
1t might have been SO jolly, and now she had
spoiled it. He could have boxed her pretty
little ears.
She wondered why he did not try to light
n fire, but she wouldn't ask him another thing
if she died. In point of fact he knew the sage
brush would not burn. Suddenly the wind
blew fiercer, there came rushing sound, and
the top and walls of the wigwam were whisk-
ed off like flash, and as they staggered to
their feet, buffeted by the whirling bushes, a
cloud of fine alkali dust enveloped them,
binding their eyes, penetrating their ears and
noses, and setting them gasping, sneezing
and coughing spasmodically Then like a
puff of smoke, the suffocating smoke was dis
sipated, and when they opened their smarting
eyes there was nothing but the silent, glori-
Gus desolation of the mighty desert around
them, with the snow peaks in the distapce