The Red Cloud chief., 1879-04-17
The serene beauty, the quiet de,ermi.

The serene beauty, the quiet determi.
nation of her face answer him.
"Can you not make allowancese" be
cried. Scan you not understand thai
mad young blood like mine must find
some excitement greater than mixing
pills. and powders, and lotions, or creep.
ing through sick rooms all day?n
1t is pitiful TO see how he watches he,
while be speaks, and notes the same fix
ed, mute, changeless answer:
"At least, let me explain. I can Dc
so TO your satisfaction, Think, 1 hope!'
he says, obviously.
"Return it to your finger, and 70
serve judgment till you hear the de.
f~ense!" And be holds he ring towardl
her, with a great, clumsy hand tina
trembles somewhat.
Still no audible reply. A faint shake
of the head, a look Of polite increduli
ty-that is all.
"Do you not carer" he asks.
His appealing eyes search her face
1t does not change. Beautiful, imper
turbable, the sentence written there never
varies. His unsteady fingers drop the
ring, but he let it lie, half buried in 8
fieecy rug. Then, with q set, stern
look, he sets his foot upon it, bows
slightly and walks from the room.
He leaves the house, passing the win.
dow to gain the road, and looked
neither to the right nor to the left.
His head is erect, his hands are ont OF
the loose pockets. For once (startling
transformation), young Mat Curtis
looks positively digniied.
And as he vanishes as startling q
Transformation takes place in the room
he has quilted. Miss Bellue proves
herself q woman and not a queen, BY O
series of actions essentially feminine.
First, she rescues the vent love-tOken
from the floor; then she kisses it and
cries yer it; then she locks it away
carefully in a writing-desk; then she
rushes up stairs to watch her lover out
of sight from an upper window.
Fora quarter of a mile or so she
watched him, a ~retreating figure, grow
ing smaller and smaller in the distance.
He never once looked back; the regular
march of his steps eve faltered; a
turn of the road hid him from sight.
Miss Bellue sat down on the floor-a
most undigniied position-and cried
till her pretty eyes were red and swol-
len.
cit is all overt" she moaned-sall
overt"
"Fire! Fret"
Mat sprang from his bed, and with
professional experiences struck a light,
tumbled into some clothes and rushed
from the house.
No need to ask whence the alarm
proceeded; the fierce pillar of flame and
the red glow in the sky were beacons
towards which he ran at headlong speed,
with one thought in his mind, al pray
to heaven it may not be the rectory!"
"Where is itp" he shouted to two Ia
borers, tagging along as swiftly as heavy
boots and ponderous habits of progress
ion would let them.
"Fearmer Joyce's, sur"
"Farmer Joyce's! Thank heaven!
The next house to the rectory, but not
near enough to endanger it,"
Mats suspense gave place to a thrill of
almost ~pleasurable excitement; it was
his mad young blood" asserting itself.
Dashing through a gateway, he almost
ran over a girl, ~bareheaded, wringing
her hands in impotent anxiety. 1t was
Miss Bellue.
eco back at once" commanded Mat,
CURLY. "Put on q hat and the thickest
shawl you have"
The panic-stricken girl obeyed. Not
fill aftoruuor1o Aid - ooo,r - Lor 10 Id
no right to issue such instructions.
When she returned it was to find
Matthew Curtis, Esq, M. D., in the
center OF a burning pig-stye, pitching
out squeaking, half FROSTED porkers."
"Just my luck!" he grumbled, ex-
aiming his scorched fingers. eff
they had been babies, now, I might
have gained some credit at the same
risk"
"The stable is a-fire, surf"
WHAT" shouted Mat. He did not
wait for the information to be repeated.
An ardent lover of horsefiesh, it was an
appeal to his sympathies that sent him
round intervening out-buildings in a
state of breathless suspense.
1t was true. The stable was on fire;
the horses were screaming with terror;
two or three rustics were making ex-
cited and fruitless attempts to drag
them out-attempts the poor animals
resisted with all their might. A little
crowd of men looked on idly and de-
spairingly.
"Jim, run into the barn and get
three or four empty sacks and a rope.
Quick!"
"Yes, sur"
By drawing a sack over each animals
head and neck, thus blindfolding it; by
passing a rope round the forelegs and
strong arms to haul, and by a
little organization of brave but until
then ill-applied effort, q rescue was ef-
fected. All the horses were saved ex-
n poor brute smothered by the
smoke.
Farmer Joyce came up, with a grimy
hand extended in honest gratitude:
"Thank you kindly, sir. 1 don't
mind for the ricks and the buildings
they are all insured; but it went 70 nv
heart to hear them poor brutes scream"
Mat gave his left hand-the right
hand was bound up with q handker-
chief. The old rector joined them, Miss
Beliue leaning on his arm.
"The danger is over now, Joyce, 1
'hink. Mat, come across with me."'
Mat glanced at the averted face of the
7oung lady, and misconstrued it. She
vas, in truth, ashamed to meet his eyes.
The contrast between his GOODNESS and
courage and her physical cowardice
her. She had come down from
hot nodocfo1 of prOnr;o<y &~o- -ll