The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-07-08

1t was the weak uncertainty of her voic.
more than her words that treasured Like. He
turned away, fumbling nervcusly with the
harness.
''He reckoned you had been TO boartf,n,
school, an could read writin', he said, with a
low, sneering laugh. II hain't no use for their
letter. le kin kindle fire with it. Burn Il
up-d'ye hear me,"
Yesterday, Janey would have obeyed him
biindly. To-day, very little friction with
her own KIND had stirred her blood. She Slip
ped the letter under her shawl, and went into
the house. When she heard the shafts fall,
she came back to the door. Luke had stopped
to I'LL his pipe, and the mare was dragging her
halter, and nosing the tender alfileria on her
way to the shed.
Here's the MILESTONE said the Girl l;st-
lessly; it was in the tool-box, where you left
it."
1t was the first time she had ever spoken to
him in that way. Luke started and looked at
her with muttered oath.
Dye want me to come out am trim the
cuttin's!" she asked, in her slow, meaningless
monotone. Eff you're goin' to set out the
other clearin' s'pose you'll want to heel lem
in over there"
The mans face took on sullen, dosged res
elution. He came close to her side
Dye think Pm fool!" he said, in a cold.
cruel undertone; "d'ye think Pm goin' to i'm,
prove another mans forya They kin plant
their own vineyards. Pm a-goin' to Arizony-
I'd gone long ago II ye hadn't been a-hangin'
on to me like burt
He had nerved himself to NEST her gaze. It
was not much to do after all. ahe parted her
lips, and looked at him, in white, speechless
misery. His voice had a far away sound to
her, like an echo. She repeated the words after
him, stupidity.
The mare had strayed into the young barley
now, and Luke had gone after her. Janey was
standing there alone. There must have been
something chilling in her duh, colorless face.
The hound came up and looked at her an in
slant, and then SUNK away and rubbed him.
self against his masters legs. Inside the house
she could hear the clock ticking noiselessly.
She wondered If she would ever be able to
wind 1t when he was gone Arizona was a
long way off She had heard of it, though.
Great stretches Of desert, and hot, barren
mountains, where men dug silver. Women
and children never went there. The hound
might go, and possibly the horses; but she
would have to stay here. Who would NOV the
barley, and get it ia when it was ripe, and
pillow the vineyard
Something darted into her dulled conscious
ness with sharp sudden pain. She put out
her hands blindly in the warm sunlight.
1t amt hls'n, +" she said, looking about her
with low piteous moan; "the land aim his'n;
they've took it away from him, an there's no
place for me to stay"
Perhaps the first shock of grief or fear is
worst to those whose perceptions are keenest.
Everything came to Janey slowly 1t is hard
to imagine murderous blow lengthening it.
self out through weary hours; and vet the
girl went about until nigh fall; with the same
white, tortured face she had worn as she stood
there in the warm, breathless noon, when the
full meaning of her fathers word dawned upon
her. Luke was pruning the vineyard. He
was glad of any preteXt that kept him cut of
sight of the homely awkward figure moving
Silanflv abOnt the hpnsa did un IN
him to ask her what she was doing. That ahy
resolution was shaping itself in her Gfimly
lighted brain did not enter his thoughts.
He left his work at sunset, and smoked his
pipe by the kitchen door in silence. Janey
was moving about inside with slow, listiess
steps. There was a new moon--a wet moon
Luke said to himself noting its curve. The
blackened branches of the sycamore rose out
of the canon in gaunt silhouettes against the
sky. A fog drfted in presently, wrapping
them about like windng-sheet. The man
got up, shuddering, and went into the house.
Janey was standing by the bed, tying the cor
ners of a rude bundle. She looked at him
with her dull expressionless eyes.
Pm goin' away she said, slowly. "Ef
you want to 60 to Arizony won't hang on to
you like-like a bur, no longer. They're
wantin' girls over to the cannery bad" the
words came mechanically, just as they had
laid dormant in her brain since morning
HlSDoC II IuANS INC, SOu NC SuuL U
me-"
Luke stood with his back against the door,
looking at her wildly. Perhaps, after adj, he
had not meant to desert her 1t is only dumb,
faithful creatures that men dare to torture.
There's something want to tell you afore
/ CO." she went on, shrinking further away
from him, and grasping her bundle nervously;
" you said had to go IF | spoke to him, an
he didn't come here, but he went up the falls,
an the fire got into the canon, an | knewed
he was there, an l went along by the flames
am helped him out, an when we got to the
house he talked to me, an l answered him,
and shook hands with him when he went
away"
She stopped with a frightened gasp, and
waited for him to speak.
He held out his hands, cropping his way to-
ward her, like blind man.
"Janey! Janeyp'
He had clutched her dress and was drawing
her toward him. She felt his rough hands on
her hair tenderly.
aye won't leave yer old father, Janey? No,
no, We won't leave him; he'll take care o. you,
always, poor Janey! poor little grip
The fog drifted out of the canon, and lay
in great shining sea at the foot of the noun
tain. Above it stretched the mesa, still and
fragrant in the twilight. And all through the
brooding night the young girl asked herself
why this sudden, unspeakable blessedness had
come inter her life.-4hargaret CoItyer Graham,
ae Californian.