Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-09-17
CHAPTER XVI.
THE DISAPPOINTED LOVER.

THE DISAPPOINTED LOVER.
OF course. Erastus was told of Lucy's
engagement to Mr.. Annelsey. In fact,
he learned it from Jennie il advance OF
any other member of the family.
As they were driving home from the
landing on their return from San Fran
cisco and chatting of those things which
are of more interest to young people,
namely, other young people, Jennie
suddenly broke out with:
Say, Luce, I'm going to tell Ras, -
and without waiting for reply or CIV
ing any heed to the bushes which
flooded her sister, face and neck, she
ratified on with all the speed which her
| tongue could command: Howe you
like t have Mr.. Annelsey for brother
| in-law, Ras? | know YOU didn't used
/ to like him very well, but you II have to
| now, for Lucy and he are engaged, and
are going to be married when he comes
| back from New York in about a year.
| There now, Luce, it's out, and you
won't have to be carrying the awful
load of having to tell it any longer
! 81 think you are just as mean as you
can be, retorted Lucy, half angry and
uncertain whether to laugh or cry. Il
| hadn't said word about Mr.. Ensign.
who has been almost as constant as
! Your shadow ever since we met him on
the boat. You would be engaged to
him, too-you know you would-if it
wasn't that he has got nothing to go to
housekeeping with. So. there now,
Ras. you know all about us girls, and
can confess that you are going to
marry Julia Ennis if you want to with
out blushing."
But Erastus made no such confession,
and instead of blushing, his face became
very white, and he looked straight
ahead and did not speak for some Sec
onds, and then said, in a voice which
sounded hoarse and unnatural:
IL am not going to marry Julia En-
mis- or anybody else"
After that little more was said for
some time.
Once or twice Jennie, who felt that
she was the innocent cause of the sud-
den silence which had fallen upon
them, attempted to start the CONVERSE
ton again by asking questions about
neighbors or affairs on the ranch, but
Erastus only replied in the fewest words
possible, and still looked straight in
front of him.
Jennie was half inclined to be offend
ed at this. She thought him angry be-
cause Lucy had engaged herself to a
man whom he did not like. Could
she have seen his face she would have
known that some feeling deeper than
mere dislike for Annelsey was at work
within his breast
Was it possible after all that he loved
her?
The thought sent all the blood rush.
ing back upon her heart, and for a
moment she felt that she should suffo-
cate. Then came another thought.
Perhaps Erastus had proposed to Julia
and been rejected. This she felt could
not be unless Julia had suddenly be-
come enamOred of some new admirer,
for certainly she had always shown a
preference for Erastus over the other
young men of the neighborhood.
Still the thought chung to Lucy that
such might be the case, and that in
stead of feeling bad because of her own
engagement to another, his silence was
caused by pain at being reminded of his
refusal by Julia, and her whole mood
changed, and she became as cold and
hard as he himself appeared.
AS they neared home she began talk
ing glibly of anything and everything
she could think of-the presents they
had brought for each member of the
family-tovs for Johnny, Il dress for
mother. neck-tie for Erastus himself,
and a silver tobacco-box for father-all
bought with money saved out of that
sent them for their own use; going on
from this to tell of their school, and of
a couple of girls who came on the boat
with them as far as Sacramento, where
their parents lived; and how these girls
We're related TO one of their own ne gh-
bors. and how. in answer to their in
! quiries, Jennie and she had told them
all about this neighbor; how near they
were to their own home; how their
ranch looked, and how it had been in
jured by the washings from the mines.
| Here she came to a sudden stop.
She had unintentionally run upon that
which they were all trying to avoid the
| mention of, and there came to her not
only knowledge of her blunder, but
an entirely new feeling-a feeling that
she was somehow responsible for the
losses and sufferings of this family and
every other family in the valley whose
homes were endangered by the opera
tons of the hydraulic mining compa-
MES at Gravel Hill.
! At least she had arrayed herself on
the side of the companies; was engaged
to be married to one who was interested
in the continuance of the work which
was certain to bring more loss and suf-
fering to these people.
She was no longer of them or with
them; for from the moment she became
the wife of James Annelsey her inter-
ests would be opposed to those of every
one she had known since they had set
tied in the valley.
Even ner father and mother, and
Erastus, must feel that she had DELHI
erately chosen to desert them in the
hour of their greatest loss, and had
gone over to their enemies in order to
save herself from sharing in the hard
ships which might be coming upon
them.
All this passed through her mind ia
an instant, and she sank down in her
seat with a feeling of shame, and q
hatred of herself which made it impos-
sible to say word more.
mo wonder Erastus Is silent" she
thought HE can not bear even to
speak to one who seems so utterly
selfish. Oh! why did L never think
of it in that light before? 1t Is that
which has made him SO cold to me ever
since Mr.. Annelsey first came. He has
n