Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-09-08

| had indignation to sustain me- l was indig
nant at Blanche, that she also should have
tried and condemned me without hearing
There is certain buoyanoy and stimulus il
indignation. 1t is several degrees above dis
couragement and despair.
But the mind doesn't seem capable of en-
tertaining fully more than one emotion al
once So, when my Indignation had WORT
off its finest edge other emotions commenced
their play. They seemed all desirous OF
"having whack" at me.
pass over wonder at Blanche's sudden ap
pearance; at curiosity to ascertain how she
heard of me and the accusation against me-
and at the sudden recollection that the aunt
whom she had so frequently visited in New
York was by name Pratt, and that probably
Jedediah was her husband. l came at last
to my love for the former Blanche Seton, of
Eastport; at my grief for its loss, and at ny
J despair as this last plop was thus SO suddenly
taken from me- Everything solid seemed to
have tumbled from under me- / was alone
and friendless amid suspicion, growing
| prejudice, averted faces, whispered lies, and
back Of all these stood the being on earth I
most loved, transformed at once from an
angel of mercy into an IMPLYING and mis-
taken judge
These were my thoughts for days and
nights. They were my company-a nuner-
Gus and busy crowd. They were kept alive
by thu frequent sight Of Blanche about
Pratt's cabin. Mine was but three hundred
yards distant. She had house put up for
her own accommodation For assistants she
| had every man on the Bar-save myself.
i 1I,,ko1 o1xy I,,,,r f0 RI
something for Miss Seton. The area on
which her cloth-covered hcuso was erected,
alongside Of Pratt's, was leveled as if by
magic. If Miss Seton wished bowlder
pitched out of the way they were ready and
liable to remove hundred. Volunteers
went up the mountain, cut young saplings
and built her fence. Pratts we'll was
cleaned and deepened.
Fifty men with picks and shovels cleared the
trail leading from her residence to the store OF
intercepting bushes AMI impeding powders,
one evening after knocking off work from
the claims, physical inference that in their
estimation, Miss Seton would probably want
often to "go shopping" or possibly drop
down of an evening and have chat with
the boys If Miss Seton had desired the
enormous bulk of Scrub mountain to be re-
moved, think the masSer would have been
| seriously considered. In all this Mr.. Will
liam Setter was the lady's self-constituted
right hand man, and even while working on
his claim would be seized with spasm of anx-
iety and solicitude in her behalf, and rush up
to Pratt's in a chronic state Of fuss-about-
and-do-ittleness.
Why did I not seek an interview with
70
did make the attempt, or rather paved the
way for one. owed her three hundred dol
lars. I sent her the money with interest
DUE through Rankin, explaining to him the
circumstances under which the debt was con-
tracted. This, of course, let Rankin into a
portion of my secret Fortunately, he was a
man who could keep secrets. He realized
that there was money in this kind of;banking
also, and that cash and confidence often 60
together.
His manner toward ME in this business was
serious and considerate. He seemed to re-
spect the burden he knew was carrying,
and he was one of the few with mind in
herently judicial that demanded clear proof
before any conviction.
felt for while relieved after having in
trusted this commission to Rankin. He said
to me nothing of the Pratt matter. But as
thoughts can be felt, knew that he sympa-
thized to some extent with my lonesome and
miserable situation.
Blanche sent back, through Rankin, only a
formal receipt for the money. To my re-
quest for all interview she made the follow
ing reply:
II would prefer not to see you under the
present circumstances.
"BLANcHE SEFToN."
So matters went on for eight or ten days.
Broener continued absent. Did I find any
consolation in the thought that he might be
miserable in not finding Blanche at Marys-
vile? But what Blanche2 His or-mine, I
was about to say. The man had been so reti-
cent on the subject, and Blanche herself being
hermetically sealed against me- was still in
doubt whether the woman next door was the
one had seen in the play or not.
could not visit the store. That was no
place for me. My work at the Bank" was
quite done I kept at work on the river
claim, making six or eight dollars per day,
to which was perfectly indifferent. Worse,
my position while at work gave me frequent
glimpses of Blanche as she fitted in her neat
morning dress between her own house and
Pratt's She was a rare spectacle to the
miners whose claims commanded a view of
the situation. I saw them at times peeping
at her from sundry vantage points, as she
tripped about, displaying at times slippered
foot and neat ankle, which caused many a
heavy sigh.
Why not write her! did write her-page
&o11; fbo ,Lo1o lofo o1i
the misery of my situation, upbraiding her
for her injustice and cruelty, and beseeching
her for personal interview. But there was
no local postoffice delivery on Bull Bar.
Rankin was the only one to whom l could
intrust these letters. That would reveal Inc
to him too much the suppliant. So would
keep the letters. I re-read them. found,
then, one too harsh. I threw it in the fire.
The next was too humble too supplicating.
threw that in the fire. Within twenty -four
hours after writing, and the mood 1 COM
posed in had cooled off, could not find one
of the right tone and temper. There seemed
no hitting the golden mean" So they all
went in the fire. On the whole, l am disposed
to think that as good destination as any for
copious and exuberant love lettcrs-and like
mine, before delivery. If You don't think so
read your own, say three years old, and look
the self that wrote them at that time straight
in the face, and tell ME your deliberate
opinion of him.
From Rankin ascertained that Pratt lay
most of the time in a condition bordering on
Inconsistencies He had, he said, 'lit up a
was 'bully nurse"
"What does the doctor say of him7' I
asked
ooh, something scientific" he answered
"Something he's learned out of his books that
nobody can make head nor tail of. Looks
profound to match, especially when he takes
his whisky. It's biz-biz, you know
1t was a gleam of sunshine that Rankin
had resumed this vein of talk with me-"
One morning found pinned to my door a
note without signature, bearing these words:
Better leave Bull Bar Trouble brewing
for you"
/ felt that this was q friendly warning
from Rankin. 1 felt, also, it portended some
secret "viglante" business regarding my
self.
What to do knew not. This was a newer
blackness to the c.oud. was greatly dis
turbed Twas, own, terribly afraid of the
trouble hanging over me. realized fully
the temper of the time. 1 knew how men
We're dragged from their beds and either
hung outright or hung up until they con-
fessed So had they done to 10 Hatch the
year before, because 80, poor, whisky
soaked wretch, was suspected of the robbery
of store safe in which sundry miners kept
their dust by favor of the storekeeper. Jo
would not confess. despite this horrible tor