The Dillon tribune., 1886-11-26
CHE Aillon Gribune.
THE STORY OF A MIME.
By BRET HARTE

copyrighted 1886, by IIo, hton, Mif1lin & Co., and
published by arrangement with them!
absolute verify was 60 0nely drawn that VII
tor Garcia had remarked tina: "ho might as
well tell the truth at orco and savo his soul.
since tho devil was in tho market"
Mistress Plodgitt, tho lantl1ady, could not
resist the desire to acquaint Carmen De Hare
with her good fortune. "fIo wus always a
friend Of yours, my dear, and know him to
be gentleman that Md mover lot q poor
widow suffer; and SEQ what no says about
youl" Here she produced Thatchers note and
read: "Tell my little neighbor that shall
come back soon to carry her and her skotching
tools off by forco, and shall not let her re-
turn until she has caught tho black noun.
tains and the red rocks she used to talk about,
and put the Blue Mass mill In the foreground
Of the picture shall o, ~"
What Is this, littlo onei Surely, Caruon,
thou neet1st not Blush at this. thy first grand
offer. holy virginl is It Of q necessity that
thou shor!dso stick tho wrong end Of th
brush in thy mouth, and then drop it in tn:
lap, Or was it taught ~, by the good Sis
tars at tho convent to stride In that boytsh
fashion to the side Of thy elders aud snatch
from their hands the rnissive thou wou!dst
read3 Moro OF this vo would know, O Car
men--sn,alleso Of brunettes--spsak, little ONT,
even in thine own nelod1ous speech, that
may commend thoo and thy rare discretion %
my own fair country women.
Alas, neither the present chronicler nor
ao;fA f,,rfh ox fv,fo
ton from tho prudent Carmen, and must fain
speculate upon certain cts that were already
known.
Mistress Garments l!t-'A room was opposite
TO Thatchers, and onco or twice, the doors
being open, Thatcher had glin,osd across the
passage Of hlac.s-hE:.e',! and a sturdy, boz
ish lit:le figure IN g-,.:- blue apron, percked
On stool before OIL easel, and on tho other
hand, Carmen had Otter, haen conscious Of tho
fumes Of a tobacco Pipe penetrating her
clois:e:ed socl,,sion, end bad seen across this
passage, vaguely .nveloped in tho sa,ne n;ce'-
tine cloud, an American Olympian, in q
rocking chair, with his feet on the raantel
shelf They had once or twice mot Oh tho
staircase, on which occasion Thatcher bad
greetefi her with u word or two Of respectful
yet half humorous courtesy-a courtesy
which never really of1ends truo woman.
although 1t often piQues her self.aplouab by
the slight assumption OF superiority In the
humorist. A woman fs quick to recognise
the fact that tho great and more dangerous
passions arc always serious, and may b. c.-
cused il in selfrespect she is oftc., induced to
try II there DO not somewhere under the skin
Of this laughing Mercutio the f]esh and blood
OF q Romeo Thatcher was by na-
ture defender and protector; weak.
ness, and weakness alone, stirred tho
depths Of his tenderness-often, fear, only
through It's half-humorous aspects-and on
this plane he Yves pleased to place women and
children mention this fact for the benefit
of the more youthful members of my species,
and am satisfied that an unconditional sur.
render and the complete laying down at tho
foot Of beauty Of all strong masculinity is q
cheap Gallicism that is untranslatable to
most worncn verify tho w1nnlas. Tor
woman must always look up to tho man she
truly loves-cvcn if she has % 60 down on her
knees to do it.
Only the masculine reaLer will infer from
this that Carmen was in love with Thatcher;
tho moro critical and analytical feminine eye
will sec nothing herein that might not have
happened consistently with friendship. For
Thatcher Yves no sentinentalist; he had hardly
paid q compliment to tho girl-cvcn in tho
unspokcn but most delicate form of attention.
There wcro days when his room door was
closed; thcrc wcro days days succeeding these
blanks WHOM ho met hcr as frankly and
naturally as if he had seen her yesterday.
Indeed, OH those days following his fight the
supplemented Carmen, being avarc-heaven
knows how-that no had not opened his door
during that period, and fearing sickness, sud.
den death, or perhaps suicide, by her appeals
to the landlady, assisted unwittingly in dis.
covering his flight and detection. AS she
was for few moments as indignant as Mrs
Plodgitt, it is evident that she had but little
sympathy with tho delinquent. And be
sides, hitherto sho had known only Concho
her earliest friend, and was truo to hi
memory, as against all Americanos, whom
sho firmly believed to be his murdcrers
So sho dismissed the offer and tho man from
her mind, ard went back to her painting:
fancy portrait of tho good Padro Juniper,
Sierra, great missionary, who, happily for tn
integrity of his bones and character, die'
some hundred years before tho American
took possession Of California. The pictur
was fair but unstable, and sho began t