Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1886-11-28
81 would prefer not to see you under the
present circumstances.
BLANCHE SEXTON

BLANCHE SEFToS'
So matters went on for eight or ten days
Broener continued absent Did / find any
consolation in the thought that he might be
miserable in not finding Blanche at Mays
villeI But what Blanche! His or-mine, l
was about to say. The man had been 50 reti-
cent on the subject, and Blanche herself being
Theoretically 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. Ny work at the Bank was
quite done. l 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 aud
Pratt's She was a rare spectacle to the
miners whose claims commanded view Of
the situation l saw them at times peepiug
at her from sundry vantage points, as she
tripped about, displaying at times slippered
foot and neat ankle. which caused many q
heavy sigh
Why not write her! did write her-page
on page, telling the whole story, detailing all
the misery Of my situation, uphraiding her
for her injustice and cruelty, and beSeeching
her for a personal interview. But there was
no local postoltice delivery on Bull Bar
Rankin was the only one to whom | could
intruSt these letters That would reveal me
to him too much the supplant So would
keep the letters / re-read them. ! found,
then one too harsh | threw il in the fire.
The next was too humble, too supplicating.
threw that in the fra Within twenty-four
hours after writing, and the mood | 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 letters-and, like
mine, before delivery II 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 condition bordering on
Inconsistencies He had, he said, lit up" a
little on Banche's arrival. She, he added,
was bully nurse"
What does the doctor say Of himr
asked.
"Oh, 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 CLEAN OF sunshine that Rankin
had resumed this vein Of talk with me"
One morning found pinned to my door a
Iaa rinr, tbnea NrNvsls.
Better leave Bull Bar. Trouble brewing
for you"
felt that this WAS friendly warning
from Rankin. felt also it portended some
secret "vigilante" business regarding my
self.
What to do knew not This was newer
blackneSs to the cloud. ! was greatly dis
turbed was, | own, terribly afraid Of the
trouble hanging over mo. | realized fully
the temper of the time | knew how men
were 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 10, a poor, whisky
soaked wretch was suspected of the robbery
of a store safe in which sundry miners kept
their dust by favor of the storekeeper 10
would not confess despite this horrible tor
ture, and few months afterward the real
plundererS were revealed.
could not get away. My obligations to
Broener forbade it. There was in the house
ut least twenty thousand dollars worth Of
quartz Not knowing what might happen j
buried this under the floor. Next day it
occurred TO me that under the floor" had
become too common n burying spot for
treasure, and was, OF all places, the first to
be sought for by any so disposed knew not
what might happen, or how long Brocner
might be absent So dug it up and buried
it at night in nook without the cabin.
Then l left a note for Broener, intimating
that in case of my absence | would account
to him personally for whatever he might find
missing What did not choose TO say, for
did not trust the SacredncsS Of n sealed nots
70 all in Bull Bar