Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1888-04-13

King Solomon'9 M's,es,7" She, Sc
CHAPTER XVI.
PRETORIA
jess did not have a very happy time Of it
at Pretoria previous to the outbreak of hos
tilities Most people who have made great
moral effort, and after q severe mental strug-
gle entered on the drear path of self sacrifice.
have experienced the reaction that will fol-
low as certainly as the night follows the day
1t is one thing to renounce the light, to stand
in the full glow of the setting beams Of Our
imperial Joy and chant out our farewell, and
quite another to live alone in the darkness.
For little while memory may support us,
but memory grows faint On every side is
the thick. cherries pail and the stiffness
through which no sound comes. We are
alone, quite alone, cut of from the fellow
ship of the day. unseeing and unseen. More
especially is this so when our dungeon is of
our own making, and we ourselves have shot
Its bolts. There is O natural night that comes
to all, and in its unwavering course swallows
every hope and fear, forever and. forever. To
this We can frore'easlIy resign ourselves, Tor
We recognize the universal lot and bow our
selves beneath the all effacing hand. The
earth does not pine when the daylight passes
from its peaks; it only sleeps ~
But jess had buried herself, and she knew
it. There was no absolute need for her to
have resigned her affection to her sister; she
had done so Of her own will. and at times she
naturally enough regretted it. Self denial is
stern faced angel. II only we hold him fast
and wrestle with him long enough he will
speak soft words of happy sound, just as,
If we wait long enough in the darkness Of the
night, stars will come to share our loneliness.
Still this is one Of those things that time hides
from US and only reveals a1his own pleasure;
and so for as jess was concerned, his pleasure
was not yet. Outwardly, however, she
showed no sign of her distress and Of the pas
sion which was eating at her heart She was
pale and silent, it is true, but then she had al
ways been remarkable for her pallor and
silence. Only she gave up her singing.
And SO the weeks went on, drearily enough
for the poor girl, who was doing what other
people did-eatinS and drinking, riding and
going to parties like the rest Vt tho Pretoria
world, till at last she began to think that she
had better. be going home agnin, lest she
should wear out her welcome And yet she
dreaded to do so, mindful of her daily prayer
to be delivered from temptation. As to what
was going OH ut Mooifontein she was in al
most complete ignorance. Bessie wrote to
her, Of course, and 50 did her uncle once or
twice, but they did not tell her much of what
she wanted to know. Bessie's letters were, it
is true, full Of illusions Of what Capt. Mel
was doing, hut she did not go beyond that.
Her reticsnce, however, told her observant
sister more than her words. Why was r. 10
reticentl No doubt becauep tt1n83 stiIl hung
In the balance. And then 10 would think Of
what it oil meant for her, and now AMI again
give way to IN outburst Of passio,ate jeal-
ousy, which would have been painful enough
to witness If anybody could have been there
to Sc it - ~ hff -
And 60 the time went on toward Christmas,
for jess, having been warmly pressed to do
20, had settled to stay over Christmas and re-
turn to the farm with the new year. There
bad been q great deal Of talk in the town
about the Beers, but she was too much preoc-
cupisd with her own affairs to pay much ut
tention to it Nor, indeed, was the public
mind greatly moved; they were so much &C
customed to Boer scares at Pretoria, and hith.
srto they had invariably ended in smoke And
then al Of Q sudden, on the morning Of the
18th of Deceuber, canne The news Of the proc
lamation Of the republic, and the town was
thrown into ferment, and there was talk
OF going into laager, and, anxious as she was
to get away, jess could see no hope of return
ing to the farm till the excitement was over
Then day or two later Conductor Egerton
came limping into Pretoria from the scene Of
the disaster at Bronker's Spruit, with the COL
ors Of thu Ninaty-fourth .regimsnt tied round
his middle, and such : tale to ten that the
blood went to her heart and seemed to stag
nate there as she listened to it.
And after that there was confusion worse
COMPOUNDED Martial law was proclaimed,
and the town, which was large, struggling
and incapable ef 1efenD, was abandoned, the
inhabitants being ordered into lager on the
high ground overlooking the city. There
they were, young and old, sick and well, deli
cate women and little children, all crowded
together in the open under the cover of the
fort Nth nothing but canvas tents, wagons
a1d abeo&t0sh dtlr them nom the fHsus gum
nsr suns and rain. Jess had to share a
wagon with her friend and her friends sister
and mother, and found it rather . tight fit
even to lie down. Sleep, with all the noises
of the camp going on round her, was prac-
tical imposEbhity. = IL :
It was about o'clock on the day following
that first miserable night in the lager when,
by the last mail that pissed into Pretoria, she
got Bessie's letter announcing her engage
ment to John. She took her letter and went
some way from the camp to the side Of Signal
Hill, where she was not likely to be disturbed,
and, finding a nook shaded in by mimosa
trees, sat down and broke the envelope. Be-
fore shc had got to the foot of tho first page sho
saw what was coming and set her teeth. Then
she read the long letter through from begin
ming to end without finching, though the
words Of affection seemed to burn her. So il
had come Mt last Well, she expected it, and
had plotted to bring 1t about, 20 really there
was no reason in the world why she should
feel disappointed. On the contrary, she
ought to rejoice, and for little while she
really did rejoice in her sisters happiness. 1t
made her happy to think that Bessie, whom
she dearly loved, was happy.
And yet she felt angry with John with that
sort Of anger which We feel against thoss who
nave blindly injured US Why should he
have it in his power to hurt her sol Still shs
hoped that he would be happy with Bessie.
and then she hoped that these wretched
Bosn would take Pretoria, ard that she
would be shot or put out Of the way some
how. She had no heart for life; all the color
bad faded from her sky. What was she to
do with hsrsefa She would not stop on the
farm after John and Bessie were married;
she was qufte clear as-to thaes nor, IL she
could avoid it, would she return there before
they were married. She would zee him no
moro, no morei Alas, that she had ever seen
him.
Feeling somewhat happier, or at any rate
calmer, in this determination, she rose to re-
turn to the noisy camp, extending her walk,
however, by making detour toward the
Heidelberg road, for she was anxious to be az
long alone as she could She had been walk
ing some ten minutes when she caught sight
OF q cart that seemed familiar to her, with
three horses harnessed in front of it and one
tied on behind, which were also familiar.
There were lot Of men walking alongside of
the cart, all talking eagerly. She halted to
let the little procession go by, when suddenly