The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-12-08
erect fIrnre Of the schoolmaster-Johr

Greet uRute VI tuS scuOVlu4s9tet -"VhA
Ford.
The first confusion and embarrass-
ment Of an interrupted rendezvous that had
colored Ford's cheeks, gave way TO u
look OF alarm as lie caught sight of the
bleeding face and dishevelled figure Of
Mrs. McKinstry. She saw 1t. To her
distorted fancy It seemed only aproof Of
deeper guilt. Without word she closed
the heavy door behind her and swung
the huge cross-bar unaided to its place.
She then turned and confronted him,
wiping the dust from her face and arms
with her torn and dangling sun-bonnet
in way that recalled her attitude on
the first day he met her.
"That was Cress with yo?" she said.
He hesitated, still gazing at her in
wonder.
He started. az don't propose to, !" he
retorted Indignantly. "It was"
II don't ask We how long this yer's
bin goin' on, she said, pointing TO Cres-
sy's sun-bonnet, few books, and scat
tered nosegay OF wild flowers lying on
the hay; "and don't want to know.
In five minutes either her father will be
here, or them hell hounds OF Harrison's
who've sold him out will swarm round
this barn to git posseshun. Ell this yer'e
she again pointed contemptuously to
the objects just indicated-"means that
you We cast your lot with US and kalkilate
TO take our bitter with our sweet, ye. II
lift up that stack OF hav and bring out
gun TO help defend it. Efyou're meanin'
anythin' else, Ford, you'll hide yourself
in that hay till Hiram comes and has
time enough to attend to ""
"And II | chose to do neither" he said
haughtily.
She looked at him in unutterable scorn.
There's the winder-take 1t while
there's time, afore | bar it. FL you see
Hiram, tell him We left an old woman
behind ye TO defend the place whar you
ulster hide with her darter."
Before he could reply there was dis
tant report, followed almost directly by
another. With movement OF irritation
he walked to the window, turned and
looked at her-boited II and came back.
"Where's that gum" he said almost
rudeIy.
~ reckon'd that would fetch ye," she
said dragging away the hay and dis
closing long trough like box covered
with :arpaulin. 1t proved to contain
powder, shot and twoguns. He took one.
~ suppose | may know what l am
fighting for?" he said drily.
aye might say Cress' ef they"-indi-
eating the direction ofthe reports, chap
pen to ask ye," she returned with equal
sObriety, "JesS now We kin take your
stand up thar in the loft and see what's
comm"
He did not linger, but climbed to the
place assigned to him glad to escape the
company OF u woman who at that mo-
ment he almost hated. In his unreflect-
ing passion for Greasy he had always
evaded the thought Of this relationship
or propinquity; the mother had recalled
it to him in u way that imperilIed even /
his passion for the daughter; his mind
was wholly preoccupied with the idiotic,
exasperating and utterly hopeless posit- !
ion that had been forced upon him. In
the bitterness OF his spirit his sense OF
personal danger was SO far absorbed that
he speculatcd on the chance bullet in the
melee that might end his folly and relieve
him OF responsibility. Shut up in barn
with Il furious woman, in lawless de-
fence OF questionable rights-with the
added consciousness that IN equally
questionable passion had drawn him into
it, and that she knew it-death seemed
to offer the only escape from the ex-
PLANTATION he could never give. II an
other sting could have been added it was
the absurd conviction that Greasy would
not appreciate his sacrifice, but was per-
haps even at that moment calmly con-
herself on the Righteousness
Of the complication in which she had
left him.