The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-12-23
CIR Il S S "
BY BRET HARTE.
AUTHOR OF THE LUCK OF ROARING
CAN'T" TALES OF THE ARGoNAUTs,"
SIN THE CARQUINEz WOODS
'MARUJAM," Eric.
Csoul1iobfed 1888 bi tbe A,,fbo.

NOD't
'MARUJAM,n ETC.
copyrighted 1888 bv the author.
CHAPTER TX
The religious attitude which Mrs. Nc
Kinstry had assumed toward her husbands
weak civilized tendencies was not entirely
free from human rancor. That strong loyal
nature which had unsexed itself in one idea
of duty, now that duty seemed to be no
longer appreciated took refuge in her forgot
ton wonlanhood and in the enthusiastically
small arguments, resources and maneuvers
at its command. She had conceived sim
gular jealousy of this daughter who had
changed her husbands nature and who had
supplanted the traditions of the household
life; she had acquired an exaggerated,depre-
citation of those feminlnecharms which had
never been factor in her own domestic
happiness She saw in her husbands desire
to mitigate the savage austerities of their
habits only weak concession to the powers
of beauty and adornment-degrading vani-
ties she had never known in their lifelong
struggle for frontier supremacy-that had
never brought them victorious out of that
struggle. "Frizzles," ''fureowsn and
fancy fixin'sn had never help them in
their exodus across the plains, had never
taken the place of swift eyes, quick ears,
strong hands and endurance; had never
nursed the sick or bandaged the wounded
When envy or jealousy invade the female
heart af er 40. it is apt to bring q bitterness
which knows no alternating compensation
in that coquetrY. emulation, passionate APP
peal or innocent tenderness which makes
Tolerable the jealous caprices of the
Tho or ,orrylo win lv-x-
is felt to be hopeless, the power Of imitation
is gone. OF her forgotten womaDhood
Mrs. McKinsury revived only a capacity to
suffer meanly and infict mean suffer- u
upon others. If the ruined castle of her
youth, and the falling in of banqueting hall
and bower, the dungeon ana torture cham
Der appeared to have been left, or to IL @
her own metaphor, she had ENORMOUSLY
complained to the parson that "Accordn' to
some folks. she mout hev bin the barren fig
tree elected to bear persimmums.n
Her methods were not entirely different
from those employed by her suffering sister
hood in like emergencies. The unlucky
placated or consoled by learning from her
that it was only the result of his own weak
ness, acting upon the cussedness of the
stock-dispersing Harrisons; the perplexity
into which he was thrown by the news of
the new legal claim to his land, was not
soothed by the suggestion that 1t was trick
of that Yankee civilization to which he was
meanly succumbing. She who had always
been a rough but devoted nurse in sickness
was now herself overtaken by vague irregu-
lar disorders which involved the greatest
care and the absence of all exciting causes.
The attendance Of McKinstry ard Cressy
at "CraZy quilting party" had brought on
''blind chills;n the importation Of meio-
dion for Greasy to play on had superinduced
a..l .-,enn a,,I fl,,.oo ,,.1
of ''palsy creeps" had only been warded off
by the timely postponement of an evening
party suggested by her daughter The old
nomadIc instinct NOR idly excited by her
discomfort, caused her to lay artful plans
for further emigration; she knew she had
the germs of ''mash fevern caught from the
adjacent river; she related mysterious in
formation gathered in ''ciass meetingn of
the su erior facilities for stock raising on
the higher foot hills. She resuscitated her
dead and gone Missouri relations i'll her
daily speech, to manifest invidiouS COM
parison with the living; she revived even
the incidents of her early married life with
the same baleful intent. The acquisition of
a few 'biled shirts by Hiram for festive
appearances with Cressy pal fully reminded
her that ne had married her in "hickOry;'
she further accented the change by herself
appearing in her Oldest clothes. on the
hypothesis that it was necessary for some
one to keep up the traditions of the past.
Her attitude toward Cressy would have
been more decided had she ever possessed
the sligest influence over her, or had even
understood her with the intuitive sympa-
thies Of the maternal relations Yet she
went so far as to even openly regret the
breaking off of the match with Seth Davis,
whose family at least still retained the
habits and traditions she revered; but she
was promptly silenced by her husband in
Il - 81 -,
back had already passed between him and
Setn's father, and that according to those
same traditions blood was more likely to be
spilled than mingled. Whether she was only
withheld from attempting a recouc liation
herself through lack of tact aid opportu-
nifty remains to be seen. For the present
she encouraged Masters attentions under
new and vague idea that Irritation
which distracted Cressy from her studies
was di pleasing TO McKinstry and inimical
to his plans. Blindly ignorant of Mr..
Ford's possible relations to her daughter,
and suspectng nothing, she felt toward him
only dull aversion as being the senseless
pivot of her troubles. Seeing no one and
habitually closing her ears to any family
alusion to Cressy's social triumphS, she was
unaware of even the popular admiration
their memorable waltz had excited.
On the morning of the day that Uncle
Ben had confided to the master his ingeni-
Gus plan for settling the boundary disputes,
the barking of McKinstry's yellow dog an
nounced the approach of stranger to the
ranch. 1t proved to be Mr.. Stacey-not
only as as dazzlingly arrayed us when he
first rose above Johnny Filgee's horizon,
but wearing in addition to his jaunty bust
ness air look of complacent expectation Of
the pretty girl whom he had met at the
ball. He had not seen her for month. 1t
was happy inspiration of his own that
enabled him to present himself that morn
ing in the twin functions Of victorious
Mercury and Apollo.
McKinstry had to be summoned from an
adjacent meadow, while Cressy in the
meantime undertook to entertain the gal
liant stranger. This was easily done. 1t
was part of her fasclnations that, disdain-
ing the ordinary real or assumed ignorance
of the ''ingenue" of her class, she generally
exh bited TO her admirers with perhaps the
single exception of the master) laughing
consciousness OF the state of mind into
which her charms had thrown them. She
understood their passion, If she could not
accept it. This to a bashful rustic COM
munity was helpful, but in the main unsa.-
isfactory: with advances so promptly I'M
masked the most strategic retreat was apt
to become an utter rout. Leaning against
the Intel of the door, her curved hand
shading the sparkling depths OF her eyes,
and the sunlight striking down upon the
pretty curves of her languid figure, she
aw aited the attack.