Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-28

on nave not doubted me, Cressy!
You have not allowed this infamous rak-
ing up of things that are past and gone to
alter your feelings?'
She looked at him abstractedly. "You
think it might alter anybody's feelings
then?''
''Nobody's who really loved another
- he stammered.
Don t let us talk of it any more,
she said, suddenly stretching out her
arms, lifting them above her head with
wearied gesture, and then letting them
fall claSped before her in her old, habit
ual fashion. cit makes my head ache !;
what with paw and NAV and the rest of
of them-I I'M sick of it all -
She turned away as Ford drew back
coldly and let her hand fall from his arm g.
She took few steps forward, stopped =,
ran back to him again, crushed his face
and head in close embrace, and then
seemed to. dip like bird into the tall
bracken and was gone.
The master stood for some moments
chagrined and bewildered; it was charac-
teristic of his temperament that he had
paid less heed to what she told him than
what he imagined had passed between
her mother and herself. She was natur-
ally jealous of the letters-he could for
give her that, she had doubtless been
twitted about them, but he could easily
explain them to her parents-as he would
have done to her. But he was not such 4
fool to elope with her at such a moment, ,
without first clearing his character-and
knowing more of hers. And it was
equally characteristic of him that in his
sense of injury he COMPOUNDED her with
the writer of the letters-as sympathiZmg
with his correspondent in her estimate of
his character, and was quite carried away
with the belief that he was equally
wronged by both
1t was not until he reached the school
house that the evidences of last night S
outrage fore tim e distracted his mind
from his singular interview. He was
struck with the work manlike manner i'll
which the locks had been restored, and
the care that had evidently been taken to
remove the more obvious and brutal
traces of burglary. This somewhat stag
gered his theory that Seth Davis was the
perpetratOr; mechanical skill and
thoughtfulness were not among the
lout s characteristics. But he was
still more Disconnected ON pushing
back his chair to find small
india-rubber tobacco pouch lying beneath
it. The master instantly recognized it;
he had seen it a hundred times before-it
was Uncle Ben S. 1t was not there when
he had closed the room yesterday after
noon. Either Uncle Ben had been there
last night, or had anticipated him this
morning. But in the latter case he
would scarcely have overlooked his fallen
property-that, in the darkness of the
night, might have readily escaped detec-
ton. His brow darkened with sudden
conviction that it was Uncle Ben
who was the real and only Of
fender, and that his simplicity of
the previous night was part of his decep-
ton. y sickening sense that he had been
again duped-but why or to what pur-
pose he hardly dared to think-oyercame
him. Who among these strange people
could he ever again trust? After the
fashion of more elevated individuals, he
had accepted the respect and kindness of
those he believed his interiors as nat
ural tribute to his own superiority; any
change III their feelings must therefore
be hypocrisy or disloyalty; it never oc-
CURED TO him that he might have fallen
below their standard.
The arrival of the children and the re-
suusption of his duties for time diverted
him. But although the morning eXer-
else restored the master s self-confidence,
it cannot be said to have improved his
judgment. Disdaining to question Ru-
pert Filgee, as the possible confident of
Uncle Ben, he answered the curious in
Quiries of the children as to the broken
doorlock with the remark that it was Il
matter that he should have to bring be-
fore the trustees of the board, and by
the time that school was over and
the pupils dismissed he had quite resolved
upon this formal disposition of it. In
spite of Cressy s warning-rather because
of tin the new attitude he had taken to-
wards her and her friends, he fingered in
the school house until late. He had Oc-
cupied himself i'll drawing up q state
ment of the facts, with an intimation
that h is continuance in the school would
depend upon Il rigid investigation of the
when he was aroused by
the clatter of horses hoofs. The next
moment the school house was sur
rounded by dozen men.
He looked up; half of them dismounted
and entered the room. The other half
outside, darkening the windows
with their motionless figures. Each man
carried gun before him on the saddle;
each man wore rude mask of black
cloth partly covering his face.
Although the master was instinctively
aware that he was threatened by serious
danger, he was far from being impressed
by the arms and disguise of his mys-
FERROUS intruders. On the contrary
the obvious and glazing incOn-
sistency of this cheaply theatrical
invasion of the peaceful school-house:
of this opposition of menacing figures to
the scattered childish primers and text
books that still lay on the desks around
him, only extracted from him a half
scornful smile as he cody regarded them.
The fearlessness of ignorance is often as
as the most experienced val
or, and the awe-inspiring invaders were
at first embarrassed and then humanity
angry. A lank figure to the right made
a forward movement of impotent rage
but was checked by the evident leader of
the party.
''Ef he likes to take it that way, there
amt no regulators law agin it,
reckon - he said, in voice which the
master instantly recognized as Jim Har-
rison IS, Though ez gin raj thing they
don t usually find it fun Then turn
ing to the master he added, ''Mister
Ford, eff that's the name you 90 by
we re wantin man about
your size
Ford knew that he was in hopeless