Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1889-07-14
CHAPTER II.

/ lgrly deficient ia knives and crockery, was
remarkably pleasant one. Anxiety for
the future and dread Of the past vanished
and they were conscious only Of this de-
liehtful al fresco meal il the great pine
/ forest.
The morning air was still cool, though
already wavy lines, betokening heat, were
rising like q mist over the clearing in
which stood the settlement of Deadmen's
Flat. about three miles distant. Soon,
even in the depths Of the great
forest, the heat would be intOlerable
On every side of them stretched the slen-
der boles Of larch and pine, the fragrant
needles covering the ground. The joyous
chorus of birds and insects greeting the
new day was sweet music to these two
Young people, and every tuft OF teathery
fern, every bush of furzs End thorn, con-
tanned some sight Of busy life to amuse
them. There we're ali sorts of wonders in
tire thick underProwth to dream OF, sud
70 impart that cir of mystery to the place
which always fingers over the unseen.
They sat long time over that meal, ST.
though she did not est much-indeed, he
was distressed at her want of appetite. He
began to see, too, that the excitement pro-
duced by the novelty of the situation was
wearing off, and that her face was growing
very pale. The thought that Mr.. Tom
Cairnes was the cause CT her evident suf-
feri1g made the young fellow grind has
teeth with rage.
But even such meal az this, with only
handsome young man and beautiful
girl 70 sit at it, with the mystery and lone
illness and beauty of the great primeval
forest shutting them in together from all
the discord ard weary noises of the world
beyond, could not last forever.
With a woman's natural instinct she
had for some time been conscious OF and
depressed by the fact that her hair was I'M
tidy. her face unwsahed and her white
dress limp with night dews AID stained
and soiled with travel. The young mans
continually increasing and very evident
admiration had aroused in her an ardent
desire to make better appearance before
him. His admiration, however, was shown
only in the most chivllrous and courteous
ma ner though his eyes, being naturally
handsome and expressive, we've beyond his
control.
The sound of the ripping stream from
which be had brought water for their
meal. and which ian through q thicket
some yards from where they sat, attracted
her attention, it promising to aid her IN at
least limited toilet
The opportunity came when few mo-
ments later the young man, prompted by
a feeling Of 6elicacy, rose suddenly. He
was afraid that he had been forcing his
society upon her, and was fully con-
scious OF her helpless position. 1t was
long time siucs Mr.. john Smith had felt
bashful; but he did row, as, shoalderlng
his rifle, with the explanation that ne
was going to recon hotter, in csse any IN
pleasant acquaintance from Deadmans
Flat Should be hanging about, be marched
off between the trees. He felt like some
awkward schoOlboy, and was painfully
conscious of what seemed to him foolish,
stumbling gait.
She, gazing after him as he walked of
between the pines, looking neither TO the
right nor to the left, thought what splen-
did figure he had and what free 9nd
graceful air. He was very shabbily
dressed, his clothes being of the poorest
quality, and everything about him blre
the mark of privation and poverty. HIS
language, though shorn of expressions
not suitable to his present company, was
that of the ordinary miners sne had met,
though there were moments VIXEN be
seemed to slip unconsciOusly into grace
of expression curiOusly at variance with
his coarse dress aud rough hands There
was something indefnable about him
which brought hack wildly to her mind
the life she had once known. 1t seemed
to her at that moment as though she had
been wandering about the face OF the
earth for ages with a ruined, gambling,
drunken father, who had specnlated and
lost comfort, home, honor, everything
except the affection of daughter, who
TO save him if possible from himself, had
given up ease and turned her back upon
the homes Willingly offered her by friends
and relations. Surely, if anything could
have saved him from himself this beauti-
FIJI daughters love should have done SO.
But unfortunately James Snaresbrook YVES
beyond even the help of guardian angel,
and at the moment when his daughter,
travel stained and weary, lost by him in
the pine woods, WAS dependent on strange
Young man for protection and hospitality,
he was quite comfortably drank a. the
back of roughly built grog shop, clo,e TO
the uump to which he bad in his lat
iuci6 moment conveyed himself, in order
to be conveniently near lis handle when he
should awake.
Dokohl- tba vO1rO Woman he'd aOra
suspicion of the fact, for her face grew
very nard ard hsgg4rd as she sal by the
fire fer few minutes after the young
mans departure, forgetting even her un-
tidy hair and sOiled gown, and her beauti-
full ewes we're bright with bitter pain and
coptem t. Suppose this young man
should meet HIM, what would he think of
her father? Would he not despise her?
A mans degradation drags down his
children, anG she must bear some OF her
fathers shame.
With heavy shuddering sigh, forced
from heart which felt that its burden
was beyond its strength, she rose at last
and went towards the stream.
Mr.. John Smith, feeling painfully con-
scious of his ungraceful department, was
obliged to turn aside at last to get cut of
the sight of those bright pursuing eyes,
for be had strong conviction tina: they
could be mockingly mirthiul on coca.
siou, and, with a sense of humility which
was q uits new to him, he felt that every
thing about him was wrong and askew.
This abrupt deviation of his course
brought MIN in a straight line with the
thick underground of furzs and thorn
which enclosed the spot where lay the
rigid body, wi its down turned face
hideous and stained with earth and blood.
He reached the thick growth Of bush,
which stretched for some distance on
either side of the spot where be stood, not
knowing exactly what he did. His pulses