The Lehi banner. [volume] (Lehi, Utah) 1891-1917, 1891-06-19

STsxStf -. ~, born tcnaoity of
tSENTzSk rkt~SAS% her nature she
AZ 2-E5sSsss;TJ braced herself
\ Sr,:MT TO endure ex-
-" istence, but she
neither hoped nor feared any thing. She
ate and drank and slept, the mechanical
routine of the days repeated itself, but
she had come to a dead stop. She had
lost all courage, all faith; bare, blank
wall faced her There was nothing
more TO be enjoyed nor suffered. She
had had every thing and lost every
thing.
IL she had consciously recognized all
this there might have been some hope
of reaction. When one appreciates the
dramatic effect of circumstances, a new
interest in new circumstances Is apt to
he not far off But Helen was capable
of no such attitude toward herself. One
saw IL in her facc-dark and thin aud
changoless as statues. She had
great dark eyes, but they never varied
their dreamy, unheeding look. Her
voice was low, soft and monotonous.
And yet She was not at all dreadful
person to live with. IL was impossible
that her story should not cast its shadow
over the household, but when Il was
once settled that Helen's experience
had exempted her from all the ordinary
rules that bound the others, matters
adjusted themselves, as they always do,
and the happy current Of commonplace
living flowed around her undisturbed.
She was slender and graceful, strong,
too, as these slight-built New England
women are often enough. AT seven
teen she had not been handsome, but
she had had that air of any possibility
of beauty that is better than defined
prettiness. She was shy, reserved and
cold, with the positive, rcpclling power
of strong natures, with the Puritan ira
ditions of training superaddcd Under
IL she was willful. headstrong and pas
sionate, never capable of seeing more
THAI one side of a subject, and always
clarifying that side with the whole
force of a tropical imagination rigidly
rcpressed and totally ungoverned.
II was just then that in a school va
cation she visited a friend in one of
the shaliest and oldest and steadiest of
Connecticut villages. While she was in
the house there came out of the vague
Southwest a young man that claimed
blood relationship with the family.
II was just in the days when Bret
llarte's heroes stood foremost in the
ranks of popularity. The Unborn rebel
lion against oonventionalities in Hell
ems blood caught eagerly AT the pic.
turesque freedom and wildncss of these
charactcrizations. She could not real
ize that one redeeming trait may not
suffice to make whole life tolerable.
Payne Morse was as handsome in his
blonde way as young demigod. He
had the slow, soft speech of the plains
man; he sworc no oathS, in her presence,
at least: he conformed TO the require
ments Of a community TO which re-
volver and llriat-rope We're alike UNI
callcd-for and outlandish, with good
naturcl liberation that had in Helen's
eyes immense piquancy and magnanim
ity Then he rode like a centaur, and
the accomplishment was SO novel in
that corner of the hills that Il seemed
almost like something unlawful and
ungodly Somebody in wild fit of
speculation had shipped Eas, train
load of mustlngs, with the Elusive
hone that they might be broken for use
among the quartz lodges. They kicked,
thoy backed, they sat on their launches
and squealcd their wrongs aloud in
every variation of the equine tongue,
and AZ last Payne Morse was appealed
to as being only little less savage than
tn mustangs, 60 see II he could do any
thing with them.
He found himself able, and apparent
II cljoycd the work. His fearless rid
ing, his quiet, mercilcsS ma5tership of
the untamcd brutes, completed the con
quest of Hclen's fancy.
That waE in lcafy June; in September
She went back 10 school, 4 month later
she left the rccitatinn-room one day,
put - he. hat. walked out OF the house
and 10 the railroad station In the
n'yt city Payne Morse awaited her
Toy were married within the hour, and
before SUNSET they t)ld the story in the
rryon sitting room,
llclan was not defiant She was quiet,
rather Sad, but no more ropontant or
legretfm than 4 block Of marble, Mr.,
Tryll recognized the trait by sympathy,
pprhaDs IL loollcl a. the two a. they
stood m ,he middle Of the room. Mother
and sister had Withdrawn little;
Hclcu's win was thing that most of
the household did Withdraw from She
stood by her husbands side, slight,
erect, her hand on his arm, but not
leaning on him at all.
You are aware sir" Mr., Tryon said,
"that thi, child 10 a minor-by the law
I could take her from you"
but sou viii not2' The question
wls half assertion.
ono | shall not. She has chosen; she
must learn life in her own way, ! shall
try and make indifference between her
and the Others and may the Lord have
mercy ON You both, he added, half I'M
der his breath
For a month the two staid under the
home roof IIelcns mother put down
intuition and instinct with strong
hand. lalguihed the superficial charms
Of the man, and was able at Last 70 say:
1T was neutrality-suspicious.,
but we cant help liking him
Hclcna listers two Of them really
lid like him. The careless, easy, I'M
conscious dasA OF his manner, his un-
failing, elaborate, II somewhat aorid
courtesy, the air of vague romance that
seemed 70 make the atmosphere in
which he brcathed all appealed 10 their
ideal of the chivalric and poetic. He
did not talk much Of himself, but his
half impersonal stories OF wild adj
ventures and reckless daring opened
vistas into hmtless wonderland. Mr.