Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-25
Ill.

JUo5IUIIIIF UulI,
wildering torpor that kept her moionless,
helplessIy following the vessel with strain
ing eyes, as if they could evoke some re-
spouse from its decks. She was so lost in
this occupation that she did not see pilot
boat nearly abreast of the cove had put out
two-oared gig, which was pulling quickly
for the rocks. When she saw it she trem-
bied with the instinct that 1t brought her
intelligence. She was right It was a
note from her husband informing her that
he had been hurriedly dispatched on short
cruise; that in order to catch the tide he
had not time to go ashore at the bluffs, but
he would expl1in everything on his return.
Her relief was only partial; she was al
ready experienced enough in his vocation
TO know that the excuse was 4 feeble one.
He could easily have fetched the bluff in
lacking out of the Gate, and have signaled
TO her to board him IN her own boat. The
next day she locked up her house, rowed
round the point TO the Embarcadero, where
the bay steamboats, occasionally touched
and took in passengers for San Francisco.
Capt. Simmons had not seen her
husband this last trip; indeed did not
know that he had gone out of the
bay. Mrs. Bunker was seized with des-
perate idea. She called upon the secretary
of the fishing trust. That gentleman was
busiuess-like, but neither expansive nor
communicative Her husband had not been
ordered out TO sea by them. she ought to
master choosing his own fishing. grounds
and his own times and seasons. He was
not aware OF any secret service for the
company in which Capt Bunker was en-
gagged. He hoped Mrs. Bunker would dis
tinctly remember that the little matter of
the duel to which she referred was an old,
bygone affair, and never anything but
personal matter, in which the fishery had
no concern whatever, and in which he GER
tainly should not again engage. He would
advise Mrs, Bunker, if sic valued her
own good and especially her husbands,
Ito speedily forget all about it. These
were ugly tunes, as it was If Mrs.
tBunker's services had not been properly
rewarded or considered, it was certainly q
great shame, but really he could not be ex-
ipected to make it good. Certain parties
had cost him trouble enough already. Be-
sides, really, she must see that his position
between her husband, whom he respected,
and a certain other party was delicate
one. But Mrs. Bunker heard no more.
She turned and ran down the staircase,
carrying with her a burning cheek aud
blazing eye that somewhat startled the
complacent official.
She did not remember how she got home
again. She had a vague recollection of
passing through the crowded streets,
wondering if the people kaew that she was
an outcast, deserted by her husband, de-
ceived by her ideal hero repudiated by her
friends! Men had gathered in knots be-
fore the newspaper Offices, excited and
gesticulating over the bulletin boards that
had such strange legends as 'The Crisis,''
"Details of an Alleged Conspiracy to Over
throw the Government 1.-The Assassin OF
Henderson to the Fore Again" 'Rumored
Arrests on the Mexican Frontier" Some
times she thought she understood the drift
of them, even fancied they were the out
come of her visit-a5 If her very presence
carried treachery and suspicion with it.
lint OUlu ha-
numbed sense as a dull, meaningless echo
of something that had happened long ago.
When she reached her house, late that
night, the familiar solitude of shore and
sea gave her 4 momentary relief, but with
1t came the terrible conviction that she had
forfeited her right to it, that when her
husband came back it would be hers no
longer, and with their meeting she would
know IL no more. For through all her
childish vacillation and imaginings she
managed TO cling to one steadfast resolu-
ton. She would tell him everything, and
know the worst. Perhaps he would never
come; perhaps she should not be alive to
meet him. 81
And so the days and nights slowly passed. |
The solitude which her previous empty |
deceit had enabled her to fill with such |
charming visions now in her awakened re-
morse seemed only to protract her misery |
Had she been a more experienced, though |
even more guilty woman, she would have |
suffered less. Without sympathy or
counsel, without even the faintest knowl- |
edge of the world or its standards of moral
lty TO guide her, she ACCEPTED her isolation |
and friendlessnesS as a necessary part of |
her wrong-doing. Her only criterion was |
her enemy-Mrs. Fairfax-and she could |
seek her relief by joining her lover; but
Mrs. Bunker knew now that she herself |
had never had one-and was alone! Mrs
Fairfax had broken openly with her hus-
band; but she had deceived hers, and the
experience and reckoning were still TO
come. In her miserable confession it was
not strange that this half child, half woman,
sometimes looked toward that gray sea,
eternally waiting for her-that sea which
had taken everything from her and given
her Nothing in return-for an celebrating,
and perhaps generating death!
The third day of her waiting, isolation
was broken upon by another intrusion. The
morning had been threatening, with an
opaque, motionless ivid arch above, which
had taken the place of the usual flying scud
and shaded cloud masses of the rainy sea-
SON. The whole outlying ocean, too, be-
yond the bar, appeared nearer. and even
seemed to be lifted higher than the bay it.
self, and was lit every now and then with
wonderful clearness by long flashes of
breaking foam like summer lightning. She
knew that this meant q Southwestern, and
began, with certain mechanical delibera-
tion, to set her little domain in order
against the coming gale. She drove the
cows to the rude shed among the scrub
oaks, she collected the goats and young
kids in the corral. and replenished the
stock of fuel from the wood pile. She was
quite hidden in the shrubbery when she
saw boat making slow Roadway against
the wind toward the little cove where but
moment before she had drawn up the diugey
beyond the reach of breaking seas. 1t was
q whale boat from Saucelito containing
few men. AS they neared the landing she
in the man who seemed TO be
the boat the second friend
Of Col. Marion-the man who had
come with the secretary to take
him off, but whom she had never
seen again. In her present horror of that
memory she remained hidden, determined at
ali hazards to avoid q meet;l Z. When
they had landed, one of the men halte5 ae-
before the shrubbery where she
was concealed as he caught his first view
Of the cottage, which mad been invisible !
from the point they had rounded. :
Look here, Bragg, he said, turning to
Narion's friend, in a voice which was dis
linctly audible to Mrs. Bunker. What
are we 10 say TO these people2" I
There's only one" returned the other
1.-THE mans at sea. His wife's here. She's I
su right. - I
You said she was one of uslH
After a fashion. She's the woman who !
helped Marion when he was here reckon I
be mad it square with her from the begin