Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-21

Her first villa imp III; was to run to th

take him. But the swift consciousness of
fits impossibility was followed by dull, be-
wildering torpor that kept her motiOnless,
helDlessly 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-
bled with the instinct that IT brought her
intelligence. She was right. 1t was
note from her husband informing her that
he had been hurriedly dispatched on 4 short
cruise; that in order to catch the tide he
had not time to go ashore at the bluffs, but
he would explain everything on his return.
Her relief was only partial; she was al
ready experienced enough in his vocation
to know that the excuse was 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 q des-
perate idea. She called upon the secretary
Of the fishing trust That gentleman was
business-like, but neither expansive nor
communicative. Her husband had not been
know that Capt. Bunker was now his own
master, choosing his own fishing grou nds
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 a
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, II sic valued her
Cwn good and especially her husbands,
to speedily forget all about it. These
were ugly times, as it was. If Mrs.
Bunkers services had not been properly
rewarded or considered, il was certainly i
great shame, but really he could not be ex-
pected 10 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 and
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 knew 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-as if her very presence
carried treachery and suspicion with it,
but generally they only struck her be-
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 momeutaTy relief, but with
it 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 it 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.
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 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
ity to guide her, she accepted her Isolation
and friendlessness as a necessary part of
her wrOng-doing. Her only criterion wacy
her enemy-MrS. FairfaX-and she could
seek her relief by joining her lover; bht
Mrs. Bunker knew now that she herself
had never had One-and was alone! ldrs.
Fairfax had broken openly with her, hus-
band; but she had deceived hers, q nd the
experience and reckoning were sill to
come. In her miserable confession It was
not strange that this half child halfrwoman
sometimes looked toward that 81 ay sea,
eternally waiting for her-that sea which
had taken everything from her and given
her nothing in return-for an obliterating
and perhaps exonerating DEATH
The third day of her waiting, isolation
was broken upon by another intrusion. The
morning had been threatening, with an
Opaque, motionless, livid 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 10 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 . southwestern and
began. with a certain mechanical delibera-
ton, TO set her little domain in order
e. d4lASb AllS IOulAlS StlAS. Eoite QIf9V1 tue
COWS TO the rude shed among tire scrub
oaks, she collected the goats az ID Young
kids in the corral. and repleu ished the
stock Of fuel from the wood pile. She was
quite hidden in the shrubbery when she
saw boat making slow heady raw against
the wind toward the little cove where but a
moment before she had drawn .1lp the dingey
beyond the reach of brealSin 2 seas. It was
whale boat fiom Sanceli- 40 containing a
few men. As they neared the landing She
recognized in the man W no seemed to be
directing the boat thu. second friend
OF Col. Marion-the man who had
come with the .ecretary to take
him OF, but who n she had never
seen again. In her present horror of that
memory she remain I'd hidden. determined at
ali hazards to a 5oid a meeting. When
they had Landed, me Of the men halted ac-
cidentally before the shrubbery where she
was concealed S he caught his first view
OF the cottage which had been invisible
from the poln they had rounded.
Look ner = Bragg" he said, turning TO
Marlon'S u lend, in q voice which was dis
unctly au' ible TO Mrs. Bunker. What
are we 10 say TO these peoplel'
,1her es only one" returned the other.
ne Ian's at sea. His wife's here. She's
all RE MT"
"N gu said she was one OF us2"
After fashion. She's the woman who
he ped Marion when he was here. reckon
h > made it square with her from the begin
J dino for she forwarded letters from him