The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-06-19

seemed dazed and inert with suffering, and
spoke mOuTnfully: ut is too late. Not
you, nor any Of your race, or anything on
earth can save him. He is dead. dead
now"
At the first sound Of her voice Trafford
started. He drew near to her, rs palo as
she was, and wonder and pity were In his
face. Hester" he satd "Hester Orval"
She stared at him like one that had been
awakened from an evil dream, then totterod
toward him with the cry: Just, just, have
you come to save mep Oh. JustP His
distress was sad to see. for II was held in
deep repression. but he said calmly and
with protecting genieneSs: Yes, l have
come to save you. Hester, how is IL you
are here in this strange place-youP"
She sobbed so that at first she could not
answer. but at last she cried: "On, Justl he
is dead-in therel in therei Last night; 1t
was last night; and he prayed that might
20 with him. But l could not die unfor-
given-and l was right, for you have come
out of the world to help me and 10 save
me-"
"Yes, to help you and to save you'll
can, he added in whisper to himself, for
he was full of fOrebodlug. He was Of the
earth earthly, and things that had CHANGED
to him this day were beyond the natural and
healthy movements OF his mind. He had
gone forth to STAY, and had been foiled by
shadows; be had come with tragic, If beau
memory had clothed itself in flesh
and stood before him, pitiful, sOli-
tary-a woman. He had seOrned all
legend aud superstition, and here both
were made manifest to him. lie had
thought of this woman as one who was OF
the world no more, and here she mourned
before him and bade him go and look upon
Ter dead, upon the man who had wronged
him, .ntO whom, as he once declared, the
soul of a cur had entered-and now what
could he say? He had once carried in his
heart the infinite something that Is TO men
the utmost fullneSs OF life, which losing
they must carry lead upon their shoulders
where they thought the gods had given
pniOns.
McGann and Pierre were nervous. This
conjunction OF unusual things was easier to
the inteligences Of the dead than the quick
The outer air Was, perhaps less charged
with the unnatural. and with a glance
toward the room where death was quartered
they left the hut.
TTafford was alone with the woman
through whom his life had been turned
away. He looked at her searchingly, ami
rs he looked the mere man in him asserted
itself for a moment. She was dressed in
coarse garments; il struck him that Der
grief had a touch Of commences about il;
there was something imUerfect IN the dra-
matte setting. His recent experiences had
had a kind OF grandeur about them;
IL WAS not thus that be had remembered
her In the hour when he had called upon
her in the plains, and the Indian had heard
his cry. He felt, and was ashamed in feel
ing that there was grim humor in the Sit
uatiou. The fantastic, the melOdramatic,
the emotional, were huddled here in too
marked a prominence; ii all seemed. for an
instant, like a tale of a Woman's first novel.
But Immediately again there was aroused
IN him the latent force OF loyalty to him
self, and therefore TO her; the story oil her
past so far as he knew IL, flashed before
him, and his eyes smarted.
He remembered the time he had last seen
her IN an English country house among a
gay party in which royalty smiled, and the
subject was content beneath the smile.
But there was one rebelliOus subject, and
her name was Hester Orval. She was q
willful girl who had lived lie selfshly
within the lines Ofsthat dec0Tous vet pleas
ant convention 10 which she was born.
She was beautful-she knew that, and roy
atty had gTaci0uSly admitted IL. She was
-thGughted, and possessed the fatal
strain Of the artistic temperament. She was
not sure that she hau q heart, and many
others, not OF her sex, after varying and en-
thusiaStic study Otthe matter, were not more
confident than she. But it had come at last
that she had listened with pensiYe pleasure
to Tlafford's tale Of love, aud because 10 be
worshiped by a man high 10 all mems and
IN most W0men's esteem ministered deli
c4tely 10 her sweet egOtism, aud because
she was proud Of him, she gave him her
hand in promise, and her cheek in privilege.
but denied him-:hOugh he knew this not
her heart and the service Of her life. But
he was content to wait patiently for that
service, and he wholly trusted her, for there
was in him some fine spirit Of the ANTIQUE
world.
There had come to Falkenstowe, this
country house and her fathers home, a man
- ~ rr t,.rE -
knightly heart. and he told Ulysses tales
and covered a hazardous and cloudy past
with that fascinating color which makes
evil appear to be good, so that he reused in
her tie pulse of art. which she believed was
soul aud life, and her allegiance sweryed
And wien her mother pleaded with her aud
when her father said stern things, and even
royalty. with uncommon use, rebuked her
gently, her heart grew hard, and almost on
the eve Of her wedding day she fed with
her lover and married him and together
they sailed away over the seas.
The world was shocked and clamorous
for a matter Of nine days, aud then it forgot
this foolish and awkward circumstance;
but Just TraffOrd never forgot IT, He re-
membered il wildly until the hour, a wear
later. when the London journals announced
that Hester Oryal ami her husband had
gone down with a vessel wrecked urOn the
Alaskan and Canadian coast. And there
new regrets began and his knowledge If
But She and her husband had not been
drowned; with a sailor they had reached
the shore in safety. They had Travelled u-
land from the coast through the great noun
taius By unknown paths, and as they tray
eled the sailor died; and they came at last
through innumerlble hardships TO the
Kimash Hills, tie Hills Of the Mighty
Men, and there they stayed. 1t was
not an evil land; it had neither
deadly cold in winter nor waDton
heat in summer. But they never saw
a human face and everything was lonely
and spectral. For time they stroYe to go
eastward or southwark, but the mountains
were impossible and in the north and west
there was no hope. Though the buffalo
swept by them in the valley they could not
slay them. and they lived on forest fruits
until in time the man sickened The woman
nursed him faithfully. but still he failed,
and when she could 90 forth no more for
food some unseen dweller of the woods
brought buffalo meat and Drairie2fOwl, and
water from the spring and laid them beside
her door.
She had seen the mounds upon the hill,
the wide c0uches Of the sleepers, and she
remembered the things done in the days
when God seemed nearer 10 the sons OF men
than now; and she said that a spirit had
done this thing, and trembled and was
thankful. But the man weakened and
knew that he should die; and one night
when the pain was sharp upon him lie
prayed that be might pass. or that help
might come to snatch him from the
grave. And as they sobbed together form
entered at the dOor-a form clothed in
scarlet-and he babe them tell the tale of
their lives as they would some time tell IL
unto heaven. And when the tale was told
he said that succor should come to them
from the south by the hand of the Scarlet
Hunter, that the nation sleeping there
should no more be disturbed by tholr moan
ing. And then he had gone forth, and with
his going there was storm such as that in
which the man had ded-the storm that had
assailed the hunters in the forest yesterday.
This was the second part of Hester Or
vaPs life as she told il to Just TraffOrd.
And he, looking into her eyes. knew that
she had suffered and that she had sounded
her husbands unworthiness. Then he
turned from her and went, into the