New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-12-16
MRS. JEFF.


bits Of biography which, whether creditable or the
reverse. certainly not commonplace Ana
Mrs JEFF was no exception to the general rule
She had come to Montana three years earlier
with her husband. handsome and reckless
young Kentuckan. whose many-syllabled name
Of Jefferson Remington was speedily reduced 70
Jeff by the terse informality Of the prairie. He
had invested considerable sum Of money in
stocking a ranch some forty miles distant from
Zenith City, and for a year divided his time be-
tween looking after his cattle and playing a
prominent part in various forms Of the dissipa-
ton fol- which that precociOus infant town was
Justly celebrated OF Mrs jeff it acknowl-
edged that she had beauty. and ii was conJect-
ured that she had a temper, as her husband
when at the ranch. frequented the COWBOYS
quarters more than the cabin occupied by his
family: a conjecture which would not have pre-
vented her popularity in the essentially mascu-
line community in which her beauty shone an al
most solitary star. but that she manifested re-
serve toward even the best class of her husbands
comrades which forced the conclusion that what
ever she found TO dsapprove in him. the admira-
ton Of other men possessed no charm for her
Her heart, If she had one. was held fast and
firm in the baby hands of pretty child of two
With these details generally admitted. Zenith
City had been as much startled as its well-rained
nerves permitted BY the tragedy which for few
days engrossed it's attention. Among jeff REM
ington's hard-riding, hard-drinking companions
was a ne'er-do-well, whose patronymic had been
lost to use in the cognomen of Gentleman Jim
which he owed rather 10 certain lingering re-
finements of manner and speech than TO any
higher quality associated with that title even In
Montana. Urged thereto by his familiar demons
l1ac ed ing Of
his recent success in winning Mrs. Jeff's consider
alton and when confronted by her husband he
renewed his boast whereupOn that Young man
first proyed his right to the esteem az the COM
munity by shooting his wfe's defamer through
the lungs and then gave fatal evidence OF the
desperation which had of late increasingly char
acterized him by rushing through the hastily as
sembled crowd to throw himself into the Yellow
stone River then in its full spring violence Es-
cape was quite unnecessary from a public In
whose Judgment his act was legally. as well as
morally justified. by the fact that Gentleman jim
had also emptied a pistol; and the motives Tor
his suicide were decided by his acquaintance ac-
cording TO their various points OF view. when.
day or two later, his barely recognizable body
was found on bit of rocky bank. where the tor
rent had dashed ii in rushing around a sharp
curve. So far the story had not been an uncom-
mon one. Its individuality was stamped upon 1t by
the dying statement Of Gentleman Jim. infu-
enced either by the priest in whose arms he died
or by some hitherto unsupported qualification for
the title he bore. Mrs. jeff was innocent. His
accusation drunken lie.
Whether she had mourned her husbands tragic
death deeply, not at ALL nobody knew, ex-
cept perhaps an old colored woman whom she
had brought with her from Kentucky. Certain 1t
was that grief had not diminished the roundness
Of her superb figure, caused TO fade the color
in her cheek, and it would have required more
delicate observer than her surroundings could
produce to notice harder tone in clear voice, or
a colder brilliance in two steel-gray eyes.
What interested - County more than her
possible regret her pluck in deciding to re-
main at the ranch. especially as every month OF
her administration proved her fitness for the po-
sition, and the probability that, II her success
continued, the richest ranchman in that part OF
Montana would be woman.
Before two years Of her widowhood had elapsed
she had almost as many suitors as Penelope. with
whom, however, she was far more peremptory
than that temporizing person. One marriage
should be sufficient for any woman was her in
variable reply. given with a manner whose COM
posture reflected neither praise nor blame upon
her experience, and which left an effective con-
viction Of its fxedness. But many were the
wounds she inflicted upon the vanity Of -
County, there was no further rumor Of any
such story as Gentleman Jim had told a
fact not so much rejecting honor on
their superiority TO gossip as proving
Hamlet to the contrary-that womans repu-
tation be self-maintained above the most
daring flight Of calumny There were many
among her neighbors-as neighbors are counted
on the praire-who ascrbed Mrs. Jef's success
in raising and disposing Of her cattle to her
manager an old Scot chman named Sa unders. who
with his wife had been at the ranch since jeff
Remington's death. But there were few who
doubted her assertion that the object for which
she lived was the realization OF money enough
to enable her to return 10 the region of schools
and civilized society before her child should ar
rive at an age to require them And sincere II
grudging respect was associated more and more
with the name OF the woman who erecting
a solid structure from the ruin Of fortune and
a life which her husband had left to her.
Mrs Jeff's baby almost as familiar a
presence about the ranch Mrs. Jeff's self, for
she shared all the shorter airweather rides. en-
throned upon her mothers knee: Mrs Jeff being
SO splendid a horsewoman that the small
burden was no incumbrance. while her mind
was free from any arrere pcnsee as to possible
baby oscapades and could concentrate itself In
all its keenness upon whatever business required
her attention
On a certain chill November evening there
was a pretty picture in Mrs Jeffs small sitting
room Nanny, the old darkey. had built a huge
fire in the open chimney to welcome the return
Of her mistress from a forty-mile ride to COW
boy hut upon which she and Saunders had Sc,
forth that morning. The room was very plair
walled and celed with wood. and with few signs
of feminine presence. for It's owner was not given
either to fancywork L that labor Of infinite
patience in Montana. the cultivation Of flowers
Jeff lay at full length wrapped in a scarlet dress
fne-rown with her magnificent black hair hang.
Ing loose upor her shoulders. and In her arms
iauehinr chattering kissing. was her baby: a
fsir mink and white creature of four. who had
not trace Of likeness to herself. but who was
"a Nanny. In moments Of melancholy retro