The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-04-27
A MODERN LOVE.

he4ght, nao Iee5 that required broad sevens
to shod them, moved the atmosphere like a
hurricane as she swept out of the drawing
room of the old country house at Henley
and had a voice that could not whisper
words of love-it was a loud, powerful
voice, like an auctioneer's.
She's fine woman, isn't she?" re-
marked her husband, lighting cigar be-
tween the assertion and the question and
then putting contentedly, as he gazed in
reverie across the richly hued rug and the
new tangled tiled hearth into the fire.
Yes, ye-s-s! She is fine woman"
answered, scarcely able to repress laugh
She was altogether too fine for me- and 1
was amazed that Frank, who was pretty
man, fair, petite, with an aristOcratic face
and languid manner, should ally himself
for life to such a looking woman.
"She's taken complete possession of
me" murmured Frank. ''I'm like a good
boy-I never go anywhere without her
and like the bondage, - he added tender
1y, because love her.
where did you meet her?'' I asked,
noting the touch of real feeling in his
voice Il had been away ranching in Amer
lea for couple of years and did not know
the story of his courtship)
''Oh, in the most ordinary way" he
said, deity making a smoke ring over the
end of his nose. 81 was paired to play
with her in a golf match on the Peak
Links. She was quite a stranger-visitor
at Buxton. All knew about her was that
her people were from Manchester; her ia
Their was in calico prints. She strobe and
drove like an amazon. She alternately
terrified and amused me. The caddics,
when we stood at the tee, could not keep
their impudent faces straight at our dis
proportion. Martha-or, as 1 addressed
her at the time, Miss Sprigg-has a sense
h HI
over the rough ground and fooled the
drive at the third hole she gave a sonorous
chuckle indicative of suppressed anuse
ment, and hated her
"Whatl" calculated in surprise
81 detested her, he continued. "Her
skill with the driver, her towering form,
deep voice and superiority of manner made
me feel SO mean and small. Little did !
think that was destined to worship her"
cit must have been sharp conversion"
hazarded
sit was," he replied, "a sharp and
dramatic conversion. The ground, as you
know, is strangely riven in the Peak.
Near the far hole the golf course was bro
ken by stream. A bridge had been flung
across the brook for the.use of the players,
but unfortunately my cleek stroke did not
clear it. The ball fell short and rolled into
the water. 1t was a picturesque river,
and it was made up of such swift erratic
currents that to recover the ball needed
sharp work of eye and hand. 1 was savage
and reckless and in rashly endeavoring to
net the ball overbaianced and plunged
with a sharp cry into the current.
90 Els tumbled it mine run, shouted
the caddie in dismay and whirled his arms
about like a maniac.
meanwhile, struggle as 1 might, the
brook, which appeared insignificant whom
viewed from the bank, carried me rapidly
away from help The limestone banks
grew higher. 1 saw the golfers gesticulat-
ing above me- but they were unable to
! give me succor. The water was icy, and
no longer wondered how it was possible to
petrify. I was becoming petrifled myself,
/ except in mind My brain was in tu
multi of fear, for now the stream, bearing
me on it's dark bosom, had entered a
! strange subterranean gulf, the walls of
! which were here black as Erebus there
dazzling with spar or cleaning with lead
vein. The air was clammy and yet sitting.
! A fetd mist lowered on the breast of the
! underground stream, and beyond in the
recesses of the cave was the surge and rO2r
of water as if it was descending into some
/ abyss"
F'You're romancing a bit, aren't your"
1 asked incredulously.
'tNo," he gravely asserted, shuddering
at the remembrance of his peril TIE
caves there yet; so is the insidious brook.
In the interior of the cavern the stream
grew in volume and power, and it whirlcd
me onward in its arctic grasp to what
seemed speedy death. The darkness was
for d few moments chaotic Then I 10
ticed to the left shaft Of light and a gray
crag standing, like the King rock at FIaIn-
bro, out of the foam and spray the rushing
torrent made.
"You caught hold of the stone pinnacle
and were rescued, blurted out, rudely
anticipating the climax.
ooh, no." he said, "benumbed with
cold, failed to grasp it., and then I
= swooned.
my stars, this is getting exciting" 1
burst out. Chow ever did you escare?"
81 could not escape-Martha saved me, I"
he said gently.
''Neverr' retorted, in amazement.
ooh, yes, she did-and that's why I
married her, - he continued, after few
tantalizing puffs as a lesson in patience.
But, how ever did she manage ito
rescue you, not to marry your"
sob, with comparative ease, and yet
with splendid daring. She knew the coun-
try and the curve of the stream. When
she heardsthe caddie's cry, she crossed the
links swiftly, seized coil of rope at the
lead miners hut and climbed down the
chasm till she reached the surface OF the
brook. At this point the stream had
emerged from the cave and was flowing
through the Devils ravine, a grewsone
place, associated with many a dark deed
and strange tradition. Here, gaining per-
ilous hand grasp and foOthold, she crept,
face downward, on the narrow ledge that
iutted from the limestone crag and waited
in sus~ense She had not long to wait. A
powerless, helpless thing, I was swept to-
ward her on the torrents breast, and she
dragged me, with magnificent strength,
upon the ledge. Then, amid the fierce
swish of water and the toss of spray, she
placed the rope around me- tied it securely
to the sinking rope the mine master 5 gang
had thrown down, and I was drawn to the
brink of the cliff, Martha following, step
by step at every pull, TO steady my uncon-
sciOus form. !"
"What a splendid womanl'' exclaimed,
with genuine admiration.
YES he said, sit was not difficult to
I r. 81