Morris tribune., 1895-10-16

| him down; am certain of that. 1t may
be presumption ON my part, but / say
this for the sake of many of his brother
| officers whom I admire and respect as
men and gentlemen. Anyhow, ON be-
half of my comrades of the rank and
| file, / should like to express my sense of
shame and Indignation at the insult
which you were subjected to. 1t is very
good of you to offer us even the next
room to stay in, but you have only to
say the word, and I can take it upon
myself to promise that we shall quit it
| also. y
'sThere is no occasion to do that, /"
she said, her innate goodness of heart
struggling with another motive.
She took linen cuff from off the
heap beside her and spread it on the
dresser How beautifully rounded and
symmetrical her arm was as she poised
the hot iron, and how firm and deli
cately finished her small. hand! He
thought of the many fine ladies he had
known in his time who would have been
jealous could they but have seen such
hands.
He looked at that sweet, fair face, in
which the light of truth shone, and he,
who had in an cratic, stirring career
seen all sorts and conditions of women,
he who had experienced many strange
phases of life, felt his heart go out to
this girl with great pity, which was
only accumulated by sense of his own
helplessneSs to aid her.
There was significant pause, only
broken by the slight clicking noise of
the iron as it travelled over the snowy
cuff and the swathed board. Then old
Jeanette, who knew and looked with
a favorable eye upon the sergeant, be-
ing somewhat Modified by the humble
and deferential tone he adopted, opened
a door at the far end of the room and
went into another to perform, to her,
some never ending domestic duties.
Thea the sergeant, Harry Yorke, said
somewhat awkwardly:
II have brought you these books,
Miss ST. Denis. I told you of them last
time was here Twas not sure that we
should call upon you, but put them in
my wallets in case
Many time had this man, when in
q different station of life, given some
lady of the great, gay world a much
more significant token Of regard without
as much as the faintest suspicion Of en-
barrassment, but now he felt like a
schoolboy talking to a debutante or a
bashful lover who is saying his first
sweet thing.
1t is very good of you to have re-
membered the books, she remarked
simply, but rewarding him with a pleas
ant look. Then that odd, apprehen
sive expression which like shadow he
had seen fit across her face when they
had first entered once more crossed it.
AS if she had nerved herself to say
something she had been bordering over,
she again turned as if to face him, and
looking him steadily in the eyes asked:
''Are you going to wait here till my
father comes back?"
He seemed. i'll at ease and distressed
in most unaccountable manner, this
happy go lucky trooper. Indeed he
looked like an awkward, hulking
schoolboy in the presence of the head
master, who gazes with sinister aspect
upon the spectacle of conscious guilt.
He tried to look away from her, but he
could not. There was evidently strug
gle of some sort going on within him,
of natural inclination and a sense Of
duty. And now these all compelling
~ l,
their potency, for when he spoke it was,
as she had willed, the plain and. bitter
truth
Il cannot tell you how much against
my own inclination l am here on my
present errand, he said brokenly and
hurriedly, but as see you only desire
confirmation of what you already know
it is no breach Of trust on my part to
admit that you are right in what You
have limited at. -
He paused, as if there were some
thing else on his mind which he did not
rightly know if he would be justified in
saying to her. Then he took turn up
and down the room. coming back to
where she was standing calmly regard
ing him, with her two hands resting on
the back of chair, but still with that
wistful look in her eyes that was pitia
BILE to see.
After brief pause he continued
somewhat coldly, as she thought:
II do not know that should say
what / am going to now, more espe
cially as think you have not treated me
as you ought to have done. For very
long time the operations of your father
have been known to the mounted police.
For instance, they were telegraphed on
ly few days ago from Fort Benton to |
Walsh over the Rocky Mountain Tele-
graph company's wire. Now, Miss ST.
Denis, naturally feel somewhat morti-
fed, though am aware you are per-
fectly justified in asking me by what
right I expressed such sentiment, when
I think how have sacrificed that fine
sense of duty (Which should always be
paramount in a man in my position for
the sake of helping your father to free
from the dangerous connections
he has made, and how my well meant
warnings have been disregarded. =