Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1896-07-23

enough TO show the nav or useIessness
in many a picture of accomplishing
martyrdoIr.
As events proved, the country life
was much 20 Mrs. Loring's taste. in
| spite of her years of travel and her
long sojourns IN great cities. She
struck up friendships with Mrs Clark.
Mrs. Weston and the other housewives
OF the neighborhood, and through
them. with the residents Of Rodney
town village. among whom she gained
considerable popularity. She became
a regular attendant at the village
church. and soon was received into the
circle of its sewing society. At these
things marveled and rejoiced, know
| ing very well that her new friends
could do more to promote her recovery
than all the drugs in the pharmaco-
peia. Seven days in week, gossip was
better for her than tonics.
1t was almost inevitable, in the cir
eumstances. that l should be honored
often with Dorothy GEay's company.
Long drives together over the winding
country roads. walks to the show spots
or the vicinity, and rdmbles when the
moon was doing her best To make man.
kind believe that nothing in the world
VAS worth considering but sentiment,
such pleasing diversions filled many
an hour. Sometimes / paused to con-
slider how completely the girl was DOM
mating my thoughts. Even when a
glimpse of Hiram Jones going stolidly
about his business reminded me of the
uncertainty of my position, 1 found
myself specializing more about what
she might think, if the worst came to
pass, than about the extent of the mis-
fortune over Lamar's head, and posi-
bly, over mine as well. On shipboard
we had been very good friends, she and
I. We were very good friends now,
but with a difference What a dull
ride / had if she declined to accom-
pany me! how the evening dragged if
she kept out of sight, what wretched
substitute for her presence was even
the best pipe in my growing collec-
ton! How was it that when we were
together, even if our talk languished
the time never passed heavily? How
had it come about that / no longer de-
bated the question of her beauty, no
longer compared her 18th this girl or
that? Such questions | asked myself
now and then, puzzling my brain with
endcavors to answer them in any other
way than the one in which they could
be answered. The simple truth of the
matter was, of course, that / had fallen
in love; but for difficulty of compre-
henslnn commend me, above all things,
to a so-called simple truth. Anybody,
if he will take the trouble, can follow
out long and logical deduction, but to
very few pen is it given to perceive at
once the meaning of the thing which, |
once understood, we call self-evident.
From the vantage-point of later years
have figured out, to my own satisfac-
ton at least, that 1 passed from the |
comparatively placid state of friend |
ship about two weeks after Dorothy |
Gray's arrival in Rodneytown. The |
realization of the change came nearly |
a fortnight later, not through any tri-
umph of reason, but through an acct |!
dent in which my part was that of 4 |
mere spectator, and which required less
time in action than it does in telling. |
Returning one morning from the house |
on the knoll, / sought the young lady. |
as l usually sought her at that hour. !
DIR. Banks had asked me to look out |
for two or three of his more distant |
patients-he had sprained his right |
arm badly and was keeping as quiet as
possible-and that day l had planned |
long drive, which it was probable she |
would enjoy. She was not in the house, |
Mrs. Clark said, and 1 was gazing about |
rather disconsolately, when l caught !
sight of parasol showing above the
walls of lane leading to an orchard, |
in the shade of which Miss Gray some
times passed morning. Setting out |
in pursuit, gained upon her so rapidly |
that when / turned into the lane she |
was not more than hundred yards /
in the lead. To my surprise, she halted,
then turned with a cry, and, picking up |
her skirts, began to scud toward me,
in full flight, as | saw an instant later,
from an old and evil-tenpered boar,
usually safely penned behind Mrs !
Clark's barn. but evidently very much /
at liberty at that particular moment.
The brute was close to her. His tusks
looked as long and sharp as knives; as
he galloped on, they came nearer and I
nearer TO his prey. / gave a shout and
sprang forward, but she been forced
to depend upon my aid her danger
would have been great indeed, for long |
before l could have reached her the |
boar would have overtal1en her. He /
was right at her heels, when, armed |
- seSssa.-..- |
81 IN W ill !