Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-07-23

AS Tor MI. Talck, he dared scarcely
think. He was in that condition Of ter
ror when the only safeguard against
madness is to hold the thought in check,
to fight with desperation against the
suggestions of ones own fancy. The
wolves were abroad, and Hulda. alone
and unprotected, wa speeding ON skis
across the trackless snowfields. At the
poles of his mind these two terrible
facts stood ont in luminous relief, but
he strove to keep them apart, to refrain
from connecting them and supplying
the horrible probabilities which the sit
uation suggested.
Hulda in the meanwhile was skiru-
ming over the shining snow with a sense
Of exhiloration which chased the blood
with bounding rhythm through her
veins. She felt like a bird that had es-
capped from it's cage and was now in the
first thrill Of recovered freedom tum-
bling, sweeping, riotinR through the
vast and glorious fields OF ETHEREAL space.
She was heartless perhaps, and it pres
emily occurred to her that she had not
treated Mr.. Falck with proper consider
alton. But the fact was that il she were
to have been scrupulous in that respect
she would have remained in her bond
age to her dying day. She had not the
remotest intention Of breaking with Mr..
Falck on this particular occasion,
though her engagement had long been
odious to her. His irritating chirrup
and the appalling glimpse it afforded
her Of his dry and prosaic soul had no
doubt been, specifically speaking, the
cause of their rupture, though the real
cause lay much deeper. And when once
she had leaped out of the sleigh she
found that she had on the spur Of the
moment made q declaration Of indie
pendence which ut home in an atmos-
phere Of conscientious consideration and
complex duties she would never have
summoned courage to make. The act
thus became half symbolic, and it was
only because she distrusted her ability
to repeat it that nhe remained obdurate
to Mi. Falck's e~ntreaties and in order to
escape from him finally fed on skis
across the fields. 1t was a bit Of childish
knowledge that had come to her rescue.
She remembered hat the parish snow
pillow was kept outside Of this barn and
that the skis of the drivers were hid
den within.
OF course she did not delude herself
in regard to the reception that was in
store for her. She knew that q storm
was brewing and would burst upon her
devoted head. But, then, she had Mr..
Brun. He would stand BY her, and the
knowledge that he loved her would give
her courage to suffer and endure. Had
he not told her in glances and in thinly
yelled phrases hat he would never be
happy without her, and that 1t was
merely her engagement to MI. Falck
which made him refrain from declaring
his love for herr Indeed what had he
done every moment Of the day but to
declare in looks, illusions and actions
that he loved her? And that she loved
him she had known a. unmistakably
since they sang together on the night 81
his arrival. It had come to her with q
blissful certainty while their voices
scared together in such harmonious full
ness during the song, and 1t had gradu-
ally matured in her the resolution which
tonight she had found the strength to
carry out.
Up hill and down hill under the radi-
ant sky the young girl travelled, now
shooting like an arrow down the shin
ing slopes, now pushing herself forward
NTH hnr aka0 noNv vin~sOnSnN ~ $500