The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-22
I've lost my brace

f1dNtli you Q1OO-lcU 1t tO1LGN1lClC
there in the bunk?''a asked her father.
mo. It's on the floor of the wagon.
1 remember now il fell off when l
| tuEnbled And it wifi be .trodden upon
and crushed, Couldn't you run down.
| ahead of me, and warn them papa
dear? Mr.. Tenbrook Will have to go
| so slowly with me- She tusnbled out
shook herself and skirts into instanta-
| neous gracefulness. and fitted the vel
| vet cap on her Straying hair. Then she
said hurriedly. run quick, papa, dear,
| and as you go, call him in and say l
am quite ready
Thus adjured, The obedfenr parent dis
appeared in the darkness. With him
| also disappeared Miss Amy's singular
alacrity. Sitting down carefully again
On the edge of the bunk, she leaned
! against the post with a certain indefin-
able languOr that was as touching as r
vas graceful. l need not ted any fem
l,lne readers that there was no dis
stimulation in all ,tiliS-no cOquetry, no
Cstenta ton-and tnat the young girl
was perfectly sincere. Bur the mascu
line reader might Ike TO know shat
the simple fact was thar, since she had
regained consciousness, she had been
filled with regnorse for her caDriciOuS
and ungenerous rejection of TenbrOok's
proffered service. More than that, she
felt she had periIled her life in that
moment of folly, AMI that this man
his hero-had saved her. For here he
was. even if ale cid not fulfil her ideal
it was only she that was not hero
inc. Perhaps if he had been more like
what she wished she would have felt
this less keenly; love makes little room
for the exercise of moral ethics. So
Miss Amy Forester, being a good girl
at bottom, and not exactly loving this
Fol IL.
der consideration which a more roman
tic person would have shrunk from
showing. Consequently, when Ten
brook entered a moment later he
found Amy paler and more thoughtful,
bus, as ne farcied, much prettier than
lefore, looking up at him with eyes of
the sincerest solicitude.
Nevertheless, he remained standing
near the Goor, as if indicating a possi-
BILE intrusion. his face wearing a look
CT lowering abstraction. 1t struck her
that this might be the effect of his long
hair AMI general uncouthness, and this
only spur e6 her to fuller recognition
of mis- otler qualities.
~ am afraid" she began with a
charming embarrassment, that instead
of resting satisfied with your kindness
in carrying me up here. 1 will have to
burden you again with my dreadful
weakness, and ask you to carry me
down also. But all this seems so little
after what you have just done-and for
which / can never, never hope to
thank you," She clasped her two little
hands together, holding her gloves be-
tween. and brought them down upon
her lap in a gesture as prettily helpless
as it was unaffected.
Il have done scarcely anything" he
said, glancing away towards the fire,
''and-your father has thanked me-"
Yen have saved my life"
mol no." he said quickly. mot that,
You were in no danger, except from
my rife had 1 missed
Il see," she said eagerly, with a lit
tie posthumOus thrill of having been,
after all. kind of heroine, land it was
a wonderful SHOT, for you were so care
full not to touch me-"
please don't say any more" he said.
with slight movement of half awk-
wardness, half Impotence; "it was a
rough job, but it's over now"
He stopped and chafed his red hands
abstractedly together. She could see
that he had evidently just washed
them-and the glazing ring was more
in evidence than ever; but The thought
gave her an inspiration.
You'll at least let me shake hands
with you" she said, extending both
her own with childish frankness
Hold on, Miss Forester he said,
with sudden desperation, TT amt the
square thingl Look hereI I can't play
this thing on you'll can't let YOU lay
it on me any longeri You wasn't in
any danger-you never warel That
bear was only a half-wild thing 1
helped to ra'r myself. It's taken sugar
from my hand night after night g the
door of this cabin as it might have
taken it from yours mere if it was
alive now. 1t slept night after night in
the brush, not 90 yards away. The
mornin's never came yet-till now he
said, hastily, to cover an odd break in
his voice, when it didn't brush aiorg
the whole side of the cabin to kinder
wake me up and say so long a.fore it
browsed away into the canyon. There
amt a man along the whole Divide
who didn't know it: thar amt Il man
along the whole Divide that would
have drawn bead or pulled a trigger
on it till now. 1t never had any enemy
but the bees: it never even knew why
horses and cattle were frightened at
it. 1t wasn't much of pet, you'd say,
Miss Forester; i wasn't much 70 meet
lady's eye, but we of the woods
must take our friends where we can
find 'em, and of our own kind. 1t amt
no fault of yours what happened: hut
when it comes to your thanking NE
Tor II, why, II S-lt s rather rough YOU
are-and gets me-" He stopped short
as desperately and as abruptly as he
had begun, and stared blankly at the
fire.
A wave of pity and shame swept over
the young girl and left its high tide on
her cheek. But even then i was close
iy followed by the feminine instinct Of
defense and defiance. The real hero
the gentleman-she reasoned bitterly,
would have spared her this knowledge.
But why" she said, with knitted
brows. why. if you knew it was so
precious and so harmless-why did you
fire upon ito"
Because he said, almost fiercely
turning UPON her. because you
screamed, and then I knew it had
frightened you! He stopped instantly
as she n1omentarfly recoi1ed from him.
but the very brusqueress of his ac-
ticn had dis.bdged a tear from his
dark eyes, that fell warm on the back
of her hand, and seemed to blot out
the indigr0ty. Listen, Miss" he went
on hurTiedly, as if to cover up his
momentary unnanliness, 81 knew the
bear was missing tonight and when I
heard the horses skreeying aboUe 1
reckoned what was up. I knew no harm
would come to you, for the horses We're
and away from the
wagon. I pelted down that trail a'lsad
Of them all, like grim death, calkilatin'
to get here before the bear; they
have understood me; I was
too high up to call to the creature
when he did come out and I kinder
hoped you Wouldn't see him. Even
L. = Y