The Weiser signal. [volume] (Weiser, Idaho) 1890-1904, 1897-11-04

That night every horse worth taking
was stolen from the Tryon and Bron-
son ranch, and with the rest lIclen's
Iebecca. But the third day aftcrvard
Rcbccca was found III the morning tied
before the door with as handsome a
bride and iady's saddle as the country
Afforded, and with card appended:
Captain Gordon's compliments to
Helen Tryon."
''llc ought to have said to the he. zine
Of Pine l'ulch,' Harry said, with deep
disgust.
Perhaps Mrs. Morse is i'll it, too
Bronson suggested, slyly. You're
quite sure that Captain Gordon isn't ii
friend of yours? Appearances are
against you. First the diamond" and
llelens eyes.
Il didn't mean any thing" he ex-
planned humbly to Harry afterward.
"Whoevcr supposed you did? Do you
imagine you are ever going to under
stand what woman finds to cry
about?' he said, wrathfully. "They
don't know themselves half the time
But, after all, it was not Helen at
whom he was storming. An extra
meeting of the lIorse-Thief League was
summoned. No results followed, and Il
month wore away peaceably.
Time did not stand still for Helen and
lIclen's lover. He did not again refer
in words to that declaration of his, but
not an hour spent in her society did not
plead his cause. He took it completely
for granted that his love for her was a
thing complete of itself without hope of
return. Perhaps that attitude was his
strongest plea. Something in his pa
thence seemed wonderful to her. She
could as soon have built the pyramids
She was one of those positive people to
whom no halfway measure is possible.
That man should make such an avow-
al as that, and then should let the days
go on in such commonplace, cheerful,
unmarked fashion, reused a new Won
dering interest in her mind.
Little by little, unconscious of the
gr;Siations of feeling. her whole mental
attitude changed. She owned now with
a shudder that if Payne Morse were to
cross her path for the first time she
would probably be repealed rather than
attracted. She had fallen in love with
an IDEAL, and the living, breathing facts
did not bear out the fancy. And the
next shock was to realize that she had
not yet done with ideals, and to-days
hero was in no wise like Yesterday -
1t gave her a dreadful feeling Of I'M
reliance in herself That she, who for
years had lived in dead calm Of unex-
pectant exhaustion of emotion should
again be allowing herself to dream of
sunshine. she made amends to herself
by never acknowledging that Frank
Bronson had any thing to do with such
fancies.
Clearly Helen Morse's days of passive
were over. She was Asilent
still, but her silence was dreamy, in
stead of coldly hopeless. And most un-
wonted bursts of petulance stirred the
even tenor of the days.
'What has happened to Heldn?"
Harry asked wonderingly one day
'Well, any thing is better than seding
her go about like galvanized corpse,
as we did for three years"
But Harry was too much absorbed in
devising schemes whereby Captain Cor
don's band might come to grief to heed
such small bits of melodrama as falling
in love, hopelessly or otherwise.
One night it came to pass that after
one of the brief, tremendous storms of
wind and rain peculiar to the latitude,
Helen answered her brothers hail from
the outer darkness, and opened the
tf f,,1 T.,
holding between, them a motionless
dead weight, and recognized the white
face as Frank Bronson's.
us he dcad?" she asked, quietly
81 don't know; only stunned, fancy.
Set Sam Lee to heating water and rum
maging our fiannels. A tree fell as we
were coming through the timber and
knocked him out of his saddle What
II mercy you are not of the screaming,
fainting kindl'
Harry was giving explanations and
orders in sort of running accompani-
ment that barely vailed his own arx-
iety. Helen, pale, silent and helpful,
obeyed implicitly. When Bronson
opened his eyes at last, her face was the
first he saw as his swimming vision
itself. He put out his hand
and she laid hers within it. There was
a good deal in the act-she was not u
woman P~odigal of such expressions.
The heavy blue eyes opened with eager
inquiry.
You must be very quiet" she said,
with a smile. She did not withdraw
her hand, and with long sigh of re-
lief he turned toward her and fell
asleep.
He was out and about his business
next day, though in rather a shalxy