Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1898-06-29


out, !" said Miriam, after little pause.
She never spoke hurriedly, or until
after the coming speech had passed into
her face
Freeman laughed. "Well," he said.
'if I'm hypocrite, TN one OF those
who are made and not born. AS a boy,
was frank enough. But good part
Of my life has been spent with
people who couldn't be trusted:
and perhaps the habit of pro-
tecting myself against them has
grown upon me. If 1 could only live
here for while it would be different.
Here's an odd-looking thing. What
do you call that?''
I'VE call it the Golden Fleece"
"The Golden Fleece! can imagine
Medea; but where is the Dragon?''
"1f Jason came, the Dragon might
appear"
II remember reading somewhere that
the Dragon was less to be feared than
Medea's eyes. But this fleece seems to
have lost most of its gold. There is
only little gold embroidery"
ut shows where the gold is hidden"
Its You that are concealing some
thing now, Miss Trednoke. How can
wooden garment be talisman?''
THE secret might be woven into it,
perhaps" replied Miriam, passing her
fingers caressingly over the soft tunic.
''Then, when the right person puts it
on, it would But you don't believe
in these things"
81 don't know; you don't give me a
chance. But who is the right person?
The thing seems rather small. I'm
sure couldn't get it on"
''It can fit only the one it was made
for said Miriam, gravely "And If
you wanted to find the gold, you would
trust to your science, rather than to
this
'Well, gold-hunting is not in my
line, at present Every nugget has
been paid for more than once, before it
is found. Besides, there is something
better than gold in Southern California,
8 something worth any labor to get"
What is it?'' asked Miriam, turning
her tranquil regard upon him.
Harvey Freeman had never been de-
ticient in audacity. But, standing In
the dark radiance of this maiden
eyes, his self-assurance dwindled, and
he could not bring himself to say
to her what he would have said to
any other pretty woman he had ever
met. For he felt that great pride and
passion were concealed beneath that
tranquil surface; it was nature that
might give everything to love, and
would never pardon any frivolous
parody thereof. Freeman had been
acquainted with Miriam scarcely two
days, but he had already begun to per-
ceive the main indications of a char
acter which lifetime might not be
long enough wholly to explore. Mar
riage had never been among the enter
prises he had, in the course of his
career, proposed to himself:
he did not propose it now; yet he dared
not risk the utteranee of a word that
would lead Miriam to look at him with
an offended or contemptuousg glance. 1t
was not that she was, from the merely
physical point of view, transcendently
beautiful. His first impression of her,
indeed, had been that she was merely
an unusually good example of a type by
no means rare in that region. But ere
long he beca M, sensible of spiritual
quality in her which lifted her to a
level far above that which can be at
tanned by mere harmony Of features
and proportions. Beneath the out
ward aspect lay a profound depth OF
being, glimpses of which were occa-
sionally discernible through her eyes,
the tones of her voice, in her smile in un-
conscious movements of her hands and
limbs. Demonstrative she could never
be; but she could, at will, feel with
tropical intensity, and act with the
swiftness and energy of fanatic
In Miriam's company, Freeman for
got every one save her--even himself
though she certainly made no effort to
attract him or (beyond the common.
places of courtesy to interest him.
Consequently, he had become entirely
oblivious of the existence of such a
person as Grace Parsloe, when, much
to his Irritation, he heard the voice Of
that young lady, mingled with others,
approaching along the veranda. At
the same moment he experienced acute
regret at the within of fortune which
had made himself and that sprightly
young lady fellow-passengers from
Panama, and at the idle impulse which
had prompted him to f1irt with her.
D.