Iron County register., 1898-05-26

INJURED, dropping toward him in sweet
confusion until it needed but the yield
ing of an inch to answer the pleading
of his eyes and Iav her hot cheeks
against his in soft o>sVssing.
Dorothy" 1t was I'll he could say.
but all his doubt, his eager questioning,
his tremulous joy, found expression ir
the one word.
You see" and the girl drew back
from him little. striving to assume a
more matter-of-fact air for the explana-
ton which she could hardly yet pat
into coherent phrase-''auntie-I made
Der come with me; I could not come
alone, you know; and she hates the
west so much; it is so hard for her to
become reconciled to my staying here
so hard for her to Understand that
must stay here to be happy" Harvey
had not been a lover if lie had not in
terrupted her with a murmur of rev
love words ard more kisses for the lit
tie hands. And she feels it her duty
to say so much," went on Dorothy, when
she was sure of his calmer attention.
"Of course she means it for the best
SO much better if it We're arranged so
that she might go back east and leave
NE. And then-oh, don't you see,
dear ?"-and again the blushing face
bent to hide itself against his cheek
81 want to be with you! Imust!"
And so there was quiet little we'd
ding in that bare hotel chamber one
gray November morning, the room
made bright with a wealth of the fair
est flowers that Denver could contrib
Lte, brighter still in Neil's glad eyes
for the bride who came to his bedside
to be wed, the sweet radiance of her
happiness beyond clouding even such
gloom as her relative, Miss Van Der
lynde, wore for the occasion.
It was a sore trial for that good lady.
That a niece of hers, a Van DerIynde on
her mothers side, should come to this
rude mining camp to marry this COM
mon miner-for no explanation could
make it clear to her that Harvey Neil
was anything else-and that she should
wed in this off-hand fashion, was
shock to her aristocratic soul from
which she felt that she could never quite
recover. Had she been fully cognizant
of such awful possibilities, sure it was
that she had never been brought to
play the part of a chapcronc; but now
that she was here, powerless to inter
fere, she submitted herself to the mar.
tyrdom of giving away the bride, with
:, feeling-as she expressed it after
wards in pathetic accounts to all mem
bers of the family-as though she were
assisting at Dorothy's funeral, her man.
ner throughout wholly in keeping with
that idea.
And quite as disappearing, though
from a very different standpoint, was
Windy Gulch. when it's first surprise
bad subsided to the plane of coherent
comment. Public opinion had under
gone n change towards Harvey Neil.
The time had been when even his best
friends would deprecate his attitude
toward the Miners union, so pregnant
of trouble, regretting his independence
of spirit, his obstinacy of temper; but
now no word was heard save in his
praise. The Grubstake disaster had
made him hero in their eyes. The way
he had worked throughout that awfu!
day, as though with the strength OF
three, planning, directing everything:
the way he had coolly faced the chances
of death by going down into the mine
alone, when of all those he would succor
not one was bound to him by tie or kin,
not one but had been his enemy; the
way he had afterward come to the re-
lief of the families left in want by the
taking off of their rbread-winners-the
things, for which enthusiasm grew
with every reiteration, suggesting 4
hundred other little happenings which
the people were now glad to recall in
his favor, all augmented by the sympa-
thy and concern for his long and seri-
Gus illness. had lifted him to point in
favor well-nigh equivalent t.
canonization. 1t might have been diff
cult at just this time for any woman &c
rise to the camps ideal of what Harvey
Neirs wife should be; and Dorothy
Meredith was regretfully regarded as
falling long way short of it.
Everybody was sure she could not be
half good enough for him, mainly be.
cause she was her fathers daughter.
the evil that the colonel had done now
living after him in the merciless gossip
of many tongues. But the camp, through
much buffeting of fate. had grown phil
and, although it could not
altogether approve, it was presently
ready to admit that possibly this might
be the best way to settle the trouble be-
tween the mIres, while as 10 the rest.
Mrs. Bowen hut summed up the general
conclusion when she was inspired to
ask: Whats the odds, as long as
they're happy?"
THE END.