Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1898-01-27
would tell the doctor so when he came


that she stayed so long away. There
was no sound in the house save the |
faint clatter of dishes in the distant
kitchen, where preparations for sup
per were evidently going on. Outside
sounded the faint systoie and diastole
OF some far-away engine and the reg
ular dull munshing of the stamp-mill
on it's endless hard p4bulum; while
every nowsand then. as though feeling !
bound to rouse the place from its
sleepy 1ethargy, tame magpie down
the street would vent its whole roper
toire of speech in series of shrill hal
loos. like a telephone girl gone mad
Just SO, Neil remembered. this mis-
cradle bird had been screaming when
he had looked his last upon Dorothy
Meredith. when she was coming out o.
the hotel door in her black gown, SEEM
ing like the ghost of the girl whose
wild-rose loneliness had been clasped
to his heart but the day before. They
were taking her dead to Orodelphia to
be made ready for the long journey east,
and in company with her fathers at
torney. who had come to her at once
npon learning of the awful tragedy.
the girl was just entering the carriage
that was to follow the hearse down
the Canyon road.
She +had to the last refused to see
him. even though he had poured his
heart out in a letter that pleaded his
right to comfort her. begging for but
one kind word. She had merely ar
swered him in a few curt lines which
had neither formal beginning nor sigma
ture: "It may be my fault if you have
been mistaken, but l do not care for
you in the way your lett er would imply.
and l owe it to him never to see you
again It is the only atonement ! can
| make
And she had meant it. every ruthless
| word. If there had been any question
as to that in Neils mind, he must have
been undeceived when her eyes, all red
| and swollen from weeping, were mad
| vertently raised to meet his glance, SO
much of cold aversion her look eX-
pressed. If Ger a moment she had ever
really loved him, he felt, she could not
| have turned against him so. could never
| have looked at him like that, feeling
| that she was looking upon him for the
| last time. She had never cared for him.
| He had been befooled, misied by his
| own blind infatuation. But it was over
now. In the long days and nights of
| lying here it seemed as though passion
| had burned itself out with the fever'a
| flame, leaving him YEARLY Indifferent.
| There was even a dull wonder in his
mind that he had ever cared SO much.
| that she could have had the power to
| hurt him so; and yet, as aforementioned,
there was such an ache of pity in his
heart for the old self that had been
given over to the folly of such suffering,
such a pang CT pain recalled, that weak
tears were yelling up from his eyes. to
be shamefacedly wiped away as he
turned back toward the door. Surely
| Themistocles was wise when he begged
for the boon CT forgetfulness.
The nurse was just coming with the
broth she had gone to fetch. She was
an elderly widow with a heart in the
right place, rs the saying is, but with
tongue too voluble for Neil's peace OF
mind. He fretted when she left him
long alone, but he groaned in spirit
when she kept him company. She was
talking now the moment she set eyes on
him, never stopping for breath while
she put into his hands the bowl she had
brought, fussily beating up the pillows
behind his back.
did you think was goin' to be gone
all night?' she cheerily cackled
"Come pretty near it, for a fact; but
Mis- Morrison n her man drove up jes
5 was comm out from the Kitchen
she wanted to git out. but Morrison says
no, sir, there was the miikin' N chores
to home waitin', n if she once got Vi
here a-tallxin' land knows when he'd ever
| git her started again. He's the bossi-
est man, considerin' that he don't know
enough to chew gum N amt no ac-
count noways; but little mer generally
be that way, if you've noticed. They'vS
been down to Orodelphy, n she stopped
TO bring you-now I think of it, wa'n'1
amin to tell you what she brought you
till I'd seen the doctor about it. But
that's jest like me-foreverg;vin't thing
away. It's jest natchelly q wonder
kin keep my vittles down, I've jest sc
everlastin'ly got my mouth open. My
husband used to say"
us it grapes?" demanded Neil. eager
~, looking over the rim of the bowl.
Land, no: nawthin' half so good. il
my opinion. though perhaps you. bein
from the east. won't look at it tina
way. It's oysters fresh from Denver;
that's what il is
Oysters fresh from Denver" Ant
Neil laughed. no less for the incOngru
ity of the statement than for delight il
/ the promised treat. And when can
have some?'
We'll, you mustn't, you Know. TIL the
doctor says so, the good woman urged
deprecatlngly. Goodness knows il
: you was to go eatin' the half that folk
, send in to you. you'd be a dead man
everybody is so anxious to do for you
And oysters-well, 1 don't care if there
: is an in the month-they don't look t.