The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-06-29

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she abased herself once more to the
very ground, took up her burden, and
departed with much delicate jingling of
anklet and armlet.
Brodie watched her redectively till
she passed out of sight. "She's a queer
child" he unused. "Shows her graft
tude, though, in the prettiest fashion,"
He raised the lapel OF his coat and
glanced down at the wild white bios
som, whose fragrance filed his nostrils,
with curious softening of his keen
eyes.
"She must have tramped for miles to
get ali those" was the thought in his
mind. "And for eighteen months she
has shaved for me, of her OWE free will
without payment of any sort. The
puzzle is-what does it all mean? One
can call it gratitude, of course. 1t is
more seemly; and saves analysis. But
sometimes-1 begin to be afraid-Bah!
Pm conceited ass, making mountain
of tragedy out of very prosaic mole.
hill"
Nevertheless, vision Of Sunia Sc
lecting the two blossoms nearest his
own, and of the tell-tale blush which
had accompanied the act, forced itself
again and yet again upon Brodie's
mind that morning and set him puzzl-
ing anew. For, without being unduly
hampered by the shackles of conven-
tional morality, Brodie favored "fair
play" even when the only factor in
the game had the misfortune to be a
woman. 1t irked him to think that, by
some inadvertent overflow of kindli-
ness on his part, he might, perchance,
have sown in Sunia's passionate ORR
entail heart the seeding of a hope that
could bear only bitter fruit.
Briefly, this somewhat perplexing re-
lationship between pure passion and
cultured cynicism had come to pass in
this wise.
Eighteen months previously, Brodie,
while "shikarring' bear among the
lower Chamba hills. had been flung in
to the arms as it were, of pitiful little
domestic tragedy wherein he had found
himself cast for the part of the war
rior. prince who arrives in the nick of
time.
The scene was wildly imprinted up
on his memory; still more wildly, per-
haps, on hers. A small, tawny figure
at the roadside, crouching beneath a
beetling granite boulder, and not fifty
yards off, the huge shaggy form of a
bear, which came on with shutting,
swaying gait and low snarling sound,
gruesome to hear. Brodie deliberately
covered the brute's heart, and fired,
with fatal effect. Then, while his men
made haste to secure the prize, he had
found himself brought to standstill
by two brown arms, that chung about
his boots, while voice from the earth
blessed him fervently and fulsomely
after the fashion of the east. STOPPING
he had raised the girl to her feet, with
reassuring words, and in 30 doing had
looked upon Sunia's face for the first
time-a sensation no man would ever
be likely to forget.
From that day forward the girl had
attached herself to his establishment;
steadily refusing to give any informa-
ton as to the whereabouts of her ma
tive village; working vigorously and
zealously, as only a hill woman can
work; and scoffing at the notion of pay
ment in any form.
In course of time it transpired that
her mother had been out with her cut
ting wood at the time; but, in her alb
ject terror at the sight of the bear, had
lost her foothold on the narrow path
and had been hurled to instantaneous
death in the boulder-strewn gorge be-
low. Further personal history Sunia
had none to relate; or, rather, none
that she chose to relate. With a capti-
waiting mixture of dignity and obstinacy
she merely reiterated her intention of
remaining with her Heaven born, -
"Preserver of her life," and of serving
him 30 long as her fingers could bind a
faggot or WELD an axe. And he had
not been man could he have said her
nav.
Dhunnu, mali, one-eyed, ape like
old gentleman Of irreproachable lin
cage, had been induced, by the prospect
of monthly backhSiSh, to receive the
newcomer under his own roof, as one
of his household. A small patch of
garden-ground had been handed over
to her care, and its iillage had become
for her almost religious rite. Every
flower and vegetable reared thereon
had been laid in her daH--a self
imposed tribute Of gratitude-at Bro
dies feet. He himself had not failed
to note these manifold dumb express
slons OF devotion; at first with toler-