The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-07-09
UNCoNsCIoUsLY SHE HAD TAKEN ATTITUDE OF PRAYER

EN- THE ATTITUDE OF PRAYER.
animal out of the underwood, and then
| ran swiftly and almost fiercely back
| toward the cabin. She ran so fast that
for a time she almost kept pace with
| the doctor and Hoskins in the wagon
the underwood again, and. making a
short cut through the forest. came. at
the end of two hours, within hailing
distance of the cabin-footSore and ex-
hausted, in spite of the strange excite
ment that had driven her back. Here
she thought she heard voices. his voice
among the rest, calling her, but the
! same singular reyulSion of feeling hur-
ried her vaguely on again, even while
she experienced foolish savage delight
/ in not answering the summons. In this
/ erratic wandering she came upon the
! spring she had found on her first en-
/ trance in the forest year ago, and
! drank feverishly a second time at its
| trickling source. She could see that
/ since her first visit it had worn a great
, hollow below the tree roots, and now
! formed shining. placid pool. AS she
! stopped to look at it she suddenly OBJ
/ served that ii reflected her whole fig
ure as in a cruel mirror, her slouched
| hat and loosened hair, her coarse and
shapeless gown, her hollow cheeks and
dry, yellow skin. in all their hopeless
uncOmpromisng details. she uttered u
/ quick. angry, halfrepFoachful cry. and
J turned again to fly. But she had NOT
| gone far before she came upon the
! hurrying figures and anxious faces of
| the doctor and Hoskins. She stopped,
! trembling and irresolute.
All" said the doctor. in a tone Of
frank relief. Here you are! 1 was
| getting worried about you. Waya said
/ you had been gone since morning." He
Is anything the matter?"
His evident concern sent warm
glow over her chilly frame. and yet the
/ strange sensation remained. mo, nor
she stammered.
DR.. RuysdaeI turned to Hoskins. GO
back and tell Waya I've found her.
Libby felt that the doctor only want
/ ed to get rid of his companion and be-
Has anybody been bothering
/ your"
No"
Have the diggers frightened you?'
No" With gesture of contempt.
Have you and Waya quarreled?'
Mary" with a faint. tremulous
smile
He still stared at her, and then he
dropped his blue eyes, musingly. Are
you lonely here? Would you rather so
to San JOSEF"
Like fash the figures of the two
smartly dressed women started up be-
fore her again, with every detail of
their fresh and wholesome finery as
cruelty distinct as had been her own
shapeless ugliness in the mirror of the
spring. No, NO,' she broke out. We
hemently and. passionately. Never"
He smiled gently. Look here, I'll
send you up some books. You read.
don't you?" She nodded quickly
Some magazines and papers. Odd
never thought of it before he added
half musingly. Come along to the
cabin. And" he stopped again. and
said. decisively, the next time You
want anything. don't wait for me to
come. but write
A few days after he left she received
a package of boo.Ss-an odd collection
of novels, magazines and illustrated
journals of the period. She received
them eagerly as an evidence of his con-
celn for her-but it is To be feared that
her youthful nature found little salts
faction in the qualification of fancy.
Many of the people she read of were
strange to her; many of the incidents
related seemed to her mere lies; some
tales which treated of people in her
own sphere she found profoundly unin-
tresting. In one of the cheaper maya
zines she CHANGED upon fashion plate:
she glanced eagerly through all the
others for a like revelation until she got
a dozen together, when she promptly
relegated the remaining literature to a
corner and Oblivion. The text accom-
psnying the plates was in a jargon not
always clear. but her instinct supplied
the rest. She dispatched by Hoskins a
note to Doctor Ruysdael: Please send
me some brite Kalikers and things for
sewing. You told me to ask a few
days later brought the response inc
good-sized parcel.
Yet this did not keep her from her
care of the stock nor her rambles in the
forest; she was quick to utilize her dis
cevery of the spring for watering the
cattle; it was not SO far afield as the
half dried creek in the canyon. and was
a quiet sylvan spot. She ate her frugal
midday meal there and drank of its
waters and, secure in her seclusion.
bathed there. and made her rude toilet
when the cows We're driven home. But
she did not again look into its mirrored
surface when it was tranquil,
And so a month passed. But when
DR.. Ruysdael was again due at the
cabin-a letter was brought by Hos
kins with the news that he was called
away on professional business down
the coast, and could not come until two
weeks later. In the disappointment
that oyercame her she did not at first
notice that Hoskins was gazing at her
with singular expression-which was
really one of undisguised admiration
Never having seen this before in the
eyes of any man who looked at her. she
referred 1t TO some vague ''larking'' or
popularity, for which she was in no
mood.
Say, Libby you're gettin' to. be a
right smart lookin' gal, Seems to agree
with We I'D here said Hoskins, with