Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1901-12-20
CHAPTER TX.
Ia MIDNIGHT VISIT

1t was we'll on in the month Of
August before 1 had progressed far
enough on the road to convalescence
to bear removal from the farm
house at Valley Head to Macpher-
sons; and after the blackboard trip
to the ranch at Six-Mile became pos.
sibility, 1 still fingered on at Settlers,
being by that time critically inter-
ested in the small tragi-comedy work.
Ing itself out under my eyes as the
long summer days waxed and waned.
Interested, 1 say, but involved would
be the better word. l could no longer
call myself an onlool1er.
If there were other reasons for
my stay-if, in those short weeks
which will always be marked with a
red letter in any poor calendar of
mine, there had come into my life
thing which common loyalty babe
me triPle-lock in that chamber of the
heart which is at once the sanctuary
and the tomb of hopes unrealized
and Unreliable, / shall not unfold
it here. This is Macpherson's story,
and none of mine; but If I say that
in those days of leaden-winged con-
valescence Winifred Sanborn gained
an ally whose loyalty was not
measured by the hope of reward, it
is sufficient
But though for me the days were
as the days of the lotus eaters, the
tragi-comedy went on, working outfits
detoi1c with ra1a,t1esc ,,oa;,;... I'll.
breach between Setter and the land
company widened day by day; and
Wykamp's reckless by-play with the
Tennessean's daughter gave it the
depth of personal hatred as between
the vindietive descendant of the Re-
demptioners and the engineer. Mac
pherson was still on the side ofpeace,
but it was evident that his influence
over Setter was strained to the
breaking point. In the family at the
farmhouse the daughter was at
swords points with the father and
mother for Wykamp's sake; and
though Wykamp had long since been
forbidden the house. Nan met him
and walked with him in open def
ance of her fathers Introduction.
It was in the hope that the girl
might still be induced to listen to
reason that | had written to Grant
ley; but when the forgotten news
paper story was finally in my hands
[ was as one who has been suddenly
made responsible for the safety of a
Powder-magazine. For, hidden under
the charitable hyperbole of the re-
porter who had written the news
paper account, there was story too
despicable for any recounting; the
story Of Wykamp's perfidy and Wini-
fred Sanborn's dishonoring. Having
the proof in my hands, I knew not
what to do with it. 1t was incredible
that it should not bring the girl to
her senses; but without showing 1t
to her I could hardly hope to make
her believe it. And to put the clip
ping, and Grantley's letter of expla-
nation which accompanied it, into the
hands of Nancy Setter, was like set
ting the clockwork of an internal ma
chine in order and turning it over to
a passion-mad girl with power to set
it in motion. Bruited abroad, there
was no limit to the trouble for which
the story might be responsible. 1t
would inevitably destroy what small
peace of mind Winifred had been able
to gather up out of the wreck of the
past in the new environment. It
would probably cost Wykamp his life,
at the crack of the mountaineer's
rifle in ambush, or at the hands of
vigilance committee upon which
every man in the settlement would
be eager to serve. Failing in this, it
might easily make murderer of
Macpherson. l knew my friends
character and the strength of it; but
there be provocations too mighty to
be shackled by any promise of for
bearance.
Under the circumstances ! could do
nothing but watch and wait; and, as
the time passed, l did not dare to
leave the Setter household. Slowly,
and by inches, as it were, it was
driven in upon me that l should be
eomDelled he sat tina internal ma.