The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1902-01-02

wrought out The problem Of chances |
again and again IN a vain endeavor /
20 prefgure what would come OF It. |
At the worst. it appeared. she could
only bctray me Wykamp; CRITICAL
ousy should prove stronger than |
love. hold her knowledge OF the |
shameful facts as a sword over Wini-
fred's head; but, as the event was to
show forth, reckoned entirely with |
ont my host, as one is likely to reck-
on when the inscrutable secrets Of
woman's heart are involved
The long day brought no explana-
tion Of Mans absence. From my post
Of observation on the porch saw
Wykamp ride past ON his way TO his
work; and made sure thathedid not
repass until he returned late in the
evening at the tail OF the struggling
procession of workmen Winifred re-
turned from the schoolhouse at the
usual hour in the afternoon. and my
anxious scrutiny of her face as she
came up the walk from the gate and
stopped for word with the con-
val scent before going TO her room
assured me that as yet the blow had
not fallen upon her. Sim Nan ala
not appear, and her prolonged alb
sence, and the stolid indifference of
her father and mother TO it, puzzled
me not a little. ] would have given
much TO know what had happened
in the family councils in those early
hours of the morning when / had
slept the sleep OF the unsuspecting.
By nightfall the indefnable dread
had grown until it had become an
agony Of apprehension. For two
days Macpherson had intermitted his
evening visits to the farm at Valley
Head; and after supper watched
and waited in the hope that he would
come. 1t had been no part of my
plan to make him a confdant in the
results Of the Grantley investigation,
but under the changed conditions il
now seemed 20 be the wisest course;
and I was half daft at the thought
that the story might reach him
through another channel. So I kept
my post in the hammock until nino
/ o'clock, and then went to my room
. 10 STAY OlliN iAil 4 tbnAh VIC oAA thav
+ the family had gone to bed. When
the farmhouse was still and dark,
/ found my overcoat and crept down
stairs with my shoes in my hand.
The moon was we'll above the up
! lifted eastern horizon when I put on
my shoes and propred myself In the
hammock to continue the pointless
vigil. There was not the vaguest
promise that anything could come OF
it. At the most could only make
sure that Nan did or did not come
me. And yet, IL life itself had been
at stake, could scarcely have gone
back to my room and to he'd.
The night was as perfect as night
can be in a region where both night
and day are beyond the imaginings
of the dwellers in lower attitudes
The nazeless air was tremulous with
the murmurings OF natures silences
It seemed that had never befors
realized how white the moonlight
could be, nor how black the shadows
The wind, what zephyr's-breatb there
was of it, was up the valley; ant
on its wings came the scents of sun
cured grasses and the distance
softened notes OF an accordion
, played by one of the workmen in thu
, engineers camp. The very atmos
phere was eloquent of peace, and thu
restless urgency of the latter-da,
, struggle for existence seemed fal
, removed After a time the moor
, rode higher, and the hammock nm
. der the porch-roof swung in th'
/ blackest OF the shadows. The nigh
i air began 10 grow cooler. and but
, toned my ovcrcoat and filled an,
! lighted my pipe.
/. II must have been nearly ter
! o'clock when Nan returned hear'
q her step in the road and extinguishe'
4 my pipe She came up the walk witt
: footsteps tagging, as one who fight
4 with fatigue; and she let herselfETt'
the house silently and without look
|. ing 10 right or left One thing, AM
i. one Thing only. had learned by be
! ing a silent witness OF her home
! coming She had come from some
a where down the valley: otherwis
the wind would not have brough
a me the warning OF her approach
!. 1t was fully half an hour later be
fore / could make up my mind to g
20 bed. There was less than nothin
/, to watch for now, and, despite tn
! overcoat, the chill OF the night struc
deep. I Climbed out of the hammoc
stifay and took a turn in the doc
yard to start the blood little. FroI
!. the gate / could see the foaming tol
|. rent Of the Torolito rushing past o
= the opposite side of the road in II
4, final plungings 70 the level OF tn
I. lower valley. had long since r.
marked that the river was slway
= much higher at night, and been pu
). zled TO account for it until Macphe
son had explained that the nigl
food-tide in a snow-fed stream
proportional % the heat of the pr
ceding day.
The A,,o.ot Sev had haan unueua