The Western news., 1902-02-05
ANGELES AWAKENING
GO HERE were two of them in her

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60 HERE were two of them in her
life-one, her lover, was man OF
her own class, the son of neigh
boring farmer; the other was an Eng
lish gentleman. One toiled from the
pale gray and pink dawn to the dull
leaden darkness trying to extract liv-
ing for himself and his bride from the
barren hillside farm; the other employ
ed some twenty laborers to beautify
the grounds about his summer home on
the crest of the ridge. One had given
his heart and soul into Angelo Della.
matters hands. and accounted himself
blessed when she had placidly accepted
his gifts; the other had noted her care.
lessly. thought her a pretty girl, told
her so more or less directly. and, quite
unwittingly be it said, awakened the
love that had never been aroused by
Jim Thorne's appeals.
And the wedding day was creeping
nearer and nearer while the glamour
OF the rich Englishman was enshroud-
ing her In its iilmy mist. Only eight or
ten times had she seen him. The first
time-perhaps the second-even the
third-had made little impress on her
mind. He was as far removed from her
as the hilltop pines We're distant from
the scrub oaks and chapparal of her
future home. Then came the day when
he drew rein at her fathers gate, to
speak to the old man about boundary
fence. Angelo, pommeling her bread
by the open window. listened to the
well-modulated voice-so different from
Jim's-that was the first thought that
occurred to her. In answer 10 her faith.
er's call, she took them the outline map
OF the farm, and Seymour sprang from
his horse, coming halfway up the walk
to take the papers from her--for the
sun was hot, so he said. She wore no
hat, and the blistering rays would burn
her face-her hair- What was it that
he did say or suggest? his own head
was uncovered while he spoke to her,
and he looked like some glorious blonde
giant-like the golden-hair knight of
her childhood dreams. Who had ever
thought Of saving her a step-of shell
tering her from the ordinary sunlight
of her hills? Not her father, not her
brothers, not jim.
The next time she met him she was
carrying some brilliant scarlet ounce
blossoms. and what wonder was it that
he compared the living blossoms with
the living scarlet lips above them!
Then 1t was, too, that he told her that
the night before, as he lay in his ham
mock watching the moon slip out from
the entangling arms of the pines, he
had remembered that her hair matched
the marvellous blue black of the night
sky. lie had thought Of her up there in
his wonderful home! He had remem-
bered her! Remembered how she
looked! Could her Imagination do
otherwise than run mad riot?
The next meetings. quite accidental
on his part, carefully planned on hers
We're in the redwood circle through
which the trail ran, from which it drop
ped down the sandy slope to Ben
Lomond. There We're few words
spoken, but these the girls heart trans
lated into it's own language, and in so
DONG enveloped them in wondrous
beauty. Her mind, hearing only
through her heart, was quite uncon-
scious of the matter-of-fact, common
place phrases 1t heard only love.
When the wedding morn dawned the
Delamater farm was enveloped in a sea
OF fog. The sun stretched himself lazily
over the hills, and slowly the mist
withdrew into the canyons, valiantN
held hillside for moment, and then
scurried back in undignified retreat.
But vanquished it would not be, and
all around its masses stood in close
array. The farm itself, encircled with
roses that gave place in overwhelming
rings to blossom-laden orchards, SEEM
ed an oasis in the gnarled and rugged
hillsides Oh which it lay.
Angelo, a dull, only partially compre-
hended misery in her heart, was dress
ing for the ceremony. She had asked to
be left quite alone in her little white
room on this last morning at home, and
now she stood by the window looking
out blankly at the white, misty wall
that shut out the view of the vineyard
home to which she was soon TO go, and
: the columned verandas of Seymour S
house. She was listening. too, half
heartedly to the sounds below, to the
. mother and sisters busying themselves
about the preparations for the wedding
!, feast. She heard her father talking to
Hm-to Jim, who had driven over early
hoping to see her, hoping that he could
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he wanted to say; to tell her all that
he longed for in life was to make her
happy; that even now he would give
her up if she did not feel that she could
be content with him. For the honest,