The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-12-21

fortune. From early girlkood she had
been sought by the brilliant impecuni-
Gus of two continents The continued
experience had Vanished her self
esteem with a glaze of cynicisn SUI
fciently consistent to protect it against
any but the strongest attack. She be-
HeTed in no mans prOtestatiCns. She
distrusted every mans motives as far
as herself was concerned This atti-
tude of mind was not unbecoming in
her for the simple reason that il de-
stroyed none of her graciousness as
regards other human relations besides
that of love. That men should seek
her in matrimony from a selfish mo-
tive was as much to be expected as
that flies should seek the sugar bowl.
She accepted the fact as one of ma
lures laws, annoying enough, but in
evitable; a thing to guard against. but
not one of sufficient moment to grieve
over.
With Thorpe however, her sus-
picions had been lulled. There is some
thing virile and genuine about the
woods and the men who inhabit them
that strongly predisposes the mind to
accept as proved in their entirety all
the other virtues. Hilda had fallen
into this state of mind. She endowed
each of the men whom she encountered
with all the robust qualities she had
NO IN TSCOSIlZlIS as part Ol
natures charm in the wilderness. Now
at a word her eyes We're opened to
what she had done. She saw that she
had assumed unquestioningly that her
lover possessed the qualities OF his en-
yironment.
Not for moment did she doubt the
reality of her love. She had conceived
one of those deep. uplifting passions
possible only to a young girl. But her
cynical experience warned her that the
reality of that passions object was not
proven by any test besides the fallible
one of her own poetizing Imagination.
The reality of the ideal she had con-
structed might be a vanishable guam
THY, even though the love of it was not.
so TO the interview that ensued she
brought, not the Partially of a loving
heart, nor even the impartiaity
of one sitting in judgment, but rather
the perverted prejudice of one who ac-
tually fears the truth.
VIII you tell me for what you want
the money?" she asked.
The young man caught the note of
distrust- AT once, instinctively, his
own confidence vanished. He drew
within himself. again beyond the power
OF Justifying himself with the needed
word.
The firm needs it in the business"
said he.
Her next question fcountered instan-
taneously. ~ FsgE
Does the firm need the money more |
than you do me?"
They stared at each other in the |
silence Of the situation that had so sud |
denly developed. 1t had come into be- |
ing without their volition, as a dust |
cloud springs up on a plain.
You do not mean that Hilda," said |
Thorpe quietly. 1T hardly comes to |
that"
Indeed it Does she replied, every
nerve of her fine organization strung 1
to excitement. II should be more to /
you than any firm"
Sometimes it is necessary to look /
after the bread and butter" Thorpe /
reminded her gently, although he knew /
that was not the real reason at all
If your firm can't supply it, can"
she answered. 1T seems strange that |
you won't grant my first request of l
you, merely because of a little money!
1T isn't a little money! he objected
catching manlike at the practical ques-
ton. You don't realize what an
clump of pine like this stands
for. Just in saw logs, before it is made /
into lumber. it will be worth $50 600.
OF course, there's the expense of log
ging to pay out of that" he added, |
out of his accurate business conserva-
tism, but there's $4,000 profit in it"
The girl, exasperated by cold details
at such a time, blazed out. II never
heard anything so ridiculous in my
life!" she cried. Either you are not
at all the man 1 thought you, or you
have some better reason than you have
given. Tell me, Harry; tell me at
DOING
:, The firm needs it. Hilda," said
Thorpe, lin order to succeed. If we
do not cut this pine, we may fail"
In that he stated his religion. The
duty of success was to him one of the
loftiest of distractions, for it meas
ured the degree of a. mans efficiency
In the station to which God had called
him. The money, as such, was nothing
to him.
Unfortunately, the girl had learned
a different language. She knew moth
ing Of the hardships, the struggles, the
delight of winning for the sake of vic
tory rather than the sake of spoils. To
her, success meant getting a lot of
money The name by which Thorpe la
oeled his most sacred principle, to her
represented something base and sor-
lid. She had more money herself than
she knew. 1t hurt her to the soul that
The condition of a small money-making
as she considered the lumber
firm, should be weighed even for an
instant against her love. 1t was a
great deal Thorpe's fault that she so
saw the firm He might easily have
shown her the great forces and princi-
pies for which it stood
II / were man." she said, and her
voice was tense, IF I. were a man and
Owed woman, l would be ready to
give up everything for her. My riches.
ny pride, my life, my honor, my soul
sven-they would be as nothing. as
ess than nothing, to me-if 1 loved.
Harry, don't let me think I am mis-
AIKEN. Let this miserable firm of yours
all, II fail 1t must for lack of my poor
little temple of dreams" She held out
Ter hands with tender gesture of APP
oeal The affair had gone be- :
'ond the preservation of few
rees. 1t had become the ques-
ion Of an ideal. Gradually. in spite |
+ herself, the conviction was forcing
tself upon her that the man she had
owed was no different from the rest;
hat the greed of the dollar had cor
upted him. too- By the mere yielding
o her wishes, she wanted to prove the
uspicion wrong.
Now, the strange part of the whole Z
ltuatlon was that in two words Thorpe
ould have cleared it. If he had ex-
'lained that he needed the $4,000 to
lelp pay note given 10 save from {
uin foolish friend. he would have
Implied to the affair just the higher {
motive the girls clear spirituality de- I
handed. Then she would have shared I
Enthusiastically in the sacrifice and | I
zen the more loving. and repentant s
rom her momentary doubt All she
leeded was that the man should prove S
lmself actuated by noble, instead of [