The Central Nevadan. [volume] (Battle Mountain, Nev.) 1885-1907, 1903-06-04

He moved ~restIessly. anu she went q
him. His face was flushed now: hi,
breath caine rapidly and shortly; thers
was some fever on him. The linen wa;
displaced from his wounds. She dip
ped It again In water and laid the cool
ed bands on them. "Ah. BAH II
were not unsexed enough for this. how
would It be with you now?" she said In
her teeth. He tossed YEARLY to and
fro. Detached words caught her eal
Us he muttered them:
let 1t be: let 1t be. He Is welcome
How could l prove it at his cost?
saved him. | could do that. 1t was
not much
She listened with intent anxiety &c
hear the other whispers ending the
sentence. but they were stifed and
broken.
Listen she murmured below her
breath. sit Is for some other he has
ruined himself"
She could not catch the words that
followed. They were in an unknown
language to her. for she knew nothing
Of English. and they poured fast and
obscure from his lips as he moved IN
feverish unrest: the wine had saved
him frcD exhaustion, inlaming his
brain in his sleep. Now and then
French phrases crossed the English
ones. She leaned down TO seize their
meaning till her cheek was against his
forehead. till her lips touched his hair,
and at that half caress her heart beat,
her face flushed. her mouth trembled
with a too vivid joy. with an impulse,
half fear and half longing. that had
never SO moved her before
'If | had my birthright." he muir
INJURED in her w tongue-..if | had 1t,
would she look so cold then? She might
love me-women used once. o God
IL she had not looked on me | had
never known all l have lost"
Cigarette started as II a knife had
stabbed her and sprang up from her
rest beside him.
'She-she-always she.r she mutter.
cd fiercely. while her face grew duski-
ly scarlet in the fire glow OF the tent.
and she went slowly away. bnck to the
low wood fire.
This was to be ever her reward.
Her eyes giistened aud flashed with
the fiery. vengeful passions Of her hot
and jealous Instincts. yet she did not
leave him.
She was too generous for that. What
Is right Is right. He Is a soldier of
France" she muttered. while she kept
her vigil He did not waken from the
painful. delirious. stupefied slumber
that had fallen on him. He only
vaguely felt that he was suffering pain;
he only vaguely dreamed of what be
murmured-his past and the beauty of
the woman who had brought oil the
memories of that past back to him.
And this was Cigarettes reward-to
hear him mutter YEARLY of the proud
eyes aud of the lost smile of another.
The dawn came at last. Her con
slant care and the skill with which she
had cooled and dressed his wounds had
done him Infinite service. The fever
had subsidized. and toward morning his
incoherent words ceased. his breathino
grew calmer and more tranquil Ii
fell asleep-sleep that was profound
dreamless and refreshing.
She looked at him with q tempest1-
Gus shadow d%arkening her face thai
yet was soft with a tenderness tae'
she could not Danish. She hated him
She ought to have stabbed or shot bin
rather than have tended him thus. H.
neglected her and only thought of the
woman of his old order. As n daughter
of the people. cs a child of the army. IS
a soldier OF France. she ought 10 hase
killed him rather than have ~caresSe1
his hair and sootbed his pain.
Then gently. very gently. lest shr
should waken him. she ieok her tsaif
skirt with which she had covered BIN
from the cbills OF the night. PHI niare
broken wood on the fading ire end
with a last lingering look ut him where
be slept passes! out from the ten az The
sun rose in q flushed and dea u,lful
dawn.
HE viii never know" she said 10
herself as she passed through the dis
ordered camp and in n distant quarter
coiled herself among the hay of a for
age wagon and. corered up in dry grass
like a bird In a nest. let her tired limbs
lie and her aching eyes close In repose.
She was very tired. and every now and
then as she slept a quick. sobbing
breath shook Der as she slumbered like
a wornou. fawn that has been wound
cd while 1t played.