The Newark journal., 1905-03-10
CHAPTER XII.


 Four weeks followed, weeks of vac illation during which Darrel fenced with necessity in the effort to gain time. He saw Mrs. Gorton and Miss Avery almost daily. calling at the pri- yate boarding place where they had taken their lodgings.
 Often he took them driving and they paid many visits to various mines in the surrounding country. And where ever they went there was but one question in the girls anxious eyes.
 Both the girl and her aunt were most patient The dragging, unfruit- ful days must have told heavily upon 1 them but they proved their trust in Darrel by refraining to question him i in any manner
 ! FataIism took insidious root in Dar- rel's brain during those four weeks. 1 Hitherto he had been sufficient unto ] himself, now he was coming to believe that Fate knew thoroughly the end of the game and simply dallied with him. There was cause for this reyulsion Of principles. That cause lay with Elise Avery herself.
 At first there was wholesome, up- lifting delight for Darrel in simply be- ing near the girl. He would watch her i covertly and. if detected. would shift his gaze guiltily, feeling like thief. He knew every graceful curve of her face, every fold of her soft. luminous hair, every movement of form or trick | of manner. Her eyes opened myste- rious yoids, wide as Heaven and deep as space. set with vague delights thai passed his understanding. He did not arouse in her the same interest that she aroused in him. Not once, despite his efforts, had she been beguiled out of the deep shadow of grief; not once did she take note of bis actions or pay the slightest heed to them.
 She was grateful to him and showed it in every way But gratitude was not all that he had hoped to inspire. ] Let it stand to Darrel's credit that the nature of the girls mission to that part of the west was a sufficient bar 1 rier between them. The circumstances surrounding that mission laid icy bands upon them and pressed them apart.
 Yet, had these circumstances been different, the matter could not have been otherwise. Through Darrers brain, in those days, beat fiercely the words of the Mexicana: You may be honest but you cannot be honorable" Even while he cried out against the harshness of the judgment he recog nized his own unworthiness.
 Although his changing manner toward Elise escaped her, it was not so with her aunt Mrs. Gorton was troubled.
 At the end of the four weeks Mrs. i Gorton contrived an interview with Darrel that did it's part towards bring 1 ing the vaeillation to an end This is what Mrs. Gorton conveyed to him: The fate of Elise's father was not l alone responsible for her sadness and melancholy. There had been an un- 1 fortunate affair of the heart, mis- understanding, and lover as we'll as l a father had gone out of the girls life.
 Nevertheless, that shattered dream l had become part of Elises existence. l The longing that somehow and in some way the paths of herself and her l lover might cross buoyed her up and gave her strength to face the future.
 This information was more than enough for Darrel. When he left Mrs. i Gorton. after that interview, he was a fatalist and courted the arrows of outrageous fortune. The end of the game could not come too quickly.
 His resolve to return to Sandy Bar was further strengthened by letter from Ormsby. Ormsby complained of receiving no word from McCloud and stated that, as business matters called him west, he had planned to halt for a time at Anaconda and would greet his friend in person within the next ten days.
 So Darrel once more rode out of An aconda along Blackfoot trail. But this time Mrs. Gorton and Miss Avery went with him. They insisted and he could not refuse.
 A numbering old stage coach made the outward trip on alternate days In this the little party engaged passage and whipped out of Anaconda in a driving storm.
 The storm may have been an evil omen. Darrel's mind was now prone to indulge in such speculations and he afterward so regarded it.
 CHAPTER XIII.
 DARRELL TALKS WITH AN OLD AC-
 QUAINTANCE.
 The principal hotel in Sandy Bar was fulsomely known as the Grand