The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-12-28


Recamier and Chateaubriand. It was
to be fruitful III letters that would
compare favorably with the best of
the seventeenth century series. Even
now her own letters to Peter were no
sprightly scrawl of passing events, but
efforts whose seriousness suggested. at
least in their carefully elaborated
stages of structure, the letters of the
ladies of Crawford
But in the course of these western
Wanderings, undertaken not wholly
without consideration Of Peter, there
had appeared in the maplike exactness
Of her plans an indefinite territory that
threatened undreamed of proportions
The unknown quantity was none other
than the frequent and irritating men.
ton of one Judith Rodney, who, from
all accounts, appeared half breed.
Her name, her beauty, some intrinsic
charm of personality, made her an all
too frequent topic, except in the case
Of Peter. He had been singularly keen
in seeming any interrogatory venue
that led to the mysterious half breed;
when questioned he persistently re-
fused to exhibit her as a type.
Kitty knew that she had treated her
long suffering cavalier with scant con-
sideration the day he had spurred
across the desert to see her. True, she
had written him on her arrival, but
with feminine perversity of logic
thought it a trifle inconsiderate of him
to come SO soon after that trying rail-
road journey. She intended to salve
her conscience at the wolf hunt for
her casual reception Of his impetuous
visit. But apparently Peter did not
intend to be prodigal of opportunity.
How garrulous you people are this
morning!' Mamie Wetmore challenged
them. Peter came out Of his brown
study with the look of one who has
again returned to earth.
"You don't find it like the drop cur
tain of a theater, now that you've seen
it?'' he questioned Kitty. For she had
doubted her pleasure in the mountains
in the conviction that they would be
too dramatic for her simple taste.
Kitty closed her eyes and sighted the
peaks as if she were getting the color
scheme for an afternoon toilet.
"Mass, bulk, rather than line. No,
it's not like drop curtain, but it's dis
tinctly hand painted All it needs is !,
stag surveying the prospect from that
great cliff. It's the kind of thing that
would sound we'll in a description. Oh.
I assure you l intend to make lavish
use of it, but it leaves nothing to ones
poor imagination!'
. Peter had a distinct feeling of being
annoyed. No. she could not appreciate
the mountains any more than they
could appreciate her. They were incon-
gruous, antipathetic, antipodal. Kitty
in her pink and white and faxen pref
tiness and her trim habit was in har-
mony with the bride path Of a city
park. In this great lonely country she
was an alien. He thought of Judith
and the night they had climbed Horse
Thief trail, of her quiet endurance, her
keen pleasure in the wild beauty Of the
night, her quality Of companionship,
her loyalty, her silent bearing of many
burdens. Yet until he had seen them
both against the same relentless back
ground he bad never been conscious Of
comparing the two women.
Mamie Wetmore had fallen behind.
She was riding with a bronzed young
lieutenant from Fort Washable. The
two ahead rode long without speaking.
Then Peter broke the silence impa-
tiently:
"You did not really mean that, did
you" He was boyishly hurt at her
tippant summing up of his beloved
blue country, and Kitty, tired with the
long, hard ride, and missing that some
thing in Peter that had always been
hers, turned on him a pair of blue
eyes in which the tears were brim-
ming suspiciously. They were wei!
out of sight OF the others and had
come to the heavy fringes of pine
wood. Was it the psychological mo-
ment at last? Then suddenly their
horses, that had been shifting the air
suspiciously, stopped. Kitty's horse,
which was in advance of Peters,
rushed toward the thicker growth of
pines as if all bedlam were in pur-
suit. Peters horse, swerving from
the cause Of alarm. bolted back across
the trail over which they had just made
their way. a large brown bear, feed
ing with her cub and hidden by the |
trees till they were directly in front
Of her, had caused the alarm.
ITO BE CONTINUED