The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1905-11-23
CHAPTER, TX


~ brother He had left his COM
Portable cabin on the Bear creek when
he had turned rustler and moved into
the dad mans country" one of
those remote mountain Businesses that
abound in Wyoming and furnish a nat
ural protection to the fugitive from
justice. Judith took the left fork of
the road even as Peter Hamilton had
chosen the right the day she had
watched him gallop toward Kitty Cole
brooke with never glance backward
Judith strove now to put him and the
memory Of that day from her mind by
turning toward the open country with
out a glance in the direction he had
taken. But her thoughts were weary
of journeying over that trail that she
would not look toward. In magma
ton she had travelled it with Peter a
hundred times, saw each dip and turn
Of the yellow road, each feature of the
landscape, as he rode exultant to Kit
ty, to be turned, tried, taken or left, as
her mood should prompt. But Judith
was more woman than saint, and in
her heart there was blending of joy
and pain, for she kneW-such skill has
love in Inference from detail-that the
mysterious faraway girl, who was so
powerful that she could have whatever
she wanted, even to Peter, loved her
own ambitions better than she did Pc
ter or Peters happiness and that she
would not marry him except as make
shift. For Miss Colebrooke wrote
verses. Peter had a white and gold
volume of them that Judith fancied he
said his prayers to.
AS for Peter himself, he had never
been able to explain the magic Kitty
had brewed for him. There was q
heady quality in the very ring of her
name. His first glimpse of her on
class day in a white gown and a hat
that to his manly indiscrimination look
ed as guileless as a sheaf of peoples
nodding above the pale yellow hair
that had the sheen of corn silk had
been vision that stirred in him he
roic promptings. He had no difficulty
in securing al introduction. She was
connection of the Wetmores, as was
he, though through opposite sides of
the house. In the few minutes talk
that followed he had the disconcerting
sensation OF being talked down to-"
There was the indulgent tolerance Of
the woman Of the world to the mice
boy about this amazing young wom
an, who might have been eighteen.
Hamilton had repudiated the very sug-
gestion Of being mice boy" But he
felt himself blushing, cropping for
words, saying stupid things; supplying
every requisite Of the mice boy" as if
he were acting the part.
Later, when he ran the gamut of
some friends, they had chaffed him on
his hardihood. By Jove, he had nerve
to look at her! Didn't he know she was
"the'' Miss Colebrooke? Now, Hamil-
ton was absolutely ignorant of Miss
Colebrooke's right Of way to the def
mite article, but it was characteristic
Of him to make no Inquiries On the
whole, he found the situation meeting
with greater number Of the artistic
requirements than such situations usl-
ally presented. He was still dallyiny
with this pleasant vagueness of sensa-
ton when he picked up a copy Of a
magazine, and the name Katherine
Colebrooke caught his eye and held it
like the flight of Il comet Her contri-
button was a sonnet entitled ''The Mir
acle." AS a naive emotional confession
1.-THE MIRACLE interested him. AS
no f,,11
Peter was to learn, however, that
this sonnet was but solitary flake in
poetic fall Of more or less magnitude.
He rather conspicuously avoided a ref
erence to her poetry when they met
again. To him it was the very least of
her gifts. Her hair, that had the tender
yellow Of ripening corn, was worthy Of
a cycle of sonnets, but pray leave the
making of them to some one else!
When Hamilton knew her better he
did not like to think that he had
thought her eighteen at their first meet
ing. 1t impugned his judgment as a
man Of the world. Young ladies of
eighteen could not possibly be con-
tributors Of several years standing to
the various magazines. An unusual
situation was abhorrent to him. That
he should marry an older woman, one,
moreover, who had gained her public
in field to which he had not gained
admission. was doubly distasteful by
reason Of his Difference to the conven.
tional. If she had firted with him,
his midsummer madness would have
evaporated into thin air, but she kept
him at arms length, ostensibly took
him seriously, and the boy proposed,
Her rejection Of him was a matter OF
such consummate skill that Hamilton
did not realize the keenness of his
disappointment till he was swinging
westward over the prairies. She had
confided to him that her work claimed
her and that she must renounce those
sweet responsibilities that made the
happiness Of other women.
This had all happened seven years
ago. In the meantime he had adjusted
his disappointment to the new life Of
the west To saw that he had fallen