The Greeley tribune., 1905-11-02
judith Of the
| 81 q MARIE. MANNING,
| n l. ~ Author "LordAl Alinsha m. .Bankru
Copyr Harper q Brothers



Practically at end of journey. Take
| stage to Lost Trail this morning. Am
well. Don't worry about me. MARY.
And the telegraph operator, dimly
/ remembering that he had heard Lost
| Trail was ''pizen mean country" and
| that it was tucked some 200 miles back
| in the foothills, did not find 1t very
{ hard TO forgive the girl who was ''prac-
tically ut end of journey" particularly
/ as the dimple had come out of hiding
and he had never been called upon to
telegraph the word practically be-
fore. He was a progressive man and
liked to extend his experiences.
After sending the telegram. Miss
Carmichael drew from her pocket
square envelope of heavy Irish linen.
little worn from much reading, but
primarily an envelope that bespoke ele-
gance of taste on the part of her cor
respondent and read:
Lost Trail. wyo.
My Dear Miss Carmchael-Pray let me
assure you Of my qualification that the
preliminaries have been so satisfactorily
arranged and that we are to have you
with US by the end of June. The children
are prof1ting from the very anticipation
OF It. and 1t will be- most refreshing to all
us isolated ones to be able to welcome
eastern girl as a member of our family.
Although the long journey across the
continent is trying. particularly to one
who has not made 1t before, l hope
you may not find It utterly Iatiguing.
Please remember that after leaving the
train 1t will be necessary to take stage
to Lost Trail. II 1t Is possible. I shall
meet you with the blackboard at one of
the stage stations: otherwise. keep to the
stage route being careful to change at
Dax's ranch.
Unfortunately the children vary SO in
their accomplishments that fear / can
make no suggestions as to what you may
need to bring with you in the way of
text books, but 1 think you will find
them fairly well grounded.
l had charming letter from Mrs.
Kirkland. who said the pleasantest things
possible OF you. l am glad the wife of
| our senator was able conscientiously to
commend us.
With our most cordial good wishes for a,
safe journey, believe me. dear Miss Car
michael. sincerely yours.
SARAH YELLETT.
| In the meantime Town" came yawn-
ing to breakfast. It was not so prank
ish as it had been the night before,
when it accepted the sheepman's broad
gauge hospitality and made merry till
the sun winked from behind the noun
tains. 1t made its way to the low,
shedlike eating house with pre-
breakfast solemnity bordering on sulk-
mess. Not petticoat was in sight to
offset the spurs and sombreros that
filed in to breakfast from every point of
the compass, prepared to eat primitive
ly, joke broadly and quarrel speedily If
that sensitive and often inconsistent
something they called honor should be
brushed however lightly.
But the eternal feminine was with
in, and, discovering it, the temper of
Town was changed. 1t ate self con-
of ladies and was more interested in
the girl in the sailor hat than it was in
remembering old feuds or laying the
foundations of new.
In Its interior aspect the eating house
conveyed no subtle invitation to eat,
drink and be merry. On the contrary,
its mission seemed to be that of con.
founding appetite at every turn. a
long, shedlike room it was, with walls
|
the AK. FestoonS Of scalloped paper
in conflicting shades hung from the
ceiling, menace to the taller of the
guests. On the rough walls some one,
either prompted by latent spirit of
aestheticism or with an idea of abet-
ting the town toward merrymaking,
an encouragement it hardly required,
had tackled posters of shows, mainly
representing the tank and sawmill
school of drama.
Miss Carmichael sat at the extreme
end Of the long, oilcloth covered table,
on which a struggling army of salt and
pepper shakers, catchup bottles and
divers commercial condiments seemed
to pause in a discouraged march A
plague Of flies was on everything, and
the food was threat to the hardest
appetite One man summed up the
steak with, You got to work, your jaw
SO hard to eat 1t that it amt fair to
the next meal"
His neighbor heaved q sigh. "This
here formation, whatever 1t be''-and
he turned the meat over for better In
spection-"do shore remind me Of an
ondestructible doll that an old maid
aunt Of mine Civ my sister when we
was kids. That doll sort Of challenged
me. an one day ups an has a chaw
at her. She war ondestructible, all
right. Fore l concluded my sperl-
ments I had left couple Of teeth in
her"
well. I discyards the steak an
draw to pair Of aces" And the first
man helped himself to a couple Of bis
cults.
Miss Carmichael knew. by the con-
tinual scraping Of chairs across the
gritty floor, that the places at the
table must be nearly all taken, and,
while she anticipated, with an utterly
unreasonable terror. any further In
vasien Of her seclusion at the end Of
the table. still she could not persuade
herself to raise her eyes to detect the