The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-12-17
The Promise
 of The Pinec

love for the handsome wreck was not 1 put in words, but it was voiced be-
 cause she apparently felt that 1t was not necessary. She took it for granted | that Satterwhite and the world knew 1t. if she thought of 1t all. She follow ed its impulse as calmly and as truly as if they were the natural motives of
 her life. which needed no explanation
 and for which needed no thought or | consideration from her. There was in no act of hers where this man was | concerned, no feminine subtlety or feminine indirections. They found Rutherford on a corner | before they left the car. He was ex- cited and defiant His moro cautious
 companion was trying to soothe him. Satterwhite assisted the girl from the car and with anxious drawn face. He l was on the sidewalk rebeliiously tug ging in the restraining grasp of Slip pery," Satterwhite lifted the girl from the car, but in her forgetfui haste to | get to the sido walk she left him be- hind.
 Rutherford's pale face was flushed
 and his eyes were glittering. He had
 no ear for the words his companion was whispering, cautious words about the coming of the police.
 But he insulted me, do you hear?
 He insulted me. Do you think that a gentiemen's honor is to be assaulted by | d AOW tANC0 WntbhoJ SCltCf.s ANO Uy-A IT ram him head first into a barrel of his rotten whiskey and beat him to a pulp with his own bung starter"
 | Rutherford stared wildly about him as he struggled with his companion. | The girl fearful. anxious but full of purpose hurried to the man and ran her arm through his. She whispered
 word or two to him. He ceased to I tug and struggle and then, quiet and l submissive, he walked with her to the corner to await the next car. Stand ing there, they talked in whispers, she
 with her arm still through his and he quite doctle and fcoutented.
 Satterwhite was stirred and excited by the, second view he had gotten of
 the seamy side of life. He wondered
 at himself, in having a part with the girl in her strange errand. And he wondered what the folks at home
 would think if they knew how close he was rubbing up against the misery and unhappiness of life's dered, too. at the insistent interest he felt in the two people he left standing
 on the corner. A week passed before he saw the girl again. She was coming out of the | post office and she would have passed l him with unseeing eyes, if he had not | stopped her and spoken to her. l What has become of the interesting | stranger with the pale face and the | unquenchable thirst?' he asked in a | bantering tone. But he regretted the lightness of his question when he saw
 the suffering in the girls face Her | lips were pale and drawn and her face
 was much thinner.
 'Oh he's gone away" she replied, in
 a broken, nervous way. Didn't you
 know he was gone? He's been gone nearly week. And I'm so worried
 don't know what to do? Come and go down the street with me. l want to i tell you about it."
 ] They walked slowly down n side street and some how. watching her almost fearful agitation, Satterwhite . forgot to notice her worn and old hat,
 her black calico skirts the stains show
 ing and the evident age of the brown
 sack that was buttoned tightly about her.
 1 He went away a week ago" she continued and Satterwhite caught the
 almost reverent note in her voice when she said it He said he couldn't , do without whiskey as long as he was 1 where he could get it. He said he was 1 going away to make fresh start | against 1t in a place where he couldn't t 1 get to it. He and Slippery separated ] here and slippery went on to Mo. 1 bile.
 T got letter from him day before yesterday. I have been so scared an
 so worried since I got it, want you
 to read 1t and tell me what you think
 about it."
 ! The letter was from Pine View. Sat terwhite knew of the place 1t was a big lumber camp near the Florida line. The writing was nervous, broken and indistinct. It read:
 Dear F5stelle--I have been here three
 days. brought with me a bottle of morphine. Because, if the fight goes
 against me this time, as every other fight has gone, I will need 1t. This Is my last stand against the fiend that has won from me every single thing of value, which has taken from me | everything I had but life and which