Mexico Missouri message., 1906-12-06


to the east where the light was show
ing; meditating on many idle, little
matters, but conscious all the time OF
great power within himself He felt
ready now for any conflict The need
for some great immediate action
pressed upon him. He did not identify
1t, Something he must do--he must
have action-and that at once. He
was glad to think how Uncle Peter
would begin to rejoice in him-secretly
at first, and then to praise him. He
was equal to any work. He could not
begin it quickly enough. That queer
need to do something at once was still
pressing, still unidentified
BY FIVE he was downstairs. The girl.
fresh as a dew-sprayed rose in the gar
den outside brought him breakfast of
fruit, bacon and eggs, coffee and waf-
fles. He ate with relish, delighting
meantime in the girls fiorid freshness,
and even in the assertive, triumphant
whistle Of the youth busy at his tasks
outside.
When he set out he meant to reach
the car and go back to town at once.
! Yet when he came to the road oy.
which he had loitered the day before.
he turned off upon it with slower stems.
There was a confusing whirl of ideas
in his brain, a chaos that required all
his energy to feed it, so that the spring
went from his step.
Then all at once a newborn world
cohered out of the nebula, and the
sight of its measured, orderly whirling
dazed him. He had been seized with a
wish-almost an intention, so stunning
In its audacity that he all but reeled
under the shock 1t seemed to him
that the thing must have been germin-
ated in his mind without his knowl-
edge; 1t had lain there, gathering force
while he rested, now to burst forth and
dazzle him with its shine. All that
undimmed freshness of longing he had
felt the day before-all the unnamed,
unidentified, nameless desires-had
flooded back upon him, but now no
longer aimless. They were acutely
definite. He wanted Avice Milbrey-
wanted her with an intensity as un-
reasoning as it was resistless This
was the new world he had watched
swimming out of the chaos in his
mind, taking it's allotted orbit in a
planetary system of possible, rational,
matter-of-course proceedings.
And Avice Milbpey was to marry
Shepler, the triumphant money king.
He sat down by the roadside, we'll
nigh helpless, surrendering all his
forces to the want
Then there came upon him to rein !
force this want burning sense of de-
feat. He remembered Uncle Peters |
first warnings in the mine about cup
board love-" the gossip of Higbee: "If
you were broke, she'd have about as
much use for you" all the talk he |
had listened to so long about marriage
for money; and at the last, Shepler's |
words to Uncle Peter: 81 was uncer-
tain until copper went to 81" Those |
were three wise old men who had
talked, men who knew something of |
women and much of the world. And !
they were so irritating in their GER
tainty. What fine play to fool them |
all!
The sense of defeat burned into him |
more deeply. He had been vanquished, |
cheated, scorned, shamefully flouted. |
The money was gone-all of Uncle |
Peters complaints and biting sarcasms |
came back to him with renewed bitter !
ness; but his revenge on Uncle Peter |
would be in showing him a big man |
at work, with no nonsense about him.
But Shepler, who was now certain, |
and Higbee, who had always been GER
tain-espe Shepler, with his easy
sense of superiority with a woman
over any poor man. That was a diff
ferent matter. There was a thing to
think about. And he wanted Avlce
Milbrey, He could not, he decided, go
back without her.
The great wild wish narrowed itself |
into a definite plan. He recalled the
story Uncle Peter had told at the Old
akers' about the woman and her hair.
A woman could be coerced if a man
knew her weakness. He could coerce
her. he knew it instinctively; and the
instructive belief rallied to it's support
thousand little looks from her, little
intonations of her voice, little turn
inGs of her head when they had been
together In spite of her calculations,
in spite of her love of money, he could
make her feel her weakness. He was
man with the power.
1t was heady wine for the morning.
He described himself briefly as a Iu-
matte, and walked on again. But the
crazy notion would not be gone. The
day before he had been passive. Now
he was active, acutely aware of him
self and all his wants. RE walked d
mile trying to dismiss thu .dea He
sat down again, and it flooded back
upon him with new force.
Her people were gone. She had even
intimated a wish to talk with him
again, 1t could be done quickly. He
knew. He felt the primitive superior