The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1906-12-29

his hands over his ears. II couldn't
stand it. Those words ring in my
ears. "A kind of gayety.' Oh, gods of
my fathers!"
We covered a couple of hundreds of
yards before he spoke again, and then
1t was in low voice, as though he
were afraid of being overheard
when I came here first, eight
months ago, I used constantly to see
girl and jolly, STRAIGHTFORWARD, open
faced young fellow going for long, stiff
walks together. The girl had a pair
of dancing eyes, which on dull days
acted like a CLEAN of sun upon me:
and her voice was like a birds filled
with the Joy of young life. I'm not
sure I didn't rather hope-that they
were brother and sister. She had a
very beautiful face'
"Why do you say she had?"
But Ewell's eyes were fixed upon
something long way ahead, and he
let my question go unanswered. Per-
haps he hadn't heard. z
"And, better than that" he went on,
''she had pluck and grit, and cared
no more for the rain and the wind
than 1 do. On the contrary, I believe
she took keen JOY in battling with
them, head tucked down, arms swing:
ing, her dress clinging and showing
the grace of her, the lissomeness Of
her, the young strength. Her laugh,
too! Oh, my dear fellow, what a
laugh! I used to gurgle over my
paints as it was borne, like bundle
of feathers, in the breeze You know.
the sound thrush makes sometimes,-
when all is we'll with it's world? A
series of limpid notes in quick success
sion-a little volley of bell-like notes
rising in the scale? Heaven! how she
laughed! But he wasn't her brother.
1t didn't really matter. l don't sup
pose. At any rate, he wasn't her
brother. Like the one wise man alive,
he was engaged to be married to her,
poor devil! i wouldn't ask who he
Was-she was a minister's daughter,
Mary Terrance-but I found out
soon enough. The wind blew gale
from the southwest. was at work
under the cliff with my easel strapped
to rock. AS they swung past, arm
in arm, her red tam-o' '-shanter was
Whirled off her head, and, carried high
in the air, tapped against my, face.
idiot l am. You know the consum-
mately futile things l do. I kissed
that tam-o' '-shanter, and the face of
that young man, standing with out
stretched hand in front of me, put the
cap out of joint for color. He
glared at me as though he could have
mangled me as l sat. And knew. A
brother would have raised his eye
brows. This beggar lowered them. I
was told all about him later. A law
yer, or something, who didn't prac-
tice. BY name Trent, Richard Wolver-
ton Trent, rich man, poor devil!'
He paused again, walking harder
than ever, having his eyes On the
ground.
Il watched them day after day. I
could see they were very much in
love. Towards the end Of May a
SNOWFALL of excitement was thrown
into the village, and grew larger and
larger. They were to be married on
June the fifth by her father.
1.-The fifth of June came near. |
wasn't painting WELL In fact, l
wasn't painting at all. l had one of
those absurd fits of depression on
me. You know, what? l heard he
was going away for the last fortnight.
Some conventional idea of propriety,
I take it. wouldn't have gone for all
those grandmother foolishnesses
rolled into one Fourteen of the most
wonderful days man can live
wasted! Think of it. However, he
was going. And the day before his
last day a. glorious storm came on.
l had only seen one like it before. I
had a little yacht at that time, for
painting purposes. It was blown out
of the water and thrown in hundred
splinters on the nearest coast. l
landed among 'em, more by luck than
judgment. l don't know how Trent
came to be on the cliffs in the middle
| of the night Perhaps the devil Of it
had got into his blood, as it always
gets into mine, and made him go out
and fight the storm as I always do.
"The wind is no respecter of per.
sons. It must have caught him up
and bowled him over the cliff. There
was ledge 80 feet down. He landed
there!"
'@tA1ive!" cried.
Dead. They say he cried Mary
as he fell Whether that is romance
or not, l don't know. At any rate,
barely half an hour after he must
have fallen-judging by his watch,
which had stopped at II: 40-she was
on the cliff above him, crouching as
you saw her crouching, calling to him
and cheering him, and telling him
I have heard her several times, say:
ing all that she said that night over
and over again-that she had heard
him call, that she had ordered some
fishermen to come with ropes. Oar.
ling, I would come; to you If I could
Jump. But will talk all the time