The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-01-04

And presently the hush Of the slad-
Swy green world in which Judith lay
was broken by light, sobbing sound.
It had been SO still that, lying on her
bed of pine needles, she had likened
it to great waves of silence rolling up
from the valley, breaking over her and
sweeping back again, noiseless, green
from the billowing ocean of pine
branches, and sunlit. Judith bent over
the rocky ledge and saw a girl max
ing her way down the game trail, di-
sheveled and fearful. Her hat was gone:
her pale yellow hair, that in shadow
had the greening tinge of corn silk,
blew about her shoulders; her trim
skirt was torn and dusty, and she
looked about, bewildered, hardly real
izing that through the unexpected
course of things she had been stranded
in this great world of sunlit splendor
and loneliness. She closed her eyes.
The awful vastness and solitude op-
pressed her with deepening sense of
calamity. Suppose they never found
hCI A4O" SOulO Din. ll1lu uSI way III
this endless wilderness afoot? She sank
to the turf and began to cry hysteric-
ally.
Judith knew in a flash of instant
cognition that this was Miss Cole
brooke. Amusement seemed to have
dulled her powers Of action-amaze-
lnent that she, who had stolen to this
place and crouched close to earth that
she might see the triumph of this pre-
ferred woman and, having seen and
paid her grievous dole, steal away and
take up the thread of endless little
things that spun for her the web of
life, was forced instead to be an I'M
willing witness of the others Distress
Judith had risen with her first i'm
pulse, which had been to go to Kitty,
but halfway through the thicket she
hesitated and reconsidered. UndOubt-
edly Peter would soon come, and Pc.
ter's consolation would be more potent
than any she could Offer She shrank
in shuddering self consciousness at the
thought of her presence at their meet
ing. the unlimited guest, the outgrown
friend and confidante, laundering in at
such a time, pitifully full of good in
tentions. She recoiled from the picture
as from precipice that all unwittingly
she had escaped. What madness had
induced her to come on this expedi-
ton? sudden panic at the POSSIBLE
ity of her discovery possessed her. Sup
pose Peter should find her skulking like
a beggar, waiting for broken meats
She looked at the image of herself
that she carried in her heart It was
that Of a proud woman, who made no
moan at the scourge of the inevitable.
Many burdens had she carried in her
proud, lonely heart, but of them her
lips gave no sign. 49,.
In her contemplative stoicism she felt
with pride that she was no unworthy
daughter of her mothers people, and,
catching a glimpse through the trees
Of the abjectly waiting woman who
though safe and sound, could but wait,
wretched and dispirited, for some one
to come and adjust her to the situa-
ton, Judith felt for her wondering
pity at her helplessness. She waited
expectant, for the sound Of Peters
horse. Surely he must come at any
moment, overcome with apologies, and
she-Judith hid her face in her hands
at the thought-she would steal away
through the thicket at the first sound
of hoofs. But as the minutes slipped
by and still no sign of Peter Il sicken-
ing anxiety began to gnaw at her
heart. Had something happened to
him?
She did not wait to ask herself the
question twice. She crawled the length
OF the tnicket with incredible rapidity.
gained the pine forest and made her
way beneath the low hanging boughs.
Without stopping to protect herself
from them she gained the open space
and ran quickly to Kitty.
care you hurt? What has han
pened?"
Kitty looked up, startled at the voice.
She had not heard the sound Of the
moccasined feet. Her wandering, for
lorn thoughts crystallized at sight of
the woman before her. A new light
ming leaped into her eyes as she recog-
nized Judith. There was between them
a thrilling consciousness that gave to
their mutual perception something
sharp and fine, that grasped the drama
of the moment with the precision and
fidelity of camera
"You are Miss Rodney, I believer
Kitty was conscious Of something
strange in her voice as she looked into
the dark eyes. wide with questioning
fear. All, but she had amazing beauty
and something that seemed of the
very essence Of deep souled womanii.
ness! The two women presented fine
bit of enthusiastically, flowerlike;
SMALL delicately wrought, the finished
product of the town, exotic as some
rare transplanted orchid growth. And
in Judith there was gemlike quality.
1t was i'll the bloom of her skin, the iri-
descent radiance of her hair, that was
hlniSh like q r111rn II, e,,,1,rl,+. -