Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1906-03-02

alone-by myself. If your mistress asks
to see me, say don't want to be dis
turbed. Il want to go to sleep. 1
Shall not want anything"
When she was left quite alone. Kitten
crept out of her bed like guilty thing.
She found her poor shabby clothes neatly
folded on chair together, and with in
finite pains and difficulty she managed
to dress herself, then she crept to the
window.
1T chokes me to stop here" she muir
INJURED; in her house, living upon her
charity, with her beautiful, tender face
pending over me every day. Oh. l can
understand why he loves her so. Could
anyone in half a century cease to love
such woman as that? But II can
not stay here. He might come and find
me here, and it would trouble him; and
l will never trouble him agaln-neyer."
She looked about for some wrap or
shawl to cover her shoulders, but there
was nothing of the kind among her
| humble belongings. The sable cloak. in
which she had been wrapped when she
| came, had been taken away at once TO
Mrs. Earle's room.
SO she turned up the skirt of her gown
over her head crept swiftly and silently
| down the staircase, out at the front door.
| across the strip of garden, and in three
minutes time was out of sight down the
road that led away from Dunsterton to-
ward keppington. No one had seen her
or noticed her departure; she hurried on
and was soon safe from pursuit. She
mad no difficulty in finding her way:
tnere were sign posts at every corner,
and by and by she began to know the
landmarks OF the country. But she was
very weak and ill, her clothes and her
boots were thin; the heavy slush of mud
and snow which encountered the roads
soon soaked through them and saturated
her to the skin. Still she foundered on,
stumbling, staggering often and often,
but picking up her steps again, and
struggling onward bravely through it all.
Il must get Blackjack to my hus-
bands house; if l am to die, it will be
better to die there than in any other
place. she said to herself. what would
my Daddy say if he saw me now?" she
said aloud once.
Oh, poor, foolish Kitten! half child.
half woman still, with all the wisdom
of her wise father blended strangely
together with all the folly of her foolish
mother, in that curious dual nature
which had made the great naturalist
tremble when he thought of his childs
unguarded future.
Behind her, far behind her up the
lane, man was foundering onward, too,
through the snow and mud, toward the
great stone house that now loomed in
sight above the bare woods on the shoul-
der OF the hill in front. And further
still behind a wagonette came quickly
onward also, in the same direction.
Rosamond was white as death. Col.
Irefusis spoke to her. Only now and
then a few words passed between them
as each kept an eager lookout upon the
road in front of them.
do you think then, really, that she
can be Brian's wife," she asked.
1T came upon me with a sort of con-
viction. l cannot tell how or wherefore.
When you said that Mrs. Desmond was
small and fair. l cannot conceive why
it did not strike me sooner that the girl
II will tell you now what happened
last night said Rosamond thoughtfully.
Il did not speak of it before, because
to tell you the truth, it rather startled
me, and l thought you would think me
foolish to be frightened. l went into
her room and stood by her bed. l saw
that she was conscious, 50 l asked her
softly whether she felt better. For some
minutes she made no answer, only she
stared at me with the most wonderful
blue eyes l think l ever saw, the fixity.
almost the awfulness of their gaze gave
me curious sensation. 1t was as
though l was face to face not with mere
eyes but with human soul, which was
looking straight into my own. 1t made
me shudder. And then she spoke. and
what she said was stranger still than
what she had looked. 1t was this:
She moves a goddess, and she looks
queen l suppose she meant me. 1t
sounds like poetry, does it not? What
can it beY"
"It is a line from Pope's 'Homer's
1liad.'" answered Col Trefusis, after n
moments reflection, "and a very apt one
as connected with you," he added. with
a smile.
But Rosamond hardly heard the COM
pliment.
"Then I am certain that 1t Is Brian's
wife," she cried, with excitement. "for
he told me himself that she had per-
feet mania for the poet Pope. Look!
what is that before us on the road?"
= 1T Is a man."
but is there not woman or n child
further on? Yes, look how she stumbles
and totters! Oh, it must be her. Quick
er, drive quickerH' she cried to the coach.
man. "Oh, John, it will kill her this
terrible walk through these roads. and
she just out Of her bed, poor child! Look.
she has fallenv'
The pedestrian hurried forward. Re-
hind him the horses were dashed on to
their utmost pace and tore on over the
heavy road. Rosamonds carriage arriv-
ed upon the scene TO find Kitten living
white and unconscious upon the wet road
rtia ak ,ha