Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-11-27

I'm glad" she said to herself. sNow won't have to tell him." Lounsbury pursued a feverish in- vestigation that day and found no one who cared to quibble with him. From the captain, never jealous of his dig nity, to the rolly poly sutler there was very outrush of facts. As they came he received them with pitchfork sharp ness, examined them and tossed them aside, which led wag to remark that the storekeeper was kin to Simon. Yet when retreat sounded he admitted himself hedged in by indisputable testi- mony Lancaster's death was beyond easy solving. If Matthews were guilty he was not the principal, only an ac- cessory, to the crime. Nevertheless could the storekeeper have come face to face with the interpreter that day scores would have been settled.
 To Dallas, laying the blue stem of the swale, the hours of the morning went slowly. Yet how warm and gold en they seemed. How tuneful the birds! How cottony white the clouds that feckea the sky. How pleasant the long, flushing sound of the scythe! And all the while she thrilled with ex pectancy, and the minutes hung upon each other as if loath to pass.
 The very keenness of her joy brought swift revulsion. At dinner, with Ma- rylyn sitting across from her, she be- gan, to see more clearly. She realized she had been dreaming; that for her there was only self denial. She ate nothing, but drank her dipper thirstily, as if to wash away a parch in her tkroat. Back in the swale again, the xcythe was swung less steadily, but with more strength, so that its sharp tip often hacked up the ground. She pulled her hat over her eyes, forbore glancing toward the fort-and fought. A thousand times she vowed she would not meet Lounsbury that night. To give herself a better whip hand she called up pictures of Marylyn-Mary- lyn, the baby, all dimples and lisping demands for "Dals;" Marylyn, the child, slender, yellow haired, pale; Ma rylyn, entering womanhood, still de- pendent, and in her frailty, her pen siveness, more dear than ever before.
 Then, with the sun beating upon her, with her temples streaming and throb- ping under the heat and the strain, Dallas spirit began to flag. Had she not always borne hard load, suffered discomforts? There were the women of the post. They knew little toll or privation. The brunt of her mothers loss, her fathers taking, had fallen upon her. Was she always to have only sorrow? Now, when happiness came her way-a happiness that an other might not have-must she be de- nied it? Disheartened, dizzy, she left the swale for the shade of the nearest trees.
 It was the hottest part of the day, and the life of the prairie seemed at a standstill. No breeze stirred the high cotton@oods; the corn blades were quiet; the birds songless; the frogs hid. Resting on the fading green, looking out upon the silent reaches, she grew calm. Then she remembered her sis ter's confession. Again, in fancy, she was leaning down in the light of a winter fire, looking into tear stained face. She felt humiliation for her own weakness and for thoughts disloyal to Marylyn.
 "When see him again I'll make him promise to come and visit her." she said. "Oh, he must! He must" At last, renewed in spirit, she returned bravely to her work. But the afternoon was not without its tornenting thoughts. And she, who feared no physical danger, quailed be- fore temptation that was overwhelm- ing.
 When the shack pointed a stubby finger toward the east and the mules, with Simon in t,>;, came trailing home from their grazing Marylyn called her. Near the door there waited out the good smell of corn pone and roasting l fowl. She drew up the well bucket hand over hand and washed in its gen. erous leak.
 Within the night wind was changing and sweetening the air. AS the youn- ! ger girl hustled about the elder put on a fresher dress and smoothed and l plaited her hair. Again that strange 1 elation. She was almost glad.
 "Supper!' sang out Marylyn. Dallas started consciously. She was standing at a window holding before | her the broken bit of looking glass. CHAPTER xxx.