The Green Forest tribune., 1908-08-21

night Of all time. But IEellen wanted fife, evidently. The pathos and the babyishness and the sweetness prob- akiy wearied him.
 When Miss Van WycE tripped on he coach step and gave him a smile for aid received, out of black eyes burning in Tale face a trifie strained ard worn looking. there is no question but that the watcher of mems lives re- corded the arrival On the road he trav- eled of woman of interest to him.
 Kellen owed Miss Van Wyck to the gods of the public school-they led her into the region that knew him She taught school at Nesqualmie, and when she took up the birch rod there she elevated the window blind and noted down kellen's train as a means 0: escape, as it whirred along the river bank by the black water and ripped mp the valley.
 When she dcnned the robe of office she did not say: Here are many little them into fine vessels as the potter shapes the clay; and that s enough :" No. She said This place is lonely l see no young men here. What a vile wilderness"
 She knew that she had to ride alone in the summer afternoons, and that the birds and the squirrels chattered horribly; and that the loneliness struck upon her nerves and made her start al shadows. Wherefore she was very dissatisfied.
 But she fell upon the device of go- ing up the road to Potlace, which was almost a town, and possessed a few joys in the way of some women friends and a fresh face once a year perhaps. These flights were made Friday evenings after the children went home for the week, and the home coming befell Sunday nights, so she would be ready for school on Monday morning:
 After it had become Kellens un- righteous custom to stop at her seat and look into her face, and grin and say something pretty ill voice too low 10 be caught by the other passen- gers, the flights got to be regular And thus there grew up something be- tween them. If you had observed her closely, you would have seen that she watched for him after she took her | seat, looking eXpectantly forward whenever the coach door opened, and that 9 faint blush put warmth in her white cheeks, and a look sprang into her eyes when he came down the aisle
 It may be he forgot about his wife in talking to her. It does not matter. He did forget about her, and about the vows pledged at the church when she was not so faded; and he made a plan to help Miss Van Wyck kick the dust of Nesqualmie from her shoes | forever
 They fixed up between them to go away from Oregon secretly; and he quietly wound up his few business af- , fairs and drew all the money he had i in bank. Their plan was to meet in i the evening a few miles above Nes- | qualmie, and from there ride away on horseback together. Miss Van Wyck was to station herself in the woods by the railroad at a grade-foot where his train slackened speed, and he was to drop off the train covertly when it should pass, take the horse she should bring for him, and ride with her 30 miles through the night and the woods to the Oregon coast. Then they were to make Seattle by steamer and train, and go east. Once east they should plan further. For one thing, Miss Van Wyck would thereafter have an es- cort when she went riding, and she