Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1908-12-03

sica began to be a prey
to new emotions, the
significance of which she did not COM
prehend. That kiss, she told herself
that night, had been given to her dead
ideal that had lain there in it's purify
ing grave clothes of forgetfulness. Yet
il burned on her lips, as that other kiss
in a darkened room had burned after
ward, but with a sense of pleasure, not
of hurt. 1t took her back into crimson
meadows with her lost girlhood and it's
opaled outlook-and Hugh.
But largest of all in her mind next
day was anxiety. She must know how
he Jared. In the open daylight she
could not approach the cabin, but she
reflected that the doctor had been
there and no doubt had carried some
report of him to the town. So as the
morning grew she rode down the
mountain ostensibly to get the cherry
cordial she bad left behind her the day
before. really to satisfy her hunger for
news.
AS it happened Mrs. Halloran's first
greeting set her anxiety at rest. Prem
dergast had bought some tobacco at
the general store an hour before while
she had been making her daily order,
/ and the storekeeper had questioned
\ him. TIC an interested audience he
Il had told of the finding of Hugh on
L the mountain road in a sort Of crazy
] fever and enlarged upon the part the
I girl on horseback had played. Hugh
8 ,-,,. ,I1 ,;nl,+ nu- ho eo;l o~no~+ +Jo+.
u he didn't remember him or the cabin
q or Smoky Mountain.
/ What Prendergast had said Mrs.
y Halloran told Jessica in a breath. Be-
\ fore she finished she found that Jes-
l sica had not heard of the incident in
\ the saloon which had precipitated the
1 fight with Devlin, and With sympa-
4 thetic rhetoric Mrs. Halloran told this
I too.
I "Why does Smoky Mountain hate
4 him so? What has he done?" asked
4 Jessica.
I Mrs. Halloran shook her head. 81
4 never knew anything myself" she
J said judiciously. II reckon the town
y allus counted him just a general low
n uUhl. II lcGl ~ Niiii 1lioBlSlOa III
give the dog a bad name"
n There had been comfort for Jessica
D in this interview. Mrs. Halloran's
y story had materially increased he
poignant force of her pity. What had
4 seemed to her a vulgar brawl had
II been in reality a courageous n I'M
4 selfish championship of a defenseless
%outcast. Thinking of this, the self
Il blame and contrition which she had
4 felt when she listened to the violin
d assailed her anew, till she seemed a
\ very part of the guilt. al equal sinner
& by omission.
4 Yet she rode homeward that day
4 with almost a light heart.
d 81
d AS Harry stood in the cabin door
\ way looking after Prendergast toward
q the town, glistening far below in the
morning sunlight. he thought bitterly
Of his reception there.
n They all knew me-" he thought.
h Every one knew NEON the street, IN
Y the hotel. They know me for what
have been to them. Yet to me 1t is all
III " q w litil SualllC vi ~"
II done|' He shrank from memory now
n what was l doing so far away where
was ! going. on the night when | was
8 picked up beside the railroad track?
4 may be a drunkard." he said to him
self. mo, in the past month have
4 drunk hard. but not for the taste OF the
liquor. | may be a gambler, | may bt
a cheat, a thief. Yet how is it possible
for bad deeds to be blotted out anC
leave no trace? Actions breed habit ii
they do not spring from it, and habi1
automatically repeated becomes char
acter. | feel no inherent propensity tt
rob or defraud. Shall 1? Will these
things come back to me if my memory
does"
IN the battle that he fought now N
turned. even in his weakness, to man
ual labor, striving to dull his though
with mechanical movement. He clean
ed and put to rights both rooms ant
sorted their litter Of odds and ends
But at times the inclination to escap'
became we'll nigh insupportable. Whel
me conflict was f%iercest. he woul'
thlnk of a girls face nee seen. ant
the thought would restrain him. VIII
was she? Why had her look pierced
through him? In that hateful caree
mat seemed so curiously alien coult
she nave had a part?
He did not know that she Of whom
ne wondered in the bitterest of thos'
hours had been very near him; that OF
ner way up the mountain she hal
stolen down to the Knob to lool
through the parted bushes to the cabil
with the blue spiral rising from 1t
chimney.
Though the homely task to which h
turned failed to allay his struggle b,
nlghtfall. Harry had put the warrini
eiement under. When Prendergast re
turned at supper time. the candle wa
aghted in it's wall box, the dinted te
kettle was singing e q crackl!n