Gunnison news-champion., 1908-04-17

4 never ASKED her sac Is go.ag
bach -homs-pexf ~ees
"t yog let her
You doat quite unerstAaa. Pasi.~ .
said cordoa a little weasily. she
said she could never live in this coss-
try-aeser she ~oaid die here. Could
! ASK her after that, Could ask aay-
way. and be a nAa7 1 kno~ She
would Jus; pine away"
Girls don't pine-oCly In imaxina-
tioa They are tougher than you give
them credit for
'liui somehow Mary seess d,0ee.
.p;. said Gordoa. thoughtfully. He
surprised . flush In his friends cheek
Nos deserve her. old nAaa. you'll be
very happy she Is the right kind 1
congratulate YOU With all my heart"
An odd lump csne into LAngfsFds
throat Despite cordoa's vigorous and
healthfsl manhood there seemed al
ways certain psthos ~ life ssrrouna-
ing him
i haven't asked her. either" Goa
fessed Paul But YOU have made II
possible for me To do se-to-night-
to-morro~ ! can ind Q
chance. Take my advice. old man,
doa't let your girl GO You'll md she
Is the kind after all You don't knos
her yet"
Paul left the room. and J,ordoa
paced the narrow confines Of his shah
by ofice-back and forth-msny
times. Then he threw himself once
more into his chair. The hours we're
long. He had all night to think about
things When morning came, all his
weakness would he over. No one
should ever again sse him NO un-
manned as Paul had seen him Il.
night And when Louise should go.
his arms fell nervelessly to the table.
He remained thus . moment, his eyes
hxed and unseeing. and then his
head dropped heavily upon his arms.
Alone in the night Louise awoke.
She found II impossible to fall asleep
again. She was nervous. II must be
something in the atmosphere. She
tossed and tossed and hounced aud
nounced. She counted up TO thou
sands. She made her mind q blank
escape the emptiness of IT, Still her
eyes were wi6s sna her mind fairly
a-quiver with activity. She slipped
out Of bed She would tire herself
lnte sleep. She even dressed. SAe
would show herself II she must be
@idnight prowler, she would wear the
garments people affect when they
have their thoughts and energies on
matters mundane. Drawing the oil
stove close to the window fronting
the street, she sank into a chair. drew
. heavy shawl over her shoulders. put
Der feet on the tiny fender and pre-
pared to fatigue herself into Oblivion.
A light shone from the window
across the way. He was still at work.
then. He ought not to sit up so late.
No wonder he WAS looking SO worn
out lately. He ought To have some
one TO look after him. He never
thought of himself. He never had
time. She would talk to him about
Keeping such late hours-if she were
not going back to Gods country next
week Only next week Ii was too
&oOu 10 bt YET SHr SlEHti.
But there was no other wa. She
ought never to have come. She was
not big enough He. too had told her
che was not the kind. Doubtless. he
knew. And she didn't belong to any
body here. She was glad she was GO
ting back to where she belonged to
somebody. She would never go away
again.
Was that Gordon passing back and
forth in front of the window? Some
thing must be troubling him Was
1t because Jesse Black had escaped >
But what glorious vindication of his
belief in the mans guilt had that
afternoon been given. Nothing lacked
there. Why should he be sorry =?
Sometimes, she thought he might care
that day crossing the river for in
stance. but he was reserved-he
never said-and it was much, much
better that he did not care. now that
che was going away and would never
come back. There was nothing in all
the world that could make her come
back to this big, bleak. lonesome land
where she belonged to nobody. But
she was sorry for him. He looked sad
and lonely. He didn't belong to any.
body here. either. yet he wasn't going
TO run away as she was. Well. but he
vas a man. and men were different
And now she noticed that his head
had sunk down onto his arms. How
still he sat- The minutes passed
away Still he SAT rrotionleSs his Face
buried
Ii was dark The yellow gleam
streamin out of the window only
served to make the surrounding dark
ness denser- The lamp on the table
cast pale circle Immediately in from,
OF the Office. There was no other
flicker of light on the street Into
this circle there moved shadow. /,
retreated - advanced again - glided