Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-04-03


been long calls on pleasant summer
nights and plans for what they would
do when Jim should have completed
his probation as engineer and should
be given a regular run.
Myra had promised to marry him
when all this should come to pass.
They would live at the end of the
division, where they was a town OF
10000 inhabitants and where the
dreary monotony of the plains was
broken by the close proximity of the
mountains Yet when Jim had come
| to claim her hand, aglow with joy over
his promotion, she had drawn back.
Il can't leave dad" she explained
simply. Mother told me to take care.
of him, and ! promised her that I
would Promises to the dead can't be
broken, Jim
But she didn't mean that you must
spend your whole life and give up
your own happiness just to make Mr..
Sackett comfortable" the man denied.
''She didn't mean that, Myra. She
only meant you were to look after him
in way. Your pa would be just as
well satisfied with a hired cook
| Myra shook her head in negatio1
even while she knew that what jim
said was true. In the summer when
the crops were in there We're half a
dozen men to cook for, and from morn
ing until late in the night she toiled iii
the hot kitchen. In the winter Sackett
spent much of his time in the nearest
town, some eighteen miles away, leav-
ing Myra alone in the homestead.
1t was of these things she thought
as she looked out across the pillows OF
Iunlovely earth and wondered if per-
haps the sacrifice was not in vain. 1t
was much as Jim had said-Robert
Sackett would be as happy and as
comfortable under the ministrations Of
a hired housewife.
Day after day she had stood in the
doorway after Jim's train had passed.
wondering if perhaps she had not
made more than the sacrifice that her
mother had demanded and seeking
some sign by which she might be
guided. No sign came, however, and
there was only the dreary prospect of
an amending round of drudgery, with
no compensating words of thanks ard
affection.
Her hands clinched as she thought
of the last two years, those years in
which she might have been Purdy's
wife, when she might hav&exchanged
the dreary round of the quarter sec
ton for a coy home i'm town where
the Rockies lowered above them and
all was not fiat and deadly monotonous
Of outline.
She still stood there as the familiar
team attached to the heavy farm wag-
ON crept over the edge of the nearest
billow of earth. Sackett. i'm the driy-
er's seat, gave no heed to Myra's sig
II mailing, but drove stoIidly on until ut
hast he had. turned into the home IT,
tkclosure and numbered down from the
seat, tossing to Myra a couple OF let
tiers addressed in Purdy's familiar
: handwriting.
1T was late when l got through last
night" he said sheepishly as he re-
moved with care demijohn from the
wagon box and took it into the barn.
Myra nodded Understandings. 1t al
, ways was late when her father con-
cluded his simple business errands, too
late to make it worth while to get back
: to the homestead that night He salved
his conscience with this time worn
fiction and spent roisterous night at
the Eagle hotel. She left him to put
7 up the tired horses, while she hurried
into the house to read her letters and
, prepare dinner.
5 Her soul stirred at the thought of the
drudgery before her young life for the
i sake of man who left her alone in
7 the sod house while he spent the night
l dissipating i'm town. Jim's pleadings
, We're hard to resist, and as she tucked
the letters into her workbox she prayed
5 for sign for her guidance.
, When Sackett came in dinner was
smoking on the table, and he pulled up
his chair with grunt of satisfaction.
! The meal was enlivened by no gossip
+ of the town. Sackett ate in stony ST.
lence, now and then regarding his
daughter from beneath his bushy eye
brows. Myra's hands clinched under
the tableclOth as she noted the sign.
1t was a certain indication that he
had to confess some indiscretion which
he knew he could not conceal from her.
/
the market money In an, effort to beat
a card sharper ut three card monte
Sackett carefully finished off a Sec
ond helping of pie, but he did not push
back his chair as sign that he was
through. The wrinkled cheeks rcd
dened under the tan, and his eyes grew
small and cunning.
81 got to go to town again tomor.
row." he announced. Il met the Wild.
ow Lusk. and she says she'll marry
me. She don't think it right that you
should be left alone SO much with no
mother to look after you"
Are you marrying the widow on my
accountT asked Myra coldly.
THE widow is fine woman" de-
clared Sackett, a twinkle Of apprecia-
ton in his beady eyes. "Of course I'll
admit that kinder like her, but she's
right when she says you're left too
much alone. I'll drive In tomorrow and
bring her out"