The Green Forest tribune., 1908-08-21

1 would not have to endure the depress.
 ing rain clouds hanging over the Mes.
 qualmie hills. When Mrs. Kellen ] should see fit to give Kellen divorce,
 they would be married. Kellen gave l his wife no hints, but left the blow to l fall upon her without warning. He wanted his scheme to succeed and to
 avoid hindrances, ard @as therefore very cautious.
 They selected Friday evening for their departure, notwithstanding the evil devil that presides over that day, because Miss Van Wyck would not be inquired for till Monday morning. when the children should return to school, and that would give them 6 l big start. She told the horse owner | of the village from whom she hired the horses that she was going riding down the river, to Ballerton with a friend who would call for her at the house
 where she dwelt-that she had time to make the proper arrangements,
 while he had not-and accordingly the horses were left at her dcor.
 The owls were hootiag ir the shad
 ows when she reached the rendezvous al the grade-fOot, and the river was
 growing among the willows. Her nerves were on razor edge when kel' len,s train went by, and back among the trees, she jerked her restless horses bobbing head with aimless ana
 unreascning viciousness.
 But kellen did not get off as the train skurried along puffing and fash
 ing it's lights. Miss Van Wyck sat
 waiting on her horse 6 long time, star ing after the train and biting her lips,
 while her heart variously fiutteTed and
 sank and stood still. The gloom of the woods increased and was impaEted to her soul She waited stoically for an hour, hopelessly and wOnderinGly, and then turned toward NesQu2lnie.
 A quarter of mic above the tryst- ing spot the Rogue runs between nar- TOW shores like a mad river, and a railroad bridge crosses it there. At the train drew near the bridge, keilen was seen to go cut on the platform and look ahead, according to a custom of
 his Later the forward brakeman missed him. and he was found nc more upon the train.
 Down the riV6r mile from where he should nave dropped eff to join
 Miss Van Wyck with an eager smile on his face. the river spreads out sud- denly over a fiat in shadows. and here tC
 qualmie. Miss Van Wyck rode through tie fir trees under the moonlight to tiis spot. and there she saw something in the river close to the bank. half in ard half out of the willow shadows.
 l. was going round and round slowly
 in an eddy, and it's white face was tuRled up to the moon. No doubt it | looked ghastly, for when she galloped into Nesqualmie half an hour later. she
 was raving and wringiws her hands in
 a state of hysteria. Her nerves had been seriously shocked, and as she
 swayed and shook in the saddle it was gathered out of her incoherent moan
 ings and self-reproaches that some thing was wrong at the ford.
 Some men went out tsare. and there they recovered kellen's Body from the
 river; and they picked up the horse
 that had been led for him, browsing along the road. Afterward. it was found that a signboard on a post that | stood close to the railroad track at the
 bridge where he disappeared had been twisted half around. l. was thought that he leaned too far out and struck
 tat, which was criminally close to the track; and it is probable that at the
 time when Miss Van Wyck was wait
 ing for him in the grisly timber with
 parted lips and heaving breast, he was
 washing heedlessly by, his ears deaf
 and his eyes blind, in the current Of
 the Rogue.
 The horse owner and the nurse who attended Miss Van Wyck through the fever that followed the hysteria, and listened to her delirious babble, fur ! nished information that patched out ! her story. Kellen was buried at Mo- kuhlteno, where his wife lived, and no
 enc whispered anything to his wife
 about Miss Van Wyck; so the fading little woman, with the pathos
 charged eyes of blue, grieved over him sincerely. The funeral took place
 while Miss Van Wyck was delrious,
 and Kellen was some time in his grave
 when she recovered. This saved her pain, because she could not have gone to the funeral had she been well, being unknown to his wife, and having nc recognized ground of acquaintance with him that would have justified it. As soon as she was well she resigned 1 her school and hurried away from Nesqualmie. She now teaches school in the south of California in bare, flat region where the sun shines all | the time. She cannot endure rain, nor clouds, nor mountains, nor woods
 and running water in the moonlight
 turns her sick and shuddering.