The Havre herald. [volume] (Havre, Mont.) 1904-1908, 1908-01-10
CHAPTER I,

A loosely clad man, bearded and specta-
cled, and little on the right side OF
forty, sat on camp stool before small
field easel, and Iibeled the landscape at
his ease, pausing at his work now and
then and drawing back his head to survey
it with an air Of charmed appreciation
Near him. on the gnarled trunk of tree
and in che sha dow of a moss groWn rock.
sat lady some ten or Il dozen years
younger, leisurely torturing thread INTO
lace with a hooked needle.
A little way down the dell boy was
clambering among the rocks, shrieking
every now and then with 'ecstatic news OF
a beetle or a butterfly He was sturdy,
blue-eyed, golden-haired little fellow OF
i've. the picture of health. and he was
risking his limbs and chattering to all ami
mate and nanimate nature-a delightful
boy, and all alive from his golden head
80 his restless feet and tips OF his brown
little fingers The mother snatched him
70 her arms and covered him with kisses.
Suddenly she looked up, flushed, half pite-
Gus. with flash Of tears in her eyes.
Austin, feel afraid. Have a night
30 be so happy? Has any one a right to
aoe SO happy? Will it last?" -
w no Knows lie dIiSNeEsu. 1Iuih0A
affairs run in averages, but then the av-
erages are not individual. We have had
almost trouble enough in our time to have
paid for little joy. Let us take it CRATE
fully
''Sometimes," she said, "a shadow seems
TO fall upon it all-the shadow OF fear.
1.-THE shadow Of the past-experlence.
The burned child breads the fire. We are
burned children, both of us. Five years
sllness and poverty out OF seven years OF
ynarried life is large allowance. And,
after all, our present happiness isn't phe-
aomenai, my dear, though it looks so. We
have health and we value it because we
have each missed it in turn. We have
little money, and we think it great deal
because we have been so deadly poor
And then" he laughed and half blushed.
ave have little fame, and that is all
the pleasanter because we were so long
neglected Sweet is pleasure after pain
Il an dangerously happy" she answer
ed
Come. let us unpack the luncheon bas-
ket. Cold chicken. Salad. Bread.
Cheese Milk. There we are. Fall to-.
Sit down by your mother, Cupid. Take
a pull at the milk old man, and then
you'll have an appetite. What sudden
shadow"
cloud had foated between themselves
and the sun, and strange quiet had fall
en with the shadow on the woods.
Austin the wife whispered, there is
chat dreadful man again. 1t seems as if
he had brought the darkness with him"
A brown sloping path, covered still
he CHI in ho u
autumn, broke the wall Of green which
bounded the dell. and down this footway,
between the silver steps of the birches and
Ghe reddish stems OF the frs. walked a
ray-bearded man, with his head dropped
forward and his hands clasped behind him.
He looked neither 10 left nor right, but
went by as If unconscious Of their pres
ence. and in little while was lost be-
hind the thicker growth Of trees. AS he
went out of. sight the sun broke through
the cloud, the LEAKAGE was inundated with
life again and the birds renewed their
song.
Look she whispered; "the shadow
follows him.
,''What an odd mood this is to-day p
said her husband, smiling at her. AND
why is the poor old gentleman SO dread
ful?"
But, Austin, do you know? You can't
nave heard. He is known to have hatch.
ed plots against the Car"
well, yes. 1t is known also that he
has been wifeless and childless this TWEEN
ty years His wife and his two sons
died in Siberia. They went there without
trial, and people who know him say tina
the loss of them in that horrible wal
turned his brain. Suppose anybody stol.
you and little Austin? Suppose he drov,
you on foot through hundreds of miles O
Zee and snow? Suppose that he made 70,
herd with the human off-scourings of tn
world. and that you died after three o
four long-drawn, hideous years? 1t nigh
be wicked, but surely it would not b
quite without provocation if l blew tina
man sky-high. l don't say that regicid
Is thing to be commended. I don't dc
fend the poor old gentleman's politics
opinions. But I do say that human na
ture is human nature"
Luncheon over, he returned to hi
painting, to find the lights all changed
He worked away, however, with gres
contentment for an hour or two, while til
wife and the boy wandered beyond tt
limits of the dell. When they came bac
they found that he had packed up h
traps and was lying at length on tt
moss, with his face turned to the sky.
81 do this better than paint" he sal
cooking an idle eye at his wife from b
meath the soft white felt which rested {
his nose. Shall we get back now?"
II want to carry something, papa
said the boy, possessing himself of Il
camp stool. They sauntered on togeth
TRANQUILITY through the twinkling ligh
which dazzled from between the leave
and their steps were noiseless on t
dense carpet Of fir needles. The boy la
down his burden to chase a sulphur-c,
ored butterfly. They had gone hundr
yards before they missed him, and VIII
they turned to look for him he was Sc
at the far end of a wooded vista, seat
on the camp stool.
Look at the little figure, Lucy" 80