Heppner gazette. [volume] (Heppner, Morrow County, Or.) 1892-1912, 1909-11-04

| irritated by the voice which Offered
| such a rasping contrast TO the one still
! echoing in her ears.
Found whom? AS If you didn't
know! l mean the man of did des
| tiny! He is a snake charmer. Pepeeta,
He Just fairly b-b- -bamboozled you!
was laughing in my sleeve and saying
| to myself, He's bamboozled Pepeeta;
but he can't BIB -bamboozle me.' When
he up and did it! Tee totally did it.
And if he can bamboozle me, he can
bamboozle anybody"
Did you understand what he said?''
Pepeeta asked.
Understand? Well, I should say
not! But between you and me and
the town p-p-pump it's all the better,
for If he can fool the people with that
kind of g-g- gihberish, he can certainly
f-f-fool them with the Balm of the B.
BBlessed Islands! First time l was
ever b. bamboozled in my life. Feels
queer. Our fortunes made, P-p-pepee-
ta."
His triumph and excitement were so
great that he did not notice the silence
and abstraction of his wife. His ar
dent mind invariably excavated a
channel into which it poured its
thoughts, digging it's bed SO deep as to
flow on unconscious Of everything else,
Exulting in the prospect of attaching
to himself companion so gifted, never
doubling for a moment that he could
do so, reveling in the dreams of wealth
to be gathered from the increased sales
of his patent medicine, he entered the
hotel and made straight for the bar
room, where he told his story with the
most unbounded delight.
Pepeeta retired at once to her room
but her mind was too much excited
and her heart too much agitated for
slumber She moved restlessly about
for a long time and then sat down at
the open window and looked into the
night. For the first time in her life,
the mystery of existence really dawned
upon her. She gazed with a new awe
at the starry sky. She thought Of that
Being OF whom David had spoken.
Questions which had never before Oc-
CURED to her knocked at the door Of
her mind and imperatiyely demanded
an answer. who am l? Whence did
l come? For what was created?
Whittier did I come? For what was
l created? Whittier am l going?" she
asked herself again and again with
profound astonishment at the newness
of these questions and her inability to
answer them.
For a long time she sat in the light
of the moon, and reflected on these
mysteries with all the power of her
untutored mind But that power was
soon exhausted, and vague. chaotic, abb
stract conceptions gave place to Il
definite image which had been eternal
ly impressed upon her inward eyes. 1t
was the figure of the young Quaker,
idealzed by the imagination of an ar
dent and emotional woman whose
heart had been thrilled for the first
time.
She began timidly to ask herself
what was the meaning of those feel
ings which this stranger had awakened
in her bosom. She knew that they
were different from those which her
husband inspired; but how different,
she did not know. They filed her with
a sort of ecstasy, and she gave herself
up to them. Exhausted at last by
these vivid thoughts and emotions she
rested her head upon her arms across
the window sill and fell asleep. 1t
must have been that the young Quaker
followed her into the land of dreams,
for when her husband aroused her at
midnight a faint flush could be seen
by the light of the moon on those
rounded cheeks.