Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1909-07-03
CHAPTER XIV.
A MYSTERY is UNRAvELED.


his quarters Gale knocked at his door,
for the traders visit coupled with the
late hour and his sOmber countenance,
forecast new complications.
He's here to object, but it won't
CO." thought the lieutenant as he made
his visitor welcome.
Meade swung his big reading chair
out beneath the hanging lamp and. go
ing to the sideboard, brought back a
bottle. some glasses ard pouch of
tobacco Noting the cid mans sigh OF
fatigue as he sat himself Gown heavi
ly, lie remarked sympat hetically:
MIR. Gale you've mace long trip
today and you must lie tired. Ii this
talk is to he lengthy, why rot have Il
drink with NE now and postpone it un
ill tomorrow"
1--WE been tired for eighteen years. y
the other replied. Tonight l hope e.
get rested"
"Well. let's get at it," the younger
man finally said
81 suppose you'll want to interrupt
and question me Il heap, bat I'll ASA
you to let me tell this story the way
it comes to me till | get it out. Ike,
wise you'll want TO know what Ill
this has TO do with you and Ne"ia.
Yes; she told me about YOU and her,
and that's why I'm here" He paused
You really think you love her, do
you?"
Burrell removed his pipe and gazed
ut its coal impersonally.
Il love her so well, Mr. Gale, that
nothing you can say will affect me-
IL hcsitated at first about asking her
TO be my wife because-yOu'H appre'
ciate the unusual-well, her unusual
history. You sec, l come from coun-
try where mixed blood is about the
only thing that can't be lived down or
overlooked, and I've been raised with
notions Of family honor and pride OF
race and birth, and so forth, that
might seem preposterous and absurd
to you. But heap of cOnceits like
that have been bred into me from
generations back. They run in the
blood of every old family in my coun-
try, and so, I'm ashamed to say, |
hesitated and tried to reason myself
into giving her up, but I've had my
eyes opened, and l see how little those
things amount to, after all. I'm going
to marry Necia, Mr.. Gale. I'd like to
do it the day after tomorrow, Sunday,
but she isn't of age yet, and If you OBJ
ject we'll have to wait until NOvem-
Der, when she turns eighteen. We'd
both like your consent, of course. I'd
be sorry to marry her without it. But
if you refuse we'll be forced to dis
please you" He looked up and met
the fathers gaze steadily.
The other mans lips framed a faint
smile.
well see. wish to God I'd had
your decision when was your age.
This story would be different and cas-
Ter to tell" He waited a moment
then settled to his self appointed task.
II was mining at the time up in the
mother lode country of California,
which was the frontier then, pretty
much as this is now, only we had bet
ter things to eat. | was one of the first
men into a camp named Chandon-
helped to build it, in fact-and got hold
of some ground that looked real good.
1t was hard mining, however, and, be-
ing poor, | was still gripping my drill
and hammer after the town had grown
up.
Vermont it was-and schoolteaching
was her line Of business, only she
hadn't been raised to it, and this was
her first clatter at the game. Her
folks died and left her up against it,
! gathered from what little she told
me-sort of an old story, guess, and
usual, too, only for her. She was
plumb unusual"
He seemed to ponder this a moment
and then resumed:
1T don't make any difference to you
how l first saw her and how l began
to forget that anything else in the
world was worth having but her. I'd
lived in the woods all my life, as l
said, and knew more about birds and
bugs and bees than did about wom-
en-. l hadn't been broke proper and
didn't know how to act with them, but
l laid out to get this girl, and l did
fairly WELL There's something wild in
every woman that needs to be tanned,
and it isn't like the wildnesS that runs
in wood critters. You can win that
over by gentleneSs, but you have to
take it away from a woman. Every
live thing that couldn't talk was my
friend, but | made the mistake of
counting my own kind the same way,
not knowing that when two Of any
species mate the male must rule.
was too gentle. Even so, reckon I'd
have won out only for another man.
Dan Bennett was his name-the kind |
that dumb animals hate, and-well, |
that takes his measure. His range |
adjoined mine, and, though I'd never |
seen him, heard stories now and |
then-the sort Of tales you can't tell |
to q good woman-so it worried me |
when heard of his attentions to this
girl. Still, l thought she'd surely find
him out and recognize the kind Of fell
low he was; but, Lord, woman can't
tell man from a dog, and there
wasn't any one to warn her.
This Bennett came from the town
below, where he ran saloon and a
brace game or two; but, being as he
rode into our camp and out again in