Semi-weekly herald., 1911-01-30
CHAPTER II.
THE FOREST RANGER.

slept at all till after l. She was lame,
heart weary and dismayed. but she
rose and dressed herself as neatly as
before. She had decided to return to
Sulphur II cannot endure this" she
had repeated to herself hundred
times. 81 oiH noti'
Hearing the clntter of dishes, she
ventured with desperate courage into
the dining room, which was again
filled with cowboys. coal miners,
ranchers and their tousled families
and certain nondescript town loafers
Of tramp-like appearance.
Slipping into seat at the end of the
table which offered the cleanest cloth.
Lee Virginia glanced round upon her
neighbors with shrinking eyes. All
We're shoveling their food with knife
blades and guzzling their coffee with
bent heads. Their faces scared her,
and she dropped her eyes.
At her left, however. sat two men
whose greetings were frank and man
ly and whose table manners betrayed
a higher form of life One of them
was tall man with lean red face.
against which his blond mustache lay
like II chalk mark. He wore n cordu-
roy jacket cut in Norfolk style. md in
the collar of his yellow shirt green
tie was loosely knotted. His hands
were long and freckled. but We're man
ifestly trained to polite usages.
The other man was younger md
browner and Of n compact, athletic fig
ure On the breast Of his olive green
coat hung n silver badge which bore n
pine tree in the center. His shirt was
tan colored and rough, but his head
was handsome. He looked like
young officer In the undress uniform
of the regular army. His hands were
strong, but rather small, and the lines
Of his shoulders graceful. Most at
tractive of all were his eyes, SO brown,
so quietly humorous and SO keen.
/ In the rumble OF cheap and vulgar
talk the voices of these men appealed
to the troubled girl with great charm.
She felt more akin to them than to
any one else in the room, and from
time to time she raised her eyes to
their faces.
They were aware of her also, and
their gaze was frankly admiring as
well as wondering, and in passing the
ham and eggs or the sugar they CON
trived to show her that they consid-
cred her lady in n rough place and
that they would like to know more
about her.
She accepted their civilities with
gratitude and listened to their talk
with growing interest. II seemed that
the young man had come down from
the hills to meet his friend and take
him back to his cabin.
~ can't do 1t today. Ross" said the
older man. 81 wish l could, but one
meal of this kind Is all can stand
these days"
Mrs. Wetherford, seizing the mo
ment, came down to do the honors
"You fellers ought to know my girl
virginny, this is Forest Supervisor
Redaeld, and this is Ross Cavanagh
his forest ranger In this district. You
ought to know each other. My girls
Just back from school, and she don't
think much OF the Fork. It's little
too coarse for her"
Lee flushed under this introduction
and her distress was so evident that
both men came to her rescue.
The older man bowed and said, 81
didn't know you had daughter. Mrs
wetherford." And Cavanagh, with g
glance of admiration, added, "We'vt
been wondering who you might be-"
Lie went on. II thought I'd got rio
Of her. She's been away now fol
about ten years. don't know but II
was mistake. Looks like she's
grown a little too fine haired for ui
doughies out here"
$50 much the worse for u.s." replied
Redfeld.
This little dialogue gave the girl time
to recover herself. but ms Cavanagf
watched the blush fade from her face
leaving It cold and white. he sympa
thized with her-pitied her from the
bottom of his heart. He perceived that
he was a chance spectator of the first
scene in painful domestic drama
one that might easily become a trag
edy. He wondered what the forces
might be which had brought such q
daughter to this sioven. this virago
To see a maid of this delicate bloom
thrust into such place as Lie Weth
erford's "hotel' had the reputation OF
being reused Indignation.
when did you reach town. he
asked, and into his voice his admira
ton crept.
"Only last night"
"You find great changes herer
mot 30 great as in my mother. It''
alp She stopped abruptly. and be
understood.
Lie being drawn back to her cast
register. Redfield turned to say: my
dear young lady, don't suppose yor
remember me, but I knew you wher
you were tot Of FIVE or six. ! knew
your father very WELL"
"Did your" Her face lighted up.
"Yes, poor fellow; he went away
from here rather under a cloud, yol
know"
II remember a little Of II. wal
here when the shooting took place"
$50 you were. Well, since then muct
has happened to US ALL" he explained
to the ranger There wasn't room fol