The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1911-06-08

Come: let us walk together"
By slow degrees she brought out that
she had come TO America because there
are fields open TO women in which they
may make their living. She had no
dcwry, and In Spain a dowry was nee
essary to marriage; therefore she pre-
ferred TO be occupied among those OF
her own sex who were used to work
and where there was work to do.
There Is no work to do up in these
mountains" | said
The question took her unawares.
That her presence in America was not
explained by anything she had told me
did not doubt. But what was her
object in coming2 As we walked on
| probed the matter. wondering all the
while at the strange occurrence. Then
suddenly theory suggested itself to
me. Might she not have come to pro-
tect mel And would she have come
all the way across an ocean on my ac-
count except for one reason-that she
loved me?
But such a suspicion l was not in-
elined to make known to Dolores.
Nevertheless 1t caught my fancy ane
brought a wild Joy to my heart. Set
apart from those with whom had
been reared, dead to every living be-
ing l had known, the bare suspicion
that this girl loved me and loved me
so well that she had come all the way
from my beloved Spain for me was
like new birth to me. With this girl
for a companion would be willing to
live on in my changed existence.
/ said no more TO her as to the rea-
son for her coming. In any event 1t
was her secret, provided she chose to
keep II secret, and not mine. found
that she was stopping at house not
far from mine, and there later on I
left her, having arranged TO call and
walk with her the next morning
And so l did In that mountain afr
we strolled. invigorated not only by
It's purity, but by the companionship
of Dolores. But while l grew strong
she seemed to be wasting away.
Something was distressing her. l ask
ed her TO confess 1t to me, and she
declined. / pressed her to do so, and
in a spasm Of feeling she cried:
"If you don't leave shall go mad"
To express my sympathy took her
hand In mine. but she snatched 1t
away.
zone would suppose" said, wound
ed, ''that viper had touched you"
'Or that you had touched viper.
she replied.
was looking her in the face at the
time she said this and saw her bite her
lip. Perhaps the words and the ac-
ton should have given me a clew to
her secret, but they did not was as
much puzzled as ever.
One day when we were walking TO-
gether we met woman with DARK
hair and eyes.
"That woman" said, "came eithei
from Spain or Mexico. At any rate
she's Spanish"
I turned TO look at Dolores and saw
that she was struggling with some
emotion. But by this time had Civ
en- over questioning her upon these
strange matters and said nothing. To
attempt to extract from her their
cause seemed only to madden her.
We met the same woman again the
next day, and saw on her face a
look that assured me that there was
some understanding between them;
but, as before, refrained from speak
ing of 1t.
One night l awoke with a start.
The moon, shining in at the window,
showed a woman's figure standing
near. She held something in one
hand, while with the foreanger Of the
other she was smearing what she held.
Then suddenly she flung the article
out Of the window. A ray Of moon
light struck it and revealed what ]
took to be a knife.
1 rose, supporting myself on my ell
bow, and asked:
"Whos thereP'
A hand grasped mine-a hand cold
as fee.
flush! / am Dolores"
"What are you doing hereT'
Don't interrupt me while tell you
and what to do. Our lives depend
upon It. came to America ordered
by the circle to kill you. A woman
was sent with me to see that / did the
work. She Is the Spanish woman we
met. Tonight ] told her that ! would
come to your room. plunge a dagger
into your heart and throw the dagger
out of the window to prove to her
that l have done the deed. l have
smeared 1t with beef's blood. She Ii
to leave by one route. l by another
she by the stony Glove and l by the
Glove leading down eastward. Good
byl"
"Doloresp' 1 cried. "I win 60 with
your
"Where-to deathr
"we will hide ourselves from the
world"
Hide yourself. If you are discov'
cred alive l must die"
"But, Dolores, darling, this WON
an, not hearing Of murder here, will
Know that you have not done the
deed"
81 have thought Of that. But she
will not stop till she reaches Madrid
"Go with me, sweetheart love
you and SO far as I can viii protect
you"
That was many years ago. recall
how, long before day we met at the
mouth of the Glove; how we walked
ten miles to a railway station and
boarding a train, went so far as those
| aaA