Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1911-03-17
FRANCIS LYNDE

| work when the furnace whistle blew,
| riding home with his father behind old
Longfellow; but on this particular
evening Kinderling, the architect, miss
ed his South Tredegar train, and Tom
spent an extra hour with him. discuss
Ing further and future possibilities of
expansion. Kinderling got away on
later train, and Tom closed his office
and took the long mile up the pike
afoot In the dusk of the autumn even
Ing. thinking pointedly of many things
mechanical and Industrial and never
by any chance forereaching to the
och-marking event that was await
ing him at the Woodlawn gate
His hand was upon the latch Of the
ornamental side wicket opening on the
home foot-path when a woman,
crouching in the shadow of the great
gate pillar. rose suddenly and stood
before him. He did not recognize her
at first; 1t was nearly dark. and her
head was snooded in a shawl. Then
she spoke, and he saw that 1t was Nan
| cy Bryerson-a Nan sadly and terri
bly, changed. but must much of the
wild-creature of face and form still
remaining.
You done forgot me. Tom jeff" she
milton: II allow I have changed some"
Surely I haven't forgotten you. Nan.
But you took me by SURPRISE; and
can't see In the dark any better than
most people. What are you doing down
here in the valley so late in the even
ing?" He tried to say 1t superiority
paternally. as an older man might have
said 1t
all s,,Sk g. l.
out alone after night?" She with
hard little laugh. II reckon it ain't go
In to hurt me none; anyways. had TO
come. Paws been red eyed for week.
and he's huntin' for you, Tom-Jeff"
Hunting for me? Well, I'm not very
hard to find,'' he said, unconsciously re-
peating the answer he had made to the
horse traders warning
! Couldn't you make out to go off
somewheres for a little spell?" she
asked. half plea dinghy.
Run away, you mean? Hardly; I'm
too busy just at present. Besides,
haven't any quarrel with your father.
what's he making trouble about now"
/, She put her face in her hands, and
though she was silent, he could see
that sobs were shaking her Being nei-
| Their more nor less than a man. her
tears made him foolish He put his
arm around her and tried to find the
| comforting word.
How Ardea and Miss Euphrasia. I'd
ing the roundabout way from one house
to the other to avoid the dew-wet grass
Of the lawns, came fairly within arms
reach before he saw or heard them. re !.
manned thing inexplicable. But when
he looked up they were there, Miss En-
phrasia Strengthening herself aloof in
virtuous disapproval. and Ardea look-
ing as IL some one had suddenly shown
her the head of Medusa
Tom separated himself from Man Il,
hot-hearted confusion and stood as !.
culprtt taken in the act. Nan hid har
face again and turned away. It was
Miss Dabney the younger who found
words to break the smarting silence
Don't mind us. Mr. Gordon" she
said. icily. I'VE were going to Wood :
lawn to see II your father and motber
| could come over after dinner"
Tom smote himself alive ana noda
haste to open the foot-path gate for
I them. There was nothing more saith
or to be said: but when thew wara
gone and he was once more aIona wttb
Nan. he was fighting desperately with
very manlike desire to smash some
thing; to relieve the wrathful press,ro
/ by hurting. somebody.
you were going to tell me aho,,
your father" he said, striving IN hoIa
the interruption as If 1t had not haen
and yet tingling in every nerve to he
free. did you come all the way down
the mountain to warn me?"
II had to come anyway. He run mo
out. paw did"
"Heavens!" calculated Tom. pr,ck-
ling now with new sensation. .Ana
you haven't any place to stay?"
She shook her head.
mo. I was allowin' maybe vour
paw'd let me sleep where you-uns kesn
the hawsses-jest for little spell mi
could make out what-all I'm goin' to
do"
| He was too rageful to be quite clear
sighted. Yet he conceived that he had
duty laid on him. Once in the fool
ish. infatuated long-ago he had told
her he would take care of her; he re-
membered 1t: doubtless she was re
membering 1t, too. But her suggestion
was not to be considered for a. mo-
ment
Il can't let you go to the stables" he
objected. "The horse boys sleep thera
But I'll put roof over you. some way
Wait here a minute till 1 come back
His thought was to go to his mother
and ask her help: but halfway to the
house his courage failed him. Since
the breach in spiritual confidence he
had been better able to see the iovable
side Of his mothers faith: but he could
not be blind to that quality of hardness
in 1t which, even In such chastene6
souls as Martha Gordon's finds expires.
sion'in woman's inhumanity to woman
Besides. Ardea and her cousin were
,, still in the way.
He swung on his heel undecided. Or
i the hillside back of the new foundry
! there was one-roomed cabin built or
: the Gordon land years before by a her.
3 NIT Waterman of the Chiawassee plant
ri 1t was vacant, and Tom remembered
3 that the few bits of furniture had no
Z been removed when the old watchmar
died. Would the miserable shack d.
: for q temporary refuge for the outcast.
4 He concluded II would have to do; and
1 making wide Circuit of the house, ht
III went around to the stables to harnes.
zsengfellow to the buggy. Luckily, tn,
L negroes were all in the detached kitch.