Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-07-21
CHAPTER III-(Continued.)

sN~A
His face was not only comely, 1t was
strong. magnetic. The black hair and
eyes bespoke a vigorous temperahiehe
full beard, closely cropped, served
rather to accentuate the fine INES Oh
mouth and chin. There was no upper
hous flesh about the laceAD
pufiness; 1t was thin with the nealtny
thinness which tells Of a busy ilie' anu
Drowned by exposure to wlnd anu SUI SUI,
1t was, altogether, a manly lacS, ~
the merely Handsome one which ] had
rather expected. My eyes were Drawn
especially to his hand as he passed ~
hastily across his forehead-a hahu
firm. white, with slightly taperlne
fngers-an artists hand Whlch one
would scarcely connect with an en-
gineer Of construction. ,,
"There's really very little "a teli
YOU" he said, at last. when L 90"
| Marcia this morning an
His voice choked and he paused I'M
able for the moment TO go n
"Iet us begin farther back than that
Nv CI,rtiss" suggested, knowing thal
the beginning was the hardest par
Mr.. Royce tells me you were lass
mates. When did you graduate from
college?"
Seven years ago" Nor,
Anu you N"
York;" ua.;or for the
Pennsylvania road" .no rood
You were given a place on the ro""
At once?" r,oce
"Yes-not q very important pace
| out one with a chance for prollotIol,
which was all I asked. l was sta.ioneu
! at Pittsburg for three years anu 'h o
called east TO work on the DIVISION pe-
tween New York and P~hiladeIphla. a
yaars ago. I was made assistant at the
headquarters office" ,
Rather a remarkable career, L
commented, smiling I.
Not at ALL" he protested quickly;
81 liked the work, and | was wen
I saw that l should a V to revise
nv opinion of him-certainly ne was
aot conceited.
! ccncc?" ! asked.
last December-the 10th, to be
mite accurate-tust six months ago
today"
Again his voice trailed away into a
,ort of hoarse whisper, though ne
ried desperately to control 1t.
Wont you tell me about it,"
rs it necessary" he questioned mis-
! erably. II don't want to talk.
Il know you don't, and don't Want
20 make you. But if I'm to help,
must know the whole story"
} Pardon me, Mr.. Lester" he said,
pulling himself together by a mighty
| effort. "Of course o must. Only
give me time. Im-Im-."
All the time in the world" | as
! sured him, and settled back in my
chair to listen.
I'VE had a bad grade crossing just
east of Elizabeth" he began, after a
| moment, In a steadier tone. 1T was
an ugly place, with q driveway coming
down a stiff hill and meeting our
| racks at an angle which prevented a
elear view Of them. We kept a flag
man there, of course, but nevertheless
accidents happened right along. A
skittish horse, once started down the
aill and frightened perhaps by the
! whistle and rumble Of the approaching
train, would be pretty hard to stop"
l nodded. I had seen just such muir
derous crossings.
$50 the company determined to
ouild a viaduct there, and last Decem
Der sent me out to look over the
ground. I reached there about 9 O'Clock
in the morning, and by noon had all
my data and was ready to come back
10 the city.
"'Can you flag this train for me,
TohnH l asked the flagman, as !
heard a whistle down the line.
mo, sir he answered; cant dc it,
sir. That's the limited, but there'll be
, local along 10 minutes after it.
"All right l said, and went up the
bank a bit to sit down and wait for it.
The limited whistled again, Just
lround the curve, and then I heard the
nasman give a yell and start up the
ALL, waving his flag like mad.
Jumped up and saw that a buggy con-
tanning two women had Just started
sown and that the horse was beyond
control. 1t didn't take me above a min
ate to run over, get the horse by the
pridle, and stop him. / held the track
record for everything up to the half
mile while I was at Shelf" he added,
with a little apologize smile.
/ nodded again; only, / thought I
should like to hear the fiagman tell
the story.
THE horse had knocked me about
q Bit" he went on, and kicked me on
the legs once or twice, so when T LET
20 the bride I was a little wobbly-
made a fool Of myself, / suppose Any
way, l was bundled into the buggy
n taken back to Elizabeth, where
the women lived"
Yes" / encouraged him. for he
seemed TO have come to a full stop:
and them
Well, they took me home with
them and fixed me up as though j
were a plaster baby. The elder WON
an introduced herself as Mrs. Law
renee and the younger as her daugh-
ter, Marcia. They made me stay for
tea"
He stopped again.
Il don't know how to tell the rest
Mr.. Lester" he blurted out. "Only
Marcia Lawrence was the diyinest
woman i ever met. Royce used 10
!augh at me for having an ideal"
Yes, he told me-" I said.
Well, / knew instantly that I'd
found her. And she was very good
to me-better than / knew how 10
deserve. Three months ago. she
promised to be my wife-we were 10
have been married at noon today"
He sat with bowed head and work
ING face, unable TO go on.
I'VE were happy-she was happy
know it," he cried ferceiy, after a
moment. There wasn't a cloud-not
single cloud. 1t was too perfect.
,uppose-too perfect for this world,
rye heard that perfect things don't
asst. But l don't understand Il can't
understand"
"Nr Royca told ma sba,d d,san