The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-11-16

tsts"
But what las that to do with your
coming to American
TO meet one il the flesh whom ven .
cave supposed TO he dead YOU u.ust
admit is Liable to cause u shock" she !
replied without noticing my question |
"But'
'Corue, let us walls together"
BY slow degrees she hrouSht out that
she had cone 10 hnrrica because there
are fields oprs TO vomrn in which they
may make their living She had no
dowry. ana In Spain Cowry wa> nee.
sssary to marriage; Therefore she pre-.
Herred to be occupied sE,orx these ot
her OWE sex who were used to vsrk
and where there WAS work 20 do.
There ~ 10 work to do up IN these
mountains. | mid
The question took her unarares
That her presence in America was not
explained ny anything sine had told me
/ did not doubt But what WINS her
object In coming? Az we walked on
! probed the matter. wondering all the
while at the strange occurrence. Then
suddenly a theory suggested itself to
me. Might she not have come to pro
tect me? 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 | WIS not in
clined to make known to Dolores
Nevertheless ii caught my fancy ana
brought wild joy to my heart. Set
apart from those with whom l had
been reared, dead to every living be
ing ] 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 cheese to
keep it secret. and not mine. found
that she was stopping at house not
far from mine. and there later on |
left her, having arranged to call and
walk with her the next morning.
And so did In that mountain air
we stroled, | invigorated not only by
its purity. but by the companionship
of Dolores. But while l grew stronc
she seemed to he wasting away
Something was distressing her. ! ask
ed her to confess it to me, and she
declined. | pressed her to do so. and
in a spasm of feeling She cried;
eff you don't leave | shall 20 mad.
To express my sympathy took her
hand in mine, but she snatched II
away.
zone would suppose, said, wound
ed. that Il viper had touched you.
''Or that you had touched a viper
she replied.
was looking her in the face at the
time she said this and SaW her lite hei
lin. Perhaps the words ana the ac
ton should have given me clew t.
her secret but they did not. was a.
much puzzled rs ever
one day when we were walking to
gpthpr we met woman with darh
hair and eyes
THAT woman" said, came eithel
from Spain or Mexico. At any rate
she's Spanish"
turned to look at Dolores and saw
that she was struggling with som'
emotion. But by this time | had CIV
ell over questioning her upon thes'
strange matters and said nothing. IL
attempt to extract from her thsi
cause seemed only to madden her
We met the same woman again I'M
next day. and | saw on her face
look that assured me that there wa
some Understandable between them
but as before, | retroined from speak
ing OF 1t.
One night ! awoke with start
The moon. shining In at the window
, showed woman's figure stsndin
near. She held something In on
hand. while with the forefinSer of tn
other she was smearing what she hels
Then suddenly she nung the articl
ont of the window. 4 ray or moor
light struck 1t and revealed what
took to be knife.
. l rose. supporting myself on my
bow, and asked;
"Whos there|
A hand grasped mine-a hand col
as ice.
J, Hush! | am Dolores"
= "What are you doing here"
. Don't interrupt me while tell 20
and what to do. Our lives dcnen
upon It. came to America ordere
I by the circle to kill you. \ woma
was sent with me to see that l did I'll
$ work. She is the Spanish woman "
Il met Tonight ! told her that | wouI
) come to your room. plunge a dag@'
o into your heart and throw the dagg'
ont of the window to prove TO ht
that have done the deed ! ha7
l smeared it with beef's blood She
g to leave by one route, by anothe