New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1911-11-22

preston OF stern SADNESS. 1t Seeme(
as II her girlhood had died out Of he
and that she was about to begin tn,
same struggle with work and worr,
which had marked the lives Of all tn,
women she had known in her child
hood.
CHAPTER II.
THE FOREST RANGER.
ZEE VIRGINIA was awakened mex
morning by the passing Of som,
one down the hall calling at eacl
~ door, "Six oclocky' She had no
slept at al TIL after L She was lame
heart weary and dsmayed, but she
rose and dressed herself a. neatly al
before. She had decided to return t
Sulphur. II cannot endure this.'' she
had repeated to herself hundred
times. II soiE notv'
Hearing the clatter Of dishes, she
ventured with desperate courage into
the dining room, which was again
filed with cowboys. coal miners,
ranchers and their tousled families
and certain nondescript town loafers
of tramp-like appearance.
Slipping into a seat at the end Of the
table which offered the cleanest cloth,
Lee Virginia glanced round upon her
neighbors with shrinking eyes. All
were 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.
~ and whose table manners betrayed
higher form Of life. One Of them
was tall man with lean red face,
against which his blond mustache lay
like chalk mark He wore cordu-
roy Jacket cut in Norfolk style, and in
the collar Of his yellow shirt green
tie was loosely knotted. His hands
were long and freckled, but were man.
ifestly trained to polite usages.
The other man was younger and
browner and of a compact, athletic fig
ure. On the breast Of his olive green
coat hung silver badge which bore a
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
lime to time she raised her eyes to
their faces.
They were aware Of her also, and
heir gaze was frankly admiring as
we'll as wondering, and in passing the
nam and eggs or the sugar they con-
rived to show her that they consid-
,red her lady in a rough place and
hat they would like to know more
lbout her.
She accepted their civilities with
,ratitude and listened to their talk
With growing interest. 1t seemed that
he young man had come down from
he hills to meet his friend and take
i'm back to his cabin.
II can't do 1t today, Ross" said the
lder man. II wish I could, but one
neal Of this kind is all can stand
hese days."
Mrs. Wetherford, Selling the mo-
nent, came down to do the honors.
You fellers ought to know my girl.
'irginny, this is Forest Supervisor
:edAeld, and this is Ross Cavanagh,
is forest ranger in this district. You
ught to know each other. Ny girls
lst back from school, and she don't
hink much of the Fork. It's little
70 coarse for her"
Lee flushed under this introduction,
nd her distress was SO evident that
9th men came to her rescue.
The older man bowed and said, II
ldn't know you had daughter, Mrs.
7etherford." And Cavanagh, with a
lance Of admiration, added, "We've
cen wondering who you might be-"
Lie went on: II thought I'd got rid
her. She's been away now for
bout ten years. don't know but 1t
as q mistake. Looks like she's
own little too fine haired for us
,ughies out here"
$50 much the worse for u.s." replied
edfield.
This little dialogue gave the girl time
recover herself. but rs Cavanagh
atched the blush fade from her face.
lving it cold and white. he sympa-
lied with her-pitied her from the
tom Of his heart. He perceived that
was a chance spectator of the first
enc in a painful domestic drama
e that might easily become trag- 1
Y. He wondered what the forces :
ght be which had brought such
lighter to this sloven, this virago.
see a maid Of this delicate bloom
'ust into such place as Lie Weth- !
'ord's "hotel'' had the reputation Of I
ing reused indignation.
When did you reach town." he J
led, and into his voice his admira- {
n crept.