The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-09-07
CHAPTER xv-(continued).

He did not know tnat. Wol4Sn
have learned through centuries q
veakness that fine art Of conceaiment
which man has never mastered. Sne
never let him see what she thougnt q y
Rim. Yet he was not without sus-
picion: II that suspicion grew to Ger
tainty. would he control himself tnen!
All flrst he had sought to keep out
Of her way, but she had compelled
him to come In. The room that was
kitchen and bed room and store room
for him was cheerless and somewhat
cold. Save at night or when he was
busy with other tasks outside they
lived togethed in the great room. II
was always warm, 1t was always
bright, it was always cheerful, there.
The little piles of manuscript she
had noted were books that ne mao
written. He made. no effort to con-
ceal such things from her. He talked
frankly enough about his life In the
hills. indeed there was no POSSIBLE
fly of avoiding the discussion OF such
topics. On but two subjects was he
inexorably silent. One was the pres
emit state Of his affections and the
other was the why and wherefore OF
his lonely life. She knew beyond per-
adventure that he loved her, but she
had no faint suspicion even as to the
reason why he had become reclusei
He had never given her the slightest
clew to his past save that admission
that he had known Kirkby which was
In itself nothing defnitive and which
she never connected with that pack
age of letters which she still kept
with her.
The mans mind was too active and
fertile to be satisfied with manual
labor alone, the books that he had
written were scientific treatises In the
main One was a learned discussion
of the fauna and fora of the noun
tains. Another was an exhaustive &C
count of the mineral resources and
geological formations of the range.
He had only to allow a whisper, a
suspicion Of his discovery Of gold and
silver In the mountains to escape him,
and the canons and crests alike would
be filled with eager prospectors. Still
third work was scientific analysis
Of the water powers In the canons,
He had willingly allowed her to
read them all. Much Of them she
found technical and, aside from the
fact that he had written them, unin.
teresting. But there was one book
remaining In which he simply dis.
cussed the mountains in the various
seasons of the year; when the SHOWS
covered them, when the grass and the
moss came again, when the flowers
bloomed, when autumn touched the
trees. There was the soul of the
man. poetry expressed In prose, man
alike but none the less poetry for that
This book pored over, she questioned
him about 1t; they discussed it as they
discussed Keats and the other poets
Those were happy evenings. She
on one side Of the fire sewing. he1
finger wound with cloth to hold his
giant thimble, fashioning for hersel1
some winter garments out Of a gay
colored, red, white and black ancient
and exquisitely woven Navajo blank
ct, soft and pliable almost as an old
fashioned piece of satin-priceless L
she had but known (which he pu
at her disposal. While on the othel
side of the same homely blaze BIZ
made for her out of the skins of some
Of the animals that he had killed.
shapeless foot covering, half mecca
sin and wholly leggin, which sht
could wear over her shoes in hel
short excursions around the platea,
and which would keep her feet warn
and comfortable.
BY her permission he smoked as h
worked, enjoying the hour. putting
sside the past and the future and fol
q few moments blissfully content