The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-10-01


He had only to allow q 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 tho
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
like but none the less poetry for that.
This book pored over, she questioned
him about it; they discussed it as they
discussed Keats and the other poets.
Those were happy evenings. She
on one side of the fire sewing, her
finger wound with cloth to hold his
giant thimble, fashioning for herself
some winter garments out of gay
colored, red, white and black ancient
and exquisitely woven Navajo blank
ct, soft and plable almost as an old
fashioned piece of satin-priceless If
she had but known (which he put
at her disposal. While on the other
side of the same homely blaze he
made for her out of the skins of some
of the animals that he had killed, a
shapeless foot covering, half mecca
sin and wholly leggin. which she
could wear over her shoes in her
short excursions around the plateau
and which would keep her feet warm
and comfortable.
By her permission he smoked as he
worked, enjoying the hour, putting
aside the past and the future and for
a few moments blissfully content.
Sometimes he laid aside his pipe and
whatever work he was engaged upon
and read to her from some immor-
tai noble number. Sometimes the en-
tertainment fell to her and she sang
to him in her glorious contraltO voice
music that made him sad. Once he
could stand it no longer. At the end
of burst of song which filled the lit
tie room-he had risen to his feet
while she sang, compelled to the erect
position by the magnificent melody
as the last notes died away and she
smiled at him triumphant and eXpec-
tant of his praise and his approval, he
hurled himself out of the room and
into the night, wrestling for hours
with the storm which after all was
but a trifle to that which ragged in his
bosom. While she left alone and de-
serted, quailed within the silent room
till she heard him come back.
, Often and often when she slept
quietly on one side the thin partition,
he lay awake on the other, and some
times his passion drove him forth to
cool the fever, the fire in his soul in
the icy, wintry air. The struggle
within him preyed upon him, the keen
loving eye of the woman searched his
face, scrutinized him, looked into his
heart, saw what was there.
She determined to end it, deciding
that he must confess his affections.
She had no premonition Of the truth
and no consideration of any evil con.
sequences held her back. She could
give free range to her love and her
devotion. She had the ordering Of
their lives and she had the power to
end the situation growing more and
more impossible. She fancied the
, matter easily terminabe. She thought
she had only to let him see her heart
In such ways as maiden may, to
bring joy to his own to make him
speak. She did not dream of the re-
ality.
One night, therefore, a month or
more after she had come, she re-
solved to end the uncertainty. She
believed the easiest and the quickest
way would be to get him to tell her
why he was there. She naturally sur
missed that the woman of the picture,
which she had never seen since the
first day of her arrival, was in some
measure the cause of it; and the only
pain she had in the situation was the
keen jealousy that would obtrude
itself at the thought of that woman.
She remembered everything that he
had said to her. and she recalled that
he had once made the remark that
he would treat her as he would have
his wife treated if he had one. there
fore whoever and whatever the pic
ture of this woman was, she was not
his wife She might have been some
one he had loved, but who had not
loved him. She might have died. She
was jealous of her, but she did not
fear her.
After long and painful effort the
woman had completed the winter suit
she had made for herself. He had ad.
vised her and had helped her. 1t was
a belted tunic that fell to her knees;
the red and black stripes ran around
it, edged the broad collar, cuffed the