Rocky Ford enterprise. (Rocky Ford, Colo.) 1887-1950, 1913-08-01

boy II she was day. You didn't
have to tell me any more. l saw then
just like a fash in the dark what my
son had let himself in for. And then.
not month after. l heard the rest
about her, and ! knew that Dominick
had started in to ruin his life about
the best way he knew how"
Cannon gave another grunt, and
this time 1t contained a recognizable
note Of sympathy. She went on. abb
sorbed In her recital. anxious to pour
out her griefs, now that she had be-
gun.
Right there from the start I
thought of divorce. knew 1t was the
only way out and was bound to come
In time. The woman had married
Dominick for money and position.
knew that, saw It in her face along
with other things. There was no love
In that face. just calculation. hard and
sharp as meat ak. ! shut down on
the money right there and then. Dom
mick had three thousand a year. so
l knew he couldn'. starve. but three
thousand a year wasn't what she'd
married him for"
She's got along on It for over two
years"
That's 1t. She's beaten me SO far.
I'm the keeper Of Con Ryan's fortune
and l Just closed my hand on 1t and
said to her in SO many words, Not
| cent Of this for you / thought she'd
tire of struggling along in fiat with
| one Chinaman and not soul to come
near her. But she's stood 1t and she's
going to go on standing 1t. Where
| she's concerned, / did something the
smartest men and women sometimes
| do-underrated the brains of my en-
| envy"
She's pretty smart, 1 guess" said
Cannon, raising a gravely-comment-
ing eye to his companions face.
That's what she is-smart and
long-headed. She's more far-sighted
than women of her kind usually are
tune. She's not going to give us a
chance for divorce. She's not going
to make any breaks or mistakes.
| There's not a more respectable wom-
an in San Francisco. She doesn't go
with any one but her husband and her
own sisters. two decent women that
you can't believe have the same blood
in them. She's the quletest. most do
nestle kind of wife. 1t don't mat
ter. and nobody knows. that she's
making her husband the most miser-
able man in the country. That doesn't
cut any ice. What does is that there's
no ground for divorce against her. II
she had the kind OF husband that
put up with anything from a woman.
all he could do would be to leave her
and she'd go around then getting ev-
erybody's sympathies as virtuous,
deserted wife"
The old man gave his head an ap-
preciative jerk, and murmured:
"A pretty smart woman, all right"
She's all that-that and more. It's
the future that she's banking on. I'm
nearly seventy years OF age. Bill Can
non, and this has broken me up more
| than anything that's gone before. I'm
not the woman ! was before my boy
married. And what's going to hap
pen when die? I've only got two
-, living children. Outside them there's
nobody but some distant relations that
Con made settlements on before he
died. II left all I've got to CorDelia
or divided 1t up between Cornelia and
charity. cutting off my son because
he'd made a marriage l didn't like
would such a will as that stand? Why
| had ] left nothing to my only son
Because he'd married a woman
didn't think good enough? And what
was there against her? She'd been a
| typewriter and her husbands mis-
tress for six months before he mar
ried her. The mistress part OF 1t had
been condoned by marriage and good
conduct-and after all. how many
families in San Francisco and other
places were founded on Just those
beginnings? As for her being a type
writer, Della Ryan herself had been
| a washerwoman, washed for the min
ers with these hands; she held out
her blunt. beringed hands with one of
those dramatic gestures natural to
the Irish-"when Con was working I'M
derground with his pick / was at the
wash-tub. and l made money that way
for him to run the mine. Where's the
California jury that would hesitate to
award Dominick. and through him his
wife her part of the fortune that Con
and'I nader"
well, that's all possible" Cannon
said slowly. but it's so far of. It's
all surmise. You may live twenty
years yet. I fancy she'd find twenty
years wait under the present condi-
lions rather wearying."
The old woman shook her head.
looking very sad.
I'm not the woman l was" she re-
peated, this last things broken me
more. than anything that went before.
I lost three children oy death. and 1t
wasn't as hard as losing my youngest
Al L L.