News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1913-07-30
CHAPTER III.
Love-.

the Rockies we don't use such, excep
to sell their skins"
When Lionel lost his voice--mor'
to him than are horse and gun t.
Jesse-he would not ask me to follow
him into the wilderness but tried tt
persuade me to stay on in London.
was singing "Eurydice" in "Orfeo,
/, my feet, thanks to Lionel, were at last
on the great ladder, and If ! was am
| bilious, who shall blame me? Yet
! for better, for worse, we were mar
ried, and here among the pines, in
this celestial air, a year or two al
the most would give him back his
voice. My place was at his side, fol
better or worse, and when he drank
when day by day watched the light
| of reason give place in his eyes to
| bestial vice, until at last ! found my.
self chained to a maniac-till death do
us part-it was then l first saw Jesse,
the one man whose eyes showed un
derstanding.
l can't write about that day when
Lionel, thing possessed Of devils,
hunted me through the woods like a
bear. l doubt if l remember all that
happened. / must have been crazed
with pain and fear until suddenly |
woke up on a boulder by that awful
river, and saw him drift past me,
caught in the rapids, drowning.
would have shouted / was so glad,
until he saw me, and dying as he was,
looked at me with Lionels clear sane
eyes.
l tainted, and when I awoke again
In the dusk, Jesse bent over me.
That night and for three weeks aft
erward I lay delirious. At the ferry
mans cabin he made me a bed of
pine boughs, until my household stuff
and the Chinese servant could be
brought down from the ranch. He
sent Surly Brown to bring Doctor Nc
Gee, and the Widow O'Flynn as my
nurse, while her son Billy was hired
to do his pack-train work. From that
time onward the pack outfit carried
cargoes of ore from the mine, and
IOCluO II III LlllluICu IlIlC IIOu6C VI
every comfort and luxury which
money could buy for me. When l got
well, found that Jesse had spent the
savings of years, and had not dol
lar left.
When at last I crept out of doors
to bask in the autumn sunlight, the
cottonWoods and aspens were changed
to lemon, the sumac to crimson, the
fallen needles of the pines clothed
the slopes with orange, and mist of
milky blue lay in the canon.
Jesse had arranged with lawyers for
the probate of Lioners will, and set
Element of his debts, which would
leave me nothing AS far as Jesse
knew, I was penniless, and to this
day 7 have never dared acknowledge
that, secured from the extravaganza
Of my late husband, l have capital
bringing in some seven thousand five
hundred dollars a year. Jesse sup
posed me to be destitute, and when |
spoke of returning TO my work in |
Europe, offered to raise the money for |
my passage. Knowing his ranch to |
be mortgaged already to- it's full value, |
wondered what limit there was to |
his poor mans valor Yes, I would |
accept, assuring him of swift repay
nent, yet dared not tell him the
wages offered me at Covent Garden,
It seemed indecent that 4 woman's
voice should be. valued at more per
week than his heroic earnings for d.
year.
I sang to him, simple emotional mu-
sic: Orfeo's lament, the finale of I'll
Trovatore," the angel song from Cho-
pins ''Marche FUnebre."
I wonder why women make it SO
that man should propose?
It needed no telling that Jesse and l
we're in love. 1t seemed only natural
hat we should marry, and any pre-
ense of mourning for the late Mr..
Trevor would have been distasteful.
Although born in the Labrador,
Jesse had been a cowboy in Texas
or half his working life. AS stock
nan, he was to wed a rancher's
NIuOW. was ne dSHdn6u Vi HIS UuSl- |
less? No, proud as Lucifer! Was
lie ashamed of the dress of his trade?
Not by damned sight! Soldiers and
ailors are proud to wear the dress
# their trade when they marry. so
re COW punchers," said he, with his
lead in the air. "S'pose we ride to
'ariboo City, and get married in that
title old log church"
He managed to persuade me; and l
Consented also to a hunting trip, in
tead of the usual honeymoon.
When l was well enough for the
Quincy, 1 rode my colt, and Jesse
lis demon mare-Jenes-my sole RI
al, 1 think except that dreadful
ear, in his affections. Two pack
'onies carried our camp and baggage,
nd each night he would set up a
title tent for me, bedding himself
own beside the fire. At the end of
i've days journey, we rode at dusk
nto Cariboo.
Captain Taylor, of Hundred Mile
House, and Pete Mathson, the carga-
Tor of the Star Pack-train, two old
tanch friends of Jesse, witnessed our
marriage in the quaint log building
which served as church and school, |