The Ekalaka eagle. [volume] (Ekalaka, Mont.) 1909-1920, 1914-07-31

Cree

By
MARGARETP. MONTAGUE
her she returned it with an eXtrava-
CANT. almost an erratic. wealth of love.
1t did not occur to her that Mary
was nearly as old as herself and that
she had certainly many more protcc-
tors than she had. for when Mary
came into her arms she had seemed to
| Ellen like Il little bcwildered child, APP
pealing especially to her for protec-
ton. and Ellen answered the appeal
with an aching desire to be the II to
shelter and defend her. But how was
| she to do it: If she could only think
| CROPPED thus for Il golden solution to
Mary'S unhappinesS, Il suggestion
sprang all ut once into her mind and
took quick shape as Il possibility. Ell
len stood still in the middle of the
road. her heart leaping in great alarm
the idea opened out before her like Il
flash.
At first it was only a horrifying
thought. but as she walked on again
slowly it turned itself over in her
mind. showing each side with Il terri
BILE insistent allurement. and Ellen.
fostering it at first only in a sort of
terrOrized fascination. found presently
that it gripped her more and more
with a clutch from which she seemed
powerless to escape. Yet appalling as
the idea was. did she honestly desire
to escape from it: What she desired
more than anything else in the whole
universe at that moment was to serve
Mary Reddin, who with her sweet
touch had pushed back a little the
heavy doors Of her loneliness, and the
carrying out Of this suggestion would
serve her-would deliver her from the
approaching ruin of her love.
Ellen let her mind pause in fatal
speculation before it and presently.
thinking of her own unimportant and
unloved existence as compared to
Mary, beloved and needed by so many,
she whispered half out loud: Hit
don't matter erbout me. l amt really
nothin' ter nobody And with the
words the idea that had come at first
merely as a vague possibility CONCEAL
ed suddenly into a definite purpose,
and with a look of white tinality on
her face, Ellen began to walk very
quickly almost, indeed, to run up the
steep road of the mountain.
When she reached home she found
Silas Daw i%mpatiently and angrily
awaiting her return that he might be
released from looking after Mrs. Daw
to hobble eel to a nearby neighbours
for a Sunday chat. for the warn
weather had lately eased his rheuma-
tism sufficiently to enable him to get
about a little with his two sticks, but
not enough for him to feel that he
could take part in any of the farm
work.
Ellen gave no answer to his storm
of querulous abuse and watched him
depart presently with keen satisfac-
ton, for it suited we'll with her pur-
pose that he should be absent.
She had run a good part of the way
home, and though she was breathless,
time had been saved and there was
yet a good stretch Of daylight before
h%er-even allowing for the brewing
thunderstorm which would bring the
darkness down earlier than usual.
She found her adopted mother sit
ting stupidity in the back doorway
watching the meanderings of an old
hen and brood Of chickens. At the
girls approach she raised her blank
face and stared foolishly. Ellen look
ed down at her. Used as she was to
the emptiness Of the face, it came over
her now, in her %aliveness to all emo
ton, with a fresh shock of revelation
as though she saw it for the first time.
Yet in the very shock she put the feel
ing from her, and, STOPPING quickly,
kissed her mother with IL keener pity
than eel before. Then tossing off
her %sunbonnet she went swiftly into
the kitchen and. lighting the fire, set
about her evening task with feverish
haste.
She brought fresh water, filled the
kettle and set it on to boil: made the
usual soda biscuits and set them to
rise; sliced the bacon ready to fry
later and then, catching up her milk
pail, turned with the same eagerness
to her out of door work. Yet though
she worked so quickly everything she
did was done with a strange precision
and careful finish, as though she were
doing it all for the last time, and in
so doing dwelt upon it with il fond
ness which long familiarity and con
tinual repetition had thrown around it.