Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1915-10-14
lI-conunusd.

AhebAAN1 lN WIFI NiAC NAVY a A1AAs
Juanita has an Improbable talk with Bad
Anse n they become antagonists.
CHAPTER lI-conHnue6.
TITS Havey," he said slowly. hut
hereabouts I've got another name
that's better known" He paused, then
added with a hardened timbre OF
voice. as though bent on making def
ant what would otherwise sound like
confession: "It's Bad Anse."
The girl recoiled, as though under
a physical shock. 1t seemed to her
that every way she turned she was to
meet staggering disappointments. She
had spoken almost pleadingly to the
man with whom she could make no
terms-the man whose arrogant power
and lawless influence she must break
and paralyze before her own regime
could find standing-room in these hills,
Yet, as she looked at him standing
there, and stiffened resolutely. she
could say nothing except "Oh!"
Into the m~onosyllable crept many
things: repulsion. defiance and cha
grin for her mistake, and in ~recogni-
ton Of them all the bronzed features
of the man hardened a little and into
the cool eyes snapped a sparkle of the
sleeping fires she had OWNED.
Il made my suggestion to the wrong
man." she said steadily. 81 misunder-
stood you. l thought you said you
wanted peace"
He swung himself to the saddle
again; then, as he gathered up his
reins, he turned, and in his utterance
was immovable steadiness and gla-
cial coldness, together with a ring
of contempt and restrained anger.
Il did say that, and by God AL
mighty, ] meant just what | said. !
do want peace in these mountains
but | amt never found no way yet to
get peace without ightin' for it."
She saw him ride away into the
moonlight, with his shoulders very
straight and the battered felt hat very
high, and she looked neither to right
nor left as he went until the mists
had swallowed him.
For a long time while she sat there
on the stile gazing across the steer
banks between which the waters OF
Tribulation slipped along in a tide Of
furnished quicksilver and beyond
which rose the neal ridges of blue
and the far, dim ridges of gray.
At her back she knew that the fam
lily and the missionary were sitting in
talk.
She sat there with her hands clasped
about her updrawn knees as she used
to sit when some childhood grief had
weighed upon her.
She could not shake out of her mind
the humiliation of having shown hel
weakest side to Bad Anse Havey. Ii
was some satisfaction to remember
the offended ~stiffening Of his shout
ders and the %smoldering fire in his
eyes. She had heard much of the
strong, easily hurt pride of these
mountain men-a pride which made
them walk in strange surrounding!
with upright heads and eyes, challeng
ing criticism of their uncouthness
She had first appealed to this mar
but at least she had also stung hin
with her scorn. Now they would b,
open enemies.
4, She knew that this young man, IL
q country where every man was poo
and no man a pauper, owned grea
traces of land that yielded only spars,
crops with the most arduous coaxine
She knew that under his rocky acre
slept a great wealth of coal, and tina
above them grew noble and virgil
forests OF hardwood. The coming o
railroads and development woul,
make him a rich man. Yet he stoo,
there, seemingly pricing above al
those magnificent certainties tn
empty boast of feudal chieftainshiI
Yet he was a man. With that though
came an unwelcome comparison. Sh
thought of someone whom she ha
Cleveland sent away-and of thei
leave-taking. That man had had ever
gentle attribute which this ma
lacked. All that universities, travt
and ancestry can give had shown on
in his bearing, his manners. his voic
and the expression of his eyes.
There had been a time when sh
had wavered In her determination I
devote herself to the mission for whic
she had been educated. She though
that this man might be more impo
tant than any mission; that a III
with him might be full enough The
had come the discovery. which at fri
she had rebelliously denied. but whic
forced itself h~atefully upon her real
cation. Despite his unchallengeab
charm and gentility, he was. after e.
not quite a man. When she had a
mitted that beyond dispute, she ha
turned. slokened. from the life whiC
she could not contemplate withol
him. The man whom she thought 81
loved was empty and fine, like
swordless sheath" Very well, 81
would u to the york of putting {
edge on the stIrdier metal OF ra
humanity