The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1916-08-11

THE ELY MINER. ELY. MINI
swered, strangely sober. "and claim
no friendship. Any enemy to La Sale
is an enemy to Rene d'Artigny; but
would front him as a man should.
1t is not my nature to do deed of
treachery."
you hold this treachery"
"What else? You propose Turing
him to love you, that you may gain
confession from his lips. To attain
this end you barter your honesty, your
womanhood; you take advantage of
your beauty t. enslave him; you count
as ally the loneliness of the wilderness;
ay! and, If l understand Alright, you
hope through me to awaken the mans
jealousy. Is this not true?"
l drew a quick breath, my eyes star
ing into his face, and my limbs trem-
bling. His words cut me like knife,
yet l would not yield. would not even
acknowledge their truth.
You are unjust, unfair" I burst
forth impetuOusly. You will see but
the one side-that of the man. l can
not fight this battle with my hands.
nor will | submit to such wrong with
out struggle. He has never thought to
spare me, and there is no reason why
l should show him mercy. wish
your good will. monsieur. your respect,
but l cannot hold this plan which l
propose as evil. Do you?"
He hesitated. looking at me with
such perplexity in his eyes as to
prove his doubt
II cannot judge you," he admitted
at last, ''only that is not the way in
which l have been trained. Neither
will l stand between you and your
revenge nor have part in it. | am
your friend-now, always. In every
honorable way l will serve you and
your cause. If CassiOn dares violence
o., insult he must reckon with me,
though l faced his whole company.
pledge you this, but | will not play a
part or act lie even at your re-
quest
You mean you will not pretend to
care for me?" l asked. my heart
leaden at his words.
''There would be no pretense," he
answered frankly. 81 do care for you.
but will not dishonor my thought of
you by thus deliberately scheming to
outwit your husband. 1 am man of
the woods, the wilderness; not since |
was a boy have l dwelt in civilization,
but in all that time have been COM
panion Of men to whom honor was
everything. have been comrade with
Sieur de la Sale, with Henri de TOnty.
and cannot be guilty of an act of
treachery. even for your sake. Per-
chance my code is not the same as the
perfumed gallants' of Quebec-yet it is
mine, and learned in a hard school,"
He went on quietly. "There are two
things l cannot ignore-One is, that
l am an employee Of this Francois
Cassion, pledged to his service by my
own free will; the other is. that you
are his wife. joined to him by Holy
church, and although you may have
assumed those vows under coercion.
your promise is binding. l can but
choose my path of duty and abide
therein"
His words hurt, angered me;
lacked power of expression, ability to
grasp his full meaning and purpose.
"You-you desert me then? YOU
you leave me to this fate"
81 leave you to reconsider your
choice Of action" he returned gravely,
his hat still in hand. his lips unsmiling.
Il do believe your womanhood will
find better way to achieve it's lib
erty, but what that way is l must
trust you to discover. l am your
friend. Adele, always-you will be-
lieve that?''
1 did not answer; could not, be-
cause of the choking in my throat. yet
l let him grasp my hand. Once
raised my eyes to his. but lowered
them instantly in strange confusion
Here was man did not understand
whose real motives could not fathom
His protest had not yet penetrated my
soul. and l felt toward him an odd
mixture Of respect and anger. He
released my hand and turned away,
and l stood motionless as he crossed
the open space between the trees. AT
the edge Of the bluff he paused and
glanced about. lifting his hat in ges-
ture of farewell. I do not think |
moved or made response, and an in
slant later he was gone.
l know not how long | stood there
staring into vacancy. haunted by re-
greet. tortured by fear and humiliation.
Slowly all else crystallized into indig-
nation, with a fierce resolve to fight
on alone. The sun sank, and all about
me chung the purple twilight, yet
did not move. He had been unjust,
unfair: his simple code of the woods
could not be made to apply to such a
situation as this of mine.
l heard no sound of warning, yet as
l turned to retrace my way to the
camp below I became suddenly aware
of the presence Of CassiOn.