Tombstone epitaph., 1916-12-24

He was standing. as she entered. . little back from the hearth. with the detached air of one who drops into the background or comes to the fore with equal readiness. She found that in appearance as in voice he bore a rough sort of impressiveness about him. In the brighter light stood the messen- ger. a gaunt youth, in whose wild. sharp features lurked cunning. cruelty and endurance. But the other man, who stood a head taller, fell Into q pose of indolent ease which might wake instantly into power.
 It was a face strongly and ruggedly chiseled. but so dominated by unfal- tering gray eyes that one was apt to forget all else and carry away only memory of dark hair-and those eyes Then, as they sat at table and the girl struggled with her discontinue over each unclean detail of the food. she raised her eyes from time to time always to encounter upon her the steady, appraising gaze of the dark | stranger.
 When they rose from the table the | stranger drew Fletch, now somewhat | sobered by his meal, aside, and the other men retired to the chairs in the ] dooryard. Then the girl from the East slipped away and took up her solitary place on top of the stile. where she | sat thinking
 | A last she was conscious ct pres ence besides her own. as of someone standing silently at her back. Rather neryously she turned her head, and there. with one foot on the | lower step of the stile. stood the young stranger himself Once more she dropped her own.
 T kinder hate to bother ye. ma'am," said the even voice, but cant hardly ! get acrost that stile whilst ye're settin' on it."
 i There was no note of badinage Or levity in his tone, and his clear, drawn i features under the moonlight were en- tirely serious.
 Juanita rose. q beg your pardon" she said hastily. as she went down the stile on the far side.
 That's all right, ma'am." replied the man easily. still with ! serious dignity as he. too. crossed the road. While he was untying the knot in his bridle-rein the girl stood watch ing him. In the easy indolence of his movements was the ripping some thing that suggested the leopard's frictionless strength.
 The very quality that gave this young stranger his picturesqueness and stamped him as vital and dynamic in his manhood sprang from that wild roughness which he shared with his eagles and Dawn shared with her weedlike flowers. And yet 1t was somehow as though this man. whose voice was so calm. whose movements were so quiet, whose gaze was so un. arrogant. was crying out in clarion challenge with every breath: T am man."
 Suddenly she wondered If in him she might not find an ally. She felt very lonely. To have counsel with someone in these hills less stupidly phlegmatic than Good Anse Talbott would bring comfort and reassurance to her heart She must cope with the powerful resourcefulness of Bad Anse Havey. he of the untamed ferocity and implacable cruelty and shrewd in telligence If some native son could share even a little of her viewpoint she would find in him a tower Of strength.
 Perhaps he had yielded to the un- spoken appeal of the deep. rangeful eyes that were always gray. yet never twice the same gray. and the sweetly sensitive lips so tantalizingly charm ing, because they were fashioned for smiles and were now dropping instead.
 T reckon" he said. you find it right different, don't you?"
 She nodded
 But it's very beautiful" she added as she swept her hand about in a ges ture of admiration.
 It was he who nodded at that. very gravely. and almost reverently. though at the next moment his laugh was short and almost ironical.
 T reckon God never fashioned any thing better-nor worse" he told her When you've breathed 1t an seen 1t an lived it, no other place Is fit to dwell in. an yet sometimes low that God didn't mean 1t to be the habita. tion of men an women. It's cut out for eagles an hawks an wild things It belongs to the winds an storms an bear an deer. It puts fire into veins meant for blood, an the only crop it raises much is hell"
 "You-you've been out in the other world-down below?" she questioned Yes; but couldn't stay down there. I couldn't breathe, hardly. l sick. eneA-an' l came back"
 She turned to him impulsively. "I don't know who you are" she began hurriedly. but know that you brought this man home when he was not in a condition to come alone. know that you sent a man ahead Of you to keep peace at the dance. l know you have a heart, and it means something-means a great deal-to