The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1916-12-14
CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER N.
There were a lot Of people at the
station. They had been TO a family
gathering of some sort from their re-
marks, and they talked loudly and
much, so that the two STOOD apart
for the seats were all o~ccupied-and
had no opportunity for conversation,
save a quiet smiling comment now and
then upon the chatter about them, or
the odd remarks they heard.
There had come a c~onstraint upon
them, "a withdrawing of each into his
shell, each conscious of something n a
separated. Gordon struggled to pre-
vent ii, but he seemed helpless. Celia
would smile in answer to his quiet re-
marks, but it was a smile of distance,
such as she had worn early in the
morning. She had quite found her for
mer standing ground, with its fence OF
prejudice, and she was repairing the
breaks through which h had gone
over to the enemy during the day. She
was bracing herself with dire remind
ers, and snatches from those terrible
letters which were written in charac-
tiers of fire in her heart. Never,
never, could she care for q
man who had done what this man
had done. She had forgotten for
q little while those terrible things
he had said Of her dear dead father.
How could she have forgotten for an
instant! HOW could she have let her
hand lie close to the hand that a
defiled itself by writing such things!
BY the time they were seated in the
train, she was freezing In her attitude,
and poor Gordon sat miserably beside
her and tried to think what he had
done TO offend her. Ii was not his
fault that her hand had lain near his
on the rail. She had put 1t there her
self. Perhaps she expected him to put
his over IT. 10 show her that he cared
as a bridegroom should care-as he
did care, in reality. if he only a the
right. n perhaps she was hurt thai
he had stood cooliy and said or done
nothing. But he could not nelp II.
Much TO Gordon's relief, the train
carried a parlor car, and il happened
on this particular day to be almost de-
serted save for a @ old man with
a fiorid complexion and q gold knobbed
cane who slumbered audibly at the
further end from the two chairs Cor
don selected. He established his COM
panion comfortably, disposed of he
baggage, and sat down, but the girl
paid no heed to him. With a sad, set
face. she stared out of the window, her
eyes seeming TO see nothing. For two
hours che sat so, he making remarks
occasionally. to which she made little
or no reply, until he lapsed into silence,
looking at her with troubled eyes. Fin
ally, Just as they neared the outskirts
of Pittsburgh. ne leaned softly toward
and touched her coat-sleeve, to attract
her attention.
"Have / Observation-Disclosures in any
way he asked gently. She turned to-
ward him. and her eyes Were Drumming
full OF tears.
NO" she said. and her lips were
trembling. mo, you have been-most
-kind-but-but L cannot forget those
letters!" She ended with a sob and put
up her handkerchief quickly 10 stife it.
Letters he asked helplessly. What
letters?"
The letters you wrote me. All the
letters Of the last five months. / can
not forget them. I can never forget
them! How could you think i could?"
He hooked at her anxiously, not
knowing to say, and yet he must
say something. The time had come
when some kind OF an understanding,
some clearing up OF facts, must take
place. He must go cautiously, but he
must find out what was the matter. He
could not see her suffer SO. There must
be some way to let her know that so
far as he was concerned she need suffer
nothing further and that he would do
all in his power to set her right with
her world.
But letters. His face lighted up
with the swift certainty of one thing
about which he had not dared to be
sure. She still thought him the man
she had intended to marry. She was
not therefore troubled about that phase
OF the question. 1t was strange, almost
unbelievable, but 1T was true that he
personally was not responsible for the
trDt M l in hnr nxrac yHIaA a,llN n.
might feel when she knew all. he had
yet to find out. but it was a great relief
20 be sure OF so much. Still, something
must be said.
"Lettersi" he repeated again stupidity,
and then added with p%erplexed tone:
Would you mind telling me just what
1t was II the letters hat hurt you?"
She turned eyes of establishment on
him.
How can you ask?" she said al
most bitterly. you surely must know
how terrible they were TO me! You
could not be the man you have seemed
to be today IL you did not know what
You were doing to me in making all
those terrible threats. You must know
how cruel they were"
4 am afraid | don't understand" he
said earnestly, the trouble still most ap-
parent in his eyes, Would you mind
being a little more explicit? Would
you mind telling me exactly what you
think J wrote you that sounded like
q threat"
He asked the question half hesitat-
fngly, because he was not quite sure
whether he was justified i'm thus OBJ
tanning private information unde false
pretenses, n yet he felt that he must
know Just what troubled her or he
could never help her; and he was sure
that II h knew he was an utter
stranger, even a kindly one. those gen.
tie lips would never open to inform him
upon her torturer. AS 1t was she COULD
tell hin her trouble with a perfectly
clear conscience, thinking she was tell
ing II ~ the man who knew all about IL.
Bat ~ ""sitation about prying into
sh q = private affairs even