Connecticut western news. [volume] (Salisbury, Litchfield Co., Conn.) 1871-1970, 1918-02-14

Said.
Earth, and there's plenty more where
It came from. Seeing that I deprived
you of access to your own money and
all your personal belongings, you are
entitled to this any way you look at 1t.
And / want to throw in a bit Of gra-
.uitous advice-in case you should con-
clude to go back to the Meadows. They
probably looked high and low for you.
But there is no chance for them to
learn where you actually did get to
unless you yourself tell them. The
most plausible explanation-and If you
go there you must make some explana-
ton would be for you to say that you
got lost-which Is true enough-and
that you eventually fell in with a
party of Indians, and later on con-
nected up with q party of white
people who were travelling eastward.
That you wintered with them, and they
put you on a steamer and sent you to
Vancouver when spring opened.
"That, guess, is ALL" he concluded
slowly. "Only wish"-he caught her
by the shoulders and shook her gently
II sure do wish it could have been
different, little person. Maybe some
time when I get restless for human
companionship and come out to cavort
in the bright lights for q while, may
pass you on street somewhere. This
world is very small. Oh, yes-when
you go TO Vancouver go to the Lady
smith. It's nice, quiet hotel in the
West end. Any hack driver knows the
place."
He dropped his hands, and looked
steadily at her for q few seconds,
steadily and longingly.
"Good-by!" he said abruptly-and
walked out, and down the gangplank
that was already being cast loose, and
away up the wharf without a back
ward glaflce.
The Stanley DIS siren woke the
echoes along the wooded shore. A
throbbing that shook her from stem
to stern betokened the first turnings
into deep water and swung wide for
the outer passage.
Hazel went out to the rail. Bill
Wagstaff had disappeared, but present
ly she caught sight of him standing on
the shore end of the wharf, his hands
thrust deep in his coat pockets, staring
after the steamer. Hazel waved the
envelope that she still held in her hand.
Now that she was Independent of him,
she felt magnanimous, forgiving-and
suddenly very much alone, as If she
had dropped back into the old, depress-
ing Granville atmosphere. But he gave
no answering sign save that he turned
on the instant and went up the hill to
where his horses stood tied among the
huddled buildings. And within twenty
minutes the Stanley d turned jutting
point. and Bella Coola was lost to view.
Hazel went back into her stateroom
and sat down on the berth. Presently
she opened the envelope. There was a
thick fold of bills, her ticket, and both
were wrapped in a sheet of paper pen
ciled with dots and crooked lines. She
laid it aside and counted the money.
"Heavensw she whispered. 81 wish
he hadn't given me so much. / didn't
need all that"
VI Dill luChcu d uOLCh
Observation-Disclosures notes in the enve-
.lope. And, curiously enough, she was
not offended, only wishful that he had
been less generous. Then she took up
the map, recognizing it as the sheet
of paper Bill had worked over so long
their last night at the cabin.
1t made the North more clear-a
great deal more clear-to her, for he
had marked Cariboo Meadows, the To-
cation of his cabin, and Bella Coda,
and drawn dotted lines to indicate the
way he had taken her in and brought
her out.
She put away the money and the
map, and bestowed a brief scrutiny
upon herself in the cabin mirror. Six
months in the wild had given her q
rudy color, the glow of perfect phys
ical condition. But her garments were
tattered and sadly out Of date. The
wardrobe of the steamer-trunk lady
had suffered in the winters wear. She
was barely presentable in the outing
suit Of corduroy.
The Stanley D., upon the evening of
the third day, turned into Barnard Inlet
and swept across a harbor speckled
with shipping from all the Seven Seas
to her berth at the dock.
So Hazel came again to a. city-a
city that roared and beloved all its
manifold noises in her ears, long
grown accustomed to a vast and brood
ing silence. Mindful of BilTs parting
word, she took hack to the Lady
smith. And even though the hotel was
removed from the business heart of the
city, the rumble of the city's her.
culean labors reached her far into the
night. At last she fell asleep, and
dawn Of clear spring day awakened
her.
She ate her breakfast, and set forth
on a shopping tour. To such advan-
tage did she put two of the hundred