The Kadoka press and Kadoka reporter. [volume] (Kadoka, S.D.) 1910-1923, 1918-04-26

lllul pN'fcN ohC ~
celved brief note from Bill. Just
few lines to say:
"Hit the ranch yesterday, little per-
son. Looks good to me. Went fishing
last night about sundown. Trout were
rising fine. Nailed ten-pOunder.
Woke up this morning at daylight and
found buck deer with two lady
friends standing In the middle of the
clearing. l loafed few days in Fort
George, sort of thinking l might hear
from you. Am sending this out by
Jake. VIII start for the Klappan
about day after tomorrow"
She had not answered his first let
ter. She had tried to. But somehow
when she tried to set pen to paper the
right words would not come. She
lacked his facility of expression.
There was so much she wanted to say,
so little she seemed able to say. AS
the days passed she felt less sure or
her ground, less sure that she had not
sacrificed something precious to
vagary of self, an obsession Of her own
ego.
And slowly but surely she began to
view all the activities of her circle
with a critical eye. Certain OF her
friends had become tentative enemies.
Kitty Brooks and the Bray womenfolK,
who were numerous and influential
tribe, not only turned silent faces
when they met, but they made war on
her in the peculiar fashion OF women.
A word here, suggestive phrase
there, a shrug of the shoulders. 1t all
bore fruit. Other friends conveyed the
avid gossip. Hazel smiled and ignored
It, But in her own rooms she RACED
unavailingly.
Her husband had left her. There
was a man in the case. They had lost
| everything. The first count was sur
ficiently maddening because it was
half truth. And any of 1t was irrltat-
| ing-even if few belieyed-since II
made a choice morsel to digest in gos-
sipy corners, and brought sundry curl
| Gus stares on Hazel at certain times.
Also Mr.. Wagstaff had caused the
stockholders of Free Gold heavy loss
which was only Offset by the fact
that the Free Gold properties were
producing richly. None Of this was
even openly flung at her. She gathered
it piecemeal. And it CALLED her. She
could not openly defend either Bill or
herself against the shadowy scandal
mOngers.
Slowly it dawned upon her, with a
bitterness born of her former expert
ence with Granville, that she had lost
something of the standing that certain
:. circles had accorded her as the wife
of successful mining man. 1t made
her ponder. Was Bill so far wrong
after all, in his estimate of them? II
was q disheartening conclusion. Sht
had come of a family that stood wei
In Granville; sSe had grown up there
If lifetime friends blew hot and COLI
like that, was the game worth playing
In so far as she could si=o gave th'
lie to some of the petty gossip Where
as at first she had looked dubiousix 81
spending Bill's money to maintain tn'
standard of living they had set up, sh
now welcomed that deposit of fiv
thousand dollars as means to dem
onstrate that even in his absence n
stood behind her financially-whic
she began to perceive counted NOR
than anything else. So long as sh
could dress in the best, while she coul
ride where others walked, so long a
she betrayed no limitation of RI
: sources, the doors stood wide. Nc
= what you are, but what you've got
she remembered Bill saying that wa
their holiest creed.
7 1t repelled her. And sometimes sh
: was tempted to sit down and pour 1t
, out in letter to him. But she coul
). not quite bring herself to the poin
Always behind Bill loomed the va:
and dreary Northland. and she shran
n from that.
On top Of this. she began to suff'
queer upset Of her physical cond
ton. All her life she had been splel
a didly healthy; her body perfec
i working machine, afflicted with I
q weaknesses. Now odd spasmodic pail
i TcCUEEtu WttuOut ihC VI hSucoAA
4 her head. her back, her limbs, stri
II ing her with sudden poignancy. disa
II pearing as suddenly.
She was stretched on the lounge OF
afternoon wrestling nervOusly with
70 particularly acute attack. when Yes
" Lorimer was ushered In.
;. you're almost stranger" Haz
II remarked. after the first greeting
10 "Your outing must have been pleasaI
e, to hold you so long,"
nt "It would have held me Longer
8, Vest returned, "if I didn't have to
ID In touch with my market. could IL
er quite happily on my island eig
~ months In the year. But one can't
people to come several hundred mil
III to sitting. And feel inclined to
Id quire living income while my vog
Il. lasts"
"You're rather q wilderness low
Of aren't your Hazel commented.
he don't think you'd love 1t as dearly
nd you were buried alive In It."
Iet '.That would all depend on the {
ed cumstances," vesta replied. "One
er capes many disheartening things In
no country that 10 still comparatv'
n primitivA TAs coadnsal grine