The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1920-09-13

slender man clad in brilliant brass
and scarlet. 1t flashed like a CLEAN
Of romance in gray days, that scarlet
coat that was afterwards to be re-
membered as so sinister portent.
The man was Sergeant Troy, a
light-hearted scoundrel whose ready
flattery sounded sweeter in Bath
sheba's ears than the stammering long,
ing Of Gabriel or Boldwood. He
courted her Economically, wooing her
! with his sword. She stood, a few days
later, in a hollow of ferns and about
her flashed his whirling, edged weapon,
slashing so close to her that she could
hear its sharp hiss as it carved out
in the air her lissome figure. And when
he turned to leave her, he stopped
swiftly and kissed her on the lips.
Gabriel tried to warn Bathsheba but
she scorned his reproaches. So he bore
silently with his grief and he did not
tell her that Troy had beguiled little
Fanny Robin away from Weatherbury.
Boldwood, whose heart had never be-
fore beat faster at woman's ap-
proach, could not SO control his anger.
He shouted maledictions upon the man
who had robbed him Of all that had
made life joyous. His madness pre-
cipitated that which he most dreaded,
Bathsheba's marriage to Troy.
The hasty marriage led swiftly to
sorrow, inevitably to tragedy. Troy
celebrated the wedding by revel In
the barn where he and all the jovial
rustics were soon hopelessly befud-
died. Gabriel dared not drink with
them. The creeping things of the
night and thee huddled sheep had
warned him of the nearing storm and
in the fields the high ricks Of wheat
and barley lay uncovered.
The moon vanished and the wind
subsidized; on far horizons baleful fires
fiuttered. The mutter Of distant thun-
der rolled into sharp rattle. The
flashes grew bright as he worked to
protect the grain. Then Bathsheba
was with him and their laboring forms
were outlined in black by the green
snakes of fire that darted venomously
earthward. AS she trembled with
fright, Gabriel felt her warm arm
tremble in his great, sheltering hand.
She was. another mans wife; she did
not love him; but there was solace
In the strange ways Of fate that had
brought her nearer to him than when
her heart was free.
Tragedy came when Fanny Robin
crept home to die. Her body, with
that of her child, was brought back
to the house where she had worked.
Standing by the coffin, Bathsheba
learned that Troy had never loved her
as he had this girl who had borne
death and shame for him. He fed from
Weatherbury and word was brought
to Bathsheba that he had been swept
out to sea and drowned.
The seasons rolled on and sorrow
gave to Bathsheba's face a serious
ness that added to her charm. Bold
wood dreamed again and he was made
happy by promise, although six years
must pass before its fulfillment.
To celebrate his Joy, he planned a
Christmas-eve party, more than year
after Troy had disappeared. And it
was on this night that Troy chose to
reappear, striding like spectre among
the merrymakers. As he advanced
upon her, Bathsheba stood like
stricken thing, half-convinced that de-
fusion had enthralled her. But there
was nothing ghostly in the rough COM
mand that he shouted at her, nor in
the brutal grip that he took upon her
arm. Then only did she stir, but she
could not speak. A strangled scream
was heard, then deafening roar.
Some eyes were upon Troy, pitching
forward and never to rise again; 9TH
ers upon Boldwood, standing with a
smoking gun in his hands.
Not until the next August, long after
1t was known that Boldwood was to
be imprisoned for life, was Bathsheba
able to walk as far as the village
street. Fate had been hard to her.
OF three men who had loved her, one
had been killed by another who would
never stride on the daylight again.
And now word had come to her that
Gabriel-honest. sturdy Gabriel
whom she had found the one man in
the world who did not fail her in her
need, was leaving her. She sought
him In his humble cottage and he
confessed that he was going because
people were coupling his name with
hers. "Such thing as that is too alb
surd-too soon-t0 think of, by far"
she cried. When he agreed with her
that It was "too absurd" she insisted
that she had not said that, but "tOo
soon." Even then minutes clicked
away before Gabriel could realize that |
what he had SO long sought was to
be his.
Their lives, in calm and storm, had
been 80 close that, after the wedding,
the rustics marveled at his easy way
Of speaking Of my wife" They
agreed that he did not say the words
as chillingly as might man who had
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