Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-07-15
CHAPTER IN.
The Shadow on the Waters.


1t was not very long before Cousin
Edie was queen Of West Inch, and we
all her devoted subjects from my ia
Their down. The south room, which
was the sunniest and had the honey
suckle round the window, was for her;
and it was a marvel to see the things
that she brought from Berwick to put
into it. Twice a week she would drive
owe And the cart would not do for
her; for she hired a gig from Angus
Whitehead, whose farm lay over the
hill. And it was seldom she went
without bringing something back for
n or other Of us. 1t was a wooden
pipe for my father, or a. Shetland plaid
for my mother, or a book for me. or a
brass collar for Rob, the collie. There
was never a more free-handed.
But the best thing that she gave us
was just her own presence. To me it
changed the whole countryside; and
the sun was brighter and the braes
g%reener, and the air sweeter from the
day she anne. Our lives were COM
mon no longer, now that we spent
them with such a one as she; and the
old, dull gray house was another place
in my eyes since she had set her foot
across the dOOrmat. 1t WAS not her
face. though that was winsome
enough: nor her form, though I never
SAW the lass hat could match her
But ii was H." shirt; her queer.
mnck!i@ was: i}er fresh, new fashion
Of talk; her proud whisk Of the dress
and toss of the head. which made one
feel like tine ground beneath her feet
and then the quick challenge in her
eye and the kindly word that brought
n up to her level again.
The more I loved her the more
frightened l vas at her; and she could
see the fright long before she knew
the love. l was uneasy to be away
from her; and yet, when I was with
her, 1 was in a shiver all the time for
fear my stumbling talk might weary
her or give her ~offense. Had known
more of the ways of women I might
! have taken less pains. -s
' We found our level after a time,
/, when she saw that she had just to do
what she liked and how she liked, and
that / was as much at her beck and
call as old Rob was at mine. You'll
think that I was a fool to have had
my head sc turned, and maybe l was;
but, then, you must think how little
I was used to women, and how much
we were thrown together. Besides,
she was a wOman in a million, and l
can tell you that it was a strong head
that would not be turned by her.
Why, there was Major Elliott, a man
that had buried three wives, and had
twelve pitched battles to his name.
Edie could have turned him round her
finger like a damp rag-she. only new
from the boarding school. I met him
hobbling from West Inch, the first
time after she came, with pink in his
cheeks and a shine in his eye that
took ten years from him. He was
cooking up his gray mustaches at Ell
Their end, and curling them into his
eyes and strutting out with his sound
leg as proud as a piper. What she
had said to him the Lord knows, but
it was like old wine in his veins.
I saw the corner of a newspaper
thrusting out of his pocket, and ]
knew that he had come over, as was
his way, to give me some news, for
we heard little enough at West Inch.
"What is fresh, majorw I asked.
He pulled the paper out with a -four
ish. "The allies have won a great
battle, my lad" says he. Il don't
think Nap can stand up long against
this. The Saxons have thrown him
over, and he's been badly beat at
Leipzig. Wellington is past the Pyr-
enees and Graham's folk will be at
Bayonne before long"
I chucked up my hat. "Then the
war will come to an end at last" I
cried.
"Aye, and time, too" said he, shak-
ing his head gravely. "It's been a
bloody business. But it is hardly
worth while for me to say now what
was in my mind about you"
"What was that.?Y
WELL, laddie, you are doing no
4 gOOQ mere anu now That lily hi4cc IL
getting more timber / was hoping that
/ might get on active service again. !
wondered whether, maybe, you might
like to do a little soldering under me.
My heart jumped at the thought.
"Aye, would II I cried.
"But it'll be clear six months before
I'll be fit to pass a board, and it's long
odds that Boney will be under lock
and key before that
"And there's my mother" said !.
II doubt she'd never let me go"
aAh, we'll, she'll never be asked to
now he answered, and hobbled on
upon his way.
7 sat down among the heather, with
my chin on my hand, turning the thing
over In mind, and watching him In his
old brown clothes, with the end OF a
gray plaid Tapping over his shoulder
as he picked his way up the swell Of
the. hill. IT was a DOOR life this at