The Pioche record. [volume] (Pioche, Nev.) 1908-1925, 1921-03-04

For his bride a soldier sought her,
And a winning tongue had he.
On the banks Of Allan Water
None was gay as she.
That very night the soldier came In
10 her life. came as she walked about
the farm to see that all was secure.
Her skirt was caught as she trod fear
fully through a growth Of high frs;
she heard the mutter Of n mans voice.
A dark lantern revealed a spur en-
tangled In her skirt, young and
slender man clad in brilliant brass
and scarlet. II flashed like a CLEAN
of romance I'm gray days. that scarlet
coat that was afterwards TO he re-
membered as so sinister a portent.
The man was Sergeant Troy, a
light-hearted scoundrel whose ready
fattery sounded sweeter in Bath
sheba's ears than the stammerlng long
ing of Gabriel or Boldwood. He
courted her romantically, wooing her
with his sw1d. She stood. few days
later. in hollow of ferns and about
her flashed his whlrling, edged weapon,
slashing so close TO her that she could
hear it's 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.
HOLLYWOOD, whose heart had never be-
fore beat faster at womans APP
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 a 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 the 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
fluttered. The mutter Of distant thun-
der rolled into sharp rattle. The
flashes grew bright IS he worked tC
prot ct the grain. Then Bathshebs
was With him and their laboring forms
were outlined in black by the greer
snakes Of fire that darted yenomously
earthward. AS she trembled will
fright, Gabriel felt her warm arm
tremble in his great, sheltering hand
She was another mans wife; she dit
not love him; but there was solac,
in the strange ways Of fate that hat
brought her nearer to him than whel
her heart was free.
Tragedy came when Fanny Robi
crept home to die. Her body, wit
that Of her child, was brought bac
to the house where she had worked
Standing by the coffin, Bathsheb
learned that Troy had never loved he
as he had this gin who had born
death and shame for him. He fled fror
Weatherbury and word was brough
to Bathsheba that he had been sweI
out to sea and drowned.
The seasons rolled on and sorro'
gave to Bathsheba's face seriou.
ness that added to her charm. Bolt
wood dreamed again and he was mad
happy by promise, although six year
must pass before its fulfillment.
To celebrate his JOY, he planned
Christmas-eve party, more than a yea
after Troy had disappeared. And
was on this night that Troy chose
reappear, striding like spectre amor
the merrymakers. AS he advance
upon her, Bathsheba stood like
stricken thing, half-convinced that d
fusion had enthralled her. But the
was nothing ghostly in the rough col
, mand that he shouted at her, nor
5 the brutal grip that he took upon h
arm. Then only did she stir, but 81
! could not speak. A strangled screa
e was heard, then deafening roa
: Some eyes were upon Troy, pitchil
a forward and never to rise again; OF
g ers upon Boldwood, standing with
e smoking gun in his hands.
n Not until the next August, long aft
j it was known that Boldwood was
(. be imprisoned for life, was Bathshe
l. able to walk as far as the villa
g street. Fate had been hard to h
II OF three men who had loved her. Q
had been killed by another who wol
~ never stride on the daylight aga
- And now word had come to her Il
"a Gabriel-honest. sturdy Gabrie
!, whom she had found the one man
,s the world who did not fail her In
ar need, was leaving her. She SOU
70 him In his humble cottage and
% confessed that he was going beca'
.. people were coupling his name W
an hers. "Sueh thing as that Is too
~ surd--too soon--to think of, by ia
81 she cried. When he agreed with
~ that 1t was too absurd" she insis
no that she had not said that, but .
n soon." Even then minutes clicl
away before Gabriel could realize I
II xxsft.t N O.