The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1923-10-19


and fro on stocking feet. hands claspet
behind her back. With her curly hall
all about her face and shoulders, she
looked like a wild. extravaganza,
naughty schoolgirl girl in a wicked
temper. rebel against authority. In
fact, she was rejoicing that this hor
rible enforced visit to the West was
all but over. One week morel She
was almost at an end of her endur-
ance. How she hated the beautiful
white night outside, those mountain
peaks. the sound Of that rapid river,
the stiffness of sagebrush. the voice
of the big pinesI What malevolent
trick of fate that Jasper should have
brought her TO Wyoming, that the doc
tor had insisted upon at least a month
of just this life. Take her west" he
had said, and Betty, lying limp and
white in her bed, her small head sunk
Into the pillow, had jerked from head
to foot. Take her west. l know a
ranch in Wyoming-Yarnall's She'll
get outdoor exercise, tonic air, sound
sleep, release from all these pestifer-
Gus details, like a cloud of flies, that
sting women's nerves to death. Don't
pay any attention to whether she likes
1t or not. Let her behave like a
naughty child, let her kick and scream
and cry. Pick her up, Moreno, and
carry her off. Do you hear? Don't
let her make you change your plans"
The doctor had seen his patients con-
vulsive Jerk. "Pack her up. Make
Buck Yarnall's ranch, Lazy-Y-that's
his brand. l believe-Middle Fork,
Wyoming. I'll send him wire. He
knows me. She needs all outdoors to
run about In. She needs joggin' around
all day through the sagebrush on a
smell Of camp-fire-Gadl wish l
could get back to 1t myself"
Betty, having heard this out, began
to laugh She laughed till they gave
her something to keep her quiet. But,
except for that laughter, she had made
no protest whatever; she did not "kick
and scream and cry" In fact, though
she looked like a child, she was not at
all inclined to such exhibitions. This
doctor had not seen her through her
recent ordeal Two years before her
breakdown, Jasper had been terribly
hurt in an automobile accident, and
Betty had come to him at the hospital, |
had waited. as white as a snow-image, |
for the result of the examination. |
They had told her emphatically that
here was no hope. Jasper Moreno
could not live for more than a few
nope. He might or might not regain
Betty had listened with her white,
'igid, child face, had thanked them,
lad gone home. There In her ex-
Iuisite, little sitting room above Cen
raj park, she had sat at her desk and
written few lines on gray note paper.
Jasper is dying" she had written.
BY the time you get this, he will be
lead. If you can forgive me for hav-
ng failed In courage last year, come
ack. What have been to you before
will be again, only. this time we can
ove openly. Gene back"
Then she had dropped her head on
he desk and cried. Afterward she
ad addressed her letter to q certain
'rosper Gael. The letter went to
Wyoming.
Three days later Jasper regained
and began slowly to re-
Urn to health. He had the tenacious
itality of his race, and, In his own
pirit, an iron will to live. He kept
city beside his bed for hours, and
cid her cold hand In his long sensi-
We one, and he stared at her under
Is lashes tin she thought she must
D mad. But she did not. She nursed
I'M through an interminable con-
alescence. She received Prosper,
cry early in this convalescence, by
er husbands bed, and Jasper had
gratitude for the emotion
at threatened to overwhelm his
lend. It was not till some time-an J
Extraordinarily long time-after Mo-
mas complete recovery that she had /,
tapped like a broken icicle. And
en-, forsooth, they had sent her to !
yoming to get back her healthi =
Having paced away some of her a
Betty stopped by the
bin window and pushed aside one of .
e short, calico curtains. She looked (
It on the court. A tall woman had 1
st pulled up bucket of water from =
e well and had emptied it into a
tcher. She finished, let the bucket
op with a whirr and a clash, and 4
ised her head. For second she y
d Jasper Morena's wife looked at n
oh other. Betty nodded. smiled, and v
ew the curtain close.
(TO BE CONTINUED.) =