The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1925-04-16

/ tAllti SeulitIlhH VI AiitIlS. SJennel
in front of a moving train one evenina
as he was trying to cross the tracks
which run through the Dallas streets.
and hen lay staring up at the sky. his
hair and beard brushed back as If he
faced a tempest.
1t was the doctor who carried the
news to Brena. He stood beside rbe
engraving of the Acropolis in its frame
battered with many packings and I'M
%packings and many hangings and re-
movals and many journeys in the bot
toms of trunks.
you do not weep?" he inquired.
NO. said Brena, looking at him
with her blanched face.
The doctor was a little dried M
%southerner, whose manner ~straddled
between his Kentucky birthright and
the Prussian medical schools where
he had acquired his education.
He was a noble man." he said, He
was a haunted man, as Well"
Brena said nothing.
IF he had lived another six months.
he would have been totally blind. Only
l knew that. He would tell no one
And what would have supported you
both then, Ell? The public funds, /
reckon"
The woman, who was still a child,
shivered.
He was sorely tempted-your ia
ther," said Doctor Gregory. He had
insured his life and he would have
killed himself to provide for you. Yes,
that was his plan. He asked me about
it. Such a man! Hesitating to blow
his brains out because of what? Honor.
Not to defraud a soulless corporation,
Ell? Not doing it, either. Too virtu-
ousl Too just! Splendid! Magnifi-
cent Like his own forehead-noble,
classic 7"
Brena covered her face with her
hands.
"Ah, WELL" said the doctor, "ft was
be brave-a good girl, Ell? Your father
may have been killed in answer to his
prayers. One cannot grope his way in
front of a moving train.
Did he die-without-a word?" she
asked.
mo; l was going to speak of that"
said Gregory, chewing harder than
ever ON his ever-present toothpick. "He |
was conscious for a time-quite con-
scious. He said that you never knew
how much he loved you-some awk-
%wardness, he said. prevented. He
a cL-ad mo to foil Won fhot con,otbf1r
would protect You from danger. He
didn't say what. Something would.
He said that you must not be afraid"
The doctor sighed and looked about
the room with its few books, pictures,
ornaments-the shabby remnants of a
life of discriminating taste, high pur-
poses and poverty.
There isn't much for you to begin
on" he said, refectively. Five hun
bred life insurance. The rest had
gone because he didn't pay the premi
ums. Too honest to take it by blow
ing his brains out-a noble man-the
timbers of a noble human craft deserv-
ing better of life's seal"
He was proud of that phrase.
Il think YOU will find that Mrs. VIII
kie on the orn will take You in for
a while he suggested. you will
find work"
Yes. Brena would find work. The
granddaughter of the proud and intel
lectual Tom Vaughn, the daughter of
the man who in America called himself
SelcOss, once the teacher of
chemistry in the National Institution
of Greece, who had the right to wear
royal decoration and who bore on his
body the marks of battles for liberty
she was now merely a girl alone in the
world, without friends, money, back
ground, training. experience. A great
democracy had leveled her. Pos
sessed only Of that sun-1ipened beauty
fruit coming into its prime with
untouched bloom upon it, to which was
added the charm and the dangers of
immaturity and innocence, her assets
were a hazard. Her mind and its
capacities and its rich supply OF aca
1emic learning were not currency
passed as legal tender amonc
persons she would know. Her ia
her, who had said that he always met
life unprepared, might well have added
hat he left 1t without provision.
Brena went TO live with Mrs. Wilkie.
She remembered that lady as an in
jensely practical woman who was al
ways in a hurry. On haste, she had
'rown almost unpleasantly stout, and
me of the disagreeable memories of
tragic storehouse is the pic
ure of this woman's absurdly small
mouth, which would not stay fixed in
ne spot between her fat cheeks and
ler fat chin, but moved about, appear
ng to be located first here and then
here, like a newly punched oriice. 1t
moved so unpleasantly as when
he was talking of her ancestry, her
e~latives who had great wealth and
er husbands injustice and brutality
D making her give IN society Her