The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1925-11-27

under the magnifying glass. so to
speak, and studying out which is the
more decent chap. It isn't done that
way. And to save her life she couldn't
tell you why, today, she thinks she
loves Spool. and why. tomorrow, she
will know she loves YOU Reason
doesn't enter into these things at ALL"
'That doesn't make it any easier for
me-"
! Maybe not" Jack admitted. "And,
as have argued that reason doesn't
enter into the consideration. suppose
ii is of no use to reason about it.
Then let us get onto ground you can
understand. Come on over for sup
per-"
/ accepted with more alacrity than
might be expected of a young man
who was resolved that although tied
to the stake he would not thrust his
feet in the fire. Marjorie kissed me
when l went ina kiss for her dear
old bachelor brother, she said, obvious
ly in fun, but l think there was a
pang of deep sisterly sympathy under
meath. Jean was calm, poised. self
controlled; her eyes seemed larger
than usual, and the white of them
showed that clear blue tinge that is
found in some kinds of delicate china.
Either the lamp light was pecu-
liarly yellow or jeans complexion was
below the mark. She chatted freely,
almost too freely, and laughed upon
occasion, but there was no ring in
her laughter.
Altogether, it was rather difficult
evening. We played cards after sup
per, and tried, as so many others have
done, to forget our troubles in the
chance of lucky hand. Even the
cards were against me- Jean and i
had always played together, but to-
night Jack insisted that it was not
meet that man should have his wife
for partner at cards, so our combi-
nation was broken. l may have had a
subconscious and disturbing feeling
that jeans hand, to my left, would
have made better holding than any
thing could hope to draw from the
deck. At any rate l played abomi
nably and went home early.
And SO the days dragged on. / kept
a corner of my south window rubbed
clear Of frost so that l might main
tain lookout for visit from Spool,
for although he was my rival, or be-
cause he was my rival, l felt that !
had with Spool something very much
in common. But Spool seemed sud-
denly to have discontinued his visits
to Fourteen and Twenty-Five, and for
the first time in that winter the trail
to his shack was entirely overblown
and obliterated in waste of snow.
Jack came over every day, and Mar
jorie and Jean came two or three
times a week and gave my shack the
womanly touches of which it was be-
ginning to stand in need, but Jean
never came alone. / began to under
stand that the prairies give solitude
without privacy; If one seeks privacy
he goes to the city for it.
In this way couple of weeks had
passed when one evening it occurred
to me that / could kill dull hour or
two, and discharge somewhat neg
lected filial duty, by writing a letter
to my father. Investigation proved
that had no writing paper, so went
over to Jacks to borrow some. They
had none, either, but Jack produced
an old account book with some blank
sheets in 1t, which we decided would
do quite well. In those days we
weren't particular about stationery.
Jean was in her room while was
there, and did not come out, so In n
few minutes / returned to Fourteen.
There / set the lamp on the table and
spread the old account book out be-
fore me. 1t once had been owned by
Jacks father; the first pages were