The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1935-10-03
CHAPTER CONTINUED


3
She was busy with the crater at the
sink, her shoulders moving as she
worked theoretically.
"I'll give you some salve to put on 1t
tomorrow" she said. ''That'll heal it
right up, like as not. If it don't, you
let me know :"
What followed, Jenny watched with
out speaking; or rather she watched
Will, and his eyes that were so deeply
blue, and his straw-colored hair rough
and unkempt across his brow, and the
youthful lines of his mouth and chin.
Marin Pierce gave the girl a sidelong
scrutiny, while she affected to be busy
with her ministrations; till presently
the thing was done, and Will offered
them the trout by way of payment, and
departed, and Jenny-though even then
her feet wished to follow him, TO fol-
low him anywhere, forever, wherever
he should go-Stayed in the door to
watch him disappear through the barn.
She stayed till she had last glimpse
of him in the far corner of the back
pasture, before he plunged again into
the woods on the way toward home.
She turned then to her grandmother
with shining eyes. HE looked back
and waved, Granny!" she cried.
''Sh'd think he would" Marin Pierce
assented crisply. "Ungrateful young
imp If he didn't. You get the YARDS
i sent you for, JennyT
Jenny colored in distress. ST forgot"
she said.
The old woman made a sound like
mirth. mo matter" she decided. thine
enough for them, another day."
She did not then ask any question,
or offer any least instruction, finding
a deep pleasure in watching this I'M
folding of the girl into the woman; in
watching the birth in Jenny of that
teeming ardor, frank and tender and
unashamed, which a girl learns by and
by to conceal and to control, but which
may be at first as apparent as the
blush on rose.
And during the next two years, while
Jenny came to maturity as a stream
rushes to the sea, Marin Pierce still
held ST ant; but she was not blind She
knew tnat the girl slipped away on
every occasion on the chance of seeing
Will. Jenny gave the young man that
deep and boundless affection of which
only a child is capable; and Marin
Pierce watched her tenderly, ready
with the sympathy and comfort which,
she began to perceive, would be need
ed by and by.
For VIII was man, and flushed
with the pride of first manhood; and
in his eyes Jenny was still no more
than a child. An adoring child, who
came to watch him fish, and lay prone
on her stomach behind him so as not
to alright the trout while he crept
near to drop his line into the pool; or
she might appear beside him in the
bayfield, while he worked, or in the
garden where he was busy digging the
roots on some crisp day in fall; or
she came to help him pick apples in
the orchard below the house. 1t mat
tered not what the occasion, she drew
near him when she could, asking moth
ing, demanding nothing, content to be
near him. and to watch him, and to
hear his tones when he spoke to her.
She worshiped him. and Will, not
blind, was pleased and at the same
time amused by her alteration. And
Marin Pierce, watching them, hoped
one thing and feared another. There
was in Jenny no coquetry at all; she
had no instructive knowledge of the
arts and graces which might have per-
suaded viii to see that she was not
the child he thought her. Her hair
as often as not hung in heavy braid
between her shoulders, her sun-bon-
net was worn without artifice, her
dresses were rough and old and fit for
hard usage. When she traversed the
Swallowed forests, she went easily and
smoothly as wild thing; but other
wise her movements had still the awk-
wardness of youth, the awkwardness
of strength not yet controlled, of bone
and muscle not yet in full co-ordina-
ton. Her very steadiness and serenity
must make her in Wills eyes. the old
woman considered. sexless, like boy:
Jenny had none of the shynesses, the
Withdrawals. the reluctances of a girl.
Marin Pierce came to be troubled
by the matter by and by. and she
made an occasion to see old EnGch,
Wills father, and speak of it with
him. These two were of the same gen
Grafton. Marin Pierce only little the
older; for Enoch, as is apt to be the
case hereabouts had married late, and
viii was his only child.
But Enoch was older than his years
and Marin Pierce younger than hers.
Vigorous enough to do any work that
needed doing around the farm, he was
apt between these physical activities
to sit with vacant eyes, staring at
nothing. in the patient apathy of age.
Marin Pierce laid her concern be-
fore him. spoke to him OIL Jenny and
of Will Il dunno what to think" she
confessed. Seems like if either one
of 'em had any git up and git. they'd
have found out what was the matter
with them by now But Jenny he's
the first boy she ever knowed: and
Will don't act like he'd had much &c
do with girls"