Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1940-12-12
81 Il&I lz[[([jl{ kl$E}
g BEN Af1E5 WILLIAMS
w. ~. ~. SSTvIC

Mary turned to look up at him. The
sun from the skylight fell full upon
her countenance as she turned, and
George stopped like struck man,
shaken and trembling. She thought
he would fall, and she rose quickly
to, help him, slim and yet warmly
round in her tight bodice above loose
full skirts of sober stuff. The button
at her throat was unfastened; and
George as his eyes fell before hers
saw her smooth white throat. She
touched his arm, steadying him; and
John Gale spoke her name and his,
and she said:
Here, I'll help you. Sit here"
George said defensively: "I'm all
right" He freed himself and sat
down; but his arm where she had
touched it burned long after her
fingers were removed. He sat be-
side her at the table with Captain
Keen at the head, but he could not
look at her. He ate briefly, little,
with trembling hands, silent, so that
his silence oppressed them all. Aft
erward he took refuge in his cabin
again; and when next day, his ankle
quickly healing, he was able to hob
BILE on deck, he walled himself be-
hind an intense dignity.
But if he was afraid of Mary, he
was attracted to Joseph Neargood.
The Marquesan was youthfully i'm
pressed by his own conservation to
the Mission work in which he would
presently assume place. McAus-
land, his own life committed to lead
the Island people to Christianity,
saw in Neargood a fine example of
what could be done in that direction.
The Sunset was five days out of
Honolulu; and the day was lovely
and serene, with a light steady
breeze and a long easy swell so that
the breast of ocean rose and fell as
sweetly as the bosom of sleeping
woman. Two sailors on a stage
slung over the side forward were
scraping and painting, and Mary
Doncaster and Mrs. Gale stood by
the rail above the catheads, idly
watching the men and watching the
porpoises under the bow. Now and
then as they talked together the
sound of Mary's laughter rang out
pleasantly. Captain Keen, near the
two missionaries aft, cooked his
head that way and chuckled.
'We'll be sorry to say goodbye
to Miss Doncaster," he remarked.
"The girl has an honest, friendly
sound in her laughing"
Mary and the others were coming
aft toward them; and George, al
ways apt to avoid Mary, went for
ward along the other side of the
deck. She looked after him, her
eyes sobered by hurt; and a mo-
ment later, when Mrs. Gale and
Joseph Neargood had gone below,
she smiled and said to John Gale:
II saw you talking with poor Mr..
McAusland.
He chuckled. "Now 1 wonder why
you call him poor
"But isn't he? He might have so
many things, but he's afraid to take
them"
"Afraid?"
"Well, at least sort of ashamed,
and shy"
ASHAMED of WHAT" The old man
watched her with lively interest.
Ashamed of-life, perhaps" The
girls cheeks were bright. Don't
you know people like that? Old
maids who insist that there's some
thing sinful in loving and marrying?
People who persuade themselves
that the things they want to do and
don't dare do are really wrong and
who think everyone else is wicked
for doing them?"
He spoke in an affectionate amuse-
ment. $50 wise so young!"
"I'm not so awfully young" Mary
assured him. "I'm nineteen. Re-
member I lived on Gilead till l was
ten, and the Island girls start hav-
ing babies when they're not much
older than that"
ITO BE CONTINUED