Show 1 jjr i U 7 ade copyright 1901 by dally story publishing company dear tom I 1 might begin let ter just as that other girl did in that we read together do you re members 7 I 1 am sitting alone by the fire dressed as I 1 came from the dance in a robe even you would admire for it cost a cool thousand in france im out of all season my hair Is done up in a cue in short sir the belle of the season is wast ing an hour on you it s really true tom I 1 m called the belle of the season I 1 might as well have a bell around neck tor as soon as I 1 appear anywhere there Is a clatter of tongues and I 1 hear audibly enough oh the rich miss ethel westover every word sounds to my tired ears like the dropping of dollars and cents on a silver church plate go where you will one cant get away from that idea of money in god we trust is all very well but it is written on a dime sometimes when I 1 am sitting by it is not often dear I 1 try to dream the long hours away with happy thoughts of QU and then I 1 think I 1 hear black bess galloping un der my window and I 1 actually run to see it you will not pull rein at the gate and stop oh how I 1 do miss the oaks and and the blue mountains how glad I 1 shall be to get back to the tills and the stars and you in a small town on the outskirts of california was set a square frame house with its four quarters over a long range of mountains the house had the distinction of being the home 1 ellsworth the well known fiance of the richest heiress in all the country round tom was anything but rich but he had prospects and consequently was regarded as the most important of all the ranchmen and miners in that region he was a alg handsome athletic fellow the eon of a gentleman who had gone from massachusetts out to california for his health but almost as soon lost the money he had and when he died left tom his only son and heir a leg of numerous debts tom bad loved ethel westover ever since they bad walked hand in band to the one public school to gether ethel s father was a miner but one day he struck it rich and then came the usual revolution the mother had but one thought of eth el then a girl of sixteen when the fortune came she was borne away to a fashionable boarding school in new york amidst tears and promises to tom then came paris and london in that time the rumor drifted to the little town of rocky mountain that mrs westover was trying to forget fill associations with her past but there was tom and would not down and ethel would not forget tom was now twenty alve and his debts were paid he had seen ethel but once in three years she had grown so tall and was so beautiful that he felt a little afra d of her but she had thrown her soft arms around his neck and clung to him just as in the old days I 1 shall always love al ways oh tom don t let them take me from you no darling and he had kept the alone by the f re brown head to his breast and let his lips meet again and again the little mouth that had said such loving words to ahn he had meant it no one should take her from him no one in all the wide world he vowed it e bently to every living creature and god help him he would keep it her last letter lay open before him bow K said she was coming bad and then and thena H s beart beat until be could hear it as he looked at the lovely oval face and the large tender eyes of the picture he had carried for so long and bis eyes de doured hungrily every curve of the sweet face lou must be true you must be true he cried almost with a sob and yet heart of my heart will you be happye what have I 1 to offer youa only love love but a wealth of it that all the mines of bidden treasures could not buy one golden throb of he ain t the same lookin tom goes pretty hard with him eha bern s as it should as be s hush boys here he comes tom shook hands with each one his pale drawn face hurt the heart of every rough man present they started in to tell their woes and trials in rounding up the cattle it was the principal event in their hard lives the losses and hardships seemed as hard as any man could endure they wanted him to know that other men suffered too and bore it like men id the whole town was talking about it tom knew this but be did not avold tb town he had been fighting the hardest battle of his life for three days when he had seen it blazoned in all the papers he turned white and sick and cold he had refused to be here would be vengeance lieve it and ground bis teeth over the bellow journals he sent a tele gram then be laid the yellow paper the answer was written on into the blazing fire and watched it curl and burn into ashes he was alone now he unfolded the papers and read the notice again the lamp light seemed to anake the letters blacker married at the church ot all saints ethel westover to james duke of tom laid the papers just as he had done the telegram into the alre he unlocked a drawer and took from it a bundle of letters one by one they joined the holocaust of love and mem ory he took the picture with its lovely eyes and tender mouth and tor one moment be waked to the awful truth she has been sold sold he cried and she begged me not to let them take her from me he turned his suffering face to the glint of steel in the open drawer it fascinated him like an evil eye he drew it slowly towards him and look ed deep into the beadi hollow here would be vengeance he bad stolen her that silly little duke but why had she not resisted H she had loved him as he had loved her no power could have taken her from him bah she was not worth it he put the pistol down and shook from head to toot and yet faithless or not he could not live without her and once more he took up the pistol and passed handkerchief hind kerchief up and down its shining length and drew the crooked to see if all was right he could even see the stars shining through as he put his eye to the empty space and looked clear into the face of heaven he remembered her last words I 1 shall be so glad to get back to the hills and the stars and ou he was going to the stars himself he would tell them how false she had beau to them and to him he panted as if smothered and raised the window the cold breath on his face seemed to revive him he could see the white and glittering like snow under the starlight and far beyond the dim outline of the ghostly moun bains and all aro ind him were the hotree of the stout hearted miners and ranchmen he looked once more down the still throat of the pistol and then over to tiie hills the reports rang clear and sharp one two three four the doors of every house in town were flung wide and the men waving the women back rushed to the house where a bright light through an open win dow I 1 thought atwould come said one I 1 feel shamed in my innards for such a man said a big fellow with but one arm he am t halt a man he aint no man at all by this time said another and they bled up the stairs into Ell room they stopped with their eyes open it s all right fellows tom spoke huskily but there was a new light in his eyes I 1 meant to but she isn t worth it he threw the empt ed pis tol from him I 1 thought it was the best way to let you know I 1 shot straight up to the stars in future try to be all that you ve thought about me that s it I 1 coulden couldn t bear to lose your respect he waited at the open window until he heard the last footstep pass out A thin vo ce came up to him through the mist of the night no there aint no woman that |