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Show 10 ij O O O 0 iv Q O O 1 p : rs 0 I Judith of the I if? H I A flllS MARIE MANNING, . itX J&sU&HL 31 JLi& Author of "Lord Atlinhm, DinVrupt" '.. f CopyrWhl, 1303, by llh.rper a Brother. V '? M CIIAl'Ti:il IX JT'IMTII, on iter Mitclv rnnio Doll, Iff 1 Hit' I)n rundi nftor (lie mld-(lit) mld-(lit) iiK-itl to K In quest of lief l)iotlitr He lintl left Ills com-fortnlilo com-fortnlilo rnliln on tliu Hear creek when lie I1111I InriiiMl niHtler nnd niotcil Into tltt' ' bin) iiinn'H roiiiitrj," one of IlltHC H'lllOtO IllOtllltlllll ftlMtll("mM tllitt nbutiiiil in AV.omlnt,'.mnl fmnlsli a nnt-nnil nnt-nnil iirotretlon lo lite ftiRllUe from Jnxtlii' .Ittdllli took tin- left fork of tin roml cen nn I'otcr llanilltoii bad eliot'ii tlio i-IkIiI t lit' da.i hIic Imil uitldii'il lilin B.1II011 toward Kitty Colo-brooko Colo-brooko ultli never 11 kI.iiuo h.irkwnrd. Iinlllli troc now to put blni mid the tiit'inory of (but tiny from ber 111I111I by tuiniiiK townrtl tbe ojieii toinitry without with-out 11 Kliinco In tbe direction lie bad taken Kill ber IIioukIiIh wete weary of Journej bit; oer that trull that xlm would not look tow mil. In Imagination Imagina-tion hIic bad traveled it with I'eter a buiidrcd tlmei, pnw each dip anil turn of tbe yellow roid, each feature of the landscape, an be rodo exultant to Kitty, Kit-ty, to be turned, tried, taken or left, nil ber mood should piotnpt Hut Judith was uitiio woman than Habit, and In ber heart there was 11 blcmlhiK of Joy and pain, for nlie knew -hucIi hUIII has loe In Infeience from detail that tbe mMtt'iloiiH faraway ulrl, who wiim ho jiowerful tbathbe could bavo whntever she wanted, cen to Peter, lovetl her own ambitions better than she did I'eter I'e-ter or I'eter'a happiness and that nIiu would not marry him except as n niake-t.blft niake-t.blft Kor .MIbs Colebiooko wroto verses I'eter bad a whlto and gold volume of thorn that .tiidllh fancied be huIiI his prajerH to As for I'eter himself, be had neier been able to explain tbe tun'lo Kitty bail browed for him. There wuih 11 heady (imllly In tlio veiy iIiik of her name. Ills first Klluipse of her 011 ctKs day hi a white kwu anil a bat that to his itrinly indlscrluilnatlou looked look-ed as guileless ns n Hhcaf of popples nodding lioo tlie pale jollow bnlr that had the sheen of corn silk bad been 11 vision that stirred in him he-role he-role pioniptbiKs. lie bad 110 illtlleulty lu securing an Introduction. She was 11 connection of the Wetmoies, as was he, though through opposite sides of the house. In the low minutes' talk that followed be bail the disconcerting sensation of hclng "talked down to " There was the Indulgent tolerance of the woman of the world to the "nice hoj" nhout this amazing joung wotn tin, who might hae heen eighteen Hamilton bail repudiated (lie cr. sug gestloti of being a "nice boy " Hut he felt himself blushing, gi oping for woids. s:i lug stupid things, supplying oveiy ieiiilsiti of the "like boy" as It be wero acting the ptut Later, when be 11111 the gamut of Mime fi lends, th"j bad chaffed blni on bis hardihood Uy .loc. be had nene to look at her! Didn't be know she was "tbe" Miss I'olebrookeV Now, Ilamll ton was absolutely Ignorant of .Miss (.'olebrooke's right of way to the dell nlte nrtlde, but It was diaractei'lstlc of dim to make no Inquiries On the whole, lie found the sltiiatluii nnetliu' with a greater number of tbe artistic requirements than such situations usu nil pioentod He was still dallying with this pleasant vagueness of sen.i lion when he phked up a copy of u mag.ii'hie, and the name Kitheilin' Colebtooki' c.tugbt his and held It like tbe tllgbt of 11 comet Her contribution contri-bution was a sonnet entitled "The Mir ado" s a ualwt emotional coufessn 1 "I be Mil in le" Intejested him As a Minuet lie rent It unmercifully I'eter was to leain, however that this houiut was but 11 stilltaiy Hake In a poetie fall of more or less magnitude He rather conspicuously avoided a icf create to ber poetry when they met igiln To him It wijs the veiy least of her gifts. Her hah, that had the tender ellow of lipcnlng coin, was woilh.v ol a ejele of poimcts, but pi ay lc.iw the innklug of them to some one else! When II. million knew her better bo did not like lo think that lie had thought bet eighteen at their Ihsl meeting meet-ing It Impugned his Judgment as 11 inn of tbe world. Voting ladles of eighteen lould not possibly be con trlliutors of seoral j ears' standing to the various magazines. An unusual situation was ablioricut to htm. 'Jh.it be should marry 1111 older woman, one. inoicovoi, who had gained ber public lu a Held to which be had not gained admission, was doubly distasteful by reason of his deference to the 'conventional 'conven-tional If she had flirted with him, ills nildsui mer madness would liavo evaporated Into thin ulr. but she kept him .11 nnii's luigth, ostensibly took htm serious v and the boy prop mil Her rejection of blni wns a matter or such consummate skill that Hamilton did not iiulUc the keenness of his disappointment till he was swinging westward over the pr.ilrlej. She bad conllded to him that her work claimed her and tint hbe must reuouuic those sweet responsibilities that made the happiness of other women. This bud all happened reven years ago In the meantime be had adjusted his disappointment lo the new life of tlio west. To sa that bo ha.j fallen In lovo wiUi the situation v,ould bo to misrepresent him, but the rolo of lonc-Jjr lonc-Jjr cow puncher loyally wed j to tho JboushtjiJ his first lovojjun u' vdjh- I cousin fie; would Iliiii survived llus test of propinquity to a, woman of .lit-filth .lit-filth Itodney's compelling personality, other things being equal. It would bo difficult to himml n guess The coming com-ing of Judith from the convent Increased In-creased the perspective Into which Kitty was reti eating Willi tho vivid philiiswomau In the foregtouud, tbe pale haired writer of M'tw dwindled almost to reminiscence, lint tho re-creiKo re-creiKo for tho usual, that made up the uuderlliig motive for so much or Hamilton's Ham-ilton's conduct, presented bnrilers alongside of which bis pievlotis quail-dar.v quail-dar.v icg.udlug .Miss t'olebtooke's sen-lorltj sen-lorltj shrank lo inslgulllcance. Ho might mnrry a woman older than blm-M'lf blm-M'lf and swallow tbe grimace of It. but by no one olv able system of argil inent could he persuade himself to iniiiry into a family like that of the IlodneyBtlie girl herself, for all her beauty and rare womanliness, n quarter quar-ter Indian; her father the synonym for obloquy, her brother a cattle thief When Peter went east he had expected expect-ed to find Kitty woin b the pursuit of epithets, haunted bj the phantom of 11 enn-er, reslgfliHl to the ullngs and arrow ar-row s of remorseful splnsteiliood. An obvious regret, or, at least, resignation tempered with remembrance, was the unguent he anticipated at the hands of Kitty. Hut alas for sanctum les built to refuge wounded pi hie! He found Kitty the pivot of 1111 ndoilug coterie, the iniigasdnes Mowing with the milk nnd honey of her erse and she looking look-ing jounger, If possible, than when he. had first known her. The tan nnd hardship of tlio prairie had adjusted the blunder of their ages. Stark conditions had overdrawn his account perhaps n decade; she retained a Biirplus It would be rude to estimate. Iler greeting of hint was radiant, ber welcome panoplied lu words Hint verged closo to Inspiration A woman would have scented warning Instantly, deep feeling and tho curled nnd per-fumed per-fumed phrase being suspicious cronies nnd stiro to rouse those lightly slumbering slum-bering watchdogs, tlio feminine wits. Hut Peter only turned the other dicek. A telegram recalled him to tlio ranch nnd prevented a final leave taking with MIsh Colebiooke. He made his adieus bj letter, and the were frankly regretful re-gretful .Miss C'olebiooke's icply mingled min-gled sorrow lu parting from an old friend with Joy in having found him. Her letter, a masterpiece of phi use spinning, piesented to Pelei the one significant fact that she would not he nversc to the renewal of bis suit lu reading her letter ho made no allowance allow-ance for the fact that tbe lad bad made a fine art of sajlng things and that her Joy and icgict at their meet lug and parting might have been 1 cm lulseent of the pi luted passion tb.it was so prominent 11 feature of mag.i-imslom mag.i-imslom Her letters the like of them he hud never steu outside printed volumes vol-umes of letters that bad achieved the distinction of classics- culminated lu the one that Judith had g .en him thai morning, auuotuidug that unexpected 1 she had decided to Join the Wetniote girls and would be glad to see him at tlio l.mdi. That he had down al her bidding Ju illth knew What she would least have suspected was that .Miss Colcbrnoke had leiolvcd her lsltor as if his lue.ik-neck lue.ik-neck ride ncioss the desert bad been in (lie untitle of an afternoon tall. If Judith, knowing what she did of this long diavvu out lomaiice, could have know 11 llkow Isc of her knight's c bagi In would she have pitied hlmV Ignoiant or the icieiit antlcllin.ix and with a btndeii of mail) he.i thoughts, Judith was penetrating ! world of unleavened desolation He neath the scourge of the noonday sun the desert la) stiippcd of every Illusion. Illu-sion. Vegetation had almost ic.iscd. Nothing but sun seoicbed, dust choked sagebrush could spring from such ste-rllltj ste-rllltj Tlio ri nit of desolation, It gave back to desolation a quality more met-nneholy met-nneholy than utter barrenness. 'I ho Hall that she must take to ,Ilm'n camp lu the mountain was known to but few honest men fugitives fiom Jusilie-the grave, impersonal Justice of tho law or the swlfl justice of the plains-found there an asjluui And, while the sometimes buffeted In death by thirst or hunger a sentence moro dioadfu! than the law of tho land or the law of the rope would lime given tbeui, tbe desert, like the sea. seldom -gave up her own It was more than piobabh' that 110 woman except Allda Ilodney had ever taken that trail bo-fou bo-fou and lensounbly certain that no woman had ever taken It alone. Dolly, when she saw tho beds of alkali grow more frequent and that tho trails of the range e.ittlo turned had; snlffe I the lack of water In tlio air, slack-cm I her pnee and turned an Inleiiogatoiy ear toward her mistress. "It's nil right, old gbl" Tho gaunt-leted gaunt-leted hand patted the satin neck. "We'ro In for"-Judlth flung ber bead up and confronted the lullnlto desolation desola-tion yawning to the sky llne-"(Jod know s w hat " Dolly broke Into a light canter This oddentl) was not an occasion for dawdling. There was u touch of bind-ness bind-ness nhout the way the reins were held that made the mnro settle down to work, lint her Hying hoofs made little npparenj progress against tho space ilnd Hllcjicc of tjivjlesertj, l'lvcji'iiufjf- 1 S-rl - .i .....MSI !" ' teen miles and tho curving srionTcTer of tho mountain that she must cross still mocked In the distance. Only tho sun moved In that vast world of seemingly seem-ingly Immutable forces Theie was no stole Sioux In Judltlr now. Tlio girl thai breasted the crests of tho foothills shrank- In terror from the loneliness nnd the suggestion of foes lurking pi nmbtisb. Tlio sun dropped behind the liumitnlu, lcuvlsg n blood led pool In bis wake, like fugitive Cain Ahead' night was sweeping over tho eailh fiom mountain moun-tain .bilious that llovVod Impel ccp tlbly together like blackened pjols "Ah, Doll, my dear, 11 bouse Is tho place for women folk when the night comes a house, the llro burning clear, U10 kettle singing, and" Dolly whinnied whin-nied mi unintuitive without waiting for the picture to be completed The wilderness wil-derness wns being gradually swallowed by the shadow h, as deliberate ly as 11 snake swallows jts dctlm They weio Hearing the mountains The hot blasts of air from tho desert blew more and more intermittent! The bree'e avvept keen from the hills, towering higher and btgbei, and Judith breathed deep of tho piny fingr.ince and felt the ten slon of things loosen a little Whitening entile bones gleamed fiom the darkness, tingle lemluders of hard winters nnd scant pasturage, and Judith, Ju-dith, with the Indian superstition that was lu die marrow of ber hones, lead ghostly warnings In tho empty eye sockets of the grinning skulls that stared up at her. hhe dared not think of the d ingers that the looming dark ness might conceal or of what sho might llnd nt her Jouruc's end or "Who 1. Dolly! Softly, girl Is It my foolish, white blood nerves, or Is some one follow big?" The mnrO had been trained to re spouil to the slightest touch 011 her mouth and stopped Instantly Judilli swaod slightly lu tbe saddle with tbe heaving of the sweating horse. The bio id boat at her temples, confusing what she actually heird with what ber Imagination pictured. She was halfway half-way up a towering spur of the Wind river when sho slid from tho saddle, and, putting her ear to the ground, listened, Indian fashion. Above tho throbbing stillness of the desert night, that enme to her iiiurmurously, like tho Imprisoned Voar of the sea from a shell, she could hear the tegular beat of horse's hoofs following up the steep mountain grade. She scrambled up with tho desperate nlmblcnesH of a hunted tiling, but when sho attempted to vault to tho saddle her limbs failed, and sho sank clinging to the pommel. Twice sho tried and twice tho trembling of her limbs hold her captive. With the loss of each moment mo-ment tho beat of tho hoofs 011 the trail below became moro distinct. Tho very desperation of her plight kept her clinging cling-ing to tho pommel, Incapable of thought, so that when sho finally Hung herself to tho saddle sho wns surprised to find herself there. To tho left the trail dropped sharply to a precipice, choked by the close crowding of ninny scrub pines. To tho right tlio suovv-clad suovv-clad spires of the Wind river kept their eternal lgll. Tlio trail had begun to widen The horse behind her ng.iln stumbled, loos cnlng a stone that rolled with clashes and echolngs down to tho precipice below. be-low. She took advantage of tho widen lug of tin trail to uige Dolly forward Her1 Impulse wns to put spurs to the maro and run, to take chances with loose stoues, a narrowing trail and the posslblllt of Doll's stumbling and breaking a leg, but discretion piompt-ed piompt-ed the showing of a brave front, tbe pleasantries of tho road, with Might as tluj.lil&t U'soujve, of ilesneratloiit To bo continued |