t
'?;
STST!
JvSj.'
."
fe
10
Jieemed to strnrele back into it before even
Hthe dull eyes participated in the glow- Dr.
Tiide.hi rnmnaniona. bnt not before Jose-
jt.phlne had bent her head eagerly forward.
-ite is coming ro, " sne saiu. .
At the sound of that deep, clear voice
"the first to break the hush of the room the
fcHdull eyes leaped up and the head turned in
: -its direction, xne lips moveu auu uiierea
" a single rapid sentence. The girl recoiled.
. "You're all right now," said the doctor,
' cheerfully, intent only upon the form before
him.
The lips moved again, but this time feebly
and vacantly; the eyes were staring Taguely
around.
"What's matter? What's all abont?"
aid the man, thickly.
"You've had a fall. Think a moment.
Where do you live?"
. Again the lips moved, but this time only
to emit a confused incoherent murmur. Dr.
.Duchesne looked grave, but recovered him
self quickly.
"That will do. Leave him alone now,"
.he said brusquely to the others.
Sat Josephine lingered. .,
"He spoke well enough just now," she
aid eagerly. "Did you hear what he said?'
"Net exactly," said the doctor abstract-,
edlv. coxing at the man.
"He said 'You'll have to kill me first,"'
said Josephine slowly.
"Humphl? said the doctor abstractedly,
passing his hand backward ohd "forward be
. 'ibretbe"man's eyes to note any change in
m sheltering pupils.
.'Yes," continued Josephine gravely. "I
suppose," she added cautiously, "he was
thinking of the operation of what you had
just done to him."
- "What I had done to him? Oh, yes!"
CKAPTEB XL
Before noon the next day it was known
throughout Burnt Bidge Valley that Dr
Duchesne had performed a difficult opera
tion upon an unknown man who had been
picked up unconscious from a fall and car
ried to Burnt Bidge Banch. But, although
the unfortunate man's life was saved by the
operation, he had only momentarily recov
ered consciousness relapsing into a semi
idiotic state, which effectively stopped the
discovery ot any clew to his friends or his
identity. As it was evidently an accident
which in that rude community and even
in some more civilized ones conveyed a
vague impression of some contributory in
capacity on the part of the victim or some
Providential interference of "a retributive
character, Burnt Bidge gave itself little
trouble about, it It is unnecessary to
, say that Mr. and Mrs. Forsyth gave
themselves and Josephine much more.
They had a theory and a grievance,
Satisfied from the first that the alleged vic
tim was a drunken tramp, who submitted to
have a hole bored in his -head in order to
THE YOUNG GTBIi COXFBOXTED HIM TVITH STEADY EYES.
foist himself upon the ranche, they were
lond in their protests, evenhintinc at a con-
. spiracy between Josephine and the stranger
jr. to supplant her brother in the property, as
sP; he had already in the spare bedroom.
t "Didn't all that yer happen the very night
she pretended to 0 for Stephen eh?. Tell
s me that! And didn't she have it all ar-
ranged with the buggy to bring him here,
as that sneaking doctor himself let out eh?
j looks mighty curious, don't it?" she mut
i tered darkly to the old man. But althouch
- that gentleman, even from his own selfish
. view, would scarcely have submitted to a
, surgical operation and later idiocy as the
at price of insuring comfortable dependency,
LV pe had no doubt others were base enough to
do' It; and lent a willing ear to his wife's
t suspicions.
Josephine's personal knowledge of the
stranger went a little further. Dr. Duchesne
had confessed to her his professional disap-
pouumem av me incomplete results ot me
operation. He had saved the man's life,
but as yet not his reason. There was still
hope, howeverfor the diagnosis revealed
' nothing that might prejudice a favorable
progress. It was a most interesting case.
He would watch it carefully, and as soon as
the patient could be removed would take
him to the county hospital, where, under
his own eyes, the poor fellow would have
the.benefit of the latest science and the high
est specialists. Physically he was doing re-
- markably well; indeed, he must have been
a fine young chap, free from blood taint or
vicious complication, whose flesh had
healed like an infant's. It should be re-
' corded that it was at this juncture that Mrs.
Forsyth first learned that a silver plate let
into the artful stranger's skull
was an adjunct of the healing pro
cess! Convinced that this infamous
extravagance.was part and parcel of the
conspiracy, that it was only the beginning
of other assimilations of the .Porsyths' me
tallic substance, that it was probably pol
ished and burnished with a fulsome inscrip
tion to the doctor's skill, and would pats
into the possession and adornment of a per
fect stranger, her rage knew no bounds. He
or.bis friends ought to be made to pay for it
pc work it out! In vain it was declared that
' a few dollars were all that was found in the
man's pocket, and that no memoranda gave
any indication of his name, friends or history
beyond the suggestion that he came from a
distance. This was clearly a part of the con
spiracy! Even Josephine's practical good
sense was obliged to take note of this singu
lar absence of all recordregarding him, and
the apparent obliteration of everything
that might be responsible for his ultimate
fate.
Homeless, friendless, helpless and even
nameless, the unfortunate man of 25 was
thus left to the tender mercies of the mistress
of Burnt Bidge Banch as if he had been a
new-born foundling laid at her door. But
this mere claim of weakness was not all; it
was supplemented by a singular personal ap
peal to Josephine's nature. Prom the time
that he turned his head toward her voice on
that fateful night his eyes had always fol
lowed her around the room with a wander-
-inj:, yearning, canine half-intelligence, j
'' "it'lA iciDS. w to convince herself that 1
irnerstoodiepbet "pJw.it-1
tendant furnished bv the doctor.- she rconld
not fail to see that he-obeyed herimplicitly,
and that when any difficulty arose between
him and his nurse she was always, appealed
to. Her pride in this proof oi her practical
sovereignty was flattered; and' when Dr.
Duchesne finally admitted that although
the patient was now physically able to be
removed to the hospital, yet he would lose
in t tbe change the very strong
factor that Josephine had become in his
mental recovery, the young girl as frankly
suggested that he should stay as long as
there was any hope of restoring his reason.
Dr. Duchesne was delighted. With all his
enthusiasm for science.he had a professional
distrust of some of its disciple:, and per
haps was not sorry to keep this most inter-
Jesting case in his own Hands. To mm ner
snggestion was only a womanly Kindness,
tempered with womanly curiosity. But the
astonishment and stupefaction of her parents
at'this evident corrobaration of suspicions
they had as yet only half-believed, was
tinged with superstitious dread. Had she
fallen in love with this helpless stranger? or.
-more awful to contemplate, was he really no 1
strancrer. but a surreptitious lover tnns
ratrateeically brought under her roof? JTor
hnce they refrained from open criticism, xne
very magnitude of their suspicion left them
dumb.
It was thus that the virgin Chatelaine of
Burnt Bidge Banch, was left to gaze un
trammeled upon her pale and handsome
guest, "whose silten bearded lips and sad,
childlike eyes might have suggested a more
Exalted Sufferer in their absence of any sug
gestion of a grosser material manhood. But
even this; imaginative appeal did not enter
into her reelings. -She felt for her good-looking,
helpless patient a profound and honest
pity. I do not know whether she had ever
heard that "pity was akin to love." She
wonld probably have resented that utterly
untenable and atrocious commonplace.
There was no suggestion, real or illusive, of
any previous masterful quality in the man
wh'ich might have made his present depend
ent condition picturesque by contrast. He
had come to her handicapped by an unro
mantic accident and a practical want of en
ergy and intellect. He would have to touch
her interest anew if, indeed, he would ever
succeed in dispelling the old impression.
His beauty.in a community of picturesquely
handsome men, had little weight with her,
except to accent the contrast with fuller
manhood. t
Her life had given her no allusions in re
gard to the other sex. She had found them,
however, more congenial and safer compan
ions than women, and more accessible to
her own sense of justice and honor. Tn re
turn they had respected and admired rather
than loved her, in spite of her womanly
graces. If she had at times contemplated
eventual marriage, U was only as a possible
practical partnership in her business; but as
she lived in a country where men thought it
a dishonoring proof of incompetency to rise
by their wives superior fortune, she had
been free iromthat kind of persecution, even
from men who might have worshiped her in
hopeless and silent honor.
Porthis reason there was nothing in the
situation that suggested a single compromis
ing speculation in the minds of the neigh
bors, or disturbed her own tranquility.
There seemed to be nothing in the future
except a possible relief to her curiosity.
Some day the unfortunate man's reason
would be restored, and he would tell his
simple history. Perhaps he might explain
what was in his mind when he turned to her
the first evening with that singular sentence
which had often recurred stranerelv to her
she knew not why. It did- not strike her
until later that it was because it had been
the solitary indication of an energy and ca
pacity that seemed unlike him. Neverthe
less, after that explanation, she would have
been quite willing to have shaken hands
with him and parted.
And yet for there was an unexpressed
remainder in her thought she was never
entirely free or uninfluenced in his presence.
The flickering vacancy of his sad eyes
sometimes became fixed with a resolute im
mobility under the gentle questioning with
which she had sought to draw out his fac
ulties, that both piqued and exasperated
her. He could say "yes" or "no," as she
thought, intelligently, but he could not
utter a coherent sentence nor write a word;
except like a child in imitation of his copy.
She taught him to repeat after her the
names of the inanimate objects in the room,
then the names of the doctor, his attend
ant, the servant and finally her own under
her Christian prenomen, with frontier fa
miliarity; but when she pointed to him
self he waited lor her to name him I
In vain she tried him with all the
masculine names she knew; his was
not one of them, or he would not or
could not speak it. For at times she reject
ed the professional dictum of the doctor
that the faculty of memory was wholly par
alyzed or held in abeyance, even to the
half-automatic recollection of his letters,
yet she inconsistently began to teach him
the alphabet, with the same method, and
in her sublime unconsciousness of his man
hood with the same discipline as if he were
a very child. When he had recovered suffi
ciently to leave his room, she would lead
him to the porch before her window and
make him contented and happy by allowing
him to watch her at work at her desk, oc
casionally answering his wondering eyes
with a word or stirring his faculties with a
question. J. grieve to say that her parents
had taken advantage of this publicity and
his supposed helpless condition to show
their disgust of his assumption to the ex
treme of making faces at him an act which
he resented with such a iurious glare that
they retreated hurriedly to their own ve
randah. A fresh though somewhat incon
sistent grievance was added to their previ
ous indictment of him: "If we ain't found
dead in our bed with our throats cut by that
woman's crazy husband" they had settled
by this time that there had been a clandes
tine raarriaeel "we'll be luckv." s-ranni
Mrs. Forsyth.
Meantime the mountain summer waxed to
days when the crowded f ores t seemed choked
and impeded with its own foliage, aad pan- j
lis iniiness oi jure and fruition. There were
fsE
gent and stifling with its own rank maturi
ty; when-the Jong hillside .rants, of wild
oats, thickset and impassable, .filled the air
with the heated dnst of germination. In
this quickening irritation of Hie- it would
be strange if the unfortunate man's torpid
intellect was not helped in its awakening,
and he was allowed to ramble at will over
the ranche; but with the instinct of a do
mestic animal he always returned to the
house, and sat in the porch, where Josephine
usually found him awaiting her when she
herself returned from a visit to the mill.
Coming thence one day she espied him on
the mountain-side leaning against a pro
jecting ledge in an attitude so rapt and im
movable that she felt compelled to approach
him. He appeared to be dumbly absorbed
in the prospect, which might have intoxi
cated a saner mind.
Half veiled by the heat that. rose quiver
ingly from the fiery canon below, the do
main of Burnt Bidge stretched away before
him, until, lifted in successive terraces
hearsed and plumed with pines, it was at
last lost in the ghostly snow peaks. But
the practical Josephine seized the oppor
tunity to try once more to awaken the
slumbering memory of her pupil. Follow
ing his gaze with signs and questions, she
sought to draw from him some indication of
familiar recollection of certain points of the
map thus unrolled behind him. But in vain.
She even pointed out the fateful shadow of
the overhanging ledge on the road Where
she had picked him up there was no re
sponse in his abstracted eyes. She bit her
lips: she was becoming irritated again.
Then it occurred to her that, instead or ap
pealing to his hopeless memory,
she had better trust to some unreflective
automatic instinct independent of it, and
she put the question a little forward:
"When you leave us where will you go
from here?" He stirred slightly and turned
toward her. She repeated her query slowly
and patiently with signs and gestures rec
ognized between them. A faint glow of in
telligence struggled into his eyes; he lilted
his arm slowly and pointed.
"Ah! those white peaks the Sierras?"
she asked eagerly. No reply. "Beyond
them?"
"Yes."
"The States?" No reply. "Farther
still?,'
He remained so patiently quiet and still
pointing that she leaned forward and, fol
lowing with her eyes the direction of his
hand, saw that he was pointing to the sky.
Then a great quiet fell upon them. The
whole mountain side seemed to her to be
hushed as if to allow her to grasp and real
ize the pathos of the ruined life at her side,
which it had known so long, but which she
hadneverfelt till now. The tears came to
her eyes; in her swift revulsion of feeling
she caught the thin uplifted hand between
ner own. it. seemed to ner that he was
about to raise them to his lips, but she with
drew them hastily and moved away. She
had a strange fear that if he had kissed them
it might seem as if a pet dog had touched
them-ror it might not. The next day she
felt a consciousness of this in his presence,
and a wish that he was well cured and away.
She determined to consult DK Duchesne on
the subject when he next called.
But the doctor, secure in the welfare of
his patient, had not visited him lately, and
she found herself presently absorbed in the
business of the ranche, which at this season
was particularly trying. There had also
been a quarrel between Dick Shipley, her
mill foreman, and Miguel, her ablest and
most trusted vaquero, and in her strict sense
of impartial justice she was obliged to side
on the merits of the case with Shi Die v
against her oldest retainer. This troubled
her, as she knew that with the Mex
ican nature, fidelity and loyalty were
not unmixed with quick and unrea
soning jealousy. For this reason she
was- somewhat watchful of the two
men when work was over and there
was a chance of their being thrown togeth-
er. Once 6r twice she had remained up
late to meet Misruel returning from the
Posada at San Bamon, filled with aguar
diente and a recollection of his wrongs, and
to see him safely bestowed before she her
self retired. It was on one of those occa
sions, however, that she learned that Dick
Shipley, hearing that Mieuel had dispar
aged him freely at the Posada, had broken
the discipline of the ranch and absented
himself the same night that Miguel "had
leave," with a view of facing his antago
nist on his own ground. To prevent this
the' fearless girl at once secretly set out
alone to overtake and bring back the de
linquent. For two or three hours the house was thus
left to the sole occupancv of Mr. and 'Mrs.
Forsyth and the invalid a fact only dimly
suspected by the latter, who had become
vaguely conscious of Josephine's anxiety,
and had noticed tbe absence of light and
movement in her room. It was, therefore,
that, having risen again and mechanically
taken his seat in the porch to wait her re
turn, he was startled by hearing her voice
in the shadow of the lower porch, accom
panied by a hurried tapping against the
door of the old conple. The half-reasoning
man arose and would have moved toward it,
but suddenly he stopped rigidly, with white
and parted lips and vacantly distended eye
balls. Meantime the voice and muffled tapping
had brought the tremulous fingers of old
Forsyth to the door-latch. He opened the
door partly; a slight figure that had been
lurking in the shadow of the porch pushed
rapidly through the opening. There was a
faint outcry quickly hushed, and the door
closed again. The rays of a single candle
showed the two old people hysterically
clasping in their arms trie figure that had
entered, a slight but vicious-looking young
fellow of five-and-twenty.
"There, itl" he said impatientlv, in
the voice whose rich depth was like Jose
phine's, but whose querulous accents were
those of the two old people before him, "let
me go, and quit that. I didn't come here to
be strangled! I want some money money,
you hear! Devilish quick, too, for I've, got
to be off again before daylight. So look
sharp, will you?"
"But, Stevy dear, when you didn't come
that time three months ago, but wrote from
Los Angeles, you said you'd made a strike
at last, and"
"What are you talking about?" he inter
rupted violently. "Ihat was just my lyin'
to keep you from worryin me. Three
months ago three months ago! Why, you
must have been crazy to have swallowed it:
I hadn't a cent."
"Nor have we," said the old woman
shrilly. "That hellish sister of yours still
keeps us like beggars. Our only hope was
you, our own boy. And now yon only come
to to go again."
"But she has money; she's doing well,
and she shall give it to me," he went on
angrily. "She can't bully me with her
business airs and morality. Y'ho else has
got a right to share, if it is not her own
brother?"
Alas for the fatuousness of human vicious
ness! Had the unhappy couple related the
simple facts they knew about the new guest
at Burnt Bidge Banche, and the manner of
his introduction, they might have spared a
catastrophe, and this chronicle would have
ended here.
But the old woman broke into a vindictive
cry: "Who else, Steve who else? Why,
the slut has brought a man here a sneak
ing, deceitful, underhanded, crazy loverl"
"Oh, has she?" said the young .man
fiercely, yet secietly pleased at this prom
ising evidence of his sister's human weak
ness. "WBereisshe? I'll go to her. She's
in her room, I suppose," and before they
could restrain him he had thrown off their
impeding embraces and darted across tbe
hall. The two old people looked at each
other. Even this .powerful ally, whose
strength, however, they were by no means
sure of, might succumb before the deter
mined Josephine! Prudence demanded a
middle course. "Ain't they brother and
sister?" Baid the old man, w'ith an air of
virtuous toleration. "Let em fight it out,"
The young man impatiently entered the
room he remembered to have been his sis
ter s. By the light of the moon that
streamed upon the window he could see
she was not there. He passed hurriedly to
the door of her bedroom; it was open; the
room was empty, the bed unturned. She
was not in the house she had gone to the
mill. Ah ! What Was -that ther hud nH 9
an infamous thought passed through theJ
1 II J l - I .(. . - .
vvuuuuiiuuiu, xuen, uiiwuat lie nail
treuevea ws aBsxctM or vi-t-toow jury, he J
BffiTpg ipijWFq:
began by the dim lightjto rummage in the
drawers of the desk for "such loose "cdfn or
valuablesas, In the perfect security of the
ranch, were often "left unguarded. Sud
denly he heard a heavy footstep on the
threshold, and turned.
.An awful vision a recollection,- so unex-
Sected, so.ghostlike-in that weird light that
e thought he was losing his senses Stood
before him. It-moved. forward with staring
eyeballs and white and .open, lips from
which a horrible, ih'articnlata sound issned
that was the speech of no living man I With
a single, desperate, almost superhuman
effort, Stephen Forsyth bounded aside,
leaped from the window and ran like a mad
man from the house. Then the apparition
HE "APPEASED TO BE DUMBLY
trembled, collapsed, and sank in an undii
tinguishable heap to the ground.
When Josephine Forsyth returned an
hourlator with her mill "foreman she was
startled to find her helplesspatient in a fit
on the floor of her room. With the assist
ance of her now converted and penitent
employe, she had the unfortunate man con
veyed to his room but not until- she had
thoughtfully rearranged the disorder of her
desk and closed the open drawers with
out attracting Dick Shipley's, attention.
In the morning hearing that the
patient was still in the semi-conscious
exhaustion of his late attack, but without
seeing him, she sent for Dr. Duchesne. The
doctor arrived while she was absent at the
mill, where, after a careful examination of
his patient, he sought her with somelittle
excitement.
"Well?" she said with eatrer eravitv.
"Well, it looks as if your w&h would be
gratified. Your friend has had an epileptio
fit. but the physical shock has started his
mental machinery again. He has recov
ered his faculties; his memory is returning;
he thinks and speaks coherently; he is as
sane as you andl." j;
"And" said Josephine, questioning t the
doctor's knitted eyebrows.
"I am not yet sure.twhether it was the re
sult of some shock he doesn't remember, or
an irritation of the brain, that would indi-
Jfcf
THEBE"WAS A MOMENT OT SUSPENSE.
cate that the operation had not been suc
cessful and there was still some physical
pressure or obstruction there; in which case
he would be subject to these attacks all his
lire."
"And you think his reason came before
the fit or after?" said the girl thoughtfnlly.
"I couldn't say. Had anything hap
pened?" "I was away, and found him on the floor
on my return," she answered half uneasily.
After a pause she asked, "Then he has told
vou his name and all abont himself?"
" "Yes, it's nothing at all! He was a
Btranger just arrived from the States, going
to the mines tbe old story; had no near re
lations, of course; wasn't missed or asked
after; remembers walking along the ridge
and falling over; name, John Baxter, of
Maine." He paused, ana relaxing into a
slight smile, added: "X haven't spoiled
your romance, have I?"
"No," she said, with an answering smile.
Then as the doctor walked briskly away she
slightly knitted her pretty brows, hung her
head, patted the ground with her little foot
"beyond the hem of her gown, and said to
herself: "The man was lying to him."
CHAPTEB in. v
On her return to the house Josephine ap
parently contented herself with receiving
the bulletin of the stranger's condition from
the servant, for she did-not enter his room.
She had obtained, no theory of last night's
incident from her parents, who, beyo.nd a
querulous agitation that was quickened by
-the news of his return to reason, refrained
from even that insidious comment which she
half feared' would follow.- When another
Hav tiavm4 wifnAtat tJU un .liTtn .' WW
hiss,
lirTTrhf imi "wri . ftrrviM. ." "fit
"J .vw.M.wt.--wv.yv.uS i,, m
3i
barrassmentwhen, bis attendant brought heir
tne request mat sue wouiu give mm a
.moment's speech In the porch,- Whither ha
had been removed.
She found him physically weaker; in
deed, so much so that she was fain, even in
her embarrassment, to assist him back to the
beach from which he had ceremoniously
risen. But she was so struck with the change
in his face and manner, a change so virile
and masterful, in spite of its gentle sadness
of manner, that she recoiled with a slight
timidity as if he had been a stranger, al
though she was also conscious that he seemed
to be more at his ease than she was. He
began in a low, exhausted voice, but before
he had finished his first sentence, she felt
herself in the-presence of a superior.
"My thanks come very late, Miss Forsyth,"
he said, with a faint smile, "but no one
knows better than yourself the reason why,
or can appreciate better their real value as a
sign that the burden you have so generously
taken on yourself is about to be lifted. I
know all, Miss Forsyth. Since yesterday I
have learned how. much I owe you, even .my
life, I believe, though I am afraid I must
tell-yon in the, same breath,how little that is
worth to anyone. You have- kindly helped
and interested yourself in, a poor stranger,
who turns out to be a ..nobody, without
friends, without romance and without even
mystery. Soa found me lying in the road
AB30BBED IK THE PBOSPEOT.
down yonder, after an accident that might
have happened to any other careless tramp,
and which scarcely gave me a claim to a bed
in tbe county hospital, much less under this
kindly roof. It was not my fault, as you
know, that all this did not come out sooner;
bnt while it doesn't lessen your generosity,
it doesn't lessen my debt, and although I
cannot hope to ever repay yon I can at least
keep the' score from running up. Pardon
my speaking so bluntly, but my excuse for
speaking at all was to say 'Good-by' and
'God bless you.' Dr. Duchesne has promised
to give me a lift on my way in his buggy
when he comes."
There was a slight touch oi bitterness in
his voice in spite of its sadness, which
struck the young girl as a weak and even
ungentlemanly note in his otherwise self
abnegating and undemonstrative attitude.
If he was a common tramp he wouldn't talk
in that way; and it he wasn't, why did he
lie? Her practical good sense here asserted
itself.
"But you are far from strong yet; in fact,
the doctor says you might have a relapse at
any moment, and you have that is, you
seem to have no money," she said gravely.
"Thatfs true," he said quickly, "Ire
member I was quite played out when I en-
I tered the settlement, and I think I had
parted from even some little trines 1 carried
with me. I am afraid I was a poor find to
those who picked me up, and you ought to
have taken warning. But the doctor has
offered to lend me enough to take me to San
Francisco, if only to give a fair trial to the
machine he has set once more agoing." "
"Then you have friends in San Fran
cisco?" said the young girl, quickly.
"Those who know yoi? Why not write to
them first, and tell tnem you are here?"
"I don't think your postmaster here
would be preoccupied with letters for John
Baxter If I did," he said, quietly. "But
here is the doctor coming. Goodby."
He stood looking at her In a peculiar, yet
half resigned way and held out his hand.
For a moment she hesitated. Had he been
less dominant and strong she would have
refused to let him go have offered him
some slight employment at the ranch: foV
oddly enough, in spite of the suspioion that
ue tum-aiuiig Bomeiniug, sue ie mat
she would have trusted him, and he would
have been a help to her. But fie was not
only determined, but she was all the time
conscious that he was a totally different
man from the one she had taken care of, and
merely- ordinary prudence demanded that
she should know something more ofhim
first. She gave him her hand constrainedly;
he pressed It warmly.
Dr. Duchesne drove up, helped him into
the buegy, smlleda good-natured but half
perfunctory assurance that he would, look
after "her patient," and drove away.
The whole thing was.' 'o.ver, but so.'unex.
pectedly, .so suddenly,.' so nnromanticallv,
so unsatisfactorily, that, although her.com
mon sense told her it wpirfectly.nataral,
Pjier, businesslike and. reasonable, and,
Sboye all. final StB(L eemalaU. aha "dU ju
'.know, whether to laBftk r. be aary T
this was cerpapung fmrtito mm wm Mi
hatafewdays-agewTftihw to iiamjfMl
rtech her what, to expect. "Well, what Jkad
she expected? .NotWBs;. -r i -.
Vet for tarf rest of thVdav she vm un
reasonably irritable,Jind, if the conjointure f
dq Qui paxwiiuuboi, Bo,ccj pmuucai anu
inhumanly just. Falling foul of some pre
sumption of -Miguel's, .based upon his pre
scriptive rights through long service on the
estate, with the recollection of her severity
toward his antagonist In her mind, she rated
that trusted retainer with such -pitiless
equity and unfemlnine logic that his hot
Latin blood chilled in his veins, and he
stood livid on, the road. Tberr,.ihforrainz
Dick Shipler with equally relentless calm
that she might feel it necessary to change all
her foremen unless they could agree in har
mony, she' sought the dignified seclusion of
her castle. But her respected parents,
whose triumphant relief at the stranger's
departure had emboldened them to await
her return in their porch with the bended
bows of invective and lifted javelins of ag
gression, recoiled before tbe resistless helm
of this cold-browed Minerva, who galloped
contemptuously past them.
Nevertheless, she sat late that night at
her desk. The cold moon looked down upon
her Window and lit up the empty porch
where her silent guest had mutely watched
her. For a moment she regretted that he
had recovered his reason, excusing herself
on the practical ground that he wonld never
have known his dependence, and he would
have been better cared for by her. She felt
restless and uneasy. This slight divergence
from -the practical groove In which her life
had been set had disturbed her in manv
other things, and given her the first views,
ot- tne narrowness oi it.
Suddenly she heard a step " in the porch.
The lateness of the honr, perhaps some
other reason, seemed to startle her, and she
half rose. The next moment the figure of
Miguel appeared at the doorway, and with a
quid?, hurried look around him and at tbe
open window he approached her. He was
evidently under great excitement, his hol
low shaven cheek looked like a waxen effigy
in the mission church; his yellow, tobacco
stained eye glittered like "phosphorescent
amber, his lank gray hair was damp and
perspiring. The young girl cast a
hurried glance at the open window and at
the gun which stood in the corner, and then
confronted him with clear and steady eyes,
but a paler cheek.
Ah, he began in Spanish, which he him
self had taught her as a child, it was a
strange thing, his coming there to-night; but
then, mother of God ! it was a strange, a
terrible thing that she had done to him old
Miguel, her uncle's servant; he- that had
known her as a muchacha; he that had lived
all his life at the ranche ay, and whose
fathers befor him had lived there all their
lives and driven the cattle over the very
spot where she now stood, before the thiev
ing Americans came here ! But he would
be calm; yes, the senora should find him
calm, even as she was when she told him to
go. He would not speak. No, he Miguel
would contain himself; yes, he had mas
tered himselffcbut could he restrain others?
Ah, yes, others that was it. Could he keep
Manuel and Pepe and Dominguez from
talking to the mlllman that leaking sieve,
that gabbling brute of a.Sbipley, for whose
sake she had cast off her old servant that
very day.
She looked at him with cold astonishment.
but without fear. Was' he drunk with
aguardiente, or had his jealousy turned bis
brain? He continued gasping, but still
pressing his hat against his breast
Ah, he saw it ail! Yes, it was to-day, the
day he left. Yes, she had thought it safe to
cast Miguel off now now that he was eone!
Without in the least understanding him,
the color had leaped to her cheek, and the
consciousness of it made her furious.
"How dare you?" she said passionately.
"What has that stranger to do with my
affairs or your insolence?"
-He stopped and gazed at her with a cer
tain admiring loyalty. "Ah, so," he said,
with a deep breath, "the senora is the niece
of her uncle. She does well not to fear him
a dog" with a slight shrug "who is
more than repaid by the senora's condescen
sion. He dare not speak 1"
-'Who dare not speak ? ' Are voa aaad ?"
She- stopped with a sudden, terrible Instinct
or apprehension; "Miguel," she said inner
deepest voice, "answer me, I command you!
Do you know anything of this man?"
It was Miguel's turn Xo recoil from his
mistress. "Ah! my God, is it possible the
senora has not suspect?"
"Snsuect!" said Josephine haushtllr. al
beit her proud heart was beating quickly.
"I suspect nothing. I command you to tell
me what you know."
Miguel turned with a rapid gesture and
closed the door. Then, drawing her away
from the window, he said is a hurried
whisper:
"I know that that man has not the name
of Baxter! I know that he has tbe name ef
Bandolpb, a young gambler, who have won
a large sum at Sacramento, and, fearing to
be robbed by those he wqn of, have walk, to
himself, through the road in disguise Ota
miner. I know that your brother Estaban
have decoyed him here, and have fallen on
him."
"Stop!" said (he young gtrl, her eyes,
which had been fixed with the agony of con
viction, suddenly flashing with the energy
of despair. "And you call yourself, the
servant of my uncle, and dare say this of
his nephew?"
""Sea, senora,"broke out the old man. pas
sionately. "It is because I am the servant
of your uncle that I, andl alone, dare sav
it to you! It is because I perjure my sou!,
and have perjured my soul to deny it else
where, that I now- dare to say it! It is be
cause I, yonr servant, knew it from one of
my countrymen who was of the gdng be
cause I, Miguel, knew that your brother
was not far away that night, and because I,
whom you would dismiss, have picked up
this pocket-book of Bandolph's and your
brother's ring which he have dropped and I
have" found beneath the body of the man
you sent me to fetch,"
He drew a packet from his bosom and
tossed it on the desk before her.
"And why have you not told me this be
fore?" said Josephine, passionately.
Miguel shrugged his shoulders. -
''What good? Possibly this, dog Ran
dolph would die. Possibly he would live
as a lunatic. Possibly would happen what
has happened 1 The senora is beautifuL
The American has eyes. If the Dona Jose
phine's "beauty shall finish what the silly
Don JSsteoan a arm nave oegan what mat
ter?" "Stop I" cried Josephine, pressing her
hands across her shuddering eyes. Then,
uncovering her white and set face, she said
rapidly: "Saddle my horse and your own
at once. Then take your choice! Come
with me and repeat all that you have said
to that man, or leave this ranch forever.
For it Hive I shall go to him to-night and
tell the whole story'
The old man cast a single glance at his
mistresssjshragged his shoulders, and with
out a word left the room. Bnt in ten min
utes .they were on their way to the county
town. .
Day was breaking over the distant Burat
Bidge-a faint, ghostly level, like a funeral
pall, In the dim horizon as they drew up
before the gaunt, white-painted' pile ot the
hospital building. Josephine. uttered a cry.
Dr. Duchesne's buggy was before the door.
On its yerv threshold they met the daetor,
dark and irritated.
"Then you heard the scats?" ha said,
quickly.'
Josephine turned' he'r -white face to the
doctor's. "What news?" she asked, in a
voice that seemed strangely deep and reso
nant. .
"The poor" fellow ha J another attack last
night and died ofexhausiion about an hoar
ago. I was too late tosave him."
"Did he say anything? Was. ha eefi
scious?" asked the girl, hoarsely.
"No; incoherent! Now I think of it, he
harped on the same string that h did the
night of the operation. What 'was it ha
said?you remember."
" Tou'll have to kill me ,' ' repeated
Josephine in 'a e&oklag voiee.
"Ye;-somethlng about his dying before
he'd tell. Well, he eame back to it before
ha Vest off they often de. You seem a
little hoarse with year' xnaraia ride. Yea
should take ear of that voi lf years. By
ih way, it's a Md 41 MtaywWottsr's.
- ' :,.. :
",. .tfti'VU --.'i
. "
A?BI6H -Wt&mB.
. a
J' 13
.CoaiBermI Yalta of -a Fii-e, large
KaMKM to jCofflfflHuit j.
iJHAITB ftyt. BAKDSOMI HOUSIS.
ki IfetarateJeeJgn for a. Wealthy Paiailj's
. j ' " DFelliDjr.
ACCOMMODATIONS SOS. SAN A5B BEAST
rwsxrrssr xos thx sisrATca.1
The very prevalent belief that it is folly
.to build a big house is not well founded.
True eeougfi, it is difficult to sell a "Urge
place" of poor design, especially if it is
lacking ia modern conveniences and, is in
had order, and has, perhaps, a noisy new
factory as a near neighbor, but the fault
mast set be ascribed to size. As a matter
of fact, .fine, large mansions are compara
tively searce in this new country, and there
is an actual demand for them.
In a general way, it maybe said that a
large house and barn that cost to build, let
us say, 130,000, set ia the midst of hand
some grounds, the whole cost, including the
new furaitare that is needed for a new
house, ndt to exceed 930,000, create, "a
place" that is worth 150,000. Where the
grounds are exceptionally large and fine,
the valuation may even be placed
higher. So much for the commercial view;
we are a commercial people, and it is proper
Perspective View of Montton.
to apply commercial testa to every enter
prise. Beside providinir'a delightful and lux
urious hosse for his family and an attractive'
place for the eatertainment of his friends,
the builder- of a large house confers sub
stantial benefits upon the community ia,
which he lives. The building of the house
gives employment to mechanics and in
creasestrs.de "for dealers; its beauty and con
spicuous size make it one of the ''sights" of
the neighborhood; newspapers describe it;
every owner of real estate and every Mer
chant will realize that his values have .in
creased, and every laborer will consider that
he is more certain of continuous employ
ment. Here is a description of the desigafora
handsome mansion, with stable:
Size of structure: Width (frost), includ
ing carriage parch and veraada, 77 feet;
depth (side) over all, 80 feet.
Height of stories: Cellar, 7 feet 6 inches;
first story, 10 feet; second story, 9 feet S
inches, third story, 6 teetT
Exterior walls: Foundations, tieae; first
seory, stone and frame; seeaad itery,
shingles; roof, slate.
JBir$t JHoer.
Interior finish: Trim, oak'ia hall ad
dining roes; cherry ia parlor and library.
Ceilings paneled la hall, dining room aad
billiard room. A dado of liacrasta waltoa
three feet wide in diafag room, front hall,
billiard room aad up the mala stairs. Oak
seats in halL Hardwood floors ia first aad
second stories.
Exterior colors r First story aula part the
natural color of the stone used; clapboards
(first storv) of the rear frame part painted '
greenish drab; shingles on side walla of Sec
ond and third stories dipped ia yellowish
red stain: all trial. Including water table.
corner boards, casings, cornices, bands, ver
Wda pests aad rails, painted dark red; front
floor (,oaK) &ntsned witb tiara oil, saowlaz
Second Moor.
natural color; all 'other oats&e doea aad
blinds painted dark green; mhog white;
veranda floor stAned walaat; veraada ceil
ing painted dark.red; raia water pipaa'dark
red; brickwork oiled.
Accommodations: The principal rooms
aad their sizes, closets, etc., are shown by
the floor plans gives herewith. ' Be
sides: these there are fear ted
roema and three haleoaiea la tbe
third story, aad there is a cellar aader the
whale house. Laundry under ki tehee.
Lavatory and water closet ia the rear hall of
f first" story ; water closet ia baeemeatr two
utiMi rutnus wi wiwr closets oa
seeoad-ieorf bath room and water closet on
third ieer for servants. Sliding doors
threagbaat the' first floor. Large windows
oa. maia staircase glaaed with stained glass.
Xarge wrought iroa tank, holding 1,000 gal
law, ia the attic.
' Ceatr For all localities where the prices
of materials aad labor are about the same as.
these f New York Citv. 91 R ABO. Cnt mn
fbe reduced JB.000, or 13,000 byspeeifyiag
im eiaeorate interior aaisn.
Afeeeriptioa of the stable deeiga Is as
Wlewfftiae of structure, iaaladlBshad,
A ?'
.sJLjJSi A
S-SjSHrSaBsiiTp&t
vTTBHsiflBsS .yliiiiaW.. JS
I It Vr gHlssl
J EiOTgj '
. Mcfeafc'L. mt fir
f J: trffft M ISP .
' V S.TWC. f fl "
vy, cirffi -r-g 1 1
jr rfHmVmamasssiisv
jLmiaaW FhrV .
s4erk Wrat- torr,10 ft: .as
ssiiWIsssBTw
&
LliaWm-Jl -a.a .- .-
rT" .-"..'""
KTMWJW ,11 .11.. -ra Jllf
Story. Clanboardai nkt.a -Mavla? -roaf.
. nans, ji nnnnKEirvB'-. mBrm .
kte. - ijj
.Interior; finish: First floort-cSllaKnith
Georgia pine. AH woodworfafinWwdTwita.
ifu , S3" and stable flodrssarice-lald
wjth an inclined stall -drains. Airflow,
lag treated with ahot tar preservatives?
Exterior colors: Clapboards.'Pompeilaa
red; trim dark green;, outside doors,-drk
green with light olive green 'panelsifsaeiiS.
-rompeuan-red; parch floor, daric?a:
porch celling, light olive
green; raiaisj"
water pipes, aarK green:
ones- wo;r
fa j 8I StftOt. E3- ---l i r- j " ri.
' irfnr ' "nlJr 9JJU-4i '- ?
Grqurtd Floor. Tws Jj3 -
ompeiian red; shingles on gablJPws- .;".".
pelianred, dipped before laying. Jtia-
Accommodations: In additinr, r. ?1. .' I
eommodatlons shown by the irroTinirrti ''
printed herewith there is a loft 30x4B- '' -open
to the root except over the hwesst '
room where a stable man's room is plasteMd
and finished. The stable portion maybe :
extended to provide for more stalls in ease
they are required, at a cost of about ,' !
per foot for such extension. . -,
uost: bniltasdes9nbed.inthflvWnlt tf
New York City, 2,800. .f4- :
Chairman of Committee of" the KaUoaal
Silence Association Fellow membersSisi"
calling noon Prof. Knowmore, I wBf?t
caution you as to the non-display anevity
in. any foras, as he is an extremely dfjralled.
man, and "kuch a breach would shockhixa
intensely, let us enter the gate.
Tin HMfnjr ( IndBlp-in la SMtlt
mm ttoa) Coma oa, asw, XaliarjgCJ
sake a Tatter out yeauitxssfciyes.
Judge. ' ' Trr'
Copyright fcyE. W. Shoppen. -tJf ; $.
. - && st-
Human Natare. .. T4.-w
I i-.r
Detroit JTMFress.i "!! '
A reeeat tuna fa the "West Iadkefc;,
broHiht te llehflh hall of aa old vessel
Lwhich saak upward of 100 year ago, hat Utjm
'the chwrria f theee wha first disco vexed it Ja
tae o:v tnacara aooa-ra wasaoarre-i oi aeeri
ram, wbiest the eaptaiB probably drew upey -
whenever he watte to get ia humor to kill
a sailor er twa. ' '
flonstipation,
XT t remedied ia saatwat.il HaJ s
1 become habltaal aad eteaatte. . Dm
tia purgatives, by waakaaaaj 1m aawila,
eefiSrm, rather thaa. em, tsMavfl.
AyeVa MHa, batag mild. eaMiad
strengthening In their attest, aaVfaNt
ally racommeaaaq by m nvutf i
fcastofaperteat. - .
"Jaavisg Been ssurjse, ar
MBstioatioa. without bebur ahi
aaach relief, I at mat triad Ayes
J deem It both a datraod a a
te testify that I have derived greMikiMSJ
eitfrota their aae. For aver two yaaaal
have take one ot thaaegymml
"I have been tafcian Avar's Hlis aad
Big them in. my family abaca 1887, aad
cheerfully recommend them to all ia,
seed of a safe bat eSeetaal eathattfs."
John X. Begmi,. LoaiavUle, Ky. :.
''For eight years Iwaa afcicisd. witk
MRathMtiea, which at mat heeame so
had tlat the doctors coald do ao mora
Jer me Thea I begaa ta take Ayer's
Jtlls, aad soon th bowels reeovared.
"their aataral and regular actios, ao that
ow I am ia excellent health." I. L.
XoaiWKidge.BrTSM.Teiae 1J
"Having wed Ay et'3 Pills, wift geed
Malts,X fully Indorse them for tbe pur
'yeaaa far which they are receetmaaded.'.
T. Coesers, Jt D., Ceatre Bridge, Far
Ayer's Pills,
r. 4. C. Ayar Jt Co.,
LsWPfWf BHssWPi,
sWasyaarwuaaisX
llaaaaaWaja'WsW
Bermuda Bottled.'
xe swat am
W ito.Baw I win.
miw taw osaswm
5&
SCOTTS
Fmulsioh
Or PURE NORWEGIAN!
. OOP JITTER OIL. -
-'ssssmmm LVtt mW3TsWmstmm.
saam, saat, stuy esuca at
BroachiUBf Cough
oroeran
laave CtWEB witk it?
lttMttMm
t cut talcs m.
I K
ac
tt
aaat I
very alMthafore rattling. iwettJaao'
-willlasly ha Withaat t6am."GSW
owma, 36 EaMMaia at, CatMala?7ar
v
u
tfimv
he
ii-tito.E!Si&&Sfek&L
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