1896.]
"I am afraid there is none," she answered. " Oh, lam so
sorry - that this has happened."
Then, as he did not offer to speak, she continued :
" But remember, Jack, that although I cannot be your wife, I
am ever your friend."
" I shall," he replied. Then,
Marion," and he held out his hand.
" Good-night, Jack," she said, and placed her hand in his.
He held it but for a moment, then turned abruptly on his heel,
picked up his hat, and without one backward glance, went swiftly
down the slope and disappeared gradually in the gathering
darkness.
Another summer evening, some weeks later, found Marion in
her usual place by the door, absorbed in thought. The day had
been almost intolerably hot, and ever since noon great banks of
heavy gray clouds had been piling tip in dark masses along the
northern horizon. About the middle of the afternoon she had
noticed that it had begun to rain up there, and even yet she could
see the long gray streaks reaching toward the earth, proclaiming
that the storm was yet in progress.
" What a terrible. rain they're having up there," she mused.
" How it will swell the little gulch stream. I wonder whether it
will cause a flood Of any dangerous size."
Then, suddenly and unconsciously, her thoughts turned to
Jack. He had never been back since that night when she had
refused him. How lonely she felt each evening because his pres
ence was not there to brighten the gloom. She found herself
growing morose and unhappy, yet she would not admit, even to
her own conscience, that it was because of him. True, the
short evenings did seem long and dull since he was not there to
spend them with her, and she found herself wishing that she had
not been so stern with him. She had seen him only once lately.
How pale and haggard he had seemed; and she felt a wave of
pity surge over her—pity, which is akin to love. Ah, well, it was
all over between them now, and perhaps 'twere better so.
A clatter of swiftly-flying hoofs startled her and she glanced up
to see a dusty horseman, on a foaming steed, dash past the door
and down the slope. Par down in the village below she heard
him shout, in broken phrases:
" Run, for your lives. There's been .a cloud-burst."
She sat there, stupified by the dreadful news. Already she
The Pride of The Gulch.
" good-night,
suddenly,