University of Missouri College of Engineering - Shamrock Yearbook (Columbia, MO)

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SE lick. Wh imd- ill of : aff. Vmg. Jwed WC!! Jrgg. tiled man Feral the time EYES, i no had : un- . the i re :tion veek As Ld as that rn, a at if At :ned rem- enly the two the vere cool on her rhen H1211 vent? ' had laid his heart and his soul at her feet. He had never seen her whiter. Her hands were clasped tightly in her lap. There was a silence in which he did not breathe. Her answer came so slow and low that he leaned forward to hear. I am sorry, she said. It's my fault -that you love me. I knew. And yet I let you come again and again. I have done wrong. It is not fair now for me to tell you to go-without a chance. You would want me if I did not love you? You would marry me if I did not love you ? Hlis heart pounded. He forgot every- thing but that he loved this woman with a love beyond his power to reason. I don't think I could live without you nowf' he cried in a low voice. And I swear to make you love me. It must come. It is inconceivable that I cannot make you love me-loving you as I do. She looked at him clearly now. She seemed suddenly to become tense -and vibrant with 'a new and wonderful strength. I must be fair with you, she said. You are a man whose love most women would be proud to possess. And yet- it is not my power to accept that love, or give myself to you. There is another that you must go to. And that is-- Justice Given. - It was she that leaned forward now, her eyes burning, her bosom rising and falling with the quickness of her breath. ' You must go to him, she said. You must take a letter to him-from me. And it will be for him-for him-to say T tyO e whether I am to be your wife. You are honorable. You will be fair with me. You will take the letter to him. And I will be fair to youi I will be your wife. I will try hard to care for you- if he-says-- E Her voice broke. She covered her face, and for a moment, too stunned to speak, George looked at her while her slender form trembled with sobs. She had bowed her head, and for the first time he reached out and laid his hand upon 'the soft glory of her hair. Its touch set aflame every fiber in him. Hope swept through him, crushing 'his fears like a juggernaut. It would be a sim- ple task to go to Given! He was tempted to take her in his arms. A moment more and he would have caught her' to him, but the weight-of his hand on her head aroused her, and she raised her face, and drew back her head. Hfis arms were reaching out. She saw what was in his eyes. Not now, she said. Not until you have gone to him. Nothing in the world will be too great a reward for you if you are fair to me, for you are taking a chance. In the end you may receive nothing. For if he says that I cannot be your wife-I cannot. He alone must decide. On those conditions will you go? Yes, I will go, 'said George. ' It was early in August when he reached the Post. From there he took the trail. Day after day he continued steadily northward. He carried the let- ter to Given in his breast pocket, secure- ly tied in a little water-proof bag. It was a thick letter, and time and again he held it in his hand, and wondered what it was that she had so much to say 4

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. tg-lofxs - X .Tp -it .XY j ful love possessed him, and how utterly lost he was without her. 'She was dressed in simple white-again with that Hlmy lace at her throat. Her hair WaS don in those lustrous coils, so bright and soft that he would have given a tenth of his gold mine to touch them with his hands. And she was glad to see him. Her eagerness shone in her eyes, in the warm Hush of her cheeks, in 'the joyous tremble of her voice. That night, too, passed like a dream in paradise for him. For a long time they sat alone, she had brought him the cigars and urged him to smoke. They talked about the North, of its frozen wastes, its wild life, and 'the tragedies of the gold-mad men. He told her of his own adventures, how long he had sought for gold himself. I expect to go back some time in August, he said. , ' I She leaned toward him, last night's strange excitement glowing for the first time in her eyes. I You are going back? You Will see him? In her eagerness she laid a hand on his arm. I am going back. It would be possi- ble to see Given. The touch of her hand did not lighten the Weight that was tugging again at his heart. It is a long journey, and-in he was looking at her closely as he spoke, jus- -tice Given may not be there when I re- turn. It is possible that he may have gone into another part of the Wilder- ness. I-Ife saw her quiver as she drew back, He has been there all these years, she said, as if she were speaking to her- self. He wouldnot move now. His own voice was low, scarcely above a whisper, and she looked at him quick- ly and strangely, a Hush in her cheeks. It was late when he bade her good- night. Again he felt the warm thrill of her hand as it lay in his. The next aft- ernoon he was to take her out driving. The days and weeks that followed these first meetings with her were weighted with many things for George. Neither she nor her father enlightened him concerning their interest in the man that they were so interested in. Several times he believed that she 'Was on the point of confiding in him, but each time there came that strange fear in her eyes, and she caught herself. Lewis did not urge. He asked no questions that might be embarrasing. He knew, after the third Week had passed, that she could no longer be un- conscious of his love, even though the mystery of the man in the North re- strained him from making a declaration of it. There was not a day in the week that they did not see each other. As their acquaintance became closer, and as she saw in him more and more of that something which he had not spoken, a change developed in her. At first it puzzled and then alarmed him. At times she almost seemed frightened. One evening, when his love was trem- bling on his lips, she turned suddenly white. It was the middle of July before the words came from him at last. In two or three weeks he was starting for the North. It was evening, and they were alone in the big room, with the cool breeze from the lake drifting in on them. He made no effort to touch her as he told her of his love, butwhen he was done, she know that a strong man Twenty

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shmoe ee A elif X 1916 to that lonely man in the Great Silent. One night, as he sat alone by his HFC in the chill of September darkness, he took the letter from its sack, and saw that the contents of the bulging en- velope had sprung one end of the flap loose. He had set a pail of water on the fire, and a cloud of steam was rising from it. Those two things-the flap and the steam-sent a thrill through him. What was in the letter? What had she written to that man? In a few seconds the steam would free the rest of the flap. He could read the letter and no one would ever know the difference. Then like a shock came the thought that the few letters she had written to him were always sealed with a red sealing wax, and that this letter was not sealed. She had trusted him. Her faith was implicit. And this was her proof of it. Under his breath he laughedfand his heart grew warm with new happiness and hope. I have faith in you, were her parting words, and now these words came back to him, I have faith in you. So he replaced the letter in its sack. That night had seen the beginning of the struggle with himself. The autumn and the winter came early in this coun- try. It was to be a winter of terrible cold and snow, of famine, and of pesti- lence. The Hrst oppressive gloom of it added to the fear and suspense that be- gan to grow in him. For days there was no sign of the sun. The clouds hung low. Bitter winds came out of the North, and nights these winds wailed desolately through the tops of the trees under which he slept. And day after day and night after night the tempta- tion came upon him more strongly to open that letter. He was convinced that the letter- and the letter alone-held his fate, and that he was actingblindly. He wanted Mary. He wanted her above everything else in the world. Then why Should he not fight for her-in his own way? And to do that he must open the letter and read its contents. If there was nothing in it that would stand between them, he would have done no wrong, for he would still take it to Justice Given. So he argued. But if the letter ruined his chances of possessing her, his knowl- edge of what it contained would give him an opportunity to win her in an- other way. He could even answer it himself and take back to her false Word from Given, for these awful. years in the North would have changed his hand- writing. His treachery, if it could be called that, would never be discovered. And it would give to him the woman that he loved. This was the temptation. The power that resisted it was the spirit of that big, clean, fighting North which makes men out of flesh and bone. Ten years of that life had been drilled into him, and so he hung on. Deep snows fell, and fierce blizzards shot like gun blasts from out of the Arctic. Snow and wind were not what brought the deeper gloom to the coun- try. Smallpox- red death -was gal- loping through the wilderness, and a hundred messengers of the forests were riding swiftly behind their dogs to spread the warning. Hfe traveled very slowly. For three days and nights the air was filled with the Arctic Dustv snow that was as hard as Flint and stung like shot and it was Twontx'-TWG