The Argosy, January 1906 — page 97: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

JIM DEXTER—CATTLEMAN, “No, no,’ she murmured; “you wrong me, Jim. Roy could not have done that awful thing.” “You believe in him, then?” he asked, eying her keenly. “YT do, in spite of the coroner’s ver- dict.” “They have reached a verdict?” She bowed her head. *¢ And it is——” “That Roy is guilty.” Dexter had already touched the low- est depths of his grief. This final blow left him unshaken. “ Do you know where Roy is, Orah? ” he asked calmly. 4 NO.?7 “You have not seen him at all?” “T have not seen him.” Had Dexter been in Roy’s place, he would have dared heaven and earth to get to the girl of his heart and declare his innocence, even though such a dec- laration had been unnecessary. “Tell me, Orah,” said Dexter, “ why would you have had me refuse to shield Roy from his enemies?” “TI would gave had you shield him in another way,’ she. answered. “ Another way?” he echoed. “Yes. I would have had you keep your liberty and dedicate yourself to the task of proving Roy’s innocence so clearly that all the world would be con- vinced.” Such a view of the matter surprised him. It even gave him a doubt of his own policy of self-sacrifice. “You do not understand,” he said gently, and went on to explain how he and Roy had been in the rear room when the sheriff entered the house at the ranch, and how his confession had af- forded Roy the opportunity te make his escape. “Being innocent,” said the girl pas- sionately, “why should he want to run away? Ido not like having one I love retreat under fire.” He studied her face, more and more amazed at the Spartan fiber baring itself through her gentleness. Had any other indulged in these criticisms of Roy—the judge, for instance—he would have retaliated harshly, or turned away. Now he was listening to 279 one whose love, albeit of another sort, equaled his own, and he had perforce to hear and consider. “ Possibly,” suggested Dexter, “ Roy was thinking of you.’ “He was not thinking of me!” she cried. “Am I so weak a creature that he must spare me a blow at his honor? And he has not spared me. I could face any injustice with him, and help him beat it down. Now he has left you and me to do this without his aid. It looks like the coward’s part, Jim.” He started back from her, and she stretched out her hand te the table and laid it on his. “You think I cannot talk this way and love him,” she said, “ but I talk so because I love him so much I am jealous of his good name—I would not have it slandered. Yet I could despise him if I knew he had acted the poltroon! ” Her lips compressed, her eyes flashed, and the color mounted to her cheeks. ‘Strong man that he was, Jim Dexter felt a sudden weakness before the girl. He feared her—feared what she might do to his faith in Roy if her own faith were ever shaken. “Roy is young,” he palliated, “and somewhat given to impulse. Love is like charity, little one, and ought to cover a multitude of faults.” “Love is charity,’ she answered, “put it is false charity to condone a fault, and true charity to reprove it.” Dexter heaved a deep breath. The girl’s character was like a diamond, giving off a new color at every angle from which he beheld it. “We must face the issue unflinching- ly, Jim,” she went on, “and it will be infinitely better for Roy if you do not let your affection for him blur the per- spective.” “I never allow anything to sway me in my estimate of a friend,’ answered Jim, with refreshing candor. “Have you asked yourself how that bag of money belonging to Kalispel got into your violin-ease? ” she asked. “‘That’s a mystery,” returned Jim. “T half suspect it got there through the schemes of Ol Kalispel.” “ You are mistaken, Jim. Old Kalis- pel feels the loss of his son too keenly. He may recognize you or Roy as an in- comicbook . RES aie _ € » een co <a << Sa