The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 100: what you’re looking at

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

802 “Wait till I get my fortune!” Ted crowed. “I'll give you a whole trunk- ful of shirts!” “Youll give me nothing! I wouldn’t touch anything of yours with tongs if I could help it!” Radford appreciated that his mild joke had fallen on very inhospitable ears. He was too sincerely grateful for the care they had taken of him to want to offend. He hurried into an apology. “Miss Thorpe, I was just joking! I never can thank you—and Mlle. le Fevre for your kindness to me.”’ “We'd have done the same to a sick —animal,” she retorted. “ At least, I have the advantage of the—dog,” he replied, hurt but forcing himself to speak lightly. “ I can say— thank you.” Miss Thorpe pulled Natalie from the room. It was so plain that she wanted to get the little lady away from the dangerous and pestilential neigh- borhood of their invalid guest that Ted stared for a moment at the door through which they had gone, quite diverted from the one thought that had before possessed him. He forgot his determination to get to the Mesquite ranch and his trunk in worrying over the deeply hidden cause of Miss Thorpe’s aversion. He -knew he was not repulsive. Other girls had liked him. It was this grim Miss Thorpe who incited Natalie to her persistent mistreatment of him. He was sure of it. He did not mini- mize the hurt he had given Natalie’s pride in telling of his love when he was engaged to another girl. But he was certain Miss Thorpe magnified every one of his shortcom- ings. He felt instinctively that love like his must have waked at least a desire to be kind in the heart of a girl who had listened to him pour it forth. He dressed and felt stronger and less stiff than he had expected. As he made his way toward the door he went cautiously. He had slipped his gun in his belt; and he was ready in THE ARGOSY. case Mr. Sykes should turn up unex- pectedly. For it had come to him that Sykes must still enjoy some favor at the Stone House, else Gill would scarcely have been so much at home in his movements or well-informed about the location of his bed, which ordinarily was not in the big room. He sat down on the veranda and gave himself up to gloomy guesses about the number of times Sykes had found a chance to touch Natalie’s warm arm under the guise of helping her over the rocks. His rush to leave the Stone House had given place to common sense. He could not manage to get down the trail to the spring safely until he had light enough to see his way. There he was sure to find some of the herders with the cattle, perhaps Red or Silsby might be about. His own horse must be somewhere in charge of the Mesquite men. With it he meant to make his way to the ranch and examine the envelope and its contents. As he sat there the idea that perhaps that paper might mean financial independence of Barrington, toward whom his aversion grew by an inverse ratio to his generosity, lost its inspirational charm. What good would it do even if he had money of his own? Bess evidently meant to hold him. Maybe she really did love him. At any rate, he could see no decent way of getting out of the en- gagement to which she was still agree- able. It was a confounded code that de- manded that he should marry a girl he did not love and whom he suspected was not particularly in love with him, just because he had asked her to marry him when he knew no better. But it was the way things were in the mis- fitted, mangled, generally disagreeable scheme of things. He would have it to do. He knew no more about the telegram he had dictated to Silsby in the delir- ium which deceived the ranchman into EOPNICLOOOKS (E@)