The Wrong Woman

g she had not the least idea. Her windowless chamber, all shot through with sunlight, presented a surp

to the latch. Her attention was caught by certain sunlit inscriptions on the pine siding-verses signed by the pencil of Pete Harding, Paducah, Kentucky. Mr. Har

or him. He was not in the storm-shed, nor anywhere down the slope, nor in the gully. She walked slowly round the shack

hich the kettle was steaming briskly. She put on the coffee and prepared breakfast; and as he still continued to be absent, she sat down and ate alone. Then she put up a lunch and stowed it in the pocket of her slicker. Its weight had

t, she turned suddenly toward her own quarter of the horizon and set forth on her journey. But having proceeded a fair distance she slackened her pace and came to a

e carried a rope, the long noose of which he was making smaller to fit the coi

ed the Southern form of address-

s possible. I made the coffee right away. I did n

ut I did n't catch sight of him. I hunted for him longer than I realized. It is quite

hall be quite able to walk. It was only ne

e and you will strike a wagon-trail. Then follow that and it will bring you right out on the road. After y

. For the past week I have been teaching school a few miles from

er!" he

t school was called home by the death of her brother. I have only been su

ere was not the least vestige of arts and airs, nor any little intimation of mutual understanding; she simply looked up with wide-open eyes and told it

ourt-house to get a cer

m Ohio. I am stopping with the Dwights, down at Merrill. But for the past

oing back to O

back. But it all depends. I

nt he thrust both hands deep into his pockets and bent his gaze

p suddenly, "I would be interest

I suppose I might e

ting the last few days, of course;-but I will get it again pro

sort of trouble?" she

o have two or three for a while now. I don't suppose

d have passed easily enough four years ago. But after I got out of the Academy, I went to live with my aunt; and women, yo

ard again and ex

them deeper than words. They were large gray eyes, gentle and quiet and soft as dawn;

own. I am very mu

iss Janet. Be sur

once and proce

e did not seem to have moved. Again she put forward, widening the distance in imagination; and the next time she turned to view her work, the shack was sinking behind a billow of land. She

d view her adventure in the light of its outcome, she went back to the moment of their meeting, and did so, recalling what next he said or did. She lived it all

n the regions above, and the strong light, flaring in her face and shining on the broad reaches ahead, was very trying to her eyes. After peering against i

erience with the tribulations of a big leghorn on horseback, she saw a woman with a man's hat turned up at the side; and the next day she had procu

because of its contrast with the woman's hair, which was light like her own; although, as she observed to herself, of quite a different shade

but at this point it spread out and took the form of a wide patch of marsh grass. Farther down it gathered its laggard waters together and became a brook again. Janet, keeping clear of the bog, went down here intending to jump across. Finding it

ll-fitting water that she loitered a while in the current; then it occurred to her that here was the place to stop for dinner. With her slicker spread out on the bank she sat down and had lunch, holding her feet in t

he seemed to be all horns-she turned and made straightway for the other side of the stream. She splashed through it as fast as she could go; and being back where she came from, she turned upstream and ran.

A Texas longhorn of the old school was enough to move anybo

plate it in all its branches,-main-beam, brow-tine, bes-tine, royal and surroyal,-they are all beautifully named.

e. Each of them, naked as a tusk, has a peculiar twist which suggests that it i

ferences over the ladies; and also, no doubt, to make a grand impression. But Mrs. Longhorn has them as well as he and is quite able to take care of herself. And s

ain; and as she was now confronted by the bog, she had to find a crossi

e came to a place where the black bottom looked safe. Sh

ope; a wire fence does not become visible at a very great distance. Her wet shoes were very annoying. The imprisoned water inwardly sucked and squirted at every step, and made queer sounds. Unable to endure it longe

she would feel safer. But while she walked the gray of evening came on; then somewhere in the distance a coyote barked. Her courage began to depart, as the dusk deepened; it seemed to her as if all the loneliness in the world had come home to

The thought of camping out she did not like to entertain; but thoughts are unavoidable. Once she stood quite still to make a little trial of it, but her pause was not long; she soon got her feet to going

inking of the road. That would be human ground. So she thought of the road and t

bent toward it. When she was beginning to distinguish the play of the flames, it sank from sight; but presently it appeared again, more plainly. Now a lantern was moving about be

e knowing her intentions, kept going towards it. The lantern which first stopped now turned red and began ascendin

r. The fire invited her to come; but many thin

make his attack from the rear, as Scotch dogs wisely do. Janet screamed and ran forward, though not so willingly as a sheep. As the dog desisted, in obedience to a sharp command from his m

gracious!"