The Harvester leaped for the bridle and missed. Jameson bent over
the horse and lashed it to a run. Half way to the oak the Harvester
remembered the revolver, but being unaccustomed to weapons, he had
forgotten it when he needed it most. He replaced the earth in the sack
and dragged it away, then plunged into the lake, and afterward went
to bed, where he slept soundly until dawn. First, he slipped into the
living-room and wrote a note to the Girl. Then he fed Belshazzar and ate
a hearty breakfast. He stationed the dog at her door, gave him the
note, and went to the oak. There he arranged everything neatly and as
he desired, and then hitching Betsy he quietly guided her down the drive
and over the road to Onabasha. He went to an undertaking establishment,
made all his arrangements, and then called up and talked with the
minister who had performed the marriage ceremony the previous day.
The sun shining in her face awoke Ruth and she lay revelling in the
light. “Maybe it will colour me faster than the powder,” she thought.
“How peculiar for him to say what he did! I always thought men detested
it. But he is not like any one else.” She lay looking around the
beautiful room and wondering where the Harvester was. She could not hear
him. Then, slowly and painfully, she dragged her aching limbs from the
bed and went to the door. The dog was gone from the porch and she could
not see the man at the stable. She selected a frock and putting it on
opened the door. Belshazzar arose and offered this letter:
DEAR RUTH:
I have gone to keep my promise. You are locked in with Bel. Please obey
me and do not step outside the door until four o'clock. Then put on a
pretty white dress, and with the dog, come to the bridge to meet me. I
hope you will not suffer and fret. Put away your clothing, arrange the
rooms to keep busy, or better yet, lie in the swing and rest. There is
food in the ice chest, pantry, and cellar. Forgive me for leaving you
to-day, but I thought you would feel easier to have this over. I am so
glad to bring your mother here. I hope it will make you happy enough
to meet us with a smile. Do not forget the pink box until the reality
comes.
With love,
DAVID.
The Girl went to the kitchen and found food. She offered to share with
Belshazzar, but she could see from his indifference he was not hungry.
Then she returned to the room flooded with light, and filled with
treasures, and tried to decide how she would arrange her clothing. She
spent hours opening boxes and putting dainty, pretty garments in the
drawers, hanging the dresses, and placing the toilet articles. Often
she wearily dropped to the chairs and couches, or gazed from door and
windows at the pictures they framed. “I wonder why he doesn't want me to
go outside,” she thought. “I wouldn't be afraid in the least, with Bel.
I'd just love to go across to that wonderful little river of Singing
Water and sit in the shade; but I won't open the door until four
o'clock, just as he wrote.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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