Frontier and pioneer life -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction; Indians of North America -- West (U.S.) -- Fiction; Self-sacrifice -- Fiction
Oh, the beauty of the unstained day! Like every weary wayfarer
exploring for the first time since childhood the fresh virgin
country-side, her soul cried aloud its appreciation of this beauty of
soft green, wet glistening flowers, crystal clear air, and what is
utterly unknown save to the frequenters of the first hours of dawn in
forests and glades, the ecstatic perfume of the early breezes. Across
the hedges from their kingdom, the flower-garden, came these ripples of
scented air, heavy with the breath of honeysuckle, rose, phlox, and
heliotrope.
Like Jim, she unconsciously turned to the Fairies’ Corner. As she
reached the narrow aperture, and its wet earthy smell drowned the sweet,
sensuous odors of the garden blossoms, she espied the sleeping figure on
the old bench. At the unexpected discovery she gave an involuntary
exclamation. Jim was lying on his back, with his head on his arm, all
the wet stain of the night passed in the garden showing on his unchanged
evening clothes, while the unkempt hair gave a curious boyishness to his
face.
Diana waited for him to move, but her surprised ejaculation had failed
to awaken him. How big and wonderful he was! The thick lashes swept
his brown face with its dull touch of red showing under the olive skin.
As she bent over him and was about to touch his hand to arouse him he
opened his eyes.
He had been dreaming that he was in the hospital in the Hills after the
fight, and in his delirium he was back at the Fairies’ Corner with
Diana—and there she stood looking at him, but his eyes seemed unable to
grasp the reality of the moment.
"Jim, Jim," she said.
It was no dream. With a rush of memory it all came back to him. He
quickly rose to his feet and came towards her, impelled by an
uncontrollable force. Cobwebs of sunlight were making glinting spaces
against the gray-and-green enclosure; a movement began in the tree-tops
that brought back the childish reminiscence of the rustling fairy wings.
He forgot everything. He only knew that she stood there like an essence
of delight to ease his aching being. The still wonder of the evening
before was again shining in her luminous face.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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