362
THE WEST SHORE.
" I am ready to hold the light now for you to swedge
your saw." -It was his brother's voice just behind him.
" I believe I won't swedgo it to-night," he said. " I
guiftt I'll have tiiuo in tin) liwl'lillig."
"Whore is Mrs. Winchester ? " asked his sister, who
saw at a glance tlmt Honietliing had gone wrong.
" Slie lias gone to her room, I believe, and I guess I'll
follow her example and go to mine. Good night." And
he went down the steps two at a time; but instead of
going to his rom he turned off on a log road and went
up into the canyon. Daylight was dawning when ho re
turned, and the engineer was getting up steam. Dan
fixod his saws and went in to breakfast. Dora's pallid
face showed that she had not rested any better than him
self during the night
The day was one of those which are often found in
the last of autumn, when the air is warm and sultry, and
the blue smoke hangs over the mountain tops. Dora
moved wearily about her work. Mrs. Carlyle came on
the porch and called .her to look at a fire on the moun
tain side. " What a queer kind of a day it is," sho said.
" I feel oa though something were going to happen."
About nine o'clock Dora had finished her work, and
going into her room commenced packing her trunk. She
was going away; Bhe could not stay here and endure the
life she had been living for the past few weeks. She
would tell Mr. Carlyle at noon that he must get some one
to fill her placo. Suddenly above the noise of the mill
she heard a shout, and then another; then the mill was
suddenly stopped, and, looking from her window, Bhe
beheld men running from all directions into the mill. A
presentment that something terrible had happened Hashed
over her. Mrs. Carlyle came into her room with a white
face.
"The mill!" hIio gasped. " 1 fear there has been an
accident ; lot us go I"
Dora ran quickly toward the mill, outstripping her
feeblo companion. As sho entered she saw a crowd of
men HUHtping over a terribly mangled something that lay
on the floor, while the saws were terribly stained witli
crimson blood. She saw t a glance who it was that lay
u kiii the lluir.
Dan HtepixHl forward and caught her arm. " This is
no place for you," he said, hastily.
" Let me go," she cried wildly; " ho is my husband."
Dan dropped her arm and stopped back, while the
look of horror deepened on his face. She knelt on the
floor and took her husband's head in her arms; but she
saw that he was dead, ami sank down in merciful uncon
sciousness. It seemed that ho had Ihmmi helping the
" off-Warer " tike away the slab from a largo log. After
the carriage had gone back ho stooped to pick a piece of
bark from Inside the saw, and they supped ho must
have tripiHHl and fallen forward. His Innly was almost
Boverod.
They buried him on the mountain side above the mill
iu the abode of a group of whisking pines. Dora would
Lave it so, and at the head they caused a marble slab to
be erected. I
Those awful stains were washed from the saws anj
the floor, a new engineer was procured, and the mill
started again to finish the contract. Mr. Carlyle wag
obliged to find n new cook, as Dora wns confined to Ii
bed after the terrible shock she had received. Mrs. Car.
lyle nursed her tenderly, and in a few days Bhe declared
herself quite recovered, and announced her intention to
leave. Mrs. Carlyle begged her to remain with her as a
companion, but she was firm. So one day in the last of
October she finished the packing which had been so
fatally interrupted She took down the Withered leaves
and long green ferns with which she decorated her room,
and throwing them from the window watched them float
away in the autumn wind. - Then she opened the cage
containing the little brown bird. His wing had healed
and he had become very tame. He hopped out on her
hand and uttered a chirp, as though to Bay good-bye, and
then flew out into the shade of the madrono, where he
trilled a song of joy at once more regaining his freedom.
Dora was to leave the next morning, and that evening as
she btood by the window in Mrs. Carlyle's parlor, pale
and quiet in her black dress, Dan came in.
" It is a lovely moonlight night," he Baid. " Won't
you come out and walk for a few minutes? I have a
question to ask you."
She looked up at him. He was very pale, mid there
was a pleading look in his eyes that she found hard to
resist.
" Yes," she said, " I owe you an explanation." She
wrapped a shawl around her and they passed out
" Let me tell you my wretched story first," she said
" Four years ago, after my father died, I went to live
with my aunt. I obtained a certificate and taught school
eight months. While teaching I became acquainted with
Mr. Fairchild. He was the owner of a quartz mill in
tho vicinity, and was, as you know, a handsome man. He
was also a good friend of my aunt's, and I was almost
constantly thrown in his society. From the first he
evinced a great deal of interest in me; and I well, I had
never before met a man for whom I could care. He
seemed to possess a kind of magnetic power over me. I
knew he was a very determined man and had a quick
temper, but he took good care to show it as little as pos
sible during our engagement We were married as soon
as my bcIiooI closed in the fall, and went to San Fran,
cisco on our wedding trip. He was kind and attentive to
me, but I saw all too soon that I must submit to him in
everything or live in war. When we returned we lived
nenr the mill, and here my trouble began in earnest He
dictated to me in everything. He seemed to love me,
but certainly had a strange way of showing it I could
scarcely endure his jealous watch on all my actions. No
one visited me except my aunt He was not unkind in
his manner toward me, but seemed to rejoice in his po
over me.
" When my baby, my little Gracie, was born I
he would change, and love the little one as well as I dii
And though he seemed pleased at first, he soon began to
grow jealous of my attention toward her. She w