Emerson Hough

“ The entire panorama of the mountains was beautiful, well nigh as free of change from God's original imprint as when the first adventurers came hither to tell of a region of miracles.
I loved it all, as I always had. But now I saw it in a haze even under the brilliant illumination of the sun, not yet old. Although I had not forced my company upon Suzanne when she left, I found my feet now following hers down the walk she had taken; so I came to the parade ground which makes the civic center at Yellowstone. ”

“ So this is the way men live when they are alone!”
She pointed to the walls, which had been adorned in accordance with Billy Hammond's taste. I was obliged to admit that my friend's taste had been somewhat catholic as to dramatic stars whose paucity of apparel left the eye fairly free to pass upon the classic quality of their charms. Before now I had not thought much about Billy Hammond's pictures. Now I flushed as though personally guilty.
“I don't blame you for blushing,” remarked Suzanne keenly. “I compliment you on your taste in beauty.” ”

“ Then?”
“Yes! That is why I am here. That is why I went to the hospital—that I might be fit to come here. And that is why I came tonight. Can you understand?”
“I suppose it was Suzanne,” she said at length gravely. For an instant a dimple showed in her left cheek—the same dimple I had seen on the left cheek of Suzanne.
“Yes, it was Suzanne! Oh, perhaps my friends the Blandsfords would have introduced me properly, but my instinct in some way warned me away from that. You see—here is young Mr. Blandsford now! I did not know—believe me, I did not know. But you understand?” ”

“ I crossed over the parade on the diagonal walk. It led near to a clump of cedars, black as ink in the moonlight, funereal at any time, and now many-fold more so than in the sunlight. The silent cedars did indeed surround a grave. Age-old themselves, they grew on the brink of a grave that was even older—the inverted cone of a geyser, extinct no man may say how long. ”

“ Your daughter is adorable, as her mother was before her and is. And now, dear lady, since matters have run so fast. I can't help making it still plainer, why I came here. I came because I had to come! And I can't help saying now to her mother that even though I never should see Suzanne again, there will be no other woman, ever, in all the world for me. That's why I came tonight. ”

“ I ask your pardon—there was no kiss at all. But so help me God, Suzanne, one day there will be. Good-by.”
She wept, even after she had stepped outside the door, with my eyes I followed her through the window, watching her as she walked, head high, straight and firm. I knew her feet were bleeding, but she never winced.
Again I flung myself into a chair, feeling that the morning had bettered my chances but very little—feeling indeed that I had made two capital errors in strategy. A girl may weep, yes; and that is when you may comfort her. ”

“ I have done so, and nothing matters now.
“Suzanne,”—I had cast away my foil alike with my sense of propriety now,—“I love you, as you know—no matter what you have done. Shall I apologize for that? I never will. Your own mother gave me leave to try—she said she would not raise a hand to help or hinder, that it must be Adam, it must be Eve. What has been, has been and cannot be recalled. Blandsford must take his chances.” ”

“ Her foil whistled ina moulinade, flashed into a semi-circle above her head, and she fell into a fencing position which was perfection in form. I saluted and she returned. “On guard!” she exclaimed impatiently, and frowning.
We engaged; and I felt against my wrist the light strength of a wrist made of silk and steel. Instinctively I knew I had my work cut out for me—any fencer knows as to that.
The next few moments were among the busiest of my life. I never met except among the masters any fence such as hers. Women have ways of their own in everything. ”

“ And I have told you, if I had a hundred daughters, and if each had a hundred beaux” (she used the quaint Southern term) , “I'd not raise a hand to help or hinder one of them. You see, I'd want all my hundred daughters to be physically, mentally and morally fit for marriage to the right man. I'd want him to be fit. After that—why, the knees of the immortal gods, Major! That is my idea of life and triumph. And it's in marriage that a girl triumphs—or loses. ”

“ Mrs. Collingsworth waved her embroidery hoop half a foot or so. I rose; but I could not be sure she knew me; Blandsford I was certain did not. Something struck me as additionally familiar in the pleasant equestrian picture that they made.
“Why, that's Danny!” I exclaimed. “Did you bring him away out here?”
“Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Collingsworth carelessly. “We nearly always take Danny along wherever we go. Suzanne doesn't like to ride any other horse.” ”

“ I did not get so far as the hotel, and instead of turning down the hill, walked in the opposite direction, interested in the progress of the great new swimming-pool now almost completed by the camping company whose settlement lay below the Mammoth Terrace. Fed by deliciously warm sulphur water piped down from the great hot springs on the mountain-side, it was plain that the pool would be a great attraction to the dusty tourist folks. ”

“ He wasn't so tall as I am. You know how women dress nowadays out here in the West—if you can manage about the trousers, perhaps the flannel shirt would do.”
I pointed to the dresser in the bedroom, the door of which was open. “I'll go feed Billy,” said I. “Billy and I having a hard time this morning.”
Draped in the Navajo, she motioned me out coldly. In ten minutes I knocked. There met me an astonishingly trim young officer, with campaign hat, khaki shirt, breeches and all—the latter much puckered at the waist but not ungracious. Suzanne held the puttees in her hand, and she had no shoes. ”

“ I heard the front door open. Suzanne and her escort passed, outbound for “Thaïs,” both talking at once, very happily.
“It is so nice of you to stay, Major. It was so nice of you come.”
In her delicate upward inflection I caught her indication of cue.
“My dear Mrs. Collingsworth, you are simply splendid!” I broke out. “You allow me, a stranger—”
“Oh, not at all a stranger, not in the least. Haven't you been a friend to my daughter—when she was hurt? Haven't we heard you speak, and sing, and everything? And doesn't everyone know Major Murrell Cardon?” ”

“ We're thinking of the Yellowstone this coming summer. Do you know anything about it?”
“Everything! I've been there often, and am going there this summer once more. You see, I'd a friend out there, Billy Hammond, Captain in the Sixth Cavalry. When the war broke out, he left all his stuff in the Park. I'm offered his old bungalow as a home this summer, if I like. I was thinking I'd enjoy a month or so in the mountains there.”
Mrs. Collingsworth smiled. “You do ride rather straight, don't you? Well, for my part, I should be willing to go. But always there are so many young men, wherever we go. ”

“ Has she always been at these things—swimming, fencing, riding and all that?”
Mrs. Collingsworth nodded gravely. “Especially swimming. If I had a hundred daughters—which I have remarked is quite impossible,—I would live in mortal terror for fear they would all disrobe every time they saw a swimming pool. Suzanne is mad about the water.” ”

“ The hotel dances, made up among tourists few of whom spent more than one night at this entry point, were more or less catch-as-catch-can in their quality. A few, sternly resolved to show their social standing, appeared in evening dress and diamonds—women, of course, rather than men going to this pains. Of the latter not many wore even dinner dress. Rather a delightful flavor of the out of doors, for the most part, marked the assemblage. One saw blazers and sweaters, flannels, soft collars and everywhere was the military note of khaki puttees, affected by men and women alike. ”

“ Collingsworth, dimple and all. She was sitting in a rocking-chair at the farther end of the lobby, with her embroidery hoop still in hand.
“I saw you all the time,” she said, smiling. “Of course I saw that you saw me.”
“No, I missed you—you looked so like a young school-teacher on vacation,” I asseverated.
“Thank you, Major. Now you feel obliged to ask me to dance. In advance I refuse—I am too lazy. I shall dance by proxy.”
She raise eyes. She raised her eyes. Suzanne must have entered just as my back was turned toward the door. ”

“ If I can't have all a girl's heart, I want none. I can't go to Del Monte, because there are some things too hard for any man to bear.”
AT that moment a large lady, in very ill-fitting trousers, who was dancing with her son, who wore very ill-fitting knickerbockers, had the bad taste to bump into us; so I could not look into Suzanne's eyes. ”

“ She did not raise her head.
“I refer to our little rencontre this morning—up at my place, you know. But what a marvel of fortitude a woman can be! Your poor feet—how you must suffer in your riding boots.” ”

“ AFTER the riding accident in which Major Murrell Cardon did his best to rescue Suzanne, he received a correct and grateful note from her mother, Mrs. Collingsworth; and that was the end of the matter—socially. Emotionally the Major was badly taken with Suzanne. Now, the Major, sojourning in France during the late unpleasantness, had acquired a limp, and when he found himself continually and consistently dropped by Mrs. and Miss Collingsworth, he concluded that his limp was part of the reason. ”

“ You don't in the least understand.”
“No, Suzanne. I do not understand—I understand nothing in the world any more except that l love you and wish that I did not.”
She turned her wet face toward me. “Oh, is it so? That's a fine thing to say, isn't it? Let me out of here—I am going home, even if that bear eats me! I just came over from the hotel to have a dip in the pool, and I came alone.”
She was explaining. But when she heard Billy's scratching and grumbling under the porch, her bravery left her again. She thought also of her lack of raiment. ”

“ She had her hair high under her hat; and now she was rolling up her bathing-suit in one paper after another, at the table. Her attitude toward me had changed once more. It was disapproval she showed, when she swept another gaze about the room.
“Women!” she exclaimed. “Women! Is that all a man thinks about, then?”
“Yes, Suzanne, it is,” said I, “until he finds the one woman. ”

“ So many amateurs do.”
When I told her I had been in hospital, told her why, necessarily, explanations began to pend between us.
“Mrs. Collingsworth,” I began again impetuously, “you are Southern, you are Kentuckian. You ride as your daughter does?”
She nodded. “Of course.'
“There are two ways of riding, Mrs. Collingsworth. One is safe, perhaps wise. If the rails look too stiff, one can follow down the road and find a gate. The other way is to ride straight across.” ”

“ The Major struggled with his now uncontrollable heart, while Suzanne drew back with a low cry of dismay; and then, “Why not?” exclaimed Suzanne, and kissed him fair and full again.
A moment later the dazed Major found himself following Mrs. Collingsworth into the conservatory behind Suzanne and Jimmy Blandsford.
The story continues:
Chapter V (continued) “IF I had a hundred daughters,” said Mrs. Collingsworth, “I should want each of them to be her own self and to follow out her own character. I myself did. Perhaps that accounts for many things.” ”