"Ah,you rascal!"he said,with infinite archness;"that's your game,is it?You want to trap poor Father Wynn.You want to make him say 'No.'You want to tempt him to commit himself.No,sir!--never,sir!--no,no!"Firmly convinced that the present was Nellie's,and that her father only good-humoredly guessed it,the young man's simple,truthful nature was embarrassed.He longed to express his gratitude,but feared to betray the young girl's trust.The Reverend Mr.Wynn speedily relieved his mind.
"No"he continued,bestriding a chair,and familiarly confronting Low over its back."No,sir--no!And you want me to say 'No,'don't you,regarding the little walks of Nellie and a certain young man in the Carquinez Woods?--ha,ha!You'd like me to say that I knew nothing of the botanizings,and the herb collectings,and the picknickings there--he,he!--you sly dog!Perhaps you'd like to tempt Father Wynn further,and make him swear he knows nothing of his daughter disguising herself in a duster and meeting another young man--isn't it another young man?--all alone,eh?Perhaps you want poor old Father Wynn to say No.No,sir,nothing of the kind ever occurred.Ah,you young rascal!"Slightly troubled,in spite of Wynn's hearty manner,Low,with his usual directness,however,said,"I do not want anyone to deny that I have seen Miss Nellie.""Certainly,certainly,"said Wynn,abandoning his method,considerably disconcerted by Low's simplicity,and a certain natural reserve that shook off his familiarity."Certainly it's a noble thing to be able to put your hand on your heart and say to the world,'Come on,all of you!Observe me;I have nothing to conceal.I walk with Miss Wynn in the woods as her instructor--her teacher,in fact.We cull a flower here and there;we pluck an herb fresh from the hands of the Creator.We look,so to speak,from Nature to Nature's God.'Yes,my young friend,we should be the first to repel the foul calumny that could misinterpret our most innocent actions.""Calumny?"repeated Low,starting to his feet."What calumny?""My friend,my noble young friend,I recognize your indignation.
I know your worth.When I said to Nellie,my only child,my perhaps too simple offspring--a mere wildflower like yourself--when I said to her,'Go,my child,walk in the woods with this young man,hand in hand.Let him instruct you from the humblest roots,for he has trodden in the ways of the Almighty.Gather wisdom from his lips,and knowledge from his simple woodman's craft.Make,in fact,a collection not only of herbs,but of moral axioms and experience'--I knew I could trust you,and,trusting you,my young friend,I felt I could trust the world.
Perhaps I was weak,foolish.But I thought only of her welfare.
I even recall how that to preserve the purity of her garments,Ibade her don a simple duster;that,to secure her from the trifling companionship of others,I bade her keep her own counsel,and seek you at seasons known but to yourselves.""But .did Nellie .understand you?"interrupted Low hastily.
"I see you read her simple nature.Understand me?No,not at first!Her maidenly instinct--perhaps her duty to another--took the alarm.I remember her words.'But what will Dunn say?'she asked.'Will he not be jealous?'""Dunn!jealous!I don't understand,"said Low,fixing his eyes on Wynn.
"That's just what I said to Nellie.'Jealous!'I said.'What,Dunn,your affianced husband,jealous of a mere friend--a teacher,a guide,a philosopher.It is impossible.'Well,sir,she was right.He is jealous.And,more than that,he has imparted his jealousy to others!In other words,he has made a scandal!"Low's eyes flashed."Where is your daughter now?"he said sternly.
"At present in bed,suffering from a nervous attack brought on by these unjust suspicions.She appreciates your anxiety,and,knowing that you could not see her,told me to give you this."He handed Low the ring and the letter.
The climax had been forced,and,it must be confessed,was by no means the one Mr.Wynn had fully arranged in his own inner consciousness.He had intended to take an ostentatious leave of Low in the bar-room,deliver the letter with archness,and escape before a possible explosion.He consequently backed towards the door for an emergency.But he was again at fault.That unaffected stoical fortitude in acute suffering,which was the one remaining pride and glory of Low's race,was yet to be revealed to Wynn's civilized eyes.
The young man took the letter,and read it without changing a muscle,folded the ring in it,and dropped it into his haversack.
Then he picked up his blanket,threw it over his shoulder,took his trusty rifle in his hand,and turned towards Wynn as if coldly surprised that he was still standing there.
"Are you--are you--going?"stammered Wynn.
"Are you NOT?"replied Low dryly,leaning on his rifle for a moment as if waiting for Wynn to precede him.The preacher looked at him a moment,mumbled something,and then shambled feebly and ineffectively down the staircase before Low,with a painful suggestion to the ordinary observer of being occasionally urged thereto by the moccasin of the young man behind him.
On reaching the lower hall,however,he endeavored to create a diversion in his favor by dashing into the bar-room and clapping the occupants on the back with indiscriminate playfulness.But here again he seemed to be disappointed.To his great discomfiture,a large man not only returned his salutation with powerful levity,but with equal playfulness seized him in his arms,and after an ingenious simulation of depositing him in the horse-trough set him down in affected amazement."Bleth't if Ididn't think from the weight of your hand it wath my old friend,Thacramento Bill,"said Curson apologetically,with a wink at the bystanders."That'th the way Bill alwayth uthed to tackle hith friendth,till he wath one day bounthed by a prithe-fighter in Frithco,whom he had mithtaken for a mithionary."As Mr.
