The Spirit of Sweetwater | Page 5

a few minutes later to get a cigar Clement plucked the proprietor of the hotel by the arm.
"Introduce me to Mr. Ross, won't you?"
The landlord beamed. "Certainly, Mr. Clement." He took Mr. Ross by the lapel familiarly. "Ah, good-morning, Mr. Ross. Mr. Ross, let me introduce my friend, Mr. Clement; Mr. Clement you may have heard of as the owner of 'The Witch' and the 'Old Wisconse.'"
Mr. Ross shook hands. He was not exactly uncivil, but he was cool--very cool. "I have heard of Mr. Clement," he said. He softened a little as he got a good look at the powerful, clear-eyed young fellow.
The landlord expanded like one who has accomplished a good deed. "I thought so, I thought so. Mr. Clement, let me say, is a square business man. Whatever he offers you is worth the price!" He winked at Clement as he turned away.
Clement began, "I beg your pardon, Mr. Ross, for taking this liberty, but I wanted to know you and took the first chance that offered. I have no mine to sell--I want to know you--that's all. I wanted to meet somebody outside the mining interest. I saw you and your daughter at the pavilion last night. She seems to be not--very strong." He hesitated in his attempt to describe his impression of her.
The father's theme was touched upon now. "No, poor girl, she is in bad condition, but I think she's better. The air seems not to have made her worse, at any rate. I haven't much faith in climate, but I believe she has improved since we left Kansas City and began to rise."
He had a marvelous listener in Clement, and they consumed three cigars apiece while he told of the doctors he had tried and of the different kinds of air and water they had sought.
His eyes were wet and his voice was tremulous.
"The fact is, Mr. Clement, she don't seem to care about living--that's what scares me. She's just as sweet and lovely as an angel. She responds to any suggestion, 'Very well, papa,' but I can see she does it for me. She herself has lost all hope. It ain't even that--she has lost care about it. She is indifferent. She is going away from me just because I can't rouse her----"
He frankly broke down and stopped, and Clement felt his throat swell too tight for speech at the moment.
They sat for a time in silence; at last Clement said:
"Mr. Ross, you don't know me except as a lucky man--but I have a favor to ask: it is to meet your daughter."
There was something very winning in the young man's voice and manner, and Mr. Ross could see no objection to it, and it might interest Ellice to meet this man who had stumbled upon a gold mine. "Very well, suppose we go up now," he said, almost without hesitation.
The girl was alone, seated in an easy-chair in the sun--her head only in shadow. The father spoke in a low and very tender voice, "Ellice, I want to present Mr. Clement. Mr. Clement, my daughter Ellice."
The impossible had come to pass! As Clement bent down and took her hand and looked into her eyes his heart seemed to stop death-still for a few seconds--then something new and inexplicable took possession of him, and he stood before her calm and clear-eyed. "Don't move," he commanded, "I will draw a chair near you."
Mr. Ross said they had been having a long talk, and she listened, smiling the while that hopeless smile. Then the father rose and said: "Where is Aunt Sarah? I want to go down to the telegraph office."
The girl spoke in the quiet, tranquil voice of one to whom such things have no importance. "I don't know, papa. A moment ago she was saying something to me, and now she is gone. That is all I know. Never mind; she'll be here in a moment."
"I'll be back in ten minutes."
"I am all right, papa. If I need anything Mr. Clement can call Aunt."
There was a pause after Mr. Ross went. Then she added in the same gentle, emotionless way: "Poor papa! He is a martyr to me. He thinks he must sit by me always. I think he fears I may die while he is gone."
Clement leaned forward till his eyes were on a level with those of the girl, and his voice was very calm and penetrating as he said:
"What can I do for you, Miss Ross? I have the profoundest conviction that I can do you good."
A startled look came into the big brown eyes. She looked at him as a babe might, striving to comprehend.
He went on, "Here I am a millionaire, a strong young man--what can I do for you?"
"I think I understand you," she said slowly.