This rider's crude hint of her spirit gave her a
glimpse of what others might think. Humility and obedience had
been hers always. But had she taken the bit between her teeth?
Still she wavered. And then, with quick spurt of warm blood along
her veins, she thought of Black Star when he got the bit fast
between his iron jaws and ran wild in the sage. If she ever
started to run! Jane smothered the glow and burn within her,
ashamed of a passion for freedom that opposed her duty.
"Judkins, go to the village," she said, "and when you have
learned anything definite about my riders please come to me at
once."
When he had gone Jane resolutely applied her mind to a number of
tasks that of late had been neglected. Her father had trained her
in the management of a hundred employees and the working of
gardens and fields; and to keep record of the movements of cattle
and riders. And beside the many duties she had added to this work
was one of extreme delicacy, such as required all her tact and
ingenuity. It was an unobtrusive, almost secret aid which she
rendered to the Gentile families of the village. Though Jane
Withersteen never admitted so to herself, it amounted to no less
than a system of charity. But for her invention of numberless
kinds of employment, for which there was no actual need, these
families of Gentiles, who had failed in a Mormon community, would
have starved.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98