Hearts And Hands
At Denver
there was an influx of passengers into the coaches on the eastbound B. & M.
express. In one coach there sat a very pretty young woman dressed in elegant
taste and surrounded by all the luxurious comforts of an experienced traveler.
Among the newcomers were two young men, one of handsome presence with a bold,
frank countenance and manner; the other a ruffled, glum-faced person, heavily
built and roughly dressed. The two were handcuffed together.
As they
passed down the aisle of the coach the only vacant seat offered was a reversed
one facing the attractive young woman. Here the linked couple seated
themselves. The young woman's glance fell upon them with a distant, swift
disinterest; then with a lovely smile brightening her countenance and a tender
pink tingeing her rounded cheeks, she held out a little gray-gloved hand. When
she spoke her voice, full, sweet, and deliberate, proclaimed that its owner was
accustomed to speak and be heard.
"Well,
Mr. Easton, if you will make me speak first, I suppose I must. Don't you ever
recognize old friends when you meet them in the West?"
The younger
man roused himself sharply at the sound of her voice, seemed to struggle with a
slight embarrassment which he threw off instantly, and then clasped her fingers
with his left hand.
"It's
Miss Fairchild," he said, with a smile. "I'll ask you to excuse the
other hand; "it's otherwise engaged just at present."
He slightly
raised his right hand, bound at the wrist by the shining "bracelet"
to the left one of his companion. The glad look in the girl's eyes slowly
changed to a bewildered horror. The glow faded from her cheeks. Her lips parted
in a vague, relaxing distress. Easton, with a little laugh, as if amused, was
about to speak again when the other forestalled him. The glum-faced man had
been watching the girl's countenance with veiled glances from his keen, shrewd
eyes.
"You'll
excuse me for speaking, miss, but, I see you're acquainted with the marshall
here. If you'll ask him to speak a word for me when we get to the pen he'll do
it, and it'll make things easier for me there. He's taking me to Leavenworth
prison. It's seven years for counterfeiting."
"Oh!"
said the girl, with a deep breath and returning color. "So that is what
you are doing out here? A marshal!"
"My
dear Miss Fairchild," said Easton, calmly, "I had to do something.
Money has a way of taking wings unto itself, and you know it takes money to
keep step with our crowd in Washington. I saw this opening in the West,
and--well, a marshalship isn't quite as high a position as that of ambassador,
but--"
"The
ambassador," said the girl, warmly, "doesn't call any more. He
needn't ever have done so. You ought to know that. And so now you are one of
these dashing Western heroes, and you ride and shoot and go into all kinds of
dangers. That's different from the Washington life. You have been missed from
the old crowd."
The girl's
eyes, fascinated, went back, widening a little, to rest upon the glittering
handcuffs.
"Don't
you worry about them, miss," said the other man. "All marshals
handcuff themselves to their prisoners to keep them from getting away. Mr.
Easton knows his business."
"Will
we see you again soon in Washington?" asked the girl.
"Not
soon, I think," said Easton. "My butterfly days are over, I
fear."
"I love
the West," said the girl irrelevantly. Her eyes were shining softly. She
looked away out the car window. She began to speak truly and simply without the
gloss of style and manner: "Mamma and I spent the summer in Denver. She
went home a week ago because father was slightly ill. I could live and be happy
in the West. I think the air here agrees with me. Money isn't everything. But
people always misunderstand things and remain stupid--"
"Say,
Mr. Marshal," growled the glum-faced man. "This isn't quite fair. I'm
needing a drink, and haven't had a smoke all day. Haven't you talked long
enough? Take me in the smoker now, won't you? I'm half dead for a pipe."
The bound
travelers rose to their feet, Easton with the same slow smile on his face.
"I
can't deny a petition for tobacco," he said, lightly. "It's the one
friend of the unfortunate. Good-bye, Miss Fairchild. Duty calls, you
know." He held out his hand for a farewell.
"It's
too bad you are not going East," she said, reclothing herself with manner
and style. "But you must go on to Leavenworth, I suppose?"
"Yes,"
said Easton, "I must go on to Leavenworth."
The two men
sidled down the aisle into the smoker.
The two
passengers in a seat near by had heard most of the conversation. Said one of
them: "That marshal's a good sort of chap. Some of these Western fellows
are all right."
"Pretty
young to hold an office like that, isn't he?" asked the other.
"Young!"
exclaimed the first speaker, "why--Oh! didn't you catch on? Say--did you
ever know an officer to handcuff a prisoner to his right hand?"
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