The Wrong Woman

. As it would never come off till she had tortured her fingers on the edges of its big rusty buttons, she always parted from it on unpleasant terms, casting it from her; whereupon this masculine

of getting along without the chair's assistance. As Janet stood considering its case, she turned her eyes toward the window to

he is going to be saddled. Then, when he has gone a little distance, he lets

e window to be lashed to the saddle; then she turned to the mirror again, and, having done the best she could with the hat, she went to take leave of the farmer's family, who, as she judged by certain sounds, were assembled at the front of th

I am so-o-o sorry. I t'ink y

relative, or at least an acquaintance of more than four days' standing. Janet kissed them all; and having done so she proceeded to the hitching-post, followed by the entire family, down to little Jacob, who stationed himself at the very heels of the broncho, and was so far forgotten by them all, in their concern with Janet's affairs, that they did no

not be seen as far as the eye could reach. As this gave the roadside fence the appearance of not inclosing land at all, but rather of inclosing the traveler as he crossed over the vacant waste from town to town, the stretch of wire seemed to belong to the road itself as pr

eflection imparted so pleasant a flavor to the world that her mind kept re?nacting that simple scene of leave-taking. But when she had got well out to sea,-for that is the effect of it except that the stretch of wire puts the mind in a sort of telegraphic touch with the world,-she

nd on the horse, whose need of a drink was now a matter of growing concern to her, she came to where a wooden gate opened upon the roadside, and here, after a moment of doubtful consideration, she entered; and having closed it and got into the saddle again by means of its bars, she struck out across the prairie with the intention of casting about until she should come upon one of those spring-fed water-holes which are always to be found, here and there, upon the cattle range. For a time it looked as if h

boy's horse is so used to outdodging wild cattle that such a sudden turn is nothing to him. But now, instead of going to drink, he gave a leap and broke into a mad race, splashing right through one end of the water-hole and continuing onward. It was such a burst of speed as only the wildest rider could have roused him to; and he kept it up despite Janet's efforts to stop him. To her, it seemed as if no horse had ever gon

ued with ye

s the shado

rd bends

t on with her. She clung desperately to her seat. There was nothing for her to do but ride; and so many strange things seemed to have happened at once that she was almost bewildered. Altogether he

is part of Janet's saddle, instead of being made in the good old-fashioned way,-which consists in selecting the fork of a tree and shaping it to the purpose,-had been more cheaply manufactured of cast iron; and that part of the bow which clasps the withers and sits on the shoulders spread out in the form of iron wings or plates. The saddle, at some time in its history, had received a strain which was

put on the horn; in short, it is what holds the saddle in place. With a broken bow and girths that are none too tight, a rider's seat is but temporary at the best; and it is safe to say that Janet's ride was not quite as long as it seemed. With a broken bow a saddle must, sooner or later, start to turn,-and

hat. The next she was aware of she had struck ground in some confused and complicated way and quickly got herself right side up. And while she fel

s, was standing stock-still, his saddle askew like a Scotchman's bonnet, and his ears laid back. But scarcely had sh

stand on. He came down on this hateful globe of ours only to stamp on it and kick it away from beneath him. Up he went and hung in space a moment as if he were being hoisted by his middle and came down with a vengeance that jolted a snort out of him; and up he went again, turning end for end and kickin

egularity of a machine and hitting away at the one spot in space with his fine punctuating heels; then he settled down to a short shuttle-like movement, his forelegs out stiff and his head down. It shook the saddle like a hopper; and the stirrup danced a jig. In this movement he fairly scribbled himself on the

irth strap parted and the saddle dropped from him. He jumped suddenly aside as if he were startled at his success, and finding himself rid of it he gave a final flourish to his heels and galloped away. The last Janet saw of him, he was going over a knoll with a cow running on before. He seemed to be c

the comb and the hatpin had fallen in the same small territory with the hat and were easily found-though the hatpin, standing upright amid the flowers, was hard to distinguish for a while; and the contents of her bag, having spilled almost together, were soon accounted for except a small circular mirror. This was very difficult, but

rnered. This proved to be quite a change; for whatever it might be said to look like in her hands, it became a hat the moment she put it on; it had an appearance and an air; and now the dark surface lent itself all to contrast with her light, soft-hued hair and clear, delicate skin. It was still further improved, when, having removed it again, she set it on at a rakish artillery angle. Possibly, if hers had been the dark, nut-brown beauty, she would have seen that she looked best lurking beneath its sombre shade, and therefore have turned the rim down some way to even increase the shade; but Janet fitted that which was frank, open, and aboveboard. And so she used the black for contrast rather than obscurity-besides which there was another sort of contr

as the right way. She looked in other directions. Then she turned slowly about. What she saw was simply prairie a

emed to be nowhere that she could really consider as a Place! The spot where she had been sitting seemed to be a place;

o get out of her mind that which was not in it! She could not but feel that it was all because she wa

to divulge his relations with a certain wooden gate. But there was no recognition there, no acknowledgment. T

the afternoon. She found traces of her horse's course-here some flower stems had been broken, and a little farther on, some more; and now that al

search. As his shoeless feet had made little or no impression on the sward, and there were wide spaces where flowers were sparse, she decided, in order to mak

she looked for the trail. But she could not find it. Looking about everywhere, round and round and farther and wider, she at last fo

t it might be like, she at least knew it was there. Now the future was all around her. A thousand futures now confronted her-all done up alike in blue and awaiting her chance move, this direction or that; whereby she may be said to have been confronted with the world as it i

net thought-for she had to think something-that she knew just how stationary Lot's wife felt when she was turned into a pillar of salt. Possibly, if the truth were known, Lot's wife desired to be turned into a pillar of salt-who can tell? Janet, walking along so unrelated and ineffectual, rather fancied that she herself might want to be turned into a salt-

g itself, world without end, amen. To make matters worse, her shoe began to hurt (she had suspected it would and taken the man's promise that it would n't), and the more she persevered the more it clamped her toe and wrung her heel and drew fire to her instep. But there was not

had been disabled!-and in such a place! What a thought! She became frightened at what was past. She had not really thought of it before; and now that she did, her imagination was thrown wide open to the future, and she looked into the possibilities ahead of her. A cow, she recalled, has been known to attack even a horse and rider. And these wild range cattle; how might they take the presence of

ee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.… But his wife looked back fro