'
"'Oh, my child,' says I, 'what's happened to you? Don't be afraid to tell
me!'
"She sat down on the draw-side, out of sight of the house. 'He's run away
from me,' she said. 'I don't know if he ever meant to marry me.'
"'You mean he's thrown up his job and quit the country?' says I.
"'He did n't have any job. He'd been fired; blacklisted for knocking down
fares. I did n't know. I thought he had n't been treated right. He was
sick when I got there. He'd just come out of the hospital. He lived with
me till my money gave out, and afterwards I found he had n't really been
hunting work at all. Then he just did n't come back. One nice fellow at
the station told me, when I kept going to look for him, to give it up. He
said he was afraid Larry'd gone bad and would n't come back any more. I
guess he's gone to Old Mexico. The conductors get rich down there,
collecting half-fares off the natives and robbing the company. He was
always talking about fellows who had got ahead that way.'
"I asked her, of course, why she did n't insist on a civil marriage at
once--that would have given her some hold on him. She leaned her head on
her hands, poor child, and said, 'I just don't know, Mrs. Steavens. I
guess my patience was wore out, waiting so long. I thought if he saw how
well I could do for him, he'd want to stay with me.'
"Jimmy, I sat right down on that bank beside her and made lament.
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