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Then the musical tinkle of his spurs sounded fainter A moment later Ellen's father entered the cabin His dark, ht of her Ellen knew she was the only person in the world left for him to love And she was sure of his love Her very presence always h the years, the darker their misfortunes, the farther he slipped away from better days, the more she loved him

"Hello, my Ellen!" he said, and he e he never kissed her "Shore I'h any tiry"

Ellen laid food and drink on the table; and for a little while she did not look directly at hi power of her eyes In relation to hiularly handsoure of a horseray, and hite over his ears His face was sallow and thin, with deep lines Under his round, prominent, brown eyes, like deadened furnaces, were blue swollen welts He had a bitter rayfrock coat and a wide-brimmed sombrero, both black in color, and so old and stained and frayed that along with the fashion of them they betrayed that they had co a white linen shirt, likewise a relic of his Southern prosperity, and to-day it was ragged and soiled as usual

Ellen watched her father eat and waited for hiely that he never asked about the sheep or the new-born lambs She divined with a subtle neo for his sheep

"Ellen, what riled Daggs?" inquired her father, presently "He shore had fire in his eye"

Long ago Ellen had betrayed an indignity she had suffered at the hands of a man Her father had nearly killed him Since then she had taken care to keep her troubles to herself If her father had not been blind and absorbed in his own brooding he would have seen a thousand things sufficient to inflas asked ed to a bad lot," she replied

Jorth laughed in scorn "Fool! My God! Ellen, I ed you low--that every da thinks he can marry you"