Vandine

Vandine had just let the buzzing little circular slip back into its recess, when he saw MacPherson spring from his cart and dash madly down to the shore.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

As Vandine reached the shore, and was casting desperate glances over the basin in search of some clue to guide his plunge, MacPherson reappeared at the other side of the deals, and

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

At noon Vandine, muttering to himself, climbed the steep path to the little cottage on the hillside.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

And all the while Vandine glared upon him from his corner in the upper story, and the children raced shouting down the slides, and tumbled with bright laughter into the sawdust.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

But Vandine paid no heed to her calls, and after a pause she turned back into the room to answer Stevie's demand for a cup of milk.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

At the very back of the table hummed the saw, like a great hornet; and whenever Vandine got two or three deals in place before him he would grasp a lever above his head, and forward through its narrow slit in the table would dart the little saw, and scream its way in a second through the tough white spruce.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

Vandine and his wife were satisfied with the girl's account of her lover, and the months slipped by swiftly without their making his acquaintance.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

Vandine, though ignorant, was a clear-seeing man, who understood his own class thoroughly; and after his first outburst of wounded indignation he had forgiven and comforted his daughter no less tenderly than her mother had done.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

Every time he let the saw swing back, Vandine would drop his eyes to the blue-shirted figure below, and his harsh features would work with concentrated fury.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901

Along about the middle of the afternoon, while Sandy MacPherson was still carting sawdust, and Vandine tending his circular amid the bewildering din, Stevie and some other children came down to play around the mill.

Earth's Enigmas A Volume of Stories Charles George Douglas Roberts 1901