“It is not for me to give counsel to my captain, but is it not a fact that selfishness grows upon us with advancing years?”
“Very likely.”
“Has it occurred to you that in concluding to pass the remainder of your days in this mining settlement, you are thinking more of yourself than of your child?”
“What have I said that warrants that question?” asked the captain sharply.
“No higher motive2 than to protect a daughter from harm can inspire a father, but if she should be allowed to close your eyes, when you come to lie down and die, it will be hers to live: what then?”
“I shall leave her comfortably provided for. My pay amounted to a goodly sum when the war ended, and it is placed where no one else can reap the benefit of it. Then, too, as you know we have struck considerable 143 paying dirt of late. The prospects3 are that New Constantinople, even if a small town, will soon be a rich one.”
Lieutenant Russell groaned4 in spirit. Would the parent never understand him?
“Then you expect her to remain here, sharing in all the vicissitudes5 of the place? It cannot always stand still; it will either increase, bringing with it many bad elements, or it will cease to exist and these people will have to go elsewhere: what then of the child whom you have left behind you?”
“Oh, by that time,” airily replied the father; “she will be married to some good honest fellow, like the parson, who seems to be fond of her, as I know she is of him, but I will not allow her to think of marriage for a long while to come,” he added with emphasis.
Lieutenant Russell had heard all he wished. He had learned that the father would not consent to the marriage of his daughter for a number of years, and when that time came, he would select one of the shaggy, uncouth6 miners for her life partner.
“He has never thought of me in that capacity, but he will have to entertain the thought before he is much older.”
In her dreamings of the mysterious world, with its teeming7 multitudes and all manner of men, Nellie Dawson was sure that none lived who could compare with 144 this young cavalier who had come out from that wonderful realm into the loneliness of her mountain home, bringing with him a sunshine, a glow, a radiance, a happiness, and a thrilling life which she had never believed could be hers.
She often sat with her eyes upon his countenance8, when, in his chair opposite her father, he recalled those marvelous experiences of his. To her no man could ever possess so musical a voice, and none so perfect features and winning ways. It was young love’s dream and in her heart the sacred flame was kindled9 and fanned until her whole being was suffused10 and glowed with the new life.
One of Lieutenant Russell’s firsts acts of kindness to Nellie Dawson was to present her with his massive dog Timon. She had shown great admiration11 from the first for the magnificent brute12, who became fond of her. The maiden13 was delighted beyond measure and thanked the donor14 so effusively15 that he was embarrassed. It is not probable, however, that Timon himself was ever aware of the change of ownership, for it brought no change of conditions to him. He had learned to divide his time about equally between the home of the lieutenant and that of Captain Dawson, while, like the young lady herself, he wandered about the settlement at will. He was a dignified16 canine17, who stalked solemnly through New Constantinople, or took a turn in 145 Dead Man’s Gulch18, resenting all familiarity from every one, except from the only two persons that had ever owned him.
The lieutenant reflected much upon his conversation with Captain Dawson, the impression which he had received being anything but pleasant. “He considers himself unselfish, and yet like all such he is selfishness itself. He has determined19 to spend the rest of his days in this hole and to keep her with him. He won’t allow her to marry for years, because it might interfere20 with his own pleasure; then he intends to turn her over to that lank21, shaggy-faced Brush, who pretends to be a parson. The captain never thinks of me as having any claims upon her love. To carry out his plan would be a crime. If she objects to Brush, he will probably give her a choice from the whole precious lot, including Ruggles, Adams, Bidwell, or Red Mike, the reformed gambler.
“Never once has he asked himself whether his daughter may not have a preference in the matter, but, with the help of heaven, he shall not carry out this outrage22.”
In the solitude23 of his own thoughts, the lover put the question to himself:
“Am I unselfish in my intentions?”
Selfishness is the essence of love. We resolve to obtain the one upon whom our affections are set, regardless 146 of the consequences or of the future. It is our happiness which is placed in the balance and outweighs24 everything else.
“Of course,” continued the young officer in his self-communing, “I shall be the luckiest fellow in the world when I win her and she will be a happy woman. Therefore, it is her good which I seek as much as my own.”
How characteristic of the lover!
“I shall not abduct25 her. If she tells me she does not love me; if she refuses to forsake26 all for me, then I will bid her good-by and go off and die.”
How characteristic again of the lover!
And yet it may be repeated that Lieutenant Russell was the most guarded and circumspect27 of men. He no longer argued with Captain Dawson, for it was useless. He rather
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