Is there any of you that knows me?
There was no reply.
Think again! I lived at Marysville in 53. Everybody knew me there, and everybody had the right to know me. I kept the Polka saloon until I came to live with Jim. Thats six years ago. Perhaps Ive changed some.
The absence of recognition may have disconcerted her. She turned her head to the fire again, and it was some seconds before she again spoke, and then more rapidly:
Well, you see I thought some of you must have known me. Theres no great harm done, anyway. What I was going to say was this: Jim hereshe took his hand in both of hers as she spokeused to know me, if you didnt, and spent a heap of money upon me. I reckon he spent all he had. And one dayits six years ago this winterJim came into my back room, sat down on my sofy, like as you see him in that chair, and never moved again without help. He was struck all of a heap, and never seemed to know what ailed him. The doctors came and said as how it was caused all along of his way of lifefor Jim was mighty free and wild-likeand that he would never get better, and couldnt last long anyway. They advised me to send him to Frisco to the hospital, for he was no good to anyone and would be a baby all his life. Perhaps it was something in Jims eye, perhaps it was that I never had a baby, but I said No. I was rich then, for I was popular with everybodygentlemen like yourself, sir, came to see meand I sold out my business and bought this yer place, because it was sort of out of the way of travel, you see, and I brought my baby here.
With a womans intuitive tact and poetry, she had, as she spoke, slowly shifted her position so as to bring the mute figure of the ruined man between her and her audience, hiding in the shadow behind it, as if she offered it as a tacit apology for her actions. Silent and expressionless, it yet spoke for her; helpless, crushed, and smitten with the Divine thunderbolt, it still stretched an invisible arm around her.
Hidden in the darkness, but still holding his hand, she went on:
It was a long time before I could get the hang of things about yer, for I was used to company and excitement. I couldnt get any woman to help me, and a man I dursent trust; but what with the Indians hereabout, whod do odd jobs for me, and having everything sent from the North Fork, Jim and I managed to worry through. The Doctor would run up from Sacramento once in a while. Hed ask to see Miggless baby, as he called Jim, and when hed go away, hed say, Miggles; youre a trumpGod bless you; and it didnt seem so lonely after that. But the last time he was here he said, as he opened the door to go, Do you know, Miggles, your baby will grow up to be a man yet and an honor to his mother; but not here, Miggles, not here! And I thought he went away sadandand and here Miggless voice and head were somehow both lost completely in the shadow.
The folks about here are very kind, said Miggles, after a pause, coming a little into the light again. The men from the fork used to hang around here, until they found they wasnt wanted, and the women are kindand dont call. I was pretty lonely until I picked up Joaquin in the woods yonder one day, when he wasnt so high, and taught him to beg for his dinner; and then thars Pollythats the magpieshe knows no end of tricks, and makes it quite sociable of evenings with her talk, and so I dont feel like as I was the only living being about the ranch. And Jim here, said Miggles, with her old laugh again, and coming out quite into the firelight, Jimwhy, boys, you would admire to see how much he knows for a man like him. Sometimes I bring him flowers, and he looks at em just as natural as if he knew em; and times, when were sitting alone, I read him those things on the wall. Why, Lord! said Miggles, with her frank laugh, Ive read him that whole side of the house this winter. There never was such a man for reading as Jim.
Why, asked the Judge, do you not marry this man to whom you have devoted your youthful life?
Well, you see, said Miggles, it would be playing it rather low down on Jim, to take advantage of his being so helpless. And then, too, if we were man and wife, now, wed both know that I was bound to do what I do now of my own accord.
But you are young yet and attractive
Its getting late, said Miggles, gravely, and youd better all turn in. Good night, boys; and, throwing the blanket over her head, Miggles laid herself down beside Jims chair, her head pillowed on the low stool that held his feet, and spoke no more. The fire slowly faded from the hearth; we each sought our blankets in silence; and presently there was no sound in the long room but the pattering of the rain upon the roof and the heavy breathing of the sleepers.
It was nearly morning when I awoke from a troubled dream. The storm had passed, the stars were shining, and through the shutterless window the full moon, lifting itself over the solemn pines without, looked into the room. It touched the lonely figure in the chair with an infinite compassion, and seemed to baptize with a shining flood the lowly head of the woman whose hair, as in the sweet old story, bathed the feet of him she loved. It even lent a kindly poetry to the rugged outline of Yuba Bill, half-reclining on his elbow between them and his passengers, with savagely patient eyes keeping watch and ward. And then I fell asleep and only woke at broad day, with Yuba Bill standing over me, and All aboard ringing in my ears.
Coffee was waiting for us on the table, but Miggles was gone. We wandered about the house and lingered long after the horses were harnessed, but she did not return. It was evident that she wished to avoid a formal leave-taking, and had so left us to depart as we had come. After we had helped the ladies into the coach, we returned to the house and solemnly shook hands with the paralytic Jim, as solemnly settling him back into position after each handshake. Then we looked for the last time around the long low room, at the stool where Miggles had sat, and slowly took our seats in the waiting coach. The whip cracked, and we were off!
But as we reached the highroad, Bills dexterous hand laid the six horses back on their haunches, and the stage stopped with a jerk. For there, on a little eminence beside the road, stood Miggles, her hair flying, her eyes sparkling, her white handkerchief waving, and her white teeth flashing a last good-by. We waved our hats in return. And then Yuba Bill, as if fearful of further fascination, madly lashed his horses forward, and we sank back in our seats. We exchanged not a word until we reached the North Fork, and the stage drew up at the Independence House. Then, the Judge leading, we walked into the barroom and took our places gravely at the bar.
Are your glasses charged, gentlemen? said the Judge, solemnly taking off his white hat.
They were.
Well, then, heres to MIGGLES. GOD BLESS HER!
Perhaps He had. Who knows?
TENNESSEES PARTNER
I do not think that we ever knew his real name. Our ignorance of it certainly never gave us any social inconvenience, for at Sandy Bar in 1854 most men were christened anew. Sometimes these appellatives were derived from some distinctiveness of dress, as in the case of Dungaree Jack; or from some peculiarity of habit, as shown in Saleratus Bill, so called from an undue proportion of that chemical in his daily bread; or for some unlucky slip, as exhibited in The Iron Pirate, a mild, inoffensive man, who earned that baleful title by his unfortunate mispronunciation of the term iron pyrites. Perhaps this may have been the beginning of a rude heraldry; but I am constrained to think that it was because a mans real name in that day rested solely upon his own unsupported statement. Call yourself Clifford, do you? said Boston, addressing a timid newcomer with infinite scorn; hell is full of such Cliffords! He then introduced the unfortunate man, whose name happened to be really Clifford, as Jay-bird Charleyan unhallowed inspiration of the moment that clung to him ever after.