On the advice of the doctor and Freddy Tarlton, the bad news was kept
from Jacques. When she did not come the next day, Joe told him that she
couldn't; that he ought to remember she had had no rest for weeks, and
had earned a long rest. And Jacques said that was so.
Weir began preparations for the funeral, but Freddy Tarlton took them out
of his hands--Freddy Tarlton, who visited at the homes of Fort Latrobe.
But he had the strength of his convictions such as they were. He began
by riding thirty miles and back to ask the young clergyman at Purple Hill
to come and bury Blanche. She'd reformed and been baptised, Freddy said
with a sad sort of humour. And the clergyman, when he knew all, said
that he would come. Freddy was hardly prepared for what occurred when he
got back. Men were waiting for him, anxious to know if the clergyman was
coming. They had raised a subscription to cover the cost of the funeral,
and among them were men such as Harry Delong.
"You fellows had better not mix yourselves up in this," said Freddy.
But Harry Delong replied quickly: "I am going to see the thing through."
And the others endorsed his words. When the clergyman came, and looked
at the face of this Magdalene, he was struck by its comeliness and quiet.
All else seemed to have been washed away. On her breast lay a knot of
white roses--white roses in this winter desert.
One man present, seeing the look of wonder in the clergyman's eyes, said
quietly: "My--my wife sent them. She brought the plant from Quebec. It
has just bloomed. She knows all about her."
That man was Harry Delong. The keeper of his home understood the other
homeless woman. When she knew of Blanche's death she said: "Poor girl,
poor girl!" and then she had gently added, "Poor Jacques!"
And Jacques, as he sat in a chair by the fire four days after the
tragedy, did not know that the clergyman was reading over a grave on
the hillside, words which are for the hearts of the quick as for the
untenanted dead.
To Jacques's inquiries after Blanche, Soldier Joe had made changing and
vague replies. At last he said that she was ill; then, that she was very
ill, and again, that she was better, almighty better--now. The third day
following the funeral, Jacques insisted that he would go and see her.
The doctor at length decided he should be taken to Weir's Tavern, where,
they declared, they would tell him all. And they took him, and placed
him by the fire in the card-room, a wasted figure, but fastidious in
manner and scrupulously neat in person as of old. Then he asked for
Blanche; but even now they had not the courage for it. The doctor
nervously went out, as if to seek her; and Freddy Tarlton said, "Jacques,
let us have a little game, just for quarters, you know. Eh?"