Texas hospitality again. The best they had was literally his while under the protection of their roof and Jack was made to feel that he conferred a favor in accepting it.
Dinner was soon ready and seated at that hospitable board, Jack first tasted the succulent steaks which had heretofore existed only in his imagination.
“I reckon that this is your first meal in a ’dobe house,” remarked Dora.
“The first one I ever entered,” Jack returned, “and it has a distinctly foreign air.”
“Well,” said Mr. Nelson, “I spent some time in Mexico and their manner of building struck me as suitable to this climate. ’Dobe is cheap and durable.”
Jack’s head throbbed painfully and he could not conceal his suffering. The strain he had been under for the past week, with the shock received that morning, had completely prostrated him, and he was only too glad to follow Mrs. Nelson’s advice and go to bed. His room was sweet and inviting, but he sank into bed too ill to appreciate it.
For two weeks he was confined to his bed and when able to sit up his eyes fell on a small box, on a stand beside the bed, which Dora said had been brought by Elsie.
“Will you kindly hand it to me?” Jack requested. Dora complied and she was about to leave the room when he protested and she resumed her seat.
Jack’s hand trembled as he took the box and Dora’s eyes were moist when he looked in her direction. Was it the attraction of her womanliness which made him lay before her the awful fate of the one to whom these letters belonged? Gradually he spoke of himself, his aspirations, his plans for the future with its seemingly infinite possibilities all gone now. “There is no use in longer deceiving myself. My future in this world lies in the past.” His tone was bitter and though evidently relieved by unburdening his mind, he seemed utterly crushed.
“Mr. De Vere,” said Dora resolutely, “what you tell me is indeed terrible. I do not pretend to understand why one endowed with so many noble qualities should be thus stricken. An orthodox Christian would tell you that it is the will of God that it should be so and you must pray for strength to bear it. Never mind that, you have something more tangible to deal with and that is your own physical condition. ‘Self-preservation is nature’s first law,’ and it is your duty to obey. Are you doing it? You are utterly cast down, oblivious of the many blessings around you. The doctor says if your nervous system would react—which lies in your own power—in this dry, thin air, your lungs would undoubtedly become restored to a healthy condition. Brooding over misfortune is sinful. Forgive me if I wound you, but no one excepting true friends point out our shortcomings.”