Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/37

 alone before the open-fire. Her whole life had been rather tragic. She had been brought up on a bleak farm in Wolf Run in Western Pennsylvania. Her father had been possessed of a mania to find oil. For oil he had sacrificed everything, happiness that was far more dear. To escape from a drab existence Roma had married Hans Geist who had bought a rough farm in Galvey, Illinois.

During the first winter they had labored in the fields like beasts, for they had no money. Then Hans was found frozen in the snow. Afterward Roma went on living alone on that silent farm. For companionship she bought a dog, a dog that barked. She had plowed her own fields, sown her own wheat and done the most arduous tasks about the farm. Then Jethro Trent had noticed her. She was following a plow across the fields. It was the most beautiful vision he had ever beheld. Soon afterward they were married.

But even then happiness eluded her. Scobee whom she loved, rebelled against her. Finally after years of patient waiting he