Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1878-06-15
NO. al.
Gales aud Sketfhes.
NATHALIE BYRNE,S ROMANCE.
Continued from Yesterday J

Very hard steps sometimes, as my re-
.ent experience assures me. II is all
5ery well. no doubt, if you are man,
,ble to climb where you like and do what
YOU like but woman"
Can surely ask no better fate than to
be a fairy princess "
II don't know; even fairy princesses
'on't always find things Just as they want
them"
That may be, perpaps, in order that
hey mag choose between apparent good
and real good. The whole wisdom of life
is in that
Looking at his threadbare coat. in con-
'rast with the serene cheerfulness of his
face, Nathalie feels compelled to ask
another direct personal question
DO you think you have displayed wis
dom in her choice P' she inquiries.
81 am perfectly sure of it," he answers,
confidently; land the best wish can
make for You is that you may choose as
wisely"
Thank you." she says II shall re-
member your advivce-and your example.
Now ! must ask you to take me down. I
have been gone so long from Fairy land
hat fear there will be hue-and cry
about me-"
".
That Nathalie takes her way medita-
lively back to the Springs is not remarka-
BILE, for She has many things to mediate
upon. She has had an adventure of the
first order; she has been to the top of the
Castle Rock and she has made new,
mysterious, most interesting acquain-
ance As she thinks of the latter. she
feels more perplexed than it is possible TO
express. She has heard vaguely of men
who, in violent reaction against the
cramping influences of modern society,
have rushed back to the wild freedom of
hermits and nomads-can it be possible
hat she has encountered such man
But she has also heard that these self
made outlaws are usually disappointed and
misanthropical, while This man is certainly
nothing of the kind No healthier spirit
ever looked out OF human eyes than shines
ont of bls. Altogether. she is wholly at
sea in her reckonings with regard to him;
and she says 10 herself. IL will ask Jack
perhaps he will know"
But, to her great surprise, she finds,
when she reaches the Springs, that Jack
has gone. He has been suddenly called
away on important business, and could
not even wait to bid her good-by
"He will not be back for two weeks"
SAYS Mrs. Olney, land he desires that we
will stay here until he returns. am sor-
ry on your account, Nathalie; you seem
to be so tired of the place"
II am not tired of the place." says
Nathalie 'but am tired to death of the
people One must be philosophical, how
ever, and two weeks will not last forever
have discovered new amusement,
Aunt Georey-admiring Nature. 1t is
better han flirting with stupid men with
out an idea"
Take care or you will be bitten by q
rntlesnake," says Aunt Georgy. to whom,
in the mountains, Nature and rattlesnakes
are synonymous terms.
Nathalie laughs, not so much at the eau
ton as at the thought of what her aunt
would say if Told the history of her late
adventure. But she knows better than to
make any such rash confidence. She
would have told Jack, if Jack had re-
NAMED to be told; but the very virtuous
and well-ordered hair on Mrs. Olney's head
would brisle with horror At such recital,
and Nathalies chances of ever meeting
Robin Hood again would be small indeed.
That she has deliberately determined to
meet that interesting outlaw again cannot
De Satu, DuC we are UOl Dy any means al
ways frank with ourselves.
She has had taste of the delights of
freedom and adventure, and to sit down
after that to gossp p and crochet is more
than she can think of doing. Two long,
idle weeks stretch before her. a In this
time shall she not discover some OF those
secrets of Nature which she has been ad-
vised to seekP And if, by any chance. she
shall meet again the man whose life and
character have taken such strong hold of
her Imagination, what harm can there be
in talk ing TO him, since he does not even
know her nameP
Needless to say that not many days
elapsed after her first adventure before
she encounters Robin Hood again, and af-
ter this, their meetings become very much
an accustomed thing. He acts as her
guide To wildwood haunts which she would
never discover without his aid; and by
the side of many sweeping cascades, in
many green glen, and on many breezy
height, they sit and talk of more things
han have entered the somewhat narrow
compass OF Nathalie's intellectual life be-
fore Day by day her interest and her Gu
riosity with regard to her companion
deepen. He knows-Or it seems to her
ne knOWs-eVeTNl lulH9 Which lue Wiuest
culture embraces. He has travelled alike
over the Old and the New World; he is
as thoroughly conversant with men as
with books; he appears to possess no Or
dinary artistic knowledge; and his physi-
cal capabilities are simply magnificent.
Met under the most ordinary circumstan-
ces, such a man would be likely to inn
press himself strongly upon the fancy of
girl to whom the conventional type of
man has before this proved wearying;
but, surrounded by an atmosphere OF tan
tiliziug mystery and associated with every
thing most bright and beautiful, most Wild
and exhilarating, in the boundless free
dom of Nature, it is not singular that the
thought of him SHOULD soon dominate
every thought in Nathalie's mind. &c.
She is not without certain strong nhJa-
givings of the wisdom of her course. e9s |.
she puts them aside with chss16asse
reck lessness. Such roma9e9s4oM - !
come more than once n lplA ! 49, - 4eh !,
=. 4 n, h \. ~ IN ron00mhGr x0XX