The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1880-07-04
MISS WEsTERLEy's LUCK.

A wide, white forehead above, braids
knotted with white aster; pansy-dark eyes
under curled black lashes. The lovely
woman's face looking out of the oricl win
dows held Capt. Gordon Somers captive.
"Come, Captain" called voice from the
water below. q
lie made no response to startle the girl,
for she had not seen him. The cool, oval
face rested on the slender hand, and she
was looking dreamily over the water
81 say, Cap, what keeps your What
have you found %
lie could have strangled Low, with his i'm
patient believing, for now the fair face start
ed and flushed, and, turning, Adelaide West
erly saw the intruder in the garden.
Capt. Somers stepped forth, but without
his usual grace and ease, and lifted his hat.
81 beg your pardon. Could we get some
water here ~
eyes, certainly. Knock at the south door,
and my man will give You all you WANT
She seemed startled out of an habitual
serenity, yet her voice had a strange softness
and sweetness.
"I-we," continued the Captain, are in
search of a strange boat which got adrift from
the yacht Mermaid last night. We have been
about hero three hours. 1t must have got
over the bar and gone QUITO sea-
.
saw how things were, and settled back re-
signedly.
IA small boat called the Dolphin %
asked Adelaide.
"Yes.'
"Witll book and spy glass in it ?" she
continued.
eyes" confessed Somers, ashamed of his
seamanship. 81 let it get away from me. /
have charge of the yacht. There she is yOn-
der" pointing to the offing.
"You will find your boat fastened to a
post just inside the breakwater. My man
Stephen picked it up last night. He is in
the garden. Stay, will call him."
She came down to the garden door-a
beautiful young creature all in white-and
found Capt. Somers awaiting her, cap in
hand. They went together down the over
hanging paths, he holding the rose-vines
aside to let her pass.
am giving you too much trouble" said
"No. There is my man. Stephen!' sht
called.
The old man cane up with his spade. ii.
began telling how he had found the boat
for which the young gentleman did not care
| two straws, casting desperately about In hit
| mind to learn how he was to meet Adelaide
again.
She had already Withdrawn to the terrace
| aud stood awaiting his final bow. She littl.
| dreamed the truth-sweet Lady of Shalot
| She was looking fxedly at the fine, strong
| figure, the cool, sensitive blonde face, tn,
| picturesque yachtmaH's dress; she had in
hailed the faint fragrance of cigars, felt thu
magnetism of this strangers gentle touch n!
he put her dress aside from the thorns, and
a feeling of pain she could not express Wis
1 L.. al, a
minute he wOuld be gone from her gaze.
And he went, With one backward glanc,
| from the fine blue syse, with gay anf
graceful salutation and a final call Of thanks
to the young lady, Capt. Somers turned
bend of the rose path and disappeared. fol
lowed by old Stephen.
"a desperate yenturei" he muttered
"but my only chance!'
If, while unmooring the boat, he deftl,
questioned the old servitor of the Wester
legs, old Stephen never told. But when h
saw the two boats floating oft shore, IL
chuckled over the bit of silver in his hand
and muttered, "Good luck to You, STRIP.
The fair lady of Shalot went slowly bacl
to her bower. Perhaps the pretty chambe
did not then look quite beautiful. Perhap
she, too, murmured, 81 am half sick q
shadows" 1t would not be at all strange
| inns PiTi VI tHtUty IIfFV "
lated life. She was the last of her race, liy
ing on the estate bequeathsd to her in in
fancy by her dying father. half-sisier
her mothers, an aged woman called Am
Resolve, was her only companion. Sh
had never entered society. She knew it'll
of the world outside of the beautiful garden
and shores of the Jumpers.
But for old Aunt Resolve, the girl seeine
to be wasting her sweetness ON the desel
air. The devoted old woman idolized he
From her babyhood she had dressed, washed
and tended her. Perhaps it was mistake
fondness that relieved the heiress of all cai
of her estate, for IL required soms manag
ment to make it yield an income for IL
family, and Adelaide suffered from emu
Perhaps a liiAle care would have heen goc
for her. But Aunt Resolve thought diie
emily, and the girl knew nothing of the Oy
ter beds and the crops that We're hers.
The girl stood in the rose-path again Ill
following evening, her garden hat in h,
hand, her eyes unconsciously fixed upon u
Young Mermaid in the otiing. She was
an unusual thoughtful mood. There hs
come to her for the first time the thong
whittier her life was tending. To wear ava
the seasons from youth to age in uneventf
rnonotony, her soul unsatisfed, did not su
her. But spell, a fate, seemed upon he
Probably it would never be otherwise; and
sadness no words could express sprei
through all her consciousness.
A step upon the gravel. She turned al
encountered the CLEAN of two blue eye
Capt. Somers bowed low.
"Your pardon; more missing propert
Miss Westerley," he stammered.
"What is 1t now I" asked Adelaide,
amazed tones
"a ring dropped yesterday. All, here
u.s." STOPPING to hide guilty blush, and il
: covering diamond ring at the edge Of Il
grass plot.
He showed it to her-a diamond quaint
set: his property for fifteen years, he sal
II the gift of his dead mother.
n The heiress of the Junipers WAS as gull