The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1886-04-01
THE FORESTER'S DAUGHTER.
BY ALGERNON.

BY ALGERNON.
Darkness was creeping over the for
est. A patch of blue sky showed pale
between the tall trunks of the pines
In the west a bar of dead gold, low
down, marked the sunset. The out
skirts of the wood, where the daylight
fingered, seemed, with the wild flowers
undcr-foot and the great straight trees
rising on every side, like the entrance
to some mysterious fairy palace, where
a mortal should penetrate with bated
breath.
Over the parched fields the evening
dews already lay thick and refreshing,
but where the brown pine needles form
ed a soft carpet, odorous and spicy, the
earth still retained the warmth impart-
ed by the sun, now sunk to its rest.
Birds and insects alike were asleep, and
not even the tlutter of wings broke the
majestic silence of the woods.
A youth came out from the heavy
shadows, fastening his steps as he
reached the stronger light of the clear
ing. He had a gun on his shoulder and
game pouch slung to his side.
"Where are you coming from SO
late:?" said abruptly a musical voice,
that seemed to rise out of the very
ground.
He stopped with a thrill and looked
down.
Lying prone upon the grass, with
her chin in the palm of her hand, was
a young girl, who glanced up half
laughing. The outlines of her slim
slight body, in a dark wooden gown,
were scarcely distinguishable on the
dark ground. She continued to laugh
at his surprise, and repeated:
where were you coming from?"
81 have been hunting. And you
who are you?"
The girl rose to a sitting position,
and, her hand still resting on the grass,
said:
Sylvia"
s.Sylvia! Are you the dryad of the
forest? Is your mother a nymph?
And do your feet grow, in roots, from
the ground?" And he laughed.
p The girl stood up. Her shoulder
touched his.
Eyes, L am Sylvia, the forester's
daughter. And I live in there,'' point
ing toward the shadowy depths OF the
sleeping forest. 'And you-who are
you?"
my name is Royal. and my father
lives at the manor-house."
"Ah, you are the son of the master,
then?"
The lord of the manor was still and
always the master in this secluded
corner of the earth.
And what were you doing here?"
said Royal, and he looked at the girl
fxedly by the last rays of the dying
day.
She did not evade his glance. Her
shadowy eyes, of a changing color, re-
turned his gaze without dropping. She
smiled, showing her white teeth, and
pushed away the heavy dark hair from
her low forehead.
II was waiting for you," she said
simply; 81 knew that you often pass
this way at evening, and l wanted to
startle you"
He laughed.
s'Men should not be so easily startled.
That is what my father says-that a
mar should have no fear o shed no
tear"
.'But I have seer my father shed
tears" said the girl gravely.
s'When?"
''When they carried away my dead
mother"
There was no reply to this. Royal
also had lost his mother, but he had
not seen his father weep, for all that.
1You are older than l." said Sylvia
after a minute; '.you must know a great
deal. Can you read?"
81 should hope so," laughed Royal.
81 can't I know nothing at ALL"
said Sylvia, signing. ..My father is
away all day. am always alone"
always alone? That is hard for
your
''Oh no! there are so many wonder
full things in our forest-the flowers
and the birds. But you only care for
the birds that you my kill them"
Royal touched his empty pouch sig
a~ificantly.
.Not always"
: Sylvia laughed.
"Tm glad you missed them," she
taid.
why did you wait for meP" replied
Royal.