Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1891-08-21
breakfast with you this msrning; but IL <

~
presume"
"Oh, Sir Philip" cried the old lady,
"you have such lot Of foreign palaver!
wonder that you don't forget how TO speak
English. You cannot utter q scntencclof
good old Cumberland, l know. lima, run
round and tell Robert to take Sir Philips
horse TO the stable. You have q superb
horse, Sir Philip"
"lIe's jewel In every way, Miss Durn-
ford" replied Darrell; and lima begged
to be allowed to lead Hassan TO the stable
herself.
"Od darlingw she said, as Sir Philip
resigned the bride to her; and she would
have envied Robert the charge Of him If
the society Of the lord Of the soil had not
been stronger attraction.
She ran back to the breakfast-room. and
went up to her aunt with alf-penitent,
half-mischieyous look.
..Please forgive me for being late, auntie.
I did not know how the time was going;
and shonld not have been here at all may
be but for Sir Philip"
"My dear child, what do you meant"
Darrell explained, and Miss Durnford
looked as Mortified as If lima had actually
tumbled into the river.
"You are so wild, lima" she said.-
MIow did you leave the house this MORN
Ing? There was not n bolt withdrawn"
81 got out of my window, auntie, and
crawled down the creeper."
Darrell burst out laughing. Miss Durn-
ford was obliged TO laugh too, though she
cried to look grave.
"You'll break limb some day, child"
she said. "Now sit down TO breakfast"
81 won't do 1t again till next time"
al lt,,a In Lao Il. Ia
seat.
Sir Philip sat opposite to her; and from
time TO time she scanned him coyertly,
watching him while he talked to her aunt.
aid marking every change Of feature.
and every infection of singularly sweet
voice.
Sir Philip was as dark as a southern
Italian his rich curly locks were of the
blue-black hue not often seen I'm Italy, and
the delicate and statuesque chiselling OF
his features was Italian rather than Eng.
lish. Every line Of his striking counten-
ance indicated strong passions and intense
pride; but pride seemed not inappropriate
to u man who bore so strongly the marks
of gentle blood. But deep in the dark
eyes lay the shadow of the vague unrest
that overcast a life which nature and for
tune ought TO have combined to make
bright and glorious.
lima thought that this man looked rs II
he had stepped out of some frame at the
Pitt Palace; lie seemed TO belong more
properly TO an age In which swords right
ed wrongs. 1t was no wonder that the
people considered him almost an alien; no
one, could be more unlike the usual repre-
sentatives of great county families. Sir
Philip Darrell was pale, slender, supple,
with the hues Of an Italian, clean-shaved
save for tho soft moustache that shaded
the resolute lips, a man of courts and
cities, all but stranger in his native
country, his very speech giving, neither in
tone nor accent. the faintcst indication OF
his birthplace. lie neither hunted nor
shot, or took any part in county doings,
being indeed an absentee. 1t was no Won
der that some of the most superstitious
shook their heads and said that some
strange influence had presided ut the hour
OF his birth.
"And do you intend" asked Miss Durn-
ford, after q short pause in the CONVERSE
ton, ..to give us your company for IL little
longer time, this time, than YOU did last,
Sir Philip"
lie shrugged his shoulders and answer
cd
81 can hardly tell, Miss Durnford; /
have no settled plans. am rolling
stone, you know, and shall be Us long Us l
live"
al hope not.''
ado you? DO you cherish the idea that
shall settle down and become country
gentleman ut agricultural shows? Miss
Costello, you see is laughing at the bare
notion"