Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-09-03
nents and bays darkIy reflected in their

menus anu pays CARLY fentcteu IN hicu
depths.
Il am glad you liked il" she said, smiling
a little. ut is uHkempt and wild, and the
shrubs have all run riot. Ny uncle has not
been near ii for months, perhaps years, and
it Is not what an ornamental piece of water
should be, l know. But l am very fond OF
II, and | love TO walk by IT,"
We went out on the high-road, along which
i had driven, under the bare archiDg trees.
The day was fine and warm, and the sun
light crept among the branches and chequer-
ed the way; and, when we came by the thick
~shrubbery, the beams were glinting upon
the breast of the lake there beneath as, and
a mist of sun and watery vapor clouded the
bushes on the far-away opposite bank.
The road was very quiet. We met no one
but a laboring man trGdging from Norbury
to his home at Marlands, and a farmers
wife in a light market-cart, bringing home
empty butter-baskets from the market. Pres
emily we turned down a narrow lane which
dipped suddenly and skirted the lake so
closely that the clear ripping water was
but a few feet from US and some ferns and
water-plants only grew by the lane-side.
The lane itself was scarcely wide enough
for more than two persons TO walk abreast,
! LOT OH tic Quiet sue rose II S!ltlflI8 SItth
bank topped by a stone wall.
This is the boundary Of my uncle's do
MAN, Annls said. Indeed this little path
Is public; but it is seldom used. 1t is orr
fasorite walk :" and the girl blushed a little
as she spoke, and looked straight before her
up the road.
"And at the other side of the bank" /
said, 'the land belongs, / suppose, TO the
house among the trees l see from my win
down.
'Can you see itg' she cried. 'Oh, yes. It
is part of the grounds of the house, and 1t
all belongs 10 Mr.. Uric Gaseoigne, my cous-
in! Before we anne he used 10 live at the
Grange; but my uncle and he quarrclled-
! wasn't IL q pity?-and now my uncle will
; not let him set foot on his land. That house
wa his mothers"
"But he can come here?' | asked.
She looked atme, startled and wondering;
but, when she saw the smile in my eyes, she
laughed.
"Yes," she said, she can come here"
When we had passed the lake, | saw there
was a low stone wall to divide this little lane
from the Grange property, a low wall over
which ivy grew and gray MOSES crep..
How well l learned to know the very stones
& VI 1Ildl wall. anu DpA we'll EItM 10 lDNt
every little leaf and flower that peeped from
it, c~reyices, and the tendri!s that chung to 1t
scarcely tighter than chung the fibres OF my
heart!
you see that a path from the house
comes down 20 this lane" Annis said. 1T
is the way we generally come"
Gwend0line and Iiilda were out of sight.
They had not paused for us or spoken TO us
once during the walk. But quicker and
more determined steps than theirs came
down the path behind Us: and Annis paused
10y the bankside-I thought, TO let them
pass.
They were two tall handsome young men,
with slight well-knit figures and the stamp
or gentle breeding on their fair straight-cut
faces. They stopped, raising their hats,
and on the face of the fairer and younger
there was a specially bright glad smile. !
guessed in a minute who he was.
Il am glad you have come to-day, Annis,"
he said, as he took her hand and the pleas
ure in his face was reflected on hers.
Il must Introduce you TO my friend" she
said in answer. "SIr. GascOigne and Mr..
Uric Ga~scoigne-Miss Thome.'
When we walked on, p%eTforce we fell in
to couples. Annis and her lover Jagged be-
hind, his brother strolled on by my side. lie
seemed used to playing the part Of third.
for he talked easily and unconstrainedly,
without needing the young folks behind us.
You are a stranger to Marlands, Miss
1horne," he remarked. Il suppose You are
staying at the Grange? Did Annis's sisters
come out with YOU this afternoon
They came, but they walked on in front
OF rs, and we have lost sight of them"
"Ililda generally comes with Annis," he
said; but / do not think she likes it'-and
he laughed. My cousins are very proud,
and they do not approve, ! fancy, of Ann's's
allowing Us, who are in disgrace, 70 speak
to her."