The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1893-07-22

breathlessly. 81 mean about the 10th;
and if it is possible, please please stay a
little longer"
With the last words she had turned
again, and in the same moment disappear
ed among the bushes. Conrad could hear
the twigs swapping to the right and to the
left after he had lost sight of her.
1t was not until he had got back to the
house that he suddenly remembered the
wild ducks, and, very much to his astonish
ment, realized that, as far as knowing
whether there were any to be hoped for
on the lake, he had come back exactly as
wise as he had started
Breakfast was scarcely over when the
battered green hat of the old gamekeeper
was seen to pass the window, whereupon
Conrad became a sportsman again, and,
leaving his second cup of coffee untouched,
hurried away for his gun.
AS, for the second time that day, he
made his way down the lime avenue, he
could not help wondering why he bad not
mentioned his matutinal excursion in the
boat and the only conclusion he could
come to was that touch of mystery never
fails to give charm to the most common
place adventure, and that the idea of plot
between himself and the youngest Baro-
ness, whom he understood TO be called
Elsbeth, had tickled his fancy.
Meanwhile the old Baron had establish
ed himself in his armchair with heartfelt
sigh of relief. For the next few hours,
at least, he might relax his vigilance, see
ing that the dreaded individual was safely
disposed of.
But a rude shock awaited the Barons
peace of mind that evening, when the con-
versation at the supper table acquainted
him with the fact that Anna and Helen's
afternoon walk had, strangely enough,
taken the same direction as Conrad Kest-
ler's shooting excursion, whether through
a provoking coincidence or owing to some
culpable negligence of Miss Wilkins, who
had been of the party, it was difficult to
ascertain. Never before had the Baron so
acutely felt the Inconvenience of being
gouty. With the free use of his joints
half his anxiety would have been relived,
for as long as he could be the constant COM
panion of his dangerous guestit was pretty
certain that all serious peril could be avert
ed, while, alas what incalculable harm
might not be brought about by few undis-
turbed encounters in the romantic shadow
of the pine woods
To add to his anxieties, the cloudless
September weather seemed bent upon
tempting the girls to extend their daily
promenades far beyond their normal length.
From breakfast to dinner and from dinner
to supper the Baron was generally alone
at home-for Elsbeth made the most of her
holidays by running wild in her own COM
pany-and passed his time in fuming at
his enforced inactivity and counting the
days till Count Kestler's departure.
Gradually, however, he became aware,
somewhat to his own annoyance, that the
feelings with which he was looking forward
to the 10th were not feelings of unmixed
pleasure. Conrad might be a lady killer
Of the first water, whose path was strewn
with broken hearts much as the seashore
is strewn with broken shells, but that did
not prevent his voice and his laugh and
something in the irresistible sparkle of his
eye carrying back the Baron very vividly
in memory to the days when his old COM
rade had been young. 1t was with a
pleasant feeling of surprise, too, that he
noted another circumstance in connection
with his guest. Conrad evidently was no
lie-a-bed. On two different occasions the
old gentleman had caught sight of Count
Kestler salying forth from the house at an
hour when the housemaids should indeed
have been astir, but were not, and he re-
gularly appeared late for breakfast, with
hair wet by dew, and not infrequently with
fragments of grass or red or yellow leaf
clinging to his coat. The Baron began to
to admit that there must, after all, be some
good in the man. An individual who
found pleasure in such simple country en-
joyments as walk before breakfast could
not be entirely corrupted by the wicked
ness of town life.
Miss Wilkins, on her side, was much
pleased by the discovery that point which
for long had been a rather sore one be-
tween herself and her pupil had shaped it.
self according to her own wishes.
"Your cheeks are twice as pink as usual
and your eyes twice as blue, she said ap-
proyingly on meeting Elsbeth in the pas
=
sage one morning laden with autumn GRO
cuses. ''That is the result Of early hours. !"
aOr of holidays : said Elsbeth promptly.
aCan you explain to me how it comes
about that you require 30 much less sleep
during holidays than on lesson days2 |
don't know of any bribe by which | conld
have got you out of bed before seven O'Clock
so long as books and aliases were in sigh" F"
Elsbeth smiled happily and almost lit
tie guiltily, but attempted no explanation,
and listened with a quite unusual patience
to the wholesome remarks on the subject
of early rising with which Miss Wilkins
considered it her duty to improve the oc-
casion.
NIL 1.1 A.. IL Holono ort.ralx,