The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1893-05-31
BEYOND THE CITY,
THE IDYL OF 4 SUBURBS.
BY A. CONAN DOYLE.
copyright 1893, by Authors Alliance.
All Fights reserved.
CHAPTER III.-COntinued.

the face and plumper in the figure She
had light yellow hair, miscellaneous blue
eyes, with the light Of humor ever twin
king in their depths, and large, per
fectly formed mouth, with that slight up
ward curve of the corners which goes
with keen appreciation Of fun, suggest
ing even in repose that a latent smile is
ever lurking at the edges Of the lips. SlAa
was modern TO the soTes Of her dainty
little high heeled shoes, frankly fond of
dress and Of pleasure, devoted to tennis
and to comic opera, delighted with
dance-which came in her way only too
acknowledging ever for some new OK
element, and yet behind all this lighter
side of her character thoroughly good,
healthy minded English girl, the life and
soul Of the house and the idol Of her Sis
ter and her father Such was the family
at No. 2. Apeep into the remaining villa.
and our introductions are complete
Admiral Hay Denver did not belong TO
the forid, white haired, hearty school Of
sea dogs which is more common in works
of fiction than in the navy list. On the
contrary, he was the representative OF a
antithesis Of the conventional sailor He
was thin, hard featured man, with an
ascetic, aquiline cast Of face, grizzled and
hollow checked, clean shaven, with the
exception Of the tiniest curved prOmon-
tory of ash colored whislzer. An observer
accustomed to classify men might have
put him down as q canon Of the church
with taste for lay costume and a coun-
try life, or as the master Of a large pub
lie school, who joined his scholars in their
outdoor sports. His lips were firm, his
chin prominent, he had hard, dry eye
and his manner was precise and formal.
Forty years Of stern discipline had
made him reserved and silent. Yetwhen
at his ease with an equal he could read
lily assume less quarter deck style. and
he had fund of little dry stories Of the
world and it's ways which were Of inter
est from one who had seen so many
phases Of life. Dry and spare, as lean as
jockey and as tough as whipcord, he
might be seen any day swinging his sill
yer headed Malacca cane and pacing
along the suburban roads with the same
measured gait with which he had been
wont to tread the poop Of his flagship.
He wore a good service stripe upon his
cheek, for on one side it was pitted and
Scared where squirt Of gravel knocked
up by a round shot had struck him 50
years before when he served in the Ian
caster gun battery. Yet he was hale and
sound, and though he was Is years senior
to his friend, the doctor, he might have
passed as the younger man.
Mrs. Hay Denver's life had been Il very
broken one, and her record upon land
represented greater amount Of endur-
ance and self sacrifice than his upon the
sea. They had been together for four
months after their marriage and thcn
had come hiatus Of four years, during
which he was fitting about between St.
Helena and the Oil rivers in gunboat
Then came a blessed year of peace ana
domesticity, to be followed by nine years,
with only three months break-fve
upon the Pacific station and four on the
East Indian. After that WAS respite in
the shape Of five years iii the Channel
squadron, with periodical runs home
and then again he was off to the Medi-
terranean for three years and to Halifax
for four. Now at last, however, this old
married couple who were still almost
strangers to one another, had come TO-
gether in Norwood, where. if their short
day had been checkered and broken, the
a. l.