Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-11-24

| most bare great patches of the open land.
! and swirled the snow into heaps in unex-
pected places. 1t was a lonely walk
| enough, AMI George began to be puzzled
| as to whether he was keeping the right
| way. There were so few hedges or trees,
| and the featureless character of the coun-
| try made 1t easy for the snow to blurr its
outlines until they were quite undistin-
| guishable.
| He felt rather relieved when he caught
| the sound of human voices. He waited, as
| they seemed to be behind him. He heard
| them again in the roar of the wind. he
hailed the unseen persons, but then the
! voices ceased. He presently went on again
| until he was startled 10 see In the dark
| ness between him and the sea the dim
| outlines of two figures keeping pace with
him at a little distance. He hailed them
| again, and the figures promptly vanished:
| Without giving way to any cowardly
| fears George began to wish that he had
| been mere discreet and that he had stay
| ed at a hotel. There was nothing to do
! now, however, but to go forward as quick
| ly and carefully as he could. for more than
| two-thrdS of the distance must nave peen
| traversed by this time.
| Unfortunately, however, soon after this
| incident he lost his way, hopelessly, unde-
niably. He found himself hounderlng.
| knee-deep, in snow, over something whlch
| might be a freshly-plowed field or Whlch
| might be the ruins of a house. but which
was certainly not the open road.
| After few fruitless struggles to get on
| firmer ground George again caught sight,
| a little way to the left this time or two
| figures, which he perceived to be those
| OF a man and woman. Just at the mo-
ment of his discerning them the figures
parted. that of the man disappearing from
/ view while the woman held on her way.
| AS she was evidently on firm ground
| George made towards her at once. not
| calling out, lest he should frighten her.
| Before ne came nn with her he saw, by
| her walk and by her figure, that she was
young: and when he addressed her, saying
| that he had lost his way, she turned her
| head quickly, and showed him that she
| was adorably pretty. So entirely was he
| thrown off his balance by the unexpected
| sight of such q lovely face that he stopped
short in the middle of his speech and left
| her to answer a question which he mad
| not finished asking.
You are on the high road-to st.
Placid's." she said quickly. Keep straight
on"
And then she glanced, with a sudden
| change of expression, AT the bag he was
| carrying. Before he could do more than
raise his hat and thank her she had hur-
| ried past him like a hare, with just one
more look. penetrating, intelligent, from
his face TO the bag in his hand.
George remained for moment stupe-
fed; he stared at the retreating figure
before him and fancied he saw her turn,
with a gesture of invitation to him to
follow and catch her up. Acting on the inn
preston he started forward and then there
flashed into his mind the words used by
known thieves, a man and woman, had
Travelled down by the same train as him.
self! He was at once ashamed of his mo-
mentary suspicion that the beautiful girl
he had just spoken to could be anything
but the angel she looked, but her furtive
and eager glances at his bag required
again and again to his mind.
The wind was still blowing very hard
and the snow, which had for some time
almost ceased, began to fall again in great
flakes, so that the landscape was soon
entirely blotted out from view, and George
found more difficulty than ever in keep
ing the road. At last he saw a large, dark
object in front of him. which he recognized
as the clump of trees which marked the
spot where there were cross roads, and
where he should have TO take the road
on his right to get down into the vii
lage, where DIR. loves house stood. The
cross roads were at the highest point of
the neighborhood and George could scarce
ly keep his feet, much less choose his way
as he approached IL.
Just before he reached the turning he
came to a fair-slzed house Of only two