Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1895-11-07

below the Witeh's Lillock. This
time it was late autumn There
was a haze and a heaviness in the
air. but a cold draft had begun to
come in from the sea. The Ingie
links are never so lovely as IN the
fall of the year, when the darken-
ing green of the whin and juniper is
inwrought with the gold OF the
bracken and the bramble
Far away across the particolored
fields the Castle woods were splash
ed with russell and yellow. 1t was
loyeliness that bite Of frost or a
blast of wind might turn to desola-
ton. The sea and the hills bore The
least trace Of change; between these
two broad bands of untamed nature
the gradations to q more sophisti-
Gated landscape showed as in
frame
Toward the legendary TWISTING
place of the warlocks and their
mates, over the fine turf between
tho beaches, strolled q lady of GER
tain age. 1t was less u surprise
than the acting over again Of some
scene that had happened IN the past,
when q tall shape rose from the
shadow of the Witch's hillock and
stood in her path. So many were
the marks which the years had set
upon them that, but for the spot
where they met, it is doubtful wheth-
er either would have recognized the
other. That time long ago, when
they had forgathered and parted
within the hour, nothing had passed
between them except the merest
commonplaces of talk. Yet the mem
DRY of that chance meeting had
power, it seemed, to draw them to-
gether again after the poetry Of
youth had given place to the prose
of middle age.
Adam Ogilvie had grappled with
the world and wrested from it re
wards and honors Though still in
the prime Of his years, he was al
ready man of note in his profess
sion His face was prematurely
lined with the scars of not ignoble
battle with fortune and knowledge.
But the struggle that had braced
him had also hardened him. The
youth who dreamed had become the
man who schemed. A change at
least as great had come over the
woman beside him. She had been
urged to marry man she did not
love, and she had yielded. She had
learned since to despise him. Some
times, but more seldom now than
formerly, she was tempted to de-
spise herself.
Her aspirations after higher life
had persisted for lack of favorable
air and sun; little practical expe-
rience of London Summing had
made an end of them. Her outlines
We're becoming too rounded for
grace. Her swimming days were
done. Her eyes like the sea- had
lost with their liquidity their most
potent charm. They could no longer
carry, even if she willed it, those
lightning messages that passed from
soul to soul of the young people who
stood here nearly generation ago.
1t is true that the word is mightier
than the thought, sometimes might
Ter than the deed A word then spo-
ken might have turned the course
of two destinies. 1t might have
made harmony out of dissonance, a
noble poem out of what was like to
become a sordid and commonplace
history.
All, the little more, how much it Isl
And the little less what miles away
But the word of power was never
spoken between these two, and now,
it appeared. it was too late.
It was Adam who spoke first this
time
Have we not met before, Lady
Alice, and at this spot?" lie said,
raising his hat.
The gesture was that Of old, but
how different the tone and manner
from that of the youth who had
looked with adoring eyes on the gra-
cious vision that broke in upon his
musing.
You know my name, them"
Yes, and l read Of your marriage
in the papers soon after / showed
you the way to the postoffice. "
And you are
Sir Adam Ogilvie, at your serv-
ice. y
"Then we meet at dinner this
evening at the castle.
An revoir, then.
"Goodby F."
They parted once more, complete
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