St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-08-23
Seleetrn Stnrn.
THE LANDSCAPE PAINTER.

been lHtlOuuSsp ~ yob' pul WnSH
Won are sweet and twenty, and are
staying in country house all alone,
and are rather bored, and a hand
& some young man comes to your
rescue in a wood, when your poor
4 little dog has caught its foot in a
cruel trap, how can you possibly
PASS him the very next day as it he
we're stranger? And he was so
kind to the dog. He bound up its
moor little bleeding foot in his hand
kerchief, and carried it in his arms
to the lodge gate. Then he said:
"Do you walk often in the wood ?"
She was feeling too grateful to him
10 resent his impertinence as she
should have done. So she only said,
Sometimes" and thanked him
again with all her heart i'll her pref
ty eyes.
He looked up to where, through
the trees, the big red house showed
its twisted old-fashioned chimney,
and said:
MY name is Lavender. You are
Miss Verinder, suppose ?"
She looked at him quickly.
II am Miss Verinder's humble
companion. My name is Smith"
I'VE are comrades in servitude,"
he said. II am Lord Halibut's
secretary. You walk in the woods
sometimes. Then it isn't goodby.
Do they let you come out often ?"
II am my own mistress at present"
she said. "a lot Of people will be
coming down on the 25th for the
beiress's coming of age. They give a
grand entertainment to the tenants.
Lord Halibut is to be there. What
is he like"
Oh said the young man indiffer-
emily, he's not a bad sort OF fell
low. There's some talk OF their fam
lies wishing him to marry the heir
eSs The estates go very well to-
gether. But he's never seen her.
he's been abroad so much, you
know"
Il don't believe the heiress will
have him." the girl answered sharp
Iy, and turned away with her poor
little dog in her arms.
Now it is quite clear that she
ought not to have walked in the
Wood-at least, not SO soon as the
next day; or, if she walked there
the next day, she ought not to have
chosen the very hour when poor
Troll had met with his misfortune.
But to the bored much may be par
doned, and as for Lord Halibut's
secretary, he had right, one may
suppose, to amuse himself And
that meeting was not the last.
How could it have been? And when
You meet person every day with
n out ChaperOns or other tiresOme
people, you soon make friends. Be
fore the week was out Mr.. Lavender
had heard how Miss Smith was left
an orphan, and had to earn her Iiv-
\ ing; and she had learned that Mr..
Layender's part in life must always
be that of a subordinate.
Is she kind to you?" he asked one
evening, as they sat on the messed
tree trunk, and watched the red sun
set across the valley, where the corn
grew
"Oh, yes; she's kind enough" the
girl said; lat least, | am sure she
means to be-"
"She is revoltingly clever, l hear.
Beat the Senior Wrangler at Cam
bridge, or something
"She did. But that's not criminal;
and Lord Halibut is at least her
partner in eniquity. He took first
class in Greats, didn't he? Oh, how
do hate clever men ~
You have my sympathy. abhor
n clever women?
They both laughed. And the days
went on; and July melted into Aug
0St, and August grew in grace, till
The time came near for the coming
4 OF age of Miss Verinder; and if, dur
ing these days, there had been a
4 aand pressure so slight as not to be
worth resenting, or a look so nearly
lender as to make a mans heart beat
nlsh with hope; if he had treasured
'he iorget-me-nots she gathered by
'ne woodland pond and pressed them
III the volume of Browning from
"hich he had read to her in the
woods; and if she kept certain
a