Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-02-06
BRED e
* IN THE BONE,
~ A
CHAPTER I.
ELxA's STRANGER.

i vas late when Elma reached the sta.
-. Her pony Aad jibbed on the way
- the hill, and the train was just on the
~ Of moving Oh - she hurried upon the
.ssffnrm. Old Matthew'S, the stout and
sshby-ehsskod stAtion-master, seized her
~ nncsremoniously by the LETT arm. and
t~ilcd her into . carriage. He had known
ROM schild, 20 he could venture upon
~ libsrNa.
.Eessnd class, miss7 Yes, miss. Here
ave. Lsek sharp, pleasel Any more
IN ont All right, Tom! Go ahead
(sSael' And lifting his Loft hand he
sl1stled . shrill signal to the guard TO
sfsft her.
"a for Klma, somewhat hot in the face
In the wild rush for her ticket, and
s,ssping her uncounted change, pence and
III. Ia her little glovsd hand. she found
e1,slf thrust. hap-hazard, at the very last
.ssShent, into the last compartment Of the
ssriage-alone-with an artist.
NOW. you and I, to be sure, most pro-
,erbially courteous and intelligent reader.
rom the young mans outer aspect, the
nature Of his occupation.
The gross and clumsy male intellect.
vhich works in accordance with the stupid
isvs Of inductive logic, has q queer habit of
recurring something or other, in the way of
definite evidence, before it commits itself
o6.hand to the distinct conclusion. But
Ens Clifford was = woman; and there
fCre she knew . more excellent way. Her
and squarsly in the face, and then, with
ne unerring intuition OF her sex, to make
IN her mind about them firmly, at once
and forever. That's one Of the many
glorious advantages Of being born . wo-
man, You don't need to learn in order to
know. You know instinctiyely. And yet
our girls want to 60 to Clifton. and train
themselves up to be senior wranslers!
Elms Clifford, however, had not been to
she snatchsd one hurried look at Cyril
warnings face, and new at q glance he was
landscape painter.
Now this was clever of her, even in a
woman, for Cyril Waring, rs he fondly i'm
ARMED, was travelling that line that day dis
guised as . stock broker. In other words,
there was one Of the brown velvetesn a.
f~ecsation about his easy get-up. He was an
artist, to bs sure, but he hadn't assidously
stead ofcutting his beard to . Vandyke
point or ending hls body in . Titianesque
coat. or wearing on his head q alouched
Rembrandt hat stuck carelessly Just tribe
on one side in artistic disorder, he was hab-
tied for oil the werld like anybody else. in
the gray tweed suit OF the common British
tourist, surnlounted by the light
felt hat Tor bowler) to mates o
the modern English country gentle
delicate nsthetic hue that adorned his
opened throat didn't proclaim him at once
. painter by trade. 1t showed him merely
Is a man OF tasts, with q decided eye for
harmonics Of color.
So when Elma pronounced her fellow
traveller Immediately, in her own mind, q
landscape artist, she was exercising the
familiar feminine prerogatiye of jumping,
as If by magic, to . correct conclusion. It's
table women, which no mere male human
being can eyer concciyably fathom
dShe WAS just about to DIR. ? down,
as propriety demands, into the corner seat
.diagonaliy opposite to land therefore as
far as possible AWAY from her handsome
companion. when the stranger rose. and
with a very flushed face. said in a hasty,
though markedly deierential and apollo
getic one
II beg your pardon. but-excuse me for
mentioning it'll think you're going to sit
down upon-ur-pray don't be frightened
. rather large snake OF mine"
There was something SO comically alarm
ed in the ring OF his tone-as off naughty
schoolboy detected in q piece of mischief
that, propriety to the contrary notwithstand-
ing, Elmac couldn't for the lite other repress
. smile. She looked down at the seat where
the stranger. pointed, and there, sure
enough, coiled up in huge folds, with his
glossy head in attitude to spring at her, .
great banded snake lay alert and open
eyed.
Dear me- Elma cried. drawing back .
little in surprise, but not at all in horror,
g she felt she ought to do. "a snake!
curious! hope he's not dangerous"
Not at all" the young man answered,
still in the same half guilty tone Of voice
ss before. Hes Of q poisonous kind, you
He won't do you any injury. He's perfect
y harmless. Aren't. you. Sardanapalus3
Eli, ELI, my beauty? But l ~oughtn't to
have let him loose in the carriage, OF
course" he added. after q short pause.
TITS calculated to alarEa u nervous passen-
ger. Only / thought / was alone. and
nobody would come in; so l let him out
for a bit of Q ruh between the stations. It's
dull for him poor fellow, being shut up
ing.
Elma looked down at the beautiful
with genuine admiration:
His skin was like enamel: his banded
scales shown bright and silvery. She didnt
why, but somehow she felt she wasn't
in the least afraid ofhim. II suppose one
to be repealed at once By u snake"
she said, taking the opposite seat, and keep
ing her glance fixed firmly upon the rep
tiles eye; hit then, this is such a hand.
some one! / can't say why, but ! don't feel
afraid of him at-all as / ought to do. Every
right-mindcd person detests snakes, don't
And yet, how exqnisitely flexible
and beautiful he is! Oh, pray don't put
him back in his box for me. He's basking
the sunhere. ! should be sorry to dis
turb him.
Cyril Waring looked at her in consider
able surprise. He caught the creature In
his hands ~ he spoke, and transferred u
ut once to 4 tin box with a perforated ild
lay beside him. 500 back, sardana-
palus," he said in . very musical and pleas
ant voice, forcing the huge beast into the
lair with gentle but masterfui hands. 10
back and g to sleep, sir. rs time ,JT
Of letting hin, out any more IN the carriage
to the annoyance OF Others. I'm ashamed
enough as ii is Of having unintentionaliy
you. But you came in SO unex-
pectcdly, yOu see, hadn't tme
TO put my queer pet away; and when the
door opened, / was afraid he might slip out,
or get under the seats, 50 all / could DO was
just to s0othe hinlswifh my hand, and Keep
him quiet till the door was shut to again. ;,
Indeed, / wasn't at all afraid OF him,
!ElMA answered, slipping her change into
her pocket and looking prettier through her
blush than even her usual self. "On. the
contrary, / really liked to see him. He
Iuch . kiorious snakel The lights and
M kia hack are 40 UlanCing and 70