The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-09

as sometimes happens when Hope j. OF
sturiier growth than Caution, and trust
in good luck overshadOws the wiser pro
visions of possible disaster
Youth and love together make such
mighty force, no wonder II poor Pru-
dence. with her slower step. gets dis
tancedi-if caution with his colder blood
is swept away in the seething torrent
of hope and trust So was ii with Her
bert Pentreath and Marjoria Hoyte.
They were in love; and for all that she
had no fortune at all, and his wonder
ful income, inherited from his grand
mother, came 10 just n2O a year, they
took the law into their own hands and
elOped-more like a couple of truant
school children. wanting TO see what
chances awaited them in the big fair
without the gates. than two thoughtful
and reasonable beings undertaking the
gravest responsibilities Of life. and reso-
Lutte TO do the best they could for them
selves and others.
To youth and love f12O year are riches
Down in the country q a week will 20
farther than four times that sum IN
town. Accordingly, the newly-wedded
pair sought out a safe retreat which
fathers would not discover, and where
mothers would not somewhere the lark
and the linnet would drown the small
whispers of conscience and the night
ingale would be a sweeter voice TO which
10 listen than the hoarse tones of anger
here, the shriller accents Of Gliding there
They found all they wanted in a queer
little back-water kind of place called Lone
Head, where shillingS mad the value OF
crowns elsewhere, and where ponce
man was as rare a Visitant as colo
NAL governor or field marshal The
he u "a
be called educated, or who could lay
claim to the outer semblance OF gen
tlehoOd-and very poor semblance AT
the best-was the perpetual curate hr.
Morley. And he did not live here, nut
came over from the next parish, some
five miles away, on the Sunday. for his
one service. and on those rare occasions
when he was wanted on week days.
There was no house indeed at Lone Head
ut for a man with seven small chlldren
and a sickly wife. There were only COT
tages hereabouts, the best of which the
young couple had secured for "a rent so
small as TO leave them handsome mar
gin for food out of their weekly TWO
pounds. But though love and youth and
the need of keeping dark made the re-
tired lady's maids little house available
for the nonce, ii would have been lnpos-
sible for the perpetual curate and his
olive hranches-as impossible as any oth-
er hereaway. Hence, there was not Soul
with whom the runaways could associate,
or who were likely to betray them to the
authorities.
All country places have their local odd
files and queer customers"-and Lone
Head had its supply with the rest. Deep
in the heart of Dead-Man's WOODS lived
a man known by the name OF the Hermit
Who he was and whence ne came no one
of the little community knew. All that
the oldest inhabitant could say was uildt
nigh hand upon twenty years agone-Fo
be exact, it was just nineteen come Mar
finmas-a strange gentleman had come
and built his-self a small house some
where there in the middle of Dead-Man's
Woods-those woods which were sald 70
be held up in a chancery suit, ana Whlch
therefore no one looked after ana no one
cared to preserve or protect. lie was
Withholding gentleman, with a dour man.
ner and a temper to make the fur and
feathers fly when crossed. And II was
as easy to cross him as TO say good
How he lived and what he did with his
self all the long winter months when he
was showed up, and when he was almost
drownded oat with the thaw ana rams, no
one could tell and all took care not 10
inquire. He seldom came to the town,
as the Lone Headers called their mlser-
able little starveling of hamlet; ana ohly
when he wanted sack OF meal OF a lOiq
of potatoes, which he himself Wheeleu
off on his own barrow, not suterlng man
or boy to go with him.
He kept a big dog TO frighten away the
children; and he had a pig and matter
of poultry, which no doubt gave MN
good meal by nows and thens; and there
were rabbits galore in the WOODS, Inat
the hound by all accounts made 1ree
with. no one Directing, and-here the
speaker would lower his voice-uhey uld
times a-missing, and they did lay the
blame of that on the Hermit ana yoh
beast of his-more like a wolf than an
honest mans house dog as he was.
An of which lent a flavor of romance to
the place which was not without Its
charm to the young runaways. For even
love has to be supplemented with little
dash of external life, and a diet of kisses
only is apt to pail on the most robust as
well as the most restricted moral ana IN
Herbert and Majorie heard of this recluse,
round whose mysterious perSonanty nad
by now gathered all sorts OF terrifying
MYTHS they desired above all Things 10
see him with their own eyes, and to Judge
how far the weird suspicious which mad
been set afioat were JUSTIFIED by Facts;
No one knew the exact pain 10 the
hermit's hut Many narrow lines ran
through and through the woods, ana the
growl of the dog or his bark showed noth-
ing definite. Indeed, for the matter OF
that the beast seemed to ubiquitous and
everywhere at once. Hence, though the
young people quartered the WOOD IN every
direction, wandering at their own sweet
will about and around, athwart ana by
ziz-zags, they never struck the right way;
and by degrees the current superstition
of the place made its natural impression
on Majorie, so that she too began TO think
the wood was bewitched and the hermit
was neither more nor less than one OF
satan's subjects from below-perhaps dis
graced for the immediate moment-per-
hans sent as an emissary to do harm to
men Though. indeed, what harm this
surly old recluse had done would have
puzzled a wiser than curlypated Marjorie
to discern.
One day that inevitable day which
comes alike in stories and in human life
the thing so long desired came, as 1t was
bound to do In the jOcund autumn sea-
son ever superstitious fear gave way be,
fore the joy of nutting in the accursed
Dead-Man's Woods. For all that the her.
nit had in a manner made them his own,
and put a scare, as it had been ring
fence, about them, both Herbert and Mar
jorie were still young enOugh-little more
than boy and girl as they were-to enjoy
the fun as well as the best. By which it
came about that rambling here and halt
ing there, filling pockets and baskets, as
they went they came plumb upon a wat
tied hut. looking more like a magnified
beehive than human habitation
At the entrance TO this strange place
sat a queerly-dressed Robinson Crusoe
sort of man, with a flock of wild birds
about and around him-birds from the
woods as tame TO him as are the pigeons
in the piazza of St. Marks to the accus-
toned visitor Presently a huge shaggy
wolf-hound came crashing out of the
thicket He stood as il were a gaze, his
fangs barred, and uttering "A low and ang-
ry growl. The man looked up from un-
der his penthouse brows, and scowled