Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1897-09-23

1 .s8"s oe 1sefo9C4 ~ tt8t6u A3tof-
ably II ne were to say anything es-
peciai. Tracy vas beginning TO
think Il time that something speci-
al should be said.
| The gray colt turned and pricked
his ears inquiriDgly, a. Tracy tarn-
ed him in the unfamiliar direction
Of the old Gilforth House.
| IL stood in one Of the less fire.
quented streets, some six rods back
from It's bFoken-down fence. A
thinly wooded pasture lay upon one
side Of it, and neglected cornfieId
upon she other.
The old house itself, with its
strange. rambling length and its
awkard angles, was almost hidden
by the trees standing thickly around
it.
A belated COW looked up from
the struggling pasture and lowed .
mild surprise, as Tracy hitched the
colt to the fallen fence.
The moon came out for moment
and spotted the ground with bulky
shadows, and left them in dark ness
again crow in the tree tops,
reused ut the sudden brightness,
gave forth drowsy cav /; the gray
colt turned his head from side to
side, and moved uneasilY.
'It's ghostly enough, to be sure,'
said Tracy to himself, as he moved
the old gate on its rusted hinges,
and made his way through the tan
gled grass Of the overgrown path.
/ Bot he was thinking more Of the
possible beauty of the place after q
course Of improvements. than Of
its present ghostliness.
The mountain ash, o tall tree
with q profusion of the thickly
punched scarlet berries, stood close
to the house, with its branches
rustling against the brokea lights
Of q window. It's lower boughs
were not far above his head, and
Tracy leaped up and pulled them
down.
! He could feel the cool clusters
among the leaves, and he filed his
pockets with them-she should have
ample proof.
He paused when he had finished, !,
and stood looking around him con-
! templatively. II the trees were to
be thinned out and the ground
graded, it might really be made q
respectable place.
The house, of course, would have
to be torn down
He stopped short in his medita-
tions, with his eyes riveted to the
window before him, and q strange
chill creeping over him. A white
form, tall and straight, was stand
ing within, its pale draperies sharp.
ly defined against the dark inner
walls of the room. He clutched
the sill with q hand that trembled
in spite Of himself, passed his hand
across his eyes with vague idea Of
sweeping the sight away, and look
ed agair and as he looked, the fig-
ure threw its white arms upward, ,
and o stified shrek fell upon his
ears.
Kitty had sat in rather uneasy
reflection after the gray colt had
trotted away. She could scarcely
congratulate herself upon the sue.
cess of her little challenge; it had
been toe successful.
or course he would carry il
through. She knew him we'll enough
to be certain of that. Perhaps she
was conscious Of Q little feminine
qualification that he should be led
into doing anything 90 absurd mere
ly to satisfy supposed within ol
her own.
| She wondereaa whether he wer,
there yss, and whether he would
not feel little timid, and then she
started up with q sudden inspira
tion.
| OF course, what fun il would be
1t was queer she had not though
of it before.
She aew up to her room eagerly
and opened her closet door ant
pulled over its contents with nerv
GUS haste. There was no time :,
lose. Her hands few swiftly for
moment, and then she stood befor
her glass and gazed at herself will
delighted eyes.
1 She VS. clad in q trailing whit
dress that swept away behind her
g white shawl lay over her head an