Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1897-03-11

Good evening. Mr.. Duncan. Are you
out cunning for our friends?"
Ma, ma, then said Duncan, in tones
Of eXpostulation; ''ye'd no be eempli-
catin auld Jamie Duncan for resistin'
The officers o the law. would we. Rob
bie?"
What officers? Those fellows?
They no more officers than you are.
What were they trying to do?"
Duncan took the engineer into the
house, and his reply was lost to the lis
teners in the room above Thorndyke
turned to the old mountaineer. you
see, now, Mr.. Kilgrow. what these men
win do. Your safety lies in keeping
out of their reach. Come with me and
I'll let you out the back way"
When Kilgrow had gone. Thorndyke
went down to the sitting-room, but
neither there, nor afterwards at supper.
did Duncan or Protheroe refer to the
unwelcome visitors; and Thorndyke
knew that the wary Scot had succeeded
in satisfying Protheroe's curiosity
without duplicating Kilgrow.
The young engineer brought letters
for Philip. one of which was reserved to
he read in the privacy of the attic bed
room. It was from Helen, and Philips
conscience bit him " hen he tore il open.
Then he smiled at his misgivings as he
read through the closely-written pages.
"The Mortons were here e dinner last
night" she wrote, land they wanted t.
oil HsN.t
what you were doing You know best he
little we could tell them. but they thought
II odd that you should prefer the wids of
Alabama in summer TO Lenox or Newport
They have taken a cottage Just below us
for the season. and Derrick Morton has
brought his yacht around from Mount
DESERT won't say Bar Harbor. That IS
gossip of the time and place. and I could
fill pages with il. but suppose you care for
none of these things now. And really
don't know just what you do care for you
seem farther away in Alabama than you
would If you were in Europe but fancy
that is because we are so utterly unfamiliar
with your present surroundings.
One thing l must tell you, however. A
few OF us here-Derrick Morton, the Van
Ruyter girls, Arthur Haxtell and his
brother Tom, Dorothy and John Berkeley
and one more-have undertaken to redeem
the frivoiities of our corner of Newport by
lOTullilS q TcsiuliiE tiTCit. W Tttu ipiAC
but new authors. and then we pick them 70
pieces with a refinement Of criticism that
would humble the most conceited beginner
IL he could only hear us. l think it's pity
that some of them can't; don't you? |
wish you could be here to help us. l believe
you would make a distressingly acute in
quisitQr, and the fact that you once tried
Your hand at authorship would lend pc
culiar zest to your censure. If IL be true THAI
the best critics are the unsuccessful
writer's. Apropos, what ever became of
your much-rejected manuscript? should
like to submit 1t as the effort Of one of the
submerged. >S-ssaeas9ss96sss e .sxlsE
II suppose you have no present thought
of coming back to civilization. From what
you say in your letters infer that you are
enjoying yourself, after some primitive
fashion. and better than all else. that your
health is improving. Because can believe
the latter, l can continue to spare you
while the need exists; and since the separa-
ton has to be. 1t is better that we should
bear it contentedly. l should be sorry to
have the good effect of DR.. Perevin's pre-
scription marred by any repining of mine.
and so long as you feel that the out-of-door
life is helping you. l hope you will not let
any strained sense Of your duty TO your
mother or to me make you abridge IL. We
shall get along famously without our preuN
chevalier and you are not to suppose that
we are obliged TO so about uncared for be-
cause you happen to be buried in the forests
of Alabama.
Write often. If you feel like 1t, but don't
let II become bore. There Is nothing more
dreadful than having 10 write to some one
when you want to do something else. At
fectionately, as always, HELEN
"'P 81 have been invited 10 join a party
on Derrick Morton's yacht, and II YOU ont
hear from me again for two or three weeks
youll know l have accepted and that posi-
,,fs 1f1f4 la no b.ii the .
Philip put the letter down with z
smile that Was more than half snecr.
When one sets out . make himself be
advocate Of an unworthy cause, mental
hort-sightedness stands ready 10 dis
tort and confuse the judgments and in
the ease of Il letter, the dispassionate
Journalism Of written language lends
itself easily to inferentai misconstruc-
tion.
"How could I ever have fanced that
She had any warmth or depth apart
from the intellectual side of her char
acter?" he asked himself I'm sure /
don't know, amy more than know why
always took it for granted that we
were divinely appointed to be the com
porent parts fthatm mysterious creation
which The marriage service declares to
he one person. but $, hich all experience
says is ssh more than ever two. Could
Elsie Duncan write such a letter as
that to HE man She loves? Would She
turn neat phrases and Bah! the
comparison Is Absurd, And vet, On the
oher hand. it isn't fair - blame Helen
hecanse | don't happen t3 he the ono