The Irish standard., 1897-03-27

else about him, beyond the patent facts
that he had been charmingly Jealous In
her service ind that hia manner had
been precisely what the manner, of a
gentleman shoull he ynder such circum-
stances, deferential and wholly unpre-
Stunning. That she SHOULD ever meet
him again she wds altogether too prac-
teal to imagintss;;t. but the picture Of
him which had remained with her, for
the very yagueness Of it's outlines, had
always had strohgh hold upon her fancy.
In the extravaganza of youths delight
in adventure, shs bad liked to magnify
the romance of thEerisode by endowing
the hero with eXe4ry grace, until uncon-
sciously to herself he had developed to
an ideal, altogether t,~nscending the
common run Of neA,t q =.
And now in G1znoment the fair god
was rudely toptled TO earth. He was
Harvey Neil, an .:u4prircipled. adyen-
turer, who by misrepresentation and
fraud and by clever play upon the falli~
bility Of the law would strive to despoil
his neighbour. He had dared to accuse
her father of stealing fortune out Of
the Mascot mine; he would brand him
as common thief, simply to attain his
own ubiquitous ends. "Aregular bunco
game" her father had tersely charac-
terized the suit which had been brought
against him. A bunco game! and de-
vjsed by him who had been localized in
her mind as very Chevalier Bayard,
without fear and without reproach.
Youth resents so fercely its dsillu-
sionmentsl She could have wept angry
tears for the sense of loss, of cruel griev-
ance, in this ruthless sha.ttering of her
ideal. .
She had nearly reached that point
far down the hill where the road lead
ing up to the Grubstake branched away
to the east in an acute angle, when her
eyes fell upon the handkerchief still
bound about her wrist. With little
inarticulate exclamation she brought
the horse to an abrupt stop, while, hur-
riedly undoing the damp folds, she
looked back. She would not have adj
mitted to herself that she expected to
see him glued to- the spot where she
had left him, absorbed in sentimental
contemplation of her back; but her ill
humor was not a little augmented by
the fact that be had wholly vanished
from sight, while nobody appeared
whom she could call to her assistance.
Acting upon the first impulse. she
turned TO go back up the hill, but with
a second thought she stopped again,
perplexedly studying the situation.
3 One small cabin, somewhat apart from
the other buildings Of the mine, she in
stinctively settled upon as Neil's pri-
vate quarters; and she was half disposed
to ride up to the door forthwith and
boldly tender him this bit of his equip
ment, of which she so keenly longed to
be rid; but with'refeotion appeared
dozen reasons why she should not do
that, not the least of which was her
nervous dread Of again enoountering
Neil himself. She must return the
handkerchief BY tsoane messenger. she
decided, with sharp dislike for the very
sight of it, thrpplgsting it down into her
saddle pocket, as;she turned back again
to the Grubstake Eoad. tx
Col. Meredith, HRs standing just with
in the shaft4house door with the super
intendent of the mine as Dorothy rode
up, both SO much occupied with their
conversation thatforthe moment Meth
er looked up. There was something in
her fathers attitude which suggested
to the girls mind that he must have
very lately aqriySd himself, and with
the thought she found herself glancing
back down the read with little start
of apprehension as She. reflected how
near he might haze been to seeing her
ride down the :hiill on the other side
in company with Harvey Neil: She had
had no distinct thought Of concealing
that circumstance till this moment;