The Red Cloud chief., 1898-06-17
|.

Hloof and suffice for my own entertain
ment. and | may say that | had
neither friends nor aCquaint.-HCeN until
1 met that friend who became my
wife and the mother of my children.
With one man only | was on private
terms. This was X. Northmour. Esq,
OF Garden Easter. in Scotland. We had
met at college. and though there was
not much liking between us nor even
much intimacy. We were so much OF a
humor that we could associate with
ease to both. Misanthropes We believ-
ed ourselves to be. but | have thought
since that we we're only sulky fellows.
II was solrcely "A companiCnship, but
a co-eNistence in u~nsociability. North
mour's exceptional violence of temper
made it no easy affair for him to keep
the peace with any one but me; and as
he respected my silent ways and let mo
come and go as | pleased, | could toll
crate his presence without concern. |
think we called each other friends.
When Northmour took his degree.
and | decided to leave the university
without one. he invited me on a long
visit to Graden Easter. and it was thus
that | first became acquainted with
the scene OF my adventures. The man
sion house of Graden stood in a bleak
stretch OF country some three miles
from the shore Of the German ocean.
IL was as large as a barrack. and as It
had been built Of a soft stone liable to
consume In the eager air of the seaside.
~ u.nu damn anI 1ranuhty uftbfp and
half ruinous without. 1t was impossi-
bic for two men to ledge with comfort
in such a dwelling.
But there Stood in the northern part
OF the estate, in a wilderness of links
and blowing sandhills and between a
plantation and the sea. a small pavilion
or Belvedere of modern design, which
was exactly suited to our wants, and in
this hermitage. speaking little. reading
much, and rarely associating except at
meals, Northmour and | spent four
tempestuous winter months. ! might
have stayed longer. but one March
night there sprang up between us a
dispute which rendered my departure
necessary. Northmour spoke holly, |
remember, and | suppose | must have
made some tart rejoinder.
He leaped from his chair and Crap
pied me: | had TO fight. without exag-
geration, for my life, and 1t was only
with a great effort that | mastered him,
FOR he was near as strong in body as
myself and seemed filed with the devil.
Tit next morning we met on our usual
terms, but | judged it more delicate to
Withdraw. nor did he attempt to dis
suade me.
II was nine years before | revisited
the neighbOrhood. | travelled at that
time with a tilt cart. a tent. and a
cooking stove. tramping all day beside
the wagon and at night. whenever il
was possible, gypsying in a cove OF the
hills or by the side of n wood. | be-
lieve | visited in this name most OF
the wild and desolate regions both in
England and Scotland, and as | had
neither friends nor relations | was
troubled with no correspondence, and
had nothing in the nature OF %headquar-
ters, unless 1t was the office of my So
l~icitors, from whom drew my income
twice a year. II was a life in which
delighted. and ! fully thought to have
grown old upon the march and at last
died in a ditch.
1t was my whole business to find des-
Olatc corners where | could camp with
III the fear of interruption, and hence
being in another part OF the same shire
! bethought me suddenly of the Pavil-
ion on the Links. No t~horoughfare
passed within three miles of it.. The
nearest town. and that was but a fisher
village, was at a distance Of six or
seven.
The pavilion stood on an even space:
a little behind II. the wood began in a
hedge of elders huddled together by
the wind; in front, a few tumbled
sand hills stood between II and the sea.
An outcropping Of rock had formed a
bastion for the sand. so that there was
here a promontory in the coast line
between two shallow bays; and just
beyond the tides. the rock again crop
ped out and formed an islet OF small
dimensions but strikingly designed.
The pavilion-it had been built by
the last proprietor. N~orthmour's un"le,
a silly and prodigal virtuoso-preseated
little signs of age. II was two stories
in height, Italian in design, surround
ed by a patch of garden in which moth
ing had prospered but a few coarse
flowers, and looked, with its shattered
windows, not like a house that had been
%tenanted by man, Northmour was
plainly from home; whether, as usual,
sulking in the cabin Of his yacht, or
in one of his ftful and ~extravagant APP
p'arances in the world of society, | had,
of course, no means Of guessing.
found a den. or small hollow. where
there was a spring OF pure water, and
there, clearing away the brambles, |
pitched the tent and made a fire to cook
my supper. My horse | picketed farth-
er in the wood where there was a patch
Of sward. The banks Of the den moi
only concealed the light Of my fire, but
sheltered sac from the wind, which was
cold as well as high.
Tho life I WAS leading made mo hot