Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1897-1902, 1898-06-03
CHAPTER L


EoUng. made it my pride to keep
aloof ami suffice for my own entertain
,nent, and | may say that | had
neither friends nor acquaintcEce.i until
met that friend VINO became my
life and the mother of my children
18th enc man only | was on private
-eru1s his was r. NorthmOur, Esq,
OF Garden Easter, in Scotland. We had
mex at college, and though there was
act much liking between us nCr even
much intimacy. we were so much of
humor shat we could associate with
ease to both. Misanthropes we believ
ed 9arselr to be. but | have thought
since thai We were only sulky fellows.
II Vas scarcely companlCnshlp, Tut
co-exi 81 ence in unsociablity. North
mour's exceptional violence OF temper
made il no easy affair for him to keep
the peace with any one but me; and as
ne respected my silent ways and let me
come and go as l pleased, | could toll
crate his presence without concern.
think We called each other friends.
When Northmour took his degree,
and I decided to leave the university
without one he invited me on long
visit 10 Graden Easter, and it was thus
that / irst became acquainted with
the scene of my adventures. The man
sion house of Graden stood in bleak
stretch OF country some three miles
from the shore Of the German ocean.
IL To- oh nd
had b2eu built of a soft stone liable to
consume in the eager air of the seaside,
Il was damp and draughty within and
half ruinOus without. 1t was impossi-
bic for two men TO lodge with comfort
In such a dwelling.
But there stood in the northern part
Of the estate, in 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
TEN prstuous winter months. i might
have stayed longer, but one March
night there sprang up between us a
dispute which rendered my departure
necessary. Northmour spoke holly. l
remember, and | suppose | must have
made some tart rejoinder.
He leaped from his chair and Crap
pied ne; l had to fight, without exag
xeratiou, for my life. and it was only
With a great effort that mastered him,
xor he was near as strong in body as
myself and seemed filled with the devil
The next morning We met on our usual
Germs, bat I judged it more delicate to
withdraw, nor did he attempt to dis
suade me.
IT, was nine years before | revisited
The IeighborhoOd. | travelled at that
time With a tilt cart, a tent, and
cooking stove. tramping all day beside
the wagon and at night, whenever it
WIS possible, gypsying in a cove of the
aills or by the side of wood. | be-
lTexe | visited in this manner most of
me Wild and desolats regions both in
england and Scotland, and as l had
neither friends nor relations | was
troubled with no correspondence, and
aad nothing in the nature Of headquar-
cers, unless it was the office of my So
iciIors, from whom / drew my income
vice a year. 1t was a life in which |
delighted, and l fully thought to have
grown old upon the march and at last
died in ditch.
Il Was my whole business to find des-
olate corners where | could camp with
cut the fear of interruption, and hence
5eing in another part of the same shire
! bethought me suddenly of the Pavil-
Ion on the Links. No thoroughfare
passed within three miles of it, The
nearest town, and that was but a fisher
village, was at a distance of six or
xeyea
The pavilion stood on an even space;
little behind it, the wood began in a
hedge of elders huddled together by
me wind; in front, a few tumbled
sand hills stood between it and the sea-
An Outeropping Of rock had formed a
nastion for the sand, so that there was
here 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
She last proprietor, Northmour's uncle,
n silly ana prodigal virtuoso-presented
little signs of age Ii was two stories
n height, Italian in design, surround
ed by patch of garden in which moth
ing had prospered but a few coarse
flowers, and looked, with its shattered
windows, not like house that had been
1enanted by man. Northmour was
plainIy from home; whether. as usual,
sulking in the cabin OF his yacht, or
IN one of his fitful and extravagant ap-
pearanees in the world of society. | had
al coarse, no means of guessing.
found den, or small hollow, where
there vas spring Of pure water, and
there, clearing away the BRAN bles,
pitched the tent and made fire to cook
NY supper. My horse picketed farth-
sr in the wood where there was patch
OF Sward. The banks of the den not
oIty concealed the light of my fra hut