The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-10-16
he stooned and messed kiss after

And he stopped and pressed kiss after
kiss upon her hand
Gently she withdrew her fingers from
his grasp, and rode further apart, Yet
not without one backward glance OF
perfect witchery.
Il doubt you have been oyermuch at
court already" she said. i did not
well 70 ask you TO come thither.
why must 1 not u me thither?" he
asked.
Because 1 shall be therel" she re-
piled softly, counting him yet again
with ..er eves.
AS they rode on together through the
rich twilight dusk the young man OBJ
served her narrowly as often as he
could.
Her skin was fair with a dazzling
clearness, which even the gathering
gloom only caused to shine with q more
perfect brilliance as if halo OF h@ht
dwelt permanently beneath its surface.
Faint RESPONSIVE roses bloomed on
either cheek and cast shadow OF their
color down her graceful neck Dark
eyes shone above, fresh and dewy with
love and youth, and smiled upon the
youth with ancient witcherieS and al
lurements in their depths. Her 1.-THE.
slender body was simply clad in a fair
white cloth of some foreign fabric, and
=
cinctured by broad ring of solid silver
which, to the young man, looked as II
he could have clasped it about with his
hands.
So they rode on, through the woods
mostly, until they reached region
which TO the earl seemed unfamiliar.
The Clades We're greener and denser.
The trees seemed more primeval, the
foliage thicker overhead, the inter-
spaces of golden evening sky darker
and less frequent.
In what place may your company be
asSembled?" he asked. Strange it is
that know not this place. Yet should
recognize each tree by coming 1t, and
of every rivulet l should be able to tell
its name. Yet with shame do l confess
that / know not where I am
'Ah," said the girl, her face growing
luminous through the gloom, you called
me p witch. and now you shall see.
wave M hands. so-and you are no
more in Galloway. You are in the land
of faery. l blow you kiss, so-a u 10,
you are no more William VI, Earl of
Douglas and oroximate Duke of Tour
aine, but you are even as true Thomas,
the beloved of the queen of the fairies,
and the slave of her spell"
Il am wei content to be Thomas
Rhymer," he answered. submitting
himself 70 the wOoing glamor of her
eyes, so be that you are the Lady IL
tania."
"A courtier, indeed" she laughed,
you need not to seek your answer.
You make a poor girl afraid. But see.
yonder are the lights of my pavilion
Will it please you to aliSht and enter?
The supper will be spread, and though
you must not expect any to entertain
you save only your Titania there she
made him a little bow, yet | think you
will not be ill-content. They do not say
that Thomas of Ercildoune had any
cause of complaint. Do you know,
she continued, with a fresh gayety IN
her voice. 'it was in this very wood
that he was lost"
But William Douglas sat silent with
the wonder of what he saw. Their
horses had come out on hilltop. The
sequestered boskage of the trees gradu-
ally thinned, finally dwarfing into u
green drift of fern and birchen foliage,
which rose no higher than Black Darn
away's chest, and through which his
riders laced boots brushed till the
Spanish leather of their gold moossed
frontlets was jetted with drops of
dew.
Before him was a great drift of SOL
emn pine trees, the like of which for
size he had never seen in all his do
main. Or so, at least, il seemed in that
hour oe glamor. For behind them the
evening sky had dulled to a deep and
solemn wash of blood red across which
lay one lonely bar of black cloud solid
as spilled ink on a monki5h page. But
under the trees themselves, blazing
with lights and breathing an odor OF
all grace and daintiness. stood a pavll-
ion Of rose-colored silk, anchored TO
the ground with ropes of sendal of the
richest crimson hue.
Let your horse go free, or tether him
to a pine; he will not wander said the
girl Il fear my fellows have gone of
to lay in provision. We have taken a
day or two more on the way than we
had counted on, so that tonight's feast
makes an end of our store. But still
there is enough for two. / bid you wei
come, Earl William, to wanderer'
tent