The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-12-29

mouse, ana the rusty Iron gate was
fastened with a chain and paddock.
He shook the gate and shouted and
after time an old man with a bushy
head and 6erce-looking hair came
out upon the veranda and demanded
to know the cause of such a distur-
bance at his gate. Crandall replied
that no disturbance was intended,
and then the old man asked him what
he wanted Crandall didn't t know ex-
actly what to say-he didn't care to
blurt out that he wanted to see the
girl, so he remarked: "Why, you
see, we are neighbors, and"
"Oh, we are p the old man broke
in. "And if that's the case don you
think you ought to have waited for
me to call first? 7"
-ss1WelI, yes, Grandall- admitted,
"that would have been more formal !;
but l am willing to dispense with
formality."
"But I am not," said the old man,
stepping inside and shutting the
door aud as Crandall was about to
turn away he thought he heard the
music of mischievous laugh. Dur
ing all that day, and during nearly
all the night he worried over the
truth that the picture had been taken
by his heart instead of his mind. The
next morning he was on the pier
when the sun arose and his eyes
swept the flashing water, but he did
not see her. and after waiting until
noontime he returned to the house to
brood over her, to gaze inward at her
picture, with hair streaming like
flame. Late in the afternoon he
wandered by the wooded shore and
suddenly he halted, with his heart
beating hard, for there she sat be-
meath pine tree, gazing out upon
the quiet water. He halted, stood
and looked at her, and she did not
withdraw her eyes from the sleeping,
sea, for she had not heard him but
he stepped back, to retreat in the
timidity that suddenly had come upon
him; twig snapped beneath his foot
and she looked round.
II beg your pardon, i" said he; and
she replied "Oh, no, but 1 beg
your pardon for laughing when you
were driven away from our gate"
He sat down beside her and she
made no objection. And they talked
with freedom that cut an hour short.
At last a voice called her and she
started up, declaring that she did not
know it was SO late. "He called you
Marette,' said Crandall cts a
pretty name. /"
Goodbye" she said, running
away from him.
''When may see you again ?" he
called after her, and back came the
words: "Oh, you mustn't think of
that. Perhaps not at all"
He returned to the place the next
afternoon and waited until after the
sun had set. She did not come. But
the next day he found her reading in
the woods. She was self-possessed,
but this time she blushed when sud-
denly he appeared before her. And
now how soft were their accents, so diff
ferent from the tone of raillery that
had characterized their first meeting.
And thus they met, sometimes
every day for week, and then not
at all for several days. She would
never agree to an appointment, al
ways leaving their meeting to chance.
One day they sat gazing upon the
dreamy sea. 81 had taken so severe
a course in athletics that 1 had rea-
son to believe that all emotion had
been trained out of me-" he said.
.'Violent exercise is sometimes an off
set to strong mental might say
heart emotion. But l find that with
me this belief was all a fallacy." She
looked at him as if she did not un-
derstand his meaning, and, though he
knew she did, yet he pretended that
he did not. Have you been trying
to feel strong emotion?" she asked,
and he replied: mo, not trying to
feel it.. "I don't know what you
mean," she said, and then he cried
"Oh, yes, you do" and he put his
arms about her; and the hours flew
and the sun sunk low and famed
upon the water, like your hair
spread out" he said. And then they
heard the old man calling her. He
was near at hand and he saw Gran
dali. Here" said he, "I've got
word to say that may be of use to
you. From this time on you will see
the black flag of my ancestors flying
from the tower on my house. Ifyou
come on my land you will be shot,
and if you attempt to influence any
further the mind of this child l will
hunt you and kill you."
"She is to be my wife," said Gran
dali.
"Then she is to be bride and a
widow at the same time" replied the
old man. He led the girl away and
Crandall went home and walked the
floor all night; and when morning
came he looked out and there was
the black flag of the Poncharitrain
pirates floating from the tower on the
old mans house. He roamed about
in the woods all day, but did not see
the girl. And each morning there
was the black flag, and there it was
at night, a patch of deeper darkness
against the dark sky; and one night,
when lightning flashed, he saw it
streaming, red, like hame-like her
hair. Once he ventured near the
house, and bullet nipped bit of
bark under a tree just above his
head. Early one morning be stood
on the pier waiting for the sun to rise,
but, instead, cloud and wind arose,
almost a hurricane. Suddenly he
cow Sai1hOat nearby Stri1pp1inp