Rosebud County news. [volume] (Forsyth, Mont.) 1901-1906, 1901-12-26
CHAPTER l.

ment, and I may say that / ha,
neither friends nor acquaint:oce.A unit
met that friend who became m.
wife and the mother of my children
With one man only I was on privat,
terms. This was r. Northmour, Esq.
OF Garden Easter in Scotland We hac
met at college, and though there was
not much liking between us nor ever
much intimacy, we were so much of 9
humor that we could associate with
ease to both. Msanthropes we believ-
ed ourselves to be, but l have thought
since that we were only sulky fellows
1t was scarcely companionship, but
a co-existence in unsociability. 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 me
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 long
visit to Graden Easter, and it was thus
That l 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.
1t was as large as a barrack, and as it
nad been built of soft stone liable to
consume in the eager air of the seaside.
1t was damp and draughty within and
half ruinOus without 1t was imposst-
Die for two men to lodge with comfort
in such dwelling.
But there stood in the northern mart
OF the estate, in a wilderness of links
and blowing sandhills and between a
plantation and the sea. 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
nave stayed longer, but one March
night there sprang up between us a
dispute which rendered my departure
necessary. Northmour spoke holly. 1
remember, and l suppose l must have
made some tart rejoinder.
He leaped from his chair and gran
pied me; had to fight, without exag-
geration, for my life, and it was only
with great effort that mastered him,
tor he was near as strong in body as
myself and seemed filled with the devil,
Inc next morning we met on our usual
terms, but l judged it more delicate to
Withdraw, nor did he attempt to dis
suade me.
1t was nine years before I revisited
the neighborhood. / travelled at that
time with a tilt cart, tent, and a
cooking stove, tramping all day beside
the wagon and at night, whenever it
was possible, gypsying in cove of the
nils or by the side of wood. I he
iieye visited in this manner most of
the wild and desolate regions both in
England and Scotland, and as I had
neither friends nor relations was
troubled with no correspondence. and
mad nothing in the nature of headuuar-
ters, unless it was the office of nv So
4lcltors, from whom drew my income
twice year. 1t was life in which I
dellghted, 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 l could camp with
out the fear of interruption, and hence
oelng IN another part of the same shire
L 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 distance of six or
seven
Inc pavilion stood on an even space:
a little behind it, the wood hogan in a
hedge Of elders huddled together by
the wind; in front, few tumbled
sand hills stood between it and the saa
An outcropping of rock had formed q
bastion for the sand. SO that there was
here promOntory in the coast line
between two shallow bays; and lust
beyond the tides, the rock again crop-
ped out and formed an islct of small
dimensions but strikingly designed.
The pavilion-it had been built bv
the last proprietor Northmour's uncle.
a silly and prodigal presented
little signs of age. 1t 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 it's shattered
windows, not like house that had been
tenanted by man. Northmour was
plainly from home; whether, as usual.
in the cabin of his yacht or