Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-12-24
CHAPTER X

\ land Place-so fair that it looked with
a sunny smile even through the dim win
dow of that sitting room of Helen Ar
cher's, in Randolph road, Kilburn; so
fair that it was just as it should be, for
the dawn of that impossible day which
had lived all night In Morals dreams. An 4
as she dressed-donning few stray items
of girlish inery, which relieved the SOM
Der blackness Of the well-worn dress, and
going constantly TO the windows to look
up, she sang softly to herself, in the glad
ness of her heart.
Morals breath came in a gasp as she
looked out The handsome drag, with its
high, cushioned seats, the shining Of the
silver ON the harness, the liveried SER
wants, Mr.. Poynz sitting so still, with
that dangerous collection of reins in his
hand and, above all, the four FESTIVE
horses with their glossy coats and arched
necks, filed Nora with a wonder of hap
piness which actually benumbed her, as
pain might have done.
Without giving any reason for his
choice of route, Mr.. Poynz drove round
| through Kew and Richmond; and, though
he rarely addressed Nora when she sat
so utterly silent in the intensity of en-
| joyment, he still had ever an answer
ready for each of those GREATNESS ques-
| tions of hers-an answer which taught
her something of the spots they passed
while it seemed only idle summer chat.
| Presently the houses stood more thick
ly on the margin Of the road, then clus-
| tered about a long green, across which
| the horses sped among few scattered
watching figures. And then the last coun-
try town was passed, Mark said, and
| they would soon be in Guildford. Then
! they turned eastward from the town, and
/ rolled on, down sheltered lanes and across
baby river, to such a sweet and tran
| quill valley that it seemed as if that world
! of London which they had left in the
morning must be in another hemisphere
! And there, before them when they stop
| ped, was an old gabled house, standing
! broad and low on a lawn of smoothest,
brightest turf, and from the gate came
| Willoughby Foster, running like boy to
welcome them. and very ruddily conscious
| of his error the moment he found himself
attempting to reach Nora first of all.
| He was called from her before he had
won an answer to his cheering remark,
/ anu Luell Int 1OIStS hCtG 4Gu away, the
wraps deposited in Wills rooms, and the
! little party set out for the spot where
| they were to dine, and where Mr. Foster
| had invited other guests to meet Them
| When the meal was over and the
party dispensing Mr.. Poynz came up to
Nora, as she stood by one of the tiny
| arched windows of the long room.
Miss st. George" he said, will you
come with me for few minutes? | want
to show you the lake They will all be
down there presently, and" he added,
| following the direction of her eyes, Miss
| Archer has been taken possession of, you
see, by that pleasant old lady with the
| gray curls. Come"
| They went, talking merrily the while,
across wide, sunny stretch of grass
| and then up little wooded knoll. But
| when they reached the top of this. and
| Mark said, There's the lake." they stood
| quite still, to look down upon it. 1t lay
on their right, in the hollow beyond this
rising ground; and on their left facing
| the water, stood silent, uninhabited
house, long, lofty building of gray
stone, with pointed arches over every
| 1oor and window, and tall tower at
! each corner.
Nora's eyes went back again down the
| gentle slope to the water, and then to
! the house again; then once more to the
| lake shore, fastening themselves there
/ upon a low, closed boat house, the fiat,
| leaden roof of which caught the sun rays
and held them hotly. Then the girls
| gaze, growing more thoughtful and puz-
| Zled, slowly traced the path FROM this
1 little boat house to one wide, low win
| dow, opening like a door. in the tower
nearest the lake, upon the eastern side of
the house.
! Il feel as if had seen all this before, y
she said, yet of course that is impos-
sible."
Unless you have seen it in a picture.
"A picturew she echoed, thoughtfully.
How and where could | have seen it in
a pieture?"
Il will tell you" Mark said, gently. Il
| have brought you here on purpose to tell
| YOU
SO, in that very spot where the sketch
was taken which he had seen in Mrs
Corr's Irish cabin, he told Nora the story
| Rachel had narrated to him year be-
| fore.
1 1AeN Ndiheu lOE While III StleHCe dlltk
| that, Nora wondering why Mr.. Poynz
should have proposed this, and wondering
| still more why it was that she felt such
/ deep, real interest in the story he had
told her of Heaton Place.
Presently, leaving the open park, they
passed through a hrwood, where the bare
trees stretched like boundless vista OF
| columns. Then they came out again into
sheltered little valley on the outskirts
| of the park, where a low, white house
| Jay safe from every eastern breath, and
| where the buds of q dropping willow on
the lawn shone like emeralds against the
| dark and somber green of the yews. In
stead of walking up the lawn, Mark led
| Nora to the side of the house. and open
ed a narrow gate among the yews. She
started little as she entered the path te
which it led her-a path cut among them
How cool and dimr' she said. 1T is
like sudden twilight"
1T is always twilight here" Mark an
severed. bending his head little, as he
| walked under the arched yews; land
another suerprise awaits you at the end
| This little avenue leads into such a shell
tered. yet sunny nook of the garden thai
| have known all kinds of summer flow
ers standing there in blossom before Jan
uary has left us. Seer'
But though the flowers were dazzling
in the little parterre to which their wall
had suddenly opened. il was not theiI
hrilliance which had fixed Nora's aston.
ished gaze; and though in the next min
ute she was standing before a bed OF
| blooming verbena. il was only TO offer hel
hand TO 4 young man Who WAS busily
/ pegging down the plaats
''Micky.'' she cried Just think Of it:
being you. Mieky,."
The lad had started 10 his feet rs il
her pretty. pleasaDt gree ,ng had STRUCK
him. and his checks were afiame wheE
he saw her offered hand.
no. Miss Nora" he said. taking hi,
cap of. You wurr our fairy princes:
over at home. and il wurra's Sunythin
you cud do cud make the difference: bat
it's not in Oireland we are now. 1t ID
good il IS to see yer face again. Miss