Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1902-06-13
~ 4.-.-.. she always disappeared

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I could come near.
The last day Of the stay of the three
friends arrived, and they made one
despairing attempt to bid her gOOd-by.
Clifford had preserved his reticence
concerning the girl, but the other two
more than suspected him. Willie had
| softened in his views of the mysteri-
| Gus affair, and it was now only Cony-
beare who persisted in a harsh judg'
ment of the ilnkeepers niece.
She was just the sort of girl, he said,
/ to attract young fools and make them
lose their wits and their money. He,
however, was as anxious for a fare
well peep at the mysterious beauty as
his companions.
This time they were fortunate When
they had gone past the ina, they
| caught sight of the pretty figure whom
they all had in their thoughts, and
they all pretended to view it with in
difference. Willie was the first to break
down in this assumption.
"There she ISL he said, in quite a
tremulous voice. "It's no use pre-
tending we don't see her. Do you
think she'll run away it we get over
the fence"
Clifford had already made the expert
ment.
To the great relief Of the whole
party, Nell turned slowly and waited
/ for their approach without a smile,
with, indeed, a sort of quiet defiance.
II suppose" she said to Clifford, as
soon as he came up, 'you have come
to say good-by, you and your friends,
before you 60 back to town."
She had remembered the date he had
given her for that event, then. This
was a ray of consolation, but she
| gave him no other. She was cold. re-
| served, almost hard. He felt so an
cry with her for her contemptuOus dis
regard of his feelings that he thought
for the moment that his passion was
extinguished by it. However she un-
bent so far as to invite them all in to
tea, and the three young men were
much puzzled as to whn>n Of them it
was who had procured them this fav
or. Conybeare seemed to be- on the
whole, the one to whom she talked
! the most; Clifford was, without any
doubt. the one of whom she took the
least notice.
The meal, on the whole, was a
pleasant one, although Claris himself
was more taciturn than he had been
on that unlucky day when he and Mel!
and Clifford had spent such merry
hour in the little sitting-room.
Now the weather had changed; the
autumn winds were whistling about
the little inn, and the blue sea had
become a dark-gray line, iecked with
white crests. There was fire in the
little crate, and it was when Otto
Conybeare moved quickly forward to
poke it for Nell that the incident oc1
Cured which was to throw a shadow
over the meeting.
In passing a sidetable upon which
stood a wicker. work basket. Otto
dragged the cloth off, and brought the
basket and all the rest Of the thinga
on the table with crash to the floor
Willie, who was near him, went down
on his knees :gith apologies for Otto's
clumsineSS.
''He thinks It's manly, you know, to
show a contemptuous Indifference to
such feminine trifes. A sure sign Of
genius, you know, Miss Claris. and
you must excuse 1T, as it's the only
sign he's got. Oh, and just look at
the pretty things he's been trampling
under his great intellectual feet''
And Willie held up to the astonished
gaze Of the rest glittering jewel
! which sparkled In the freight.
For moment there was an Oppres.
sive silence. Then Nell pale and agi'
tated, snatched it from him with fin.
gers so unsteady that the trinket fell
to the floor again. 1t was Clifford who
picked it up this time and gave it to
the girl without q word. Nell would
have put it back into her basket, but
! George Claris, Oh whom the appalled,
! silence of the young men had not been
lost, told his niece in a rough tone
to give it to him.
"What is the thing" he asked.
sharply.
"Only one Of pair Of old-fashioned
earrings, Uncle" answered Nell, with
| emotion, which no efforts on her part
could hide.
Earrings! I didn't know you had
any! Where did you get them? Who
gave them to you"
For one moment the girl fenced with
him, trying to treat the matter lightly
as she got upon chair and placed the
work-basket at The top of the high
cupboard by the fireplace. But George
Claris was not man to be trifed with.
Selling the girl by the shoulder so
roughly that he almost dragged her
to the ground, he tore the work basket
out Of her hands, flung back the lid
and turned out the contents upon tie
table, the chairs, anywhere, until he
had found both the earrings.
Then he held them up to the light
critically; then he looked'a Nell with
a puzzled froNe,.
! "Who gave EN- to you?" he asked
sharply.
The young men, trying to hide their,
interest in her answer by talking