Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-11-09
GRAUSTARK
By -.
GEORGE BARR McUTcHEON
CHAPTER I.

M
Denver with all the air OF
martyr. lie had Travelled
pretty much all over the world. and be
was not without resources. but the
prospect Of a 300 mile journey alone
Oiled him with dsmay. The country
he knew; the scenery had long since
lost It's attractions for him. And so il
was that he gloomily motioned the
porter TO his boxes and mounted the
steps with WEAKNESS.
As IL happened. Mr.. Grenfall Lorry
did not have a dull moment after the
train started. lie stumbled on a figure
that leaned toward the window i'm the
dark passageway. With reluctant civil
ity be apologized. A lady stood up to let
him pass, and for an instant in the half
light their eyes met. and that Is why
the miles n shed by with incredible
speed.
Mr. Lorry had been dawdling away
the months In Mexico and California.
For years he had felt. together with
many other people. that a sea voyage
was the essential beginning Of every
y
world soon after leaving Cambridge:
he had tished through Norway and
hunted In India, and shot everything
from grouse on the Scottish moors to
the rapids above Assouan. He had
run in and out Of countless towns and
countries on the coast OF South Amer
lea. He had done Russia and the
Rhone valley and Brittany and Damas-
Gus. He had seen them all. but not
until then did it occur to him that there
might be something of interest nearer
home True. he had thought OF joining
some Englishmen on hunting tour in
the Rockies. but that had fallen
through. When the idea of Mexico
did occur to him, he gave orders to
pack his things, purchased intermina-
ble green tiCl It's. dined unusually well
at his club and was off in no time to
the unknown west.
There was a theory in his family
that IL would have been a decenter
thing for him to stop running about
and settle down TO work. But his
thoughtful father had given him
wealthy mother. and as earning a liv-
ing was not a necessity he failed to
see why It was n duty. Work is be-
coming to some men," he once declared,
like whiskers or red ties. but it does
not follow that all men can stand it,"
After that the family found him hope
less and the argument dropped.
He was just under thirty years, as
good looking as most men, with no one
dependent upon him and an income
that had withstood both the Maison
Doree and a dahabeah on the Nile.
He never tired Of seeing things and
peoples and places. There's game to
be found anywhere" he said, "only it's
sometimes out OF season. If had my
way and millions II should run
newspaper Then all the excitements
would come TO me. AS it is. I'm poor,
and so | have to go all over the world
after them"
This agreeable theory Of life had
worked well. He was a little bored at
times, not because he had seen too
much, but because there were not more
things left TO see. He had managed
somehow TO keep his enthusiasms
through everything. and they made
life worth living. He felt too. q GER
tain citation, like a spirited horse, ct
turning toward home. but Washington
had not much to offer him, and the
thrill did not last. His big bag and
dis hatbox. pasted over with foolish
iabels from continental hotels, were
piled in the corner Of his compartment,
and he settled back in his seat with a
pleasurable sense of expectancy. The
presence in the next room of q very
smart appearing young woman was
prominent in his consciousness. 1t gave
him an uneasiness which was the be-
ginning Of delight. He had seen her
for only a second in the passageway.
out that second had made him hold
himself a little straighter. why is
It, he wondered, that some girls
make you stand like footman the mo-
ment you see themT Grenfall had
been in love too many times to think Of
marriage. His habit of mind was still
general, and be classified women broad
ly. At the same time he had feeling
that in this case generalities did not
apply we'll. There was something about
the girl that made him hesitate at la
beling her Glass A or b or L." What
1T was he did not know, but unaccount-
ably she filed him with an affected
formality. He felt like bowling to her
with a grand air and much dignity.
And yet he realized that his successes
had come from confidence.
At luncheon he saw her in the din
tng car. Her companions were elderly
persons. presumably her parents. They
talked mostly in French. occasionally
using q German word or phrase. The
old gentleman was stately and austere,
with an air OF Difference TO the young
woman which Grenfall did not under
stand. His appearance was very strik.
tng, his face pale and heavily lined,
mustache and imperial gray. the eye.
brows large and bushy and the jaw