Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-12-30

~efs<4H d SmCtl oaNOA VI SaA LII N"~A
 NA mingled with the summer air AAA when I opened my door and looked forth upon the courtyard. The landlord gently deprecated the events of the previous evening, offering, as it might be to a fastidious guest, an apol- ogy for a headstrong young scape- grace.
 '.Theyre not like us of the eastern counties, sir says he. They're bit Welsh hereabout It's a contamina- tion, to my way of thinking. But, there, all sorts of blood go to make nation, and that's the truth"
 But he volunteered a few additional particulars about Montgomery.
 Not a bad sort, sir, at heart, but he's running to seed here He's taken a main fancy to you. That l could spy at a look. But it's a poor prospect for him, with land dwindling away to nothing, and Llanthony is a shabby house for a young gentleman as he i should be-"
 Llanthony, it appears, was the name | of. Montgomery's paternal estate in the l Gwent. And. in fact, it was for this ! Gwent that I was bound this morning. | The prospect of those rolling hills at i tracted me with some force. I had an appetite for the wilderness of that back l country, unscarred, as 1 learned, by the track of any railway. It was in way virgin, at the least a property pri- vate from the world. As l struck across the Ray and directed my horse toward the long red slope of the as- cent looked back upon the little town l and discovered it wrapped in noun tain humors.
 Llanthony, according to my host, lay at the back of the first hill, some four miles from Raymond, but as the estate was not my particular aim, and, if it had been, I had no one to guide me, l roamed indefinitely through byways over a circuit of the upper Gwent and finally drew up ill the village of Llanel- Ian about the hour of lunch. This viii lage fay a mile or so from the more I open districts of the Gwent and within the privy borders of the great forest it. self. It would have been easy to throw the reins upon the horses neck and to
 wander, lost in the abysms of that will derness, for the villages were scattered at a great distance and the habitations
 of the settlers were at long intervals
 It was somewhere about in the after.
 noon, and as I rode down into a spa.
 cious valley a few miles from Llanel
 Ian. that the monotony of this desultory
 journey was broken by an event of
 some moment.
 A pretty brook rippled through the
 wood and was crossed upon rude
 bridge. As it chanced, my horse fel , suddenly lame, and I had dismountet : on the farther edge of the stream tC
 examine his hoof when heard sounds as of struggle in the close brake tC my left. and upon that a shrill shout a' of one crying for assistance. Leaving
 the bay without further ado, for he wal of mild mettle, jumped into the cops' and ran toward the noises, shouting a. went to encourage the wayfarer wht
 was calling for aid.
 The cries had already ceased, but [
 cracking and brushing in the under growth still directed me, and, bursting through tlie furze and brier, came ou very suddenly upon the verge of th little brook and almost fell over th form of a man who lay doubled upol
 the earth. As I stumbled and shifteI to regain my balance I had a glimps
 of a 1.-the. lean bodied fellow vanish ing pFecipitately into the copse. Bu obviously it was to the victim that must first turn my mind rather than any fugitive assailant. He was a mar as I guessed. of some sixty years c more. very bald of the head and unde :, the middle stature. Across his whit
 and shining forehead was a streak c blood. which drew from me an excl; '' nation es helped him to his feet "It is not mine" said he, with con ' placent smile. T go better prepare
 than my years would suggest"
 "NO bones bTOken:" I inquired. . He shook his head. leaning upon m T arm and breathing painfully. ,s A bruise or two. and no wind in m .s belIy-no more was a fool to hay s forgotten my pistol" ....
 The words recalled me to the thOugl ]. of the runaway. to whom I attribute
 this scurvy trick upon an old gentl
 man.
 1 What was the eause7" I askel
 Some highway thiefT'
 Hardly that he remarked though z fully. and puliing forth an ancieE ' snuHbox with deliberatiOn. "No.
 could scarcely describe him as that" I made a motion to withdraw. reed Iecting hastily that it was my duty U ascertain some tidings of the ruffa but the old gentleman. observing n intention. put his hand upon my sho1
 der.
 q would not worEy.- said be suav 2 Iv. @It ls of small consequence as hapuenz. Now. had you come up q m uleut later. he continued. rezaruIL Q ne with a faint saile, T could hard have mt a IirnEt 0n this business. b
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 -surely.- i,Toke Ia saortiy, --yoa v , have siie br1te arrested If you ezn re a ozasze hIn aezin
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