The sun. (Jacksonville, Fla.) 1905-1908, 1906-02-10
THE SUN

flee OF their daughters happiness more OFTEN than the
public dream Tragedy is, alas! written upon
the face of many bride whose portrait appears in
the fashionpapers and whose toilette is faithfully
chronicled in the paragraph beneath Indeed the
girl in Society who is allowed her free choice in
the matter of husband u.s. alas nowadays the excep-
tiOn, for parents who want to get on up the social
scale have found that pretty daughters are mar
ketable commodity, and many man has been placed
"On his legs" both financially and socially, by his
son-in-law Hence the marriage of convenience is
fast becoming common, while in the same ratio the
divorce petitions unfortunately on the increase.
/ read tragedy in the dark luminous eyes of
Murel LeithcOurt. l knew that her young heart
was overburdened by secret sorrow guilty
knowledge that she would reveal to me if she dared
Her own words told me that she perpexed; that
she onged to cOnde and seek advice of someone, yet
by of some hidden and untoward circumstance
her lips were sealed.
tried to question her further regarding Wood
rofe of what profession he followed and of his past
But she evidently suspected me, for / had unfor
tunately mentioned the Lola.
She wanted to speak to me in confidence, and yet
she would reveal to me nothing-absolutely nothing
Martin Woodroffe did not reoin the house-party
at Rannoch.
Although remained the guest of my uncle much
longer than | intended, indeed right through the
shooting season. in order to watch the Leithcourts
yet as far as we could Judge they were extremely
wellbred people and very hOspitabe.
We exchanged q good many visits and dinners,
and while my uncle several times invited Lethcourt
and his friends to his shoot with al resco luncheon
which the ladies joined the tenant of Rannoch al
ways invited us back in return.
Thus | gained many opportunities of talking with
Murie, and of watching her closely. had the repu-
tation of being a confirmed bachelor, and account
of that it seemed that she in no way averse to
my companonship She could handle ok-riae as
well as any woman, and was really very fair shot.
Therefore we often found ourselves alone tramping
across the wide open mOorland, along those de-
lightful glens of the Nthsdale, glorious in the
Her father on the other hand, seemed to view
with considerable suspicion, and could easily dis
Germ that only asked to Rannoch because it was
impossible to invite my uncle without including my
Leithcourt, who perhaps thought was counting
his daughter, endeavoring to avoid me, and
would never allow me to walk with him alone. Why?
wondered. Did he fear mei Had Woodroffe told
him of our strange encounter in LeghornH
His pronounced antipathy towards me caused me
to watch him surreptitously and more closely than
perhaps should otherwise have done. He was a
man of gloomy mood, and often he would leave his
guests to take walks alone, musng and brooding. On
several occasions followed him in secret, and found
to my surprise that although he made long detours
in various directions, yet he always arrived at the
same spot at the same hour-fve o'clock.
The place where he halted the edge of a
dark wood on the brow of hill about three miles
from Rannoch-a good place to get woodpigeon, as
they to roost. 1t fully two miles across the
hills from the high road to Moniave and from the
break the gray wall where he in the habit of sit
ting to rest and smoke there stretched the beautiful
panorama of Loeb Urr and the heatherclad hills be-
yond.
Leithcourt never went direct to the place, but
always so timed his walks that he arrived just at
five, and remained there smoking cigarettes until
half past, as though awaiting the arrival of some
person he expected. Once twice his guests sug-
gested shooting pigeons at shutdown, but he always
had some excuse for opposing the proposal and thus
the party unsuspecting the reason, were kept away
from that particular lonely spot.
In my youth had sat many quiet hour there
in the darkening gloom and shot many a pigeon,
therefore I knew the wood we'll, and was able to
watch the tenant of Rannoch from points where
he least suspected the presence of another.
Once, when was alone with Muriel, mentioned
her fathers capacity for walking alone, whereupon
she said
ooh, yes he always fond of walking He
used to take me with him when first came here
but he always went far that refused to 90 any
more"
She never once mentioned Woodrofe. I allowed
her plenty of opportunity for doing So chatting her