Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1907-05-23


said Peyton, regarding her as she
perched on the seat before him in her
trim white yachting suit.
what salty tang" she shifted.
Its strange, but one never seems to
get the full flavor of it near the shore"
"One has to get out. away out, to get
the full flavor of most things, fancy"
Peyton answered, his brown hand on
the tiller, his keen eyes looking straight
ahead.
why did you come here at all,
them" Viola questioned. You must
have known what summer hotel
would be like"
"One has ones duty to ones family,
you know, and my mother and sister
are here. And then there's another
reason for my coming followed a
girl"
"A girl"
Yes, a girl | saw on the train. She
had the seat across the aisle from me,
and there were a lot of people with her
a very gay, noisy, fashionable crowd.
The girl was laughing with the rest of
them, and thought she was their kind
till | saw her eyes. And then l knew.
for they were neither hard nor shallow
nor full of surface lights. They were
very deep and beautiful If she were
moved by love | think they could be
exquistely tender"
But who is sheE" cried Miss Aims
ley in utter innocence and then flushed
suddenly as Peyton's look answered
her.
oh" she said breathlessly and turn
ed away her head
"Of course | know it was extremely
foolish of me-" Peyton Fernald went
on, because rumor has already engag
ed her 10 Millionaire McNugget"
Miss Ainsley bit her lip. "Rumor,"
she said, lis often very impertinent."
Then it isn't true?"
1T is not true-yet," said Miss Aims
ley and dabbled her hand over the edge
of the boat.
"Ah." he began.
NO" she said quickly; you've made
a great mistake The girl isn't at all
as you've imagined her. She's very
fond of money. She's hard and selfish
and doesn't care for simple things n
bit. She'd hate not to have lots of
houses and clothes and good time"
You think, then" said Peyton, that
because I'm not very we'll off in this
worlds goods it would be quite useless
if l asked her to marry me?"
Quite useless, I'm afraid" returned
Miss Ainsley gently, though | know
what the girls missing, for there aren't
many men in the world who She
paused as the boat gave an abrupt
lurch, nearly sweeping her from her
feet. Peyton reached out n strong arm
and steadied her The KEEL of the
Gull's Wing scraped against something
hard and slippery; then. with a slide
and splash, the boat righted herself
and went ON. But the cockpit was
rapidly filling with water.
"a derelict dory, by jlngon' cried
Peyton as a dark object drfted past
them beneath the surface of the water.
Take the tiller and the main sheet"
he directed, "and put Tor that little
island over there. IN have to bale like
blazes"
Viola did as she was bid. crouching
on the seat to be out of reach of the
water that swished in the bottom of
the boat The trees of the little island
they were approaching stood out
sharply against the blue sky Its
sandy beach lay white and shining In
the sun.
DO you think Wen make it?' she
asked quietly.
"We'll try" he answered, with equal
repression. Their eyes met in the un-
derstanding of a common peril. There
was much against them, but wind and
tide were with them, and when the
Gull's Wing sank it was within few
feet of the islands shore.
Peyton stepped out and carried Miss
Ainsley to land. Then he pulled in the
boat as far as he could and made it
fast
"Maroonedr' cried Miss Ainsley
Rightly She did not refer to their pasr