The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-11-03
THE AGEHERALD, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1907


 things Then they might all have set up
 to be dueheSsesl' $
 But the nfen, and especially the young
 CT of them, said among themselves that | Vida Bryan had more Ego" in her little 1 finger than all the three church choirs.
 For in Kirktown, the big overgrown vil-
 lage which had seereted itself around the l Incubus company's pits, the various 1 church choirs contained the pick of the
 youth and beauty of the neighborhood.
 Voice did not so much matter knowledge
 of music mattered not at all You must
 be good to look upon, if girl-or eligi- l ble If a young man. These were the
 necessary, and indeed. inexorably en-
 forced, regulations. And. justly sol For
 the quality of the ehoirs affected even
 the average attendance and the collection
 in the plate-especially on dark winter
 evenings when escort duty was considered
 q natural obligation.
 Vida Bryan did not sit in the choir.
 She attended the little Cameronan kirk
 the Kirk of the Martyr" Dick
 was an elder The session was strict
 there and did not encourage light bouses
 in the choir, because it faced the congrc-
 gation. Yet all the summer Vida wore
 one in the pew of her adopted father,
 along with a well-cut alpaca skirt, and 1 not even the minister said a word ! | sides to Vida's life-the one which was l apparent to the good. sharp-tongued folk among whom she lived, and that which
 she lived ''in to herself"
 Daily she watched her fathers car | rage flash by the stout episcopal coach
 man on the box, and Gregson, the easily scared footman, erect by his side. Vida had looked unnumbered times on the fierce, irascib1e, vivid countenance of the f.,I,O fof nd her mind, at least in intenD the mur- dered of her mother. But the regard or Jacob Romer passed over her head. He seemed continually to be looking across the present into the tragic future-never
 with fear-never with repentance-al-
 ways with kind of anger, bitter con- temptuous. and with difficulty restrained.
 But what really scared Vida was to rec ognize in a little man who sometimes sat beside the millionaire, the former super
 cargo of The Good Intent-Mr. James Kahn. Sometimes she saw him alone-in ! an automobile, guiding the machine him. self, his fleeting gray eye glancing dan
 gerously at all and sundry in his path as if. were it not for the law, he would be delighted to run them down.
 1 Did James Kahn recognize her? Ger 1 tainly she had altered greatly from the 1 ow-cheeked, flerce-eyed suspicious l little girl who had kept such jealous
 watch over her sick mother. But had 1 she altered to the extent that one who, | five years before had been in daily com 1 munication with her. would now fail to I recognize her?
 For the present, Vida could not find this 1 out Certainly, the undersigned, gray | eyed man, with the turned-up mustaches
 and the vaguely furtive air, showed not | the least sign of recognition. Once even, | uyia oh HOMprS long the
 hedgeroots of a distant lane remote from 1 the c1inging grine of the Incubus chim- l ney-stalks, MT. Kahn stopped his motor l and politely offered her ride home. He 1 knew her, he said, as the daughter of one of his most trusted foremen, one to whom | he was immediately going to entrust a task more fitted to his abilities and char | acter.
 Vida thanked the manager of the works | for his offer, but still with a certain air of grave surprise, which sent him on in | his motor, secretedly rebuked but cer-
 tainly not offended.
 Thinking it over afterwards, Vida was afraid that she had spoiled her good old friends chances of promotion. But Mir t> Kahn showed resentment, and that | very night Dick Finnan came home re- | ioicing. He was to be made inspector of | ways at the bottom of No. pit, and his | It was more money than he had ever
 earned in his life, and Dick said so
 much in praise of MT. Kahn and his l kindness, that Vida, in spite of The Good | Intent, was half ashamed of herself and | her present suspicious.
 1 Tt would have been long day and d 1 short one before old Romer would have | raised me half a crown" he said; "l 1 question if he even knows me by sight,
 the hard-driving old rip
 "But won't it be more difficult work, l father-and more dangerous, besides?'
 queried Vida, 'away down there in the I horrid dark?"
 "Oh," said Dick, easily, tits nothing 1 like so bad as you think-you must run | down and see me some day. The under
 ground engineer Vic Morris the men call
 him. though he writes it differently l Ludovic or something like that-he will
 explain everything to yo1. He is a rare, | good -hearted one, by all telling, and he | said to me. off hand like, that he might | drop round tonight and put me up to my duties a bit. Why I believe that might | be him nowi'
 Vida started, and cast glance at the l inner doorway which led to the stairs.
 But she was too late. A tall young man
 stood barring all egress. He was a giant | in his way, square e-shouldered, with | less and daring. Yet there was some | thing infinitely fine and delicately ca
 ressing In the blue eyes which showed 1 so dark under the long lashes, turning
 up at the ends like a woman's
 q hope, MT. Finnan,'' he said. that
 I have not come too early? I am afraid l your daughter-Miss Bryan, was just 1 about to make her escape. Shall I step
 outside a moment and pretend I haven t | quite arrived?'
 Really it was somewhat forward of
 him." as they said in Kirktown. But | then the way 1t was said-well, it was
 a gentlemans way with humor. delicacy. 1 equality in it, but nothing more. And l Vida. though she had her fathers frown | on her face, found the Romer wrinkles l smooth themselves away in spite of her, 1 She smiled.
 My daughter, who is better than any | born daughter to me- said Dick Fin l nan. by way of introduction, this is our
 underground engineer, MT. Morris, as
 nice a young man"
 That will do. Dick" laughed the
 young man aforesaid, please don't dis | gust Miss Vida to begin with. She sees
 through us quickly enough I hear. Don't
 make me more afraid of her than I am. l But see here. I have brought a 24-inch
 plan of the. workings. old and new, and
 l have maNe notes of the state of the
 roads you will have to be responsible for. ] Also l have your predecessors note l books-which won't do you much good.
 I'm afraid. And now, Miss Vida, if you will pardon us, we will talk businessl" l And MT. Ludovic Morris took no fur 1 ther notice of her. but for an hour-and-
 .T-- l.ss s..1.- .l-