Los Angeles herald., 1908-05-31

4 whose friendship the child had enjoyed, and gave
the incident little thought But years later like
electric flash 1t returned and cleared away trap
yof dark, haunting shadows.
the clown had weighed with inaccurate
Tscales the difference in Nelie's homes; and no
kfmatter how his poor heart may have yearned for
cher he could not other than be pleased had he
known how great was the change for the better in
cher associates and surroundings and how tenderly
: she was loved and cared for. From the very first
both Colonel and Mrs Morton took her into their
shearts, the very watching and solcitude they gave
her in her first illness serving as it were as
81, cement for their affections They regarded her
ga great happiness that had been sent them, fully
soffsettng any responsibility that might have been
=, laid on them with her coming. AS for Nellie,
slife with her all sunshine.
From childhood to youth, her days passed like
song whose constant refrain was love. Graft
stude may have been mingled in her feeling for
her benefactors but 1t was so dominated by love,
sincere spontaneous unquestioning love that graf
stude such sunk in.the depths Of this nobler
sentiment And nothing was lost in this grand
rbarter-they gave her the affection OF parents
Sand she returned in full measure the love OF
child.
Every advantage of education and culture that
Colonel Morton could compass was cheerfully
given her, pains were spared, no expense with
Sheld and all the prestige that belongs to his name
was hers with the name itself.
The romance attending her adoption chung to
T her awhile, but the years went by it grew
fainter and fainter till Nellie the waif was alb
sorbed in Nellie Morton, Colonel Mortons heir
'and daughter.
The second summer after graduating, Nellie
found herself summering at Grandfather Mountain
in North Carolina. 1t was late In the afternoon
i. that Colonel Morton and his party came in view
of Grandfather Mountain, that towering peak that
looks down in solemn grandeur from his great
altitude the lesser hills that cluster about his
knees
~ Now and then through openings in the dense
forests through which their road lay they had
glimpses of this natural pyramid, grander far
: than any which the Pharaohs built, an accen-
tuation as 1t of the scenery that grew
-grander and more glorious the farther up they
climbed.
Nellie had asked to sit outside the coach that
she might not glimpse of the glory spread
out before them, and with reluctance climbed down
from her commanding perch when the thickening
twilight blotted out the panorama for the coach
had been delayed and 1t was night before IL
reached its destination.
The hotel was we'll filled with guests that sum-
mer Some worn and frayed with cares had come
here to rest while away above earths din and
,turmoi; invalids to drink like wine the pure
atmosphere of the heavens, while others SOUND
and stout of limb, with nets and reels and Gipen-
stocks had come with designs on the funny prey
of Lnville Boone Fork and Watuga, or to climb
the dizzy heights from which, like eagles from
their eyries they could look down on pictures far
surprising any caught by artists brush, excellng
them as far as the work ~ God excells the work
sof man-far off mountain peaks like needles plerc-
ing the sky lofty plateaus; emerald valleys and
undulating slopes that melted into the nazy norl-
zon
enjoyed it heartily here it lay always about
her in this mountain retreat; 1t greeted her In
the morning when she looked from her room; II
opened up before her in fresh vstas and pano-
ramas when she walked rode, or basked In the
moonlight all night in front of her window. She
could never get enough of this beauty-she looked
9 until her eyes ached, till her companions chided
, her for her dreamihess and yet, was hungry tor
the view. Somehow, somewhere, sometime she
. had surely seen them before, she thought; Grand
father Mountain not new to her. nor Linvile