The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1908-09-18
"But | was going to say

"But was going to say
when rudely interruptedw She was
trying to make it easy for him to say
whatever he wished.
-"that these troubles of mine are
really personal. have committed no
crime and am not fleeing from JUS
| tice."
| She laughed and urged her horse
into gallop for last stretch of road
near the park limits.
How embarrassing! We expect a
Montana ranchman to have a spectac-
ular past"
"But not to carry 1t, hope, to Wash
ington. On the range might become
| a lawless bandit in the interest of pic
turesqueness, but here
"Here in the world of frock coated
statesmen nothing really interesting is
to be expected"
She walked her horse again. 1t &C.
| CURED to her that he might wish an
| assurance of silence from her. What
she had seen would make a capital bit
| OF gossip, to say nothing of being ma
terial for the newspapers. and her con-
science as she reflected grew uneasy at
the thought of shielding him. She
| knew that her father and mother and,
even more strictly, her brother would
close their doors on a man whose enc
mics followed him over seas and lay In
wait for him in a peaceful park, but
here she tested him. A man of breed
ing would not ask protection Of a wo-
| man on whom he had no claim, and it
was certainly not for her to establish
| an understanding with him in so
strange and grave matter.
1T must be fun having a ranch with
cattle on a thousand hills. l always
wished my father would go in for a
western place. but he can't travel so
far from home. Our ranch is in vir-
ginia."
"You have Virginia farm? That is
very interesting"
eyes: at Storm Springs. It's really
beautiful down there" she said simply.
1t was on his tongue to tell her that
he, too, owned bit of Virginia soil,
but he had just established himself as
Montana ranchman. and it seemed
best not to multiply his places of resi-
dence. He had. moreover, forgotten
the name of the county in which his
preserve lay. He said, with truth:
Il know nothing Of Virginia or the
south, but l have viewed the landscape
from Arlington. and some day l hope
to go aGventuring in the Virginia
hills"
"Then you should not overlook our
valley. l am sure there must be adj
ventures waiting for somebody down
there. You can tell our place by the
spring lamb on the hillside. There's Il
huge inn that offers the long distance
telephone and market reports and golf
links and very good horses, and lots of
people stop there as matter of course
in their fight between Florida and
Newport They go up and down the
coast like the mercury In thermome-
ter-up when it's warm, down when
it's cold. There's the secret of our
mercurial temperament"
A passing automobile frightened her
horse. and he watched her perfect cool
iNSo III thS Win AS1h
and voice.
Hes just up from the farm and
doesn't like town very much But he
shall go home again soon," she said as
they rode on.
"Oh. you go down to shepherd those
spring lambs! he exclaimed. with mis-
giving in his heart. He had followed
her across the sea, and now she was
about to take fight again.
He dimly understood as he left her
In a gay mood at the Claiborne house
that she had sought to make him for
get the lurking figure in the park thick
ct and the dark deed thwarted there.
II was her way Of conveying to him
her dismissal OF the incident, and it
implied a greater kindness than any
pledge of secrecy. He rode away with
grave eyes, and new hope filed his
heart.