The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-06-16
CHAPTER XVIII. . The Silver Lady.


 stephen did not wish to see any one just at present. The grief that was on her was good excuse: and the ex- pianation of her recent bereavement was taken in good part by those who were disappointed as to seeing her. sometimes, attended only by groom. sne rode long distances north or south along the coast; or up over the ridge behind the castle and far inland along the shaded roads through the woods; or over bleak wind-swept stretches of moorIand. Sometimes she would sit Tor hours on the shore or high up on some little rocky headiand where she could enjoy the luxury of solitude. At this time of her life there was an en- Joyment In loneliness. so long as the forces of nature were around and ap- parent to her. That undertone of na- lures calling which is compact of my riad existences fulfilling their various destinies. After every such excursion she returned; fairly wearied in body, but with an inward calm and satisfac- tion which she had begun to fear would never be hers again.
 New and again in her journcylngs she made friends, most of them humble ones. The fish ermen of the little ports to north and south of her marches came to know her. and to look out gladly for her coming. Their good wives had for her always willing curtsy and a ready smile. As for the children, they looked on her with ad- miration and love, tempered with awe. She was so kindly to them, so gentle with them. so ready to share their pleasures and sorrows and interests that after a while they came to reward her as some strange new emb odiment of Fairydom and Dreamland.
 Often and often she had looked up at the superannuated windmill on the crest of the ridge and wondered who 1t was inhabited it; for that some one lived in it. or close by. was shown at times by the spiral or drifting smoke. One day she made up her mind to so and see for herself. By herself she rode up the fIint-strewn lane that led along the top of the ridge, and walked her horse slowly and more slowly still as she drew near. The mill itself was picturesque, and the detail of 1t at closer acquaintance sustained the far of impression. The skeleton of the once-hying sails still remained sil- houetted against the sky as they faced broadly towards the castle; but as they never moved now, had grown grey and mellow with lichen. The white of the body of the tower was blotched and patched with stress of weather, and only bore something of It's color to distant eyes. 10G Iulll WdS On buO FSAy tOR of the ridge which here dipped steeply the roofs of the outhouses, and on such on both sides. Tn the hidden hooks of slopes as were sheltered. houseleek had become fixed and spread. Grass, green and luxuriant. grew undtrodden be- tween the cobble-stones with which the yard was paved. There was a sort of old-world quietude about everything which greatly and at once appealed to Stephen.
 When she knocked with her whip handle a low door in the base of the mill tower opened, and maid appeared, demure pretty little thing of some sixteen or seventeen years dressed in a prirn strait dress and an old-fash- toned Puritan cap.
 ''wnI you Kindly tell me who lives here?'s asked stephen. The answer came with some hesitation.
 "Sister Ruth"
 "And who Is sister Ruth?" The ques- tion came instinctively and without reconciliation The maid, embarrassed, held hard to the half-open door and shifted from foot to foot uneasily.
 "I don't know!'' she said at last. "only Sister Ruth. I supposel" stephen