The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-12

moving, irascib1e eyebrows. He lad
 habit of psuting the lips if to
 whistle, and then drawing them in
 again as if he thought better of it.
 He rapped at the door under the Ivy
 sheltered porch with his knuekles. Lit
 tie Miss Nunsby opened 1t.
 "I have come" he said, Ito see the
 the young lady who had the misfor-
 tune to be down in the pit on the day
 of the accident"
 "Ahl come in." said Rose Ndnsby
 briskly. to the lord of the Gorm es-
 tates. Miss Bryan is in the kitchen"
 MT. Romer stood musing a little on the doorstep, a little cane tapping his
 pouted lips
 Miss Bryan" he murmured, "so that
 is the-the young lady's name. Any
 relative of yours?"
 None" snapped little Miss Nunsby;
 my music pupil only-also Ca little)
 my friend"
 Music pupil?" queried the great
 man, as if speaking to himself, and
 you are"
 Rose Nunsby" said the girl; "my fa
 ther works in your officer
 An of course" said MT. Romer. The [ information conveyed nothing in par ticular to him. In KirStown the words 1 described nine out of every ten male l inhabitants.
 d vember day is different from every other in all the year. There is some thing of unpublished silver about 1t, full of vague wistfulness and the re- gret ofNthe lost years. At least Jacob Romer found 1t so. For when he en- tered the little parlor with the late coming flowers arranged on table and mantelpiece, he sighed involuntarily. Perhaps some love for the old home- 1xr 10 fa ta hx vived or revived in the stubborn old heart of the master of millions. At Gorm Castle Jacob Romer seldom saw anyone but Gregson, the formal, the meritorious. Everything was large and still and chill-unpropitious for the kindling of old blood, about Corn Cas- tie. The fires did not heat the rooms. When lighte they seemed sorry for themselves and dropped like flowers after a first frost-such one as was beginning to fall over the woodlands this very afternoon.
 But here, in the little cottage, warm hre-light in early November was a thing to remember and to be thankful for, even supposing that the sun still sh one through the gable window on the barred arms of Vida, who was bak- ing with her sleeves rolled up, and on the flushed cheeks of little Miss Nuns by, who presently would be running to and fro about the fireplace ranging and testing the girdle cakes. long woodland gap permitted a glint of au- tumnal gold to rest on Vida's cheek.
 Jacob Romer thought he had seen something like that before, and the warm smell of the baking, the good dust of the farina in the air, the girls round, quick moving arms and rapid changes of position, the "thump- thump" of the rolling pin on the wooden blackboard all spoke to him of ancient things-older than his wife, perhaps, speaking of his youth, of his mother or grandmother. For the mo- ment comfort banished from his mind the desire to grow richer and ever richer, and the thought of calling in Miss Georgiana Bunny to sit at the head of his table at Gorm Castle van ished like a cloud shadow off hill. He found little to say, and when he was gone Rose Nunsby said to her friend with a smile, "I know some body who may be mistress of Gorm Castle one day!'
 Vida looked at her friend for one long moment, horrible suspicion crossing her mind that perhaps after all. Rose spoke the truth. Then, grip ping her friend by the wrist, she said fercely, q am going myself to Gorm Castle tomorrow-will you come with me? I have something to say toto my father"
 "Graciousw said Rose with her nose in the air, isn't it usual to let man make up his own mind?"
 'I am his daughter" said Vida trag- ically. Rose, nothing astonished, stepped back and regarded the girl.
 He will make the third" she said calmly. Billy Bryan, old Dick, and now MT. Jacob Romer. wonder which third of you he will take. Ger tainly I will come and see. I don't think father will actually kill Leeby Callum for anoth CT day yet"
 But Vida, deep in the terror Of thought. did not even listen. She was imperiling her home and Dick's-yet it must be. She had no right to let things drift. She must go to Corn Castle tomorrow.
 The next afternoon at o'clock pre- cisely, the two girls locked the outer door behind them. Vida took the ex- ceedingly cunning and never-before- thought-of plan of hiding the key un- der the mat, so that Dick Finnan, If he should return before they got back, would not be shut out from the warmth of his fireside. Dick delighted greatly in the originality of this device. He saw the hump on the mat from far off. It was a sharp, clean, Wlndless uay, with the ash trees cricking away mer- rily overhead. letting go all sail, and the big broad leaves balancing noise lessly down till they formed a sort or moist, dark green shadow on the ground, grateful to the feet after the hard ma acadam' of the roads.
 If was real back end" weather, and from the nearest fields (the winds being 1own") the "Wine-yer-wnoa- ther" of the laboring ploughman could he heard, mingled distinctly with the snap of his r-fiung reins. the ring of a horses hoof-iron on a loose pebble, and. much nearer at hand, the clean trill of a robin on a bough. These were all late 'backend" sounds--character- istic of the days shortening sharply after the "way-gaun O the swallow, of the reckoning hawthorn, ana the rfme lying gray on the blackened leaves along ruddy forest glades, or high in wild "hopes" where the noun tain spreads out emptily its palms to the sun.
 Little Miss Nunsby limped slightly so slightly that it could hardly have been noticed by another. only Just enough to make her conscious, not jeal- ous. of the alert, springy tread of her companion. You may be sure that Vida never dreamed of such a thing. Hardly had they rounded the corner of the avenue, walking on a perfect couch of pine-needles, feet thick, which Mr. Romer would not allow to be dis turbed than Phil Calmont was at the cottage door. He had ridden over on his cycle from the Carron Pit. He found the door shut, but a clear, red