The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1908-01-15
me Gins, the Kennels and stables. I'm

I'm awfully sorry" he rejoned with
out meaning anything in particular
That was the trouble-whateve he sale
apparently meant so much.
With the agreeable sensation of be
ing regretted she leisurely gloved her
self, then walked through the gunroon
and hall. Siward strolling beside her.
The dog followed them as they turn
ed toward the door and passed out
across the terraced veranda to the
driveway, where a tandem cart was
drawn up. faultlessly appointed. Quar-
rier's mania was tandem She thought
1t rather nice of her to remember this.
She inspected the ensemble without
visible interest for a few moments
The wind freshened from the sea, flut.
tering her veil, and she turned toward
the east to face 1t. In the golden
splendor of declining day the white
sails of yachts crowded landward on
the last leg before beating westward
into Blue harbor. A small white
cruiser steaming south left a mile long
stratum of rose tinted smoke hanging
parallel to the horizons plane. The
westering sun struck sparks from her
bright work.
They had turned their backs to the
tandem. The grooms looked after
them, standing motionless at the
horses heads.
''Mr. Siward, this is too fine to MISS
she said. Il will walk as far as the
headland with you. Please smoke If
you care to-"
The breeze blown conversation be-
came fragmentary, veering as capri
ciously as the purple wind flaws that
spread across the shoals. But always
to her question or comment she found
In his response the charm of freshness,
of quick intelligence or of humorous
and idle perversity which stimulates
without demanding.
Once, glancing back at the house
where the T cart and horses stood, she
said that she had better return, or per-
haps she only thought she said II, for
he made no response that time, and a
few moments later they reached the
headland, and the Atlantic lay below.
flowing azure from horizon to horizon
under a universe of depthless blue
And for long while neither spoke.
With her the spell endured until con
science began to stir. Then she awoke
uneasy, as always, under the shadow of
restraint or pressure until her eyes
fell on him and fingered.
A subtle change had come into his
face. Its leanness struck her for the
first time-that and an utter detach-
ment from his surroundings, a somber
oblivion to everything and to her
How curiously had his face altered!
How shadowy 1t had grown, effacing
the charm of youth in it,
The slight amusement with which
she had become conscious of her own
personal exclusion grew to an interest
tinged with curiosity.
The interest continued, but when his
silence became irksome to her she said
so very frankly. His absent eyes, still
clouded, met hers unsmiling.
Il was thinking of men | knew-for
example, a man who through genera
tions has inherited every impulse and
desire that he should not harbor;
man with intellect enough to be aware
of it, with decency enough to desire
decency. What chance has he with
the storms which have been brewing
for him even before he opened his eyes
IL n
The troubled concentration of her
face was reflected now in his own.
The wind came whipping and Ticking
at them from league wide tossing
wastes. The steady thunder of the
sea accented the silence.
Turning to the sea, he had become
engrossed in his own thoughts again,
and again she was first curious, then
at the ease with which he
excluded her. She remembered, too,
that the cart was waiting; that she
had scarcely time now to make the
train.
She stood irresolute, inert disln-
clined to bestir herself. An Unborn
aptitude for drifting, which threatened
to become a talent for INDIGESTION, had
always alternated in her with sudden
impulsive conclusions and when her
pride was involved in decisions which
scarcely withstood the anal
ysis of reason.
Physically healthy, mentally una
Weakened, sentimentally incredulous,
totally ignorant Of any master passion
and conventionally drilled, her beauty
and sweet temper had carried her cas-
fly on the frothy crest of her first sea
son over the eligible and ineligible
alike, leaving her at Lenox a rather
tired and breathless girl In love with
pleasure and the world which treated
her so we'll
The death of her mother abroad had
made little impression upon her, her
uncle, Major Belwether, having cared
for her since her fathers death, when
she was ten years old. SO, although
the scandal Of her mothers self exile
had been In a measure condoned by a
tardy marriage to the man for whom