The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-06-30
Copyright, 1909, by Albert Payson Terhune
By ALBERT PAYsON TERRI

through the mist barrier. Shadowy shores slipped past them. To their house of camp. Beyond it's float men and girls irl shiny bathing suits were splashing about in the water. Caleb traileo his hand over the launch side At the nip of the icy water he accord ed the swimmers such a glance as he might have bestowed on the martyrs of old.
 wind danced down from the north, playfully tearing the lake vapors to silver tatters. A lance of white sun- light struck through the flying mist reek- Out of the obscurity leaoed an island; emerald green. sparkling with diamonds of moisture. Then another and another. The mainland's vague shores took shape and beauty. Broad reaches of water flashed azure and pale gold under the swift caress of wind and sun.
 See" cried Desiree Isn't it per- fect?"
 "Yes.'' he murmured. "It is.''
 But 1ook!'' she commanded. You haven't once taken your eyes from my face. How can you say-?"
 What I said goes" he answered curtly. There's nothin' to take back"
 Conover's first day at the Antlers was pleasant: for he and Desiree were together from morning to night. He was welcomed with effusive cordiality
 
 erance by the lads mother. The big tent wherein he was Quartered was near enough to the Hawarden cottage to make the trip to and fro seem as nothing. More and more strongly as the day wore did he feel though he had reached some long sought Mec- ca. The beauty of the -"top of the world" was lost on him; but the beau ty of the girl had in moment become an integral part of his every thought. Io dr111xy af hfrpSalf Heretofore he had always taken De- siree as much for granted he had taken the sunlight itself. To her he had turned for whatever was happiest and restful iE his life; had done it un- thinkingly, as part of his established routine. But now, after two months of separation from her, he grasped for the first time all her presence had meant to him.
 The mighty silences of the noun tafns-the tumbled miles of multi shaded greens. strewn with ire-blue lakeS-a1l these carried no meSSage to the hard-headed Fighter, the man. of cities. But ever he caught himself staring at Desiree ir awed wonder: as thought some veil between them had oe a sudden been snatched away.
 That first afternoon he and she went for a long walk where the twisting red-brown trail wound half aimlessly through the stil1 forest; and she 1ec- tured him with a sterniless that he found delicious, upon his lack of ap- preciation for the vistas. rooks and leafy sanctums she pointed out. Be- fore supper she made him take her out on the lake, in one of the long. slender guide boats, whose overlapping oar handles he found so hard to manage. In midstrea.n she bade him stop row ing, and pointed to the west Against a green-gold background of sky. long crimson cloud streamers f1ickered.
 fIt looks as if the wind were on f1re,'' she breathed in ecstacy.
 And he. after a Derfunctory glance and a word of acquiescence, bent again to his oars. The lake was dotted with boats of the ''sunset feet The occu- pants of a dark blue St. Lawrence sl1iff hailed them. Caleb. in obedience to Desiree's gesture rowed closer. The oarsman of the other boat proved to be Jack Hawarden who was returning with his mother from a climb of the Crags. .a.Isn't this sunset well worth travel ing all the way. from Granite to see?'' called Jack
 ''It is kind of pretty" assented Caleb.
 Pretty" !" repeated Mrs. Hawarden in gentle scorn. What a word for such a scene! It brings out all that is highest and most beautiful in one," she went on soulfully. 'I wish, in- stead of rowing back to the Antlers to supper. I might drift on here for ever"
 You'd be li'b1e to get rather hungry after few hours of it, I guess" volunteered Caleb. feeling he was some how beyond his depth