The Wrangell sentinel., 1909-07-29

CHAPTER W.

walking near the water. I picked up my binoculars and focused them on her. It proved to be Miss Graham. dressed in a riding habit. and with broad felt hat on her head She was walking in a somewhat aimless fashion. skirting the waves as though she were playing with them. l saw her glance once at the Ship and once in the direction of my house.
 l put down the glasses and laid my papers aside. When I went downstairs l routed Charles out of a sound sleep in the kitchen.
 Do you remember how to make tea good tea: :' I asked him.
 Yes, Mir. Felix. Aren't you feeling well. sir?"
 Quite well. Please make some tea that shall be ready to serve in about an hour, and get out a box of those salty biscuits. Set the small table in the din- ing-room out in front of the door, with two chairs. and be ready to serve a lady and mysef.'
 "Yes, MT. Felix" Charles showed no surprise. though he had never received such an order since we had been at Alas tair.
 l picked up a cap. and left the house. As l did so l noticed that Miss Graham had stopped walking and was gathering shells. Half way to her. and she was still absorbed in the shells. which are quite unusually beautiful here; three quarters of the way. and she was still playing with them. had almost reached her, and was raising my cap to speak. hpfNra Sha +nrp Of surprise rose to her cheeks.
 "Good afternoon
 "Good afternoon. Mir. Hermit. Am I poaching on your preserves?'
 Not in the least make you free of the city"
 There was a light in her blue eyes which I discovered that I remembered. but a found her riiing-habit new and wonderfully prepossessing. I was taking stock Of it when she interrupted me.
 T left my horse tied back in the woods. Haven't you ever seen a riding habit before?"
 "Yes. beg your pardon, but it's so very becoming
 Again the quick flush. and an instant's look at the sand. Then she laughed and shook her riding-crop playfully at me-
 Beware. Mir. Hermit Any man might say a thing like that. but I expect other things from you. That's one of the pen alties of your position: you must be diff ferent. l look for the flavor of romance and adventure at Alastair." She laughed at my puzzled face. Shall I go back home again:"
 "No. I will try to remember. Did you come to see the sunset from the cliff"
 "Yes. My aunt has a headache and has stayed in bed all day. I bribed our waiter to save me a little supper and send it up to my room at 8 o'clock, SO, you see. I'm free of the club and dn- ner." She spoke impulsively. as I i'm agined she might do many things, and glanced at me whimsically to see of what was thinking. She had some of the artessness of a child playing truant from school. ''I do hate stupid conyen- tions. such as chaperons,' she added, les. pecially in summer"
 We walked past my cottage. which Miss Graham looked at with much curi- osity, asking me a hundred questions about it-how I had discovered it. why I had bought it, how it vas fashioned in- side, and how I did my marketing. I told her l had the same butcher they had at the club.
 Oh" she said. T half hoped you lived by hunting and fishing, but I sup pose you'd rather indulge in ocasional beefsteaks."
 "I'd rather live that way" said I, but Charles. my man, wouldn't like that. He has a very cultivated palate"
 When We came to the top of the cliff I felt like another Balboa discovering the Pacific. In front of us lay the entrance to the river. the sloping away of the dunes to the low. level fields of meadow grass, and the distant background of the pines. Here and there the fields were dotted with beach marshmallow. windfalls delicatel pink; along the sedey banks grew clumps of cat-tails. their brown pen mons stiff like so much bronze. At a lit tie landing-stage. where the river had hollowed out a harbor in the bank, rode my cat-boat. the sail tightly furled, the mast rocking gently with the tide. As we looked flock of sand-snipe rose from the tall rank grasses beyond the river and spread themselves like a sail against the western sky. Nature never looked so ab- solutely peaceful.
 Look I said: a heron. red-legged. white-bodied, rose from the sedges and Tapped his way up the stream. He called to his mate, low. plaintive cry.
 Tt is beautiful" said the girl. ''I don't wonder that you love it.'
 Look" I said the suns kaleidoscope was changing, the pale yellows deepen