Norwich bulletin., 1909-12-03

Twilight. long, wavering shadows darkness. and night had drawn her starry curtains over the mountain of Inverness. Up from the valley, far beyond the blue-ridged hills,. swept the glorious white moon with her long train of radiant courtiers, casting won- derful silver filagree over the thick foliage of the grand old oaks and slen- mountain side, sailing up, up, until she rested over the wooded heights of In- verness.
 The swift. sharp chatter of a horses hoofs rang out on the summer night, now slow and cautious as a dangerous bend in the mountain was reached, now fast and brave as the road ran evenly along.
 But the black horse and its rider were not the only ones abroad that night in the mountains. Up a narrow rocky path to an overhanging cliff, where one would scarcely imagine a bfrd could stand in safety, a girl. dark haired and slender, climbed with ease and grace and shading her eyes with her hand gazed far down the steep incline.
 For short distance nothing was visible but the winding silver road and tAAO 11OOAliAl NOOQG, put luTlUcE uOWIi the black horse and It's rider pounded along in a cloud of dust.
 The girl stood for an instant. pen sive, thoughtful, poised like a great white bird on the mountains peak; then, with that graceful carelessness inherited by every child of the noun tain. she descended the rocky path, leaping lightly from crag to crag and running swiftly until she reached the n1o o% but happy, for 1t was to her the black horse was bringing it's rider. she a child of the mountain, he descend ant of an old and noble race. An- other moment and the horse of mid night hue stood at the foot of the garden.
 From her retreat on the veranda Irene Valdemar watched its rider alight and come swiftly up the path, and although she appeared to be un- aware of his presence, her eyes, deep and dark as a starless night. a--ar- ently fixed on the silver crested peaks of the mountain, she was in reality admiring the dark, handsome south erner, Richard Lee, who had so strangely come into her life.
 A hunting expedition in the noun tains, losing his way in the thick wood and seeking shelter at the Val uSHldT CdDltlJ Wdb the DeglnnlnE or their acquaintance, and Richard Lee suddenly discovered that the noun tains in the springtime were far more beautiful than the gay, stifling city, and he had fingered in the valley of Inverness. riding every evening on his horse that rivalled the darkness of the night up the steep incline to the home of the fair Irene.
 Tonight she waited for him just as she had waited so often since the eventful evening that the dark, hand some stranger had knocked lightly at the door seeking the hospitality that is so freely offered in the mountains Many castles in the air had the fancy of the little mountain girl reared since then, and always in her dreams she was Irene the princess and Richard her .adoring prince.
 But tonight there was something wrong, something she could not de- fine in his usual happy, careless spirit. A grim sense of foreboding seemed to have enveloped them both, and they sat for many minutes, neither speak ing both busy with their own thoughts.
 The night had all the still calm beau ty of a dream, the air was heavy with the breath of honeysuckle, the little