Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1909-12-29
CHAPTER Viii.
A Lady of Shadows and Starlight.

- GdOy OI 0IldOOWS anu SIdTIIQnI
1t was nine o'clock before lima
came in, dripping from his tumble in
the lake and his walk home through
the rain. The Italian had made no ef-
fort to modest him, he reported; but
he had watched the man row out to
the Stiletto and climb aboard. lima
has an unbroken record of never hav-
ing asked me a question inspired by
curiosity. He may inquire which shoes
l want for particular morning, but
why, where and when are unknown in
his vocabulary. He was, l knew, fair
ly entitled to an explanation of the in
cident of the afternoon, though he
would ask none, and when he had
changed his clothes and reported to
me in the library 1 told him in a word
that there might be further trouble,
and that l should expect him to stand
night watch at st. Agathas for a
while, dividing a patrol of the grounds
with the gardener. His Yes, SIR
was as calm as though 1 had told him
to lay out my dress clothes, and l
went with him to look up the gardener
that the division of patrol duty might
be thoroughly understood.
| gave the Scotchman revolver
and Lima bore under his arm repeat
ing rifle with which he and I had d.
verted ourselves at times in the pleas
ant practice of breaking glass balls. l
assigned him the waterfront and told
the gardener to look out for intruders
from the road. These precautions
taken, 1 rang the bell at St. Agatha's
and asked for the ladies, but was re-
lieved to learn that they had retired,
for the situation would not be helped
by debate, and if they were to remain
at st. Agatha's it was my affair to
plan the necessary defensive strategy
without troubling them. And 1 must
admit here, that at all times, from the
moment. 1 first saw Helen Holbrook
with her father at Red Gate, l had
every intention of shielding her to the
utmost. The thought of trapping her,
of catching her, fiagrante delicto, was
revolving; 1 had, perhaps, a notion
that in some way l should be able to
thwart her without showing my own
hand; but this, as will appear, was
not to be so easily accomplished.
l went home and read for an hour,
then got into heavy shoes and set
forth to reconnoiter. The chief ave-
nue. of danger lay, imagined, across
the lake, and passed through st. Aga
tha's to see that my guards were
about their business; then continued
along a wooded bluff that rose to
icrh al hn lob
There was a winding path which the
pilgrimages of schoolgirls in spring
and autumn had worn hard, and l fol-
lowed it to its crest, where there was
a stone bench, established for the ease
of those who wished to take their sun.
sets in comfort
The path that rose through the
wood from st. Agatha's declined again
from the seat, and came out some
sacred to the schoolgirls, and where, /
dare say, they still indulge in the in
carnations of their species. / amused
myself picking out the pier lights as
far as | had learned them, following
one of the lake steamers on its zigzag
course from Port Annandale to the vii
lage. Eleven chimed from the chapel
clock, the strokes stealing up to me
dreamily. A moment later l heard
step in the path behind me, light,
quick, and eager, and bent down low
on the bench, so that its back shielded
me from view, and waited. The steps
drew closer to the bench, and some
one passed behind me- 1 was quite
sure that it was a woman from the
lightness of the step, the feminine
quality in the voice that continued to
hum little song, and at the last mo-
ment the soft rustic of skirts. l rose
and spoke her name before my eyes
were sure of her.
Miss Holbrooki" / exclaimed.
She did not cry out, though she
stepped back quickly from the bench.
"Oh, it's you, Mr.. Donovan, is it?"
1T most certainly isl" l laughed.
We seem to have similar tastes, Miss
Holbrook."
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