The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-04-07
 LADY ATHLYNE
Copyright, 1908, by BRAM SMOKER Entered at Stationer's Hall-An rights reserved


rugged slope of rock and oleander at the wrinkled sea beneath his image seemed to fit before the eyes of her soul in kaleidoscopic form It was an instant of true feminine receptivity: the form did not matter, she was con- tent to accept the Man.
 me cause.-the sudden cause of this change was her mothers attitude She mad accepted him as a reality and had not hesitated to condemn him as though he was a conscious participant in what had passed. Joy had found herself placed in a position in which she had to hear him unfairly treated; without being able to make any kind or protest. It was too ridiculous to argue. What on earth could her moth CT know about him that she should take it for granted that he had done wrong? He who had never seen her or even heard of her! He who was the very last man in the world to be wanting to woman in the way of re- spect-of tenderness-of love. Here she started and looked around cautiously as one does who is suSpic- ious of being watched. For it flashed across her all at once that she knew no more of him than did her mother. AS yet he was only an abstraction and her mothers conception of him differ ed from hers. And as she thought. and thought truly for she was clever girl. she began to realize that she had all along been clothing an abstract in dividuality with her own wishes and dreams-and hopes. = The last thought brought her up sharply. With quick shake of the head she threw aside for the present all thoughts on the subject. and impulsively went back to the carriage.
 There were however a few root thoughts left which would not be thrown aside. They could not be, for they were fixed in her womanhood. Another woman had accepted her dream as a reality; and now, as that reality was her doing. he was her own man. And he was misunderstood and blamed and unfairly treated! It was her duty to protect him!
 Had Aunt Judy been aware Of her logical process and its conclusion she could have expressed 1t thus:
 'Hm! a man in her mind-Her man. Her duty to protest. '. We all know what that means. He's only in her mind at present Hm"
 The whole day was spent on the road, for the beauty was such that the stoppages were endless. Joy. with the new-arisen soul which took her out of her own thoughts. found delight Tn every moment. She could hardly con- tain her rapture fresh vistas of beauty burst upon her. When the curve of the promontory began to cut off the view of Vesuvius and the plain seaward of 1t, she got out of the car riage and ran back to where she could have a full view. Underneath her lay the wonderful scene of matchless beauty. To the right rose Vesuvius a mass of warm colour, with its cinder cone staring boldly into the blue sky a faint cloud hanging over it like flag. Below it was the sloping plain dotted with trees and villas and vil- 1ages. articu1ated in the clear air like miniature map. Then the great curve of the bay. the sapphire sea marked clearly on the outline of the coast from Iscflfa which rose like a Jewel from a jewel. Past Naples. clustering mass yy1 dtT1c nIIf and the great fortress crowning grim ly the hill above it. Past Portici and the buried Herculaneum; till getting closer the roofs and trees and gardens seemed to run up to where she stood. To the left. a silhouette Of splendid soft purple. rose the island of Capri from the sea of sapphire which seemed to Quiver in the sunshine. Long she look ed, and then closing her eyes to prove that the lovely image still held in the darkness. she turned with a long sigh of ecstasy and walked slowly to the waiting carriage.
 last she made up her mind to walk all together until she should get tired. The driver took his cue from her movements when to stop and when to go on-
 The road round the Peninsula runs high up the mountain side with mostly a steep precipice to seaward and on the other hand towering rocks. But
 
 est vegetation! Rocks rich in colour and quaint in shope; with jagged points and deep crevices in which earth could gather and where trees and shrubs and flowers could cling. High overhead hung here end there beautiful stone pine and red twisted trunk and spread ing branches. Fig and lemon trees rose in the sheltered angles. the long yellow shoots of the new branches of the lemon cutting into the air like 1ances. Elsewhere beech and chestnut, oak and palm. Trailing over the rocks, both seaward and 1andward, creepers of soft green and pink. And above all, high up on the skyline. the semi-trans- parent, smoke-coloured foliage of the olives that crowned the slopes
 Then the towni Maggiore and Analf a more turbulent age, climbing up the chasms in the hillside. Narrow streets, so steep as to look impossible to traf- fc. Queer houses of all sorts of ir- Small windows. high doors,~ steep, rugged irregularly-sloping steps as though time and some mighty force had shaken the very rocks on which she could stay there for ever, and that each day would be a dream. and each fresh exploration a time of delight. In her secret heart of hearts she register ed VOW that if ever she should go on a. wedding journey it should be to there.
 At Amalfi they had tea, and then made un their minds that they would drive on to Salerno and there take train home; for it would be time to travel quick when so long a journey had been taken.
 When they were at the end of the peninsula sudden storm came on. For awhile they had seen far out at sea a dark cloud gathering, but it was so far away that they did not think it would affect them. The driver knew and began to make ready, for there was no escaping from it. He turned his horses heads to the rock and wedged up the wheels of the carriage with heavy stones so that in case the