The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-08-14
THE FATAL
[A|[llI BIZ |
BY CHARLES GARVlCE.
Copyright, 1909, by George H. Doran
Company
CHAPTER V.
The First Meeting.

prise sufficiently to raise his hat.
Il beg your pardon he said.
I'm awfully sorry to disturb You,
but I've lost my way l was cross
ing the moor, a mist came on, and
- VIII you be so good as to tell
me where am?'
The girl swept her dsengaged
/ hand across her face and wiped il
/ free from the powder which fleck-
ed cheek and eyelashes and the
rough tresses of the dark, almost
black hair which fell in disorder
on her low brow She stepped
across the threshold and Ronald
gazed at her with still greater sur
prise for he looked on face Of
singular beauty. 1t was one of an
almost perfect oval, with cleanly cut
features, with lips glowing redly
above the flour-beladen sack; win
eyes of a dark grey as brilliant as
the stars that shone above him;
with dark, soft hair framing the up
per part of the face, and only half
screening the small, shell-like ears.
Though Ronald did not know it
for he knew nothing of pictures or
of books, only of cricket-bats, fenc-
ing-foils. boxing-gloyes, tennis-rack
nj ha 1A,,ly ysl
like one of Murillo's girls just step.
ped from the doorway which might
have served as frame.
The dark grey, brilliant eyes met
his somewhat startled ones, without
a trace of fear or shyness; indeed,
her dark brows came together with
a frOwn as if she resented his ap-
pearance and his manner Of announc-
ing it.
You threw a stone and broke
my window she said, in a voice of
deep, but sweet, contralto.
Il did admitted Ronald "Tm
sorry. But l knocked first, ever so
many times, and | could not make
any one hear. You must let me pay
for the window and accept my apol-
ogies. Where am -"
This is Moor Mill" she said not
sullenly, but with resentment sill /.
in her tone.
Thanks" he said; but that
doesn't help me much. I want to
get to Shelford"
'Shelford?" she repeated almost .
as if she had never heard of the .
place. It's over there somewhere" "
She waved the shining scoop vague
ly in the direction from which he
had come. You are out of your
way"
That's evident" said Ronald in
his cheerful devil-may-care fashion.
Well, l must try and find it. say,
would you be so kind as to give me
a match-a box, if you can spare
it,"
"I'll see," she said.
She turned. and was about to
close the door an. probably. bolt
1t; but in the act of doing so. she
paused and looked with unconcealed
keenness at his handsome face;
something in it must have reassured
her. for she left the door open,
and disappeared in the interior of
the mill.
Ronald, who always preferred sit
ting to standing. stepped in and
seated himself on a flour-bin. The
impression of the girls beauty
which, in its way was as wierd as
the mill, had not worn off and he
was wondering who she was, and
she was alone in that ex-
traordinary wild and dreary spot.
II was not only her beauty which
had set his curiosity agog and
awakened strange interest-'th,s
Part of Deyonshire is rich in pretty
girls; You cannot take a miles walk (
without seeing them; they are ia
nous wherever the English tongue
wags--but there was something
about this girl Of the mill which
her from the ordinary
rustic beauty For instance, the Dev-
lnshire lass Of the peasant class Is
usually somewhat meek, and always
shy in the presence of strangers. es-
A Real Remedy