Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1910-02-09

suggested that we should go home y;
and even after her aunt called to her,
the girl still stood, one hand resting
upon the trunk of great beech, her
gaze bent wistfully, mournfully to-
ward the lake. But on the homeward
drive-she had asked for the reins
again-her mood changed abruptly
and she talked cheerily, often turning
her head-a scarlet-banded sailor hat
was, I thought, remarkably becoming
Ito chaff about her skill with the
reins.
II haven't a care or trouble in the
world" declared Miss Pat when I left
them at st. Agatha's. II am sure that
We have known the worst that can
happen to us in Annandale. I refuse
to be bit frightened after that
drive"
1T was charming" said Helen.
"This is better than the English lake
country, because it isn't so smoothed
out"
II will grant you all of that" I said.
II will go further and admit-what is
much for me-that it is almost equal
to Killarney"
There seemed to be sincerity in
their good spirits, and I was myself
refreshed and relieved as I drove into
Glenarm; but arranged for the same
guard as on the night before. Helen
Holbrook's double-dealing created a
condition of affairs that demanded
cautious handling, and had no inten-
ton Of being caught mapping.
From the window of my room saw
the Japanese boy patrolling the walks
Of st. Agatha's. A blackboard Of young
sters from Port Annandale passed in
the road, leaving trail of song be-
hind them. Then the frog choruses
from the little brook that lay hidden
in the Glenarm wood sounded in my
ears with maddening iteration, and I
sought the open.
The previous night had met Helen
Holbrook by the stone seat on the
ridge, and I cannot deny that it was
with the hope of seeing her again that
set forth. She was beautiful with a
rare loneliness at all times, yet found
myself wondering whether, on the
strange frontiers of love, it was her
daring duplicity that appealed to me.
I set myself stubbornly into a pillory
reared Of my own shame at the
thought, and went out and climbed
upon the Glenarm wall and stared at
the dark bulk of st. Agatha's as pun
ished myself for having entertained
any other thought of Helen Holbrook
than of a weak, vain, ungrateful girl,
capable of making sad mischief for
her benefactor.
lima passed and repassed in the
paved walk that curved among the
school buildings; heard his step, and
marked his pauses as he met the gar
dener at the front door by an arrange
ment that I had suggested. AS con-
sidered the matter I concluded that
Helen Holbrook could readily slip out
at the back of the house, when the
guards thus met, and that she had
thus found egress on the night before.
At this moment the two guards met
precisely at the front door, and to my
surprise Sister Margaret, in the brown
garb of her sisterhood, stepped out,
nodded to the watchmen in the light
of the overhanging lamp, and walked
slowly round the buildings and toward
the lake. The men promptly resumed
their patrol. The sister slipped away
like a shadow through the garden;
and I dropped down from the wall in
side the school park and stole after
her. The guards were guilty of no
improperly in passing her; there was,
to be sure, no reason why Sister Mar
garet should not do precisely as she
liked at St.. Agatha's. However, ny
curiosity was piqued, and I crept quiet,
ly along through the young naples
that fringed the wall. She followed
path that led down to the pier, and
hung back to watch, still believing
that Sister Margaret had gone forth
merely to enjoy the peace and beauty
Of the night. I paused in little thick.
ct, and heard her light step on the
pier flooring; and I drew as near as I
dared, in the shadow Of the boathouse.
She stood beside the upright sta6