The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-31
CHAPTER VII.
THE ROSEWOOD BOX.

THE ROSEWOOD BOX.
On the GIRL Tom ranshaw's passionate.
stormy avowal had the effect OF a sort OF
moral earthquake 1t left the ground be-
meath her feet suddenly unstable and
treacherous; It threatened TO bring down
her life. The very thing she had relied
upon for shelter and security against out
side troubles and dangers. was, on the
instant fraught with a greater danger
Her instinct, when she left him. was
simply one OF escape. AS she had said.
been taken for granted; had always been
matter of-fact Long before her fathers
departure on that last voyage OF his. ever
since she could remember, In fact. she
had taken her association with Tom her
affection for him and his for her. COM
pletely as a matter OF course. They could
not have felt any differently toward each
other II they had. indeed, been brother
and sister.
She was three or four years younger
than he. but her girIish precocity had
ages. and now that both had grown to
maturity, It had completely ceased to ex-
lst. Indeed. since the time when her
first party had given her the status Of
an undeniable grown-up, she had felt Ike
an elder sister OF his. rather thans a
younger one. She had stayed. at home.
for one thing. while Tom had been away
at school, and there. in the intimacy Of
comradeship TO which her father had ad-
mftted her, her mind had matured un-
usually usually rapidly She had wider ae.
least, at twenty-five than Tom had at
twenty six.
She had teased him out of his youth
full absurditles, been proud of him.
| laughed at him. quarreled with him. only
to make UP the quarrel with some cool
| little. fugitive caress. without one single
| without n msgiving whether. after all.
| this relationship, that seemed so firmly
established might prove impossible as a
permanent one.
ror the first few moments after his
avowal she had felt no emotion other than
that OF astonfshment and incredulity.
Even when he asked her If she could not
marry him. anyway, though the question
| revolted her. she told the truth in saying
that she was not angry.
| Tho answer came later. but 1t burned
into flame that was all the hotter for
| Its tardiness in klndling. 1t must have
an outlet somewhere, and such. the
promenade UP and down the other side OF
| the deck was altogether insufficient
The sight OF small boat at the foot OF
the accommodation ladder seemed to offer
something better. So. pulling on a pair
cast off the painter. shipped the pair OF
light oars 1t contained. and rowed away
without any thought Of her destination
OF any destination whatever: without.
! even, very clear idea OF what she was
| doing. She must do something; that was
| all she knew. Certainly she pulled away
from the yachts side with no idea that
she was running into any possible danger.
She had believed Cayley's story She
was the only person on the yacht who
| had believed II fully. Yet the belief did
not translate Itself into any bar to her
| actions.
Profound as was the impression Gayle,
| had made upon her. she had not, as yet
articulated him at all into her real world
set her imagination on fire when she saw
him and heard his voice. But when he
took wing again. he left a strange feel
Ing of unreality behind him. That sense
OF unreality was all the stronger now
| that almost the realest thing in her uni
yerse-namely, her relation with Tom
| Fanshaw-was absorbing the full power
both OF her mind and OF her emotions.
1t was half a mile. perhaps. from the
| yacht to the particular bit OF shelving
, beach toward which she unconsclously
WITHOUT so much as glance over heI
| shoulder until she felt the CRATE OF the
shingle, beneath the bow.
! She became aware, not only that she
| had unconsciously come ashore, but also
| that the yacht was nowhere to be seen
| a bank OF fog had come rolling In from
the eastward, so heavy as to render al
object one hundred PAGES away totally
| Invisible. The clump of empty buildings
here on the beach could hardly be hall
that distance, as she remembered. YET
looking round from her seat In the row
i boat. she could make out no more thar
| their blurred masses against the white
Ice and sand which surrounded them.
She shivered at first with an instructive
deed But she braced herself and dis
| missed her fear. Solitude was what she
had left the yacht for; and, then. II was
condition she could terminate at will
Through the still air and across that quiet
water her voice would carry easily &c
Toms ears She had only to hail ant
she would near his voice In answer,
| For moment she thought she would
| Then Iecl1e6 hp u
II Tom should miss her, he would GER
tainly cali aloud. and she could answer
and use his voice to guide her, back &c
some such assistance. She had only a
vague idea in what quarter the yacht
getting really lost, indeed. was too great
| to be taken.
She scrambled out of the boat and
pulled u high up on the beach. The fog
made the air seem cold. though for the
arctic 1t was a mild night. Two OF the
abandoned buildings on the beach behind
| lutely bare. never having served. evil
storage But The third, and largest, as
she remembered It, offered a shelter thar
was becoming attractive There were
some rude hunks in it where she could
| rest comfortably enough: and, unless she
a half burned candle which they had used
in exploring IT'S dark interior. She had a
| box OF wax vestas In her pocket. She
could go in there and make herself at
home, and at the same time keep an alert
ear for n hail from the yacht
she found the candle in the place
where she remembered Scales had laid IL
down struck light and wedecd the cam
| die into a knot-hole. She turned toward
one of the hunks with the Idea of stretch
ing out there. and by relaxing here mus
cles. persuade. perhaps. her overstrune
| nerves to relax, too
| She had taken n step toward II. indeed.
before she saw. through The muTk and
candle smoke the thing that lay right
| before her eYes-a rather large, brass
bound rosewood box or chest II had not
| been here in the afternoon when they
had entered the place. for they had
searched It's bare Interior thoroughly In
| the hope that there might be something
which previous investigators had over
| looked. This box six inches high and a
| fool long or more, could not have been
here then. II was standing now in the
most conspicuous place in the room-ln
! the very middle Of the bunk
The sight OF It might well have caused
astonishment or alarm in the girls mind.
| Eut II was neither alarm nor astoDlsh-
ment that her next act expressed. She
| 0ron,p1 down on hpr knees beside the