Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-09-02

him through the death of his father and
mother in the middle of his college course.
had not proved . snare to him. After COM
pleting his education. he had travelled ex-
tensively, not through an idle curiosity to
see the world, but from a wish to perfect
himself in certain studies calling for a wider
knowledge than could be gathered from
books or tutors.
1t was during his travels abroad, after he
had left his eccentric schoolmate, Raoul
Arthur, in India, that David first met Una
Leighton, who was spending a winter in
England with her uncle. The meeting ripened
into an intimacy that survived the distrac-
tions Of European travel, and drew David,
a constant visitor. to the picturesque old
mansion, Una's home, on the outskirts of
the little Connecticut village of Rysdale.
There followed those memorable expert
ences of youth-courtship and betrothal.
David loved with all the fervor of a mature
passion, q passion that quite overshadowed
all his former interests. Love for him was an
idyl of dreams and delicious fantasies, n
paradise where he and Una delighted in all
the harmless exaggerations of poetry and
romance. No cloud dimmed their happiness.
The brightest kind Of future seemed to
stretch indefinitely before them.
All the world-the world of Rysdale-
knew of their love and discussed it eagerly.
Their daylong wanderings together. their alb
sorption in each other, appealed to the sensi-
BILE farmers and their wives. who watched
with tireless interest the development of this
romance in their midst. There was some
thing, besides the rumors Of his great wealth,
in the personality Of David that would easily
account for this interest. As a result Of his
long years of solitary travel he had acquired
an indefinable air OF reserve that was en-
phasized by features almost Indian in their
Clean-cut sharpness and immobility. His whole
appearance, indeed, was Of the kind ira
ditionally suggesting mystery-a mystery
that inevitably arouses curiosity in those
who come within its influence.
Had Una been a stranger. spending a sum
mer. as so many strangers did. In the little
mountain hamlet. her intimacy with David
might have passed UNDECIDED. But she be-
longed very much to the place. Generations
ago her ancestors had settled here. At that
initial epoch In local history, Stoneleigh was
the only building of any Importance in or
near Rysdale-and from that period to this
Stoneleigh had been the home of the Leigh
tons. Before they bought the gray-gabled
mansion (St. Maurs House, it was then
called) it was occupied by a small congrega-
ton of Benedictines who came from France
to establish themselves in this quiet corner
of the new world. When the house passed
from the monks into the hands of that stout
Scotch pioneer. John Leighton, it was a DESC
late sort of ruin. But its wall were well
built and the thrift of its new owners grad
ually added the wings and the square, cen
trail tower needed for the family comfort.
Leighton was thus one Of the Oldest names
in the neighborhood. The family bearing It
naO always prOSpereu. 1eaTS ago tNelT IN
come, what with careful saving and shrewd
investment. was sufficient to let them give
up farming. This they did, and settled down
to the dignifed ease thaeln an English com
munity belongs to the1ho0sehold of a county
squire or to a lord oil the manor"
Harold Leighton, the present owner of
Stoneleigh. was more of n recluse than any
of his predecessors. To the gossips OF Rys-
dale. indeed, who knew something of the his
tory of the place, 1t seemed as II the cowl
A. d.. fo,,-lA- 80 h. hnttcA haH
fallen upon the shoulders Of this gray-haired
old man. He was looked upon as a student
of Improbable matters, lacking In the canny
enterprise distinguishing the Leightons be-
fore him.. and that had built up the family
fortunes. BY some he was liked by others
and these were in the majority-the satirical
smile. the cool reserve, the of su-
periority with which he met the social ad-
vances of his neighbors, were set down as
indications of a character to be watched with
suspicion and that were certainly not or the
right Rysdale stamp.
Una. however. was different. The villagers
did not regard her with the hostility that they
had for her uncle. Orphaned at an early
age, she had easily captured and held the
affection of those who knew her. The tawny-
haired girl, bubbling over with friendly pratt
tie. her gray eyes-bluer then. as with the
sky-tint Of a clear dawn-sparkling with
youthful enthusiasms,I had a host of COM
rades and admirers long before she reached
her teens. With equal grace and favor this
radiant little creature accepted the tribute
of farmer and farmland, and when 1t came
to playmates was decidedly more at ease with
the village maidens than with the decorous
young ladies' who were occasionally brought
to Stoneleigh on a visit Of state from the city,
AS Una grew older, this choice of associates.
unchecked and even encouraged by her uncle
and Elizabeth Quayle, the worthy but not
overastute matron who looked after Leigh
toms household. had its drawbacks. The
girls beauty, which was of no ordinary kind,
inevitably touched with its flame victims who
were not socially intended for this kind OF
confiagration. Una sometimes shared In their
subsequent misery: but she was unable TO
tighten their woes in the only way they could
be lightened.
And when she discovered that the refusal
of their offers usually meant the breaking up
of a treasured friendship, she had been
known to weep bitterly and form all kinds of
self-denying resolutions for the future.
The climax to her griefs in this respect, a
climax partly responsible for her flight TO
Europe. came through the weakness ESQ his
indignant aunt called IT'D of the district
sehoolmaster, Andrew Parmeiee Andrew
was a solitary dreamer, a friendless, inof.
fensive sort of person., absorbed in books,