Carroll County democrat. (Huntingdon, Tenn.) 188?-1971, 1918-02-22

- duACtta was ulahAA8 neA WY AOWM
the fern-lined path to the beach when
she came upon a man sleeping under
the trees. His coat was off and rolled
under his head for a pillow-his hat
and Gladstone bag lay beside him.
Over the hat an enormous black beetle
was crawling.
Pauletta shuddered. "What a place
to slsepl" and she looked again, curl,
Ously. What manner Of man was this
who had flung himself down here? A
tramp2 Certainly not-no tramp ever
wore clothes like that, with hose and
shirt of finest silk. And he was young
and well featured with his hair
rumpled and a smudge on his nose.
The beetle having explored the hat
looked torsnew worlds to conquer. He
numbered awkwardly through the I'M
dergrowth and crawled out onto the
coat upon which lay the untroubled
head Of this modern Orlando.
When Pauletta saw it she screamed
loud enough to awaken the dead, as
old Hannah would have said. In fact,
Hannah up at the cottage heard 1t her.
self and rushed for a megaphone.
miss POl-lyl" she called, anxiously.
"All right, Hannah" BY this time
I the young man was awake and on his
feet frantlcally running his hands
through his hair and trying to bring
back his scattered senses. Where was
he and who was this wood nymph who
stood there smiling3
She was pretty wood nymph at
any rate, and as things cleared up
bit in his brain he ran a smoothing
hand over his hair, pulled at his tie
and bowed quickly.
"Good morning." he said, cor is it
afternoon? When l go to sleep new
! er know when to wake up. / have
habit of even dropping whole days
from my calendar sometimes and not
waking till the morning after next"
Pauletta laughed a musical silver rip
pie that sent a peculiar thrill down to
the young mans toes. ats morning."
she informed him. "About eight
o'clock, / think. And It's Wednesday,
the,flfteenth Of August"
THAT'S all right, then" he said, re-
lleved. 81 haven't dropped a day, but
judging from the hollow in my vitals
I'd say I'd slept as long as old Rip.
You don't happen to know where /
could get bite to eat, do you?
There's only one place around here
that l know of, and that's our cottage.
You see, it's seven miles TO the village"
eyes, know. walked 1t last night
Couldn't get a soul to bring me out;
deadest old hole. this side of Hades."
ITO bring you out?" exclaimed
Paulette in surprise. "There's no one
around here but us and one other emp
ty house"
He looked confused. "You see, l
was hunting some friends. They used
to live in the cottage up there. ! have
been coming every summer, but when
/ arrived last night, behold, / found it
rebuilt and occupied by strangers. 1t
was late and l was too tired to go back
to the village, so l slept here"
1--WE bought it and rebuilt it," ex-
planned Pauletta. 1--WE been all sum-
mer hauling carpenters and timers and
plumbers and painters back and forth
until I'm nearly dead. But dad told
me to attend to 1t, and / always do as
he says-he's so busy. He told me to
spend as much as l wanted on the
place, and so have. You ought to
see it, If you come up now Hannah
will get you some breakfast and I'll
show you around"
Which invitation, appealing as 1t did
to the void in the strangers anatomy,
and coming from this most attractive
young goddess of the wilds, needed no
seconding.
II hate to bother you," he demurred
slightly, "but nature abhors vacuum,
- ;e.A
Breakfast over, delectable feast of
melon, becon, eggs, toast and coffee,
Pauletta took him on tour over the
premises.
"Don't you adore it," she said over
and over as she showed him new pam
cling, French windows with views Of
the lake, clothes presses, new wide ver-
andas and hardwood floors. I'm going
to call it Pinewood Paradise, and we're
going to have no end of house parties
and things. Say'-suddenly struck
with an idea--"there's an old place just
a quarter of a mile beyond this that
could easily be fixed up. There's no
body in it now. It's in terrible condi-
ton, but 1 see possibilities. Why don't
you buy it? We could start regular
colony up here. That's all the place
needs, few more people"
He considered a moment. "It might
be arranged" he answered slowly.