The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1922-07-26

OtlcI presence Lndu your OWN nSlQe
of it would be desecration-even your
husbands. You are the hermit
thrush, and the chaIet is your nest"
The Nest she had named it forth
with. Katherine had no reason for
desiring such exclusiveness save the
whimsical one one Of absolute PER
sonal possession entirely free from
interruption; a retreat that was all
her own where she could seek and
find ~seclution and solitude whenever
she wished, and where both would be
perfect and ~inyiolate.
HHr favorite etchings and draw
nlgs, her choicest books, her senti-
mental penates that she had select
ed and preserved since childhood,
her tenderest i,eepsakes, were there.
So was her easel, before which she
passed many hours with palette and
knife and brushes, or with pencil and
So was her desk there, over in one
crayon as the whim might take her.
corner between two windows that
overlooked the lake at different an
gles-windows which permitted of
no vision Of the interior without; as,
indeed, was the rule without excep-
ton for every other window, too.
Katherine required no key with
which to enter the Nest.
The lock which guarded its one
door of entrance had been made and
adjusted for her by the so-called best
locRmakers in the world. It had
neither dial nor keyhole; it was in
visible, and its presence unsupported
and was as great a mystery from
I the inside &C from without
Simple enough, all of it, to Kath-
ERNIE; yet a stranger outside of that
chalet could not get in, and, by the
same token, a person inside of it
and unwise in it's secret, could not
get out; for the windows were
guarded as thoroughly and as skill
fully, and by the same sort of mech
anism as the door. When she was
inside, the steel blinds that covered
them were showed aside by the mere
pressure of one of her fingers upon
the secret springs; and even then
their arrangement was such that
! prying or curious eyes could not see
past them to the daintiness and
homeyness inside.
The ventilation was ample and
complete, and could be rendered
greater, or less, by the pressure of
< a finger. Indeed, very many mys-
: FERROUS things could be accomplished
there by the touch of Katherine's
fingers.
The Nest was really a wonderful
/, place.
l 1T contained every Icomfort and
2 convenience of a tiny home; and it
: stood high perched upon the bluff al
one end of the dam that was as sol
S id and substantial in its way as that
one of Ashokan.
e The little house was made of un-
e cut, hillside stones. The roof was
v of ~terracotta tile. The door and the
v windows were framed with oak en-.
a cased in steel. 1t was built at tn,
pinnacle of the taller of the tw,
bluffs, which stood at either side O.
l. the narro wravivne like s~entinels OF
guard above the dam, and there wa!
but one pathway to it with a fligh
of stairs at the top which could b.
transformed into no stairs at all b,
Y another touch of one of Katherine
Y fingers inside of the house, or below
p the stairs outside of it.
le There were many other secrets
also, than those already described
d connected with Katherine's whimsi
cal hobby-but they need not b
gone into just now; We Eiil lear
1T more about them later on.
2 She had day-dreamed of some tim
ut possessing just such d place eve
since, as a child, she had iallen un
er der the destinations Of Sir Waite
ne SCOTS masterpiece; and when Bine
81 Io-o1- fo-Ao-. fo4I. NJ TI~-41
er made her a belated wedding preser
lg of inquest, she at once chose tt
e tall bluff over the ravine as til
on proper location for the fulfillment {
he'd lifeling dream.
of So she mounted the steep path
the bottom of the stairs, touchir
NO as she drew near, the small sprir
de that made them practicable, al
ne pressing upon another one after 81
of entered the house, which restor'
lbt them to their former condition
by steep and smooth inaccessibility; al
he it is worthy of note that if one hi
nd stood at her elbow looking on VIII
ev- she performed either act, one cou
the not have seen her do it, nor ha
de- told how it had been done.
.g. Then
wO Sleep-bleSsed sleep-content
est sleep. The sleep of perfect securit
the of utter safety, Of complete sec
red sion. Even her own bedroom in t
1ilt great house beyond the lake h
and lever been so much her home as I
elf Nest. There she could be found, a
the routed out; at the Nest there was
of such possibility.
the Bing would know, when he miss
her in the morning, where she /
n gone; he would not know why, but
rely would not be impatient to know e'
ngs that-and if he should particula
her want her there did exist a sec
in means of communication between
,out two places, known only to the
able selves, by which he could call he
llg- Katherine slept.
ries, Within the great house Com
no Belknap also slept-in the depths