The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1923-06-20
a Romance
By Zane Grey
Copyright by Harper and Brothers

physical discomfort as Il reminder of
her adventurous experiences. If 1t had
ndt been fer the quiet and persistent
guardianship of her cowboys she might
almost have forgotten Don Carlos and
The raiders. Madeline was assured of
the splendid physical fitness to which
this ranch life had developed her, and
that she was assimilating something
Of the Western disregard of danger,
A hard ride, an accident, a day in the
sun and dust, an adventure with out
laws-these might once have been
matters of large import, but now for
Madeline they were IL order with all
the rest of her changed life.
There was never "a day thai some
thing interesting was not brought to
her notice. Sillwell, who had cease
lessly r~eproached himself for riding
away the morning Madeline was cap
tured. grew more like an anxious par
ent than a faithful superintendent. He
was never at ease regarding her unless
he was near the ranch or had left
Stewart there, or else Nels and Nick
Steele. Naturally. he trusted more to
Stewart than to any n else.
Miss Majesty, it's SURF amazin'
strange about Gene" said the old cat
tleman, as he tramped into Madeline's
office.
whats the matter now?" she in
CURED.
wal, Gene has rustled off into the
mountains again. He's sneaked off.
IN Nels, who was down TO the lower
trail, saw him meet somebody that
looked like Padre Marcos. Wal, l went
down to the church, and, sure enough,
Padre Marcos is gone. What do you
think of that, Miss Majesty?"
Maybe Stewart is getting religious"
laughed Madeline. Let him take his
mysterious trips into the mountains.
Here, Stillwell, l have news for you
that may give you eason for worry. |
have letters from home. And my sis
ter, with a party of friends, is coming
out to visit me. They are society folk,
and one of them is an English lord.
Let me read you a few extracts from
my mail"
Madeline took up her sisters letter
with a strange sensation of how cas-
lily sight of a crested monogram and
scent of d~elicately perfumed paper
could recall the brilliant life she had
given up. She scanned the pages of
beautiful handwriting. Helen seldom
wrote letters, and she never read any
thing, not even popular novels of the
day. She was as absolutely ignorant
of the West as the Englishman. who,
she said, expected TO hunt buffalo and
fight Indians. Moreover, there was d
satiric note in the letter that Made
line did not like, and which reused
her spirit.
When she finished reading aloud a
few paragraphs the old eattleman
snorted and his face grew redder.
"Did your sister write that?" he
asked. Does she think we're a lot of
wild men from Borneo?"
Evidently she does. l rather think
she is in for a surprise. Now, Still
well, you are clever and you can see
the situation. l want my guests to en-
joy their stay here, but l do not want
that to be at the expense of the feel
ings of all of us, or even any one.
Helen will bring a lively crowd.
They'll crave excitement-the% unusual.
Let us see that they are not disap-
pointed. You take the boys into your
confidence. Tell them what to expect.
opJ toll thorn hayu = n mont If shall
help you in that. l want the boys to
be on dress-parade when they are off
duty. l want them to be on their
most elegant behavior. l do not care
what they do, what measures they
take to protect themselves, what tricks
they contrive, so long as they do not
overstep the limit of kindness and