The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1924-09-11
ole
Mystery
Road

black-robed maid hastened toward her.
Pauline shook her head.
"This afternoon do not wish to
rest" she decided. II shall walk in
the gardens" -a.a,
Pauline descended the stone steps.
crossed the drive and plunged into
narrow footpath which wound its way
through plantation of stilnted bur
understanding pine trees. DOWNWARD
toward the sea. The path was not an
easy one. and Pauline's shoes were
scarcely designed for such an adven-
ture. Nevertheless, she persevered.
At last she gained her end. She stood
upon the little strip Of sand. besprin-
killed. with rocks, which bordered the
sea. Only few yards away the SHIN
mering blue water rocked toward the
land In little wavelets. She turned
and looked back. The villa from
which she had come seemed like
dolls house shinin. out of its shelter
Ing clump of Expresses. More directly
above her now was the far more extern
sive residence of Lord Hinterleys. She
looked toward 1t searchingly. There
were several people upon the broad
veranda, amongst them the slim figure
Of a young man al It's farther edge,
gazing intently in her direction. She
smiled little as she picked her steps
across the yellow sand to the edge OF
the sea and clambered on to rock.
A %
her. She stood upon the top of the
slippery rock, finding a strange pleas
ure In the salt-laden air and the wind
which brought thousand ripples OF
light to the trembling blue sea, which
blew her skirts about, and even
brought disarrangement to her smooth
~ bound hair. This tempering of the
sunshine brought = new joy to Its
warmth. She stood there basSing in q
purely sensuous pleasure. fOrgetful for
q moment Of the depression of the
morning. The sound of tumbling
stones In the little gorge behind
scarcely disturbed her. 1t was not
until she heard footsteps upon the
strip of beach that she turned her
head. Coming toward her. already
only a few yards away. was young
man of personable appearance and I'M
wOntedly determined expression. For
once in his life Gerald had made up
his mind
Although he was in reality brimful
Of confidence in all his relations with
the other sex, Gerald had sometimes
q not altogether unattractive appear
ance Of shyness. He stood bareheaded
for q moment, looking up at Pauline.
s"I am sorry If startled you." he
said. 81 was looking for my sister.
know this is a favorite place Of hers,
and when saw you standing there
rather jumped to the conclusion that
you must be She"
Really" Pauline replied. Are we
90 much alike. then?"
"Not in the least" he declared
frankly.
"That seems to make your explana-
ton q little insufficient, does ii not?"
Pauline remarked
Gerald settled down to business.
III know that ought to have turned
back" he said, ''but, after all, wasn't
It mucl, more natural of me to come
on? I have been trying, ever since
Hrst saw you, to get someone to intro
duce me-we are, after all, as have
Just discovered, to my great delight,
neighbors-and this Is the Riviera, not
Berkeley square. May tell you that
, sc
father and sister have the villa up
there, and that, from the moment /
saw you, have been anxious to make
your acquaintanceY
She looked at him in silence for a
moment, half critically, half thought
fully. There was nothing absolutely
dlsc0uraging in her attitude, and yet
Gerald somehow conceived the idea
that this might not, after all, be so
easy an affair as he had hoped.
"Are you used to enlarging your ac-
quaintance in this manner?" she asked.
Il very seldom feel the desire to do
so,"s he assured Ter. Don't be an
noyed, please. / am really quite q re-
spectacle person. will call upon
your aunt, If she will give me permis-
sion"
For the first time Pauline smiled.
1t was rather cold smile, but the fact
that 1t was smile at all was encour-
aging.
~ fancy that you had better dis
miss that suggestion from your mind
altogether" she said. my aunt does
not receive here, and she certainly
would not welcome you as caller"
"Why notT Gerald inquired. little
perturbed.
Because you are young man"
Pauline replied. There are two things
which my aunt breads more than any
thing else in life-a bad throat for
herself. and young men for me-" i.
II don't see how she can hope to
keep young men away from you alto
gether." Gerald declared. you don't
mind my saying, do you, that you are
the sort of girl whom young men would
want to know" .s,
Her smile returned. She even
laughed slightly, showing some very