Coulee City dispatch. [volume] (Coulee City, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1938-08-04
CHAPTER II-Continued

CHAPTER II-Continued
3
The woman smiled.
IT think you are English" she
said.
I could hardly believe my ears
and I think my look of amazement
made her laugh. Be that as it may,
the two of us laughed together as
though at some excellent jest, till
bright-eyed girl came running, to
see what the matter might be.
Her mother addressed her in Ger
man, still shaking with mirth, and
the two of them laughed together
before returning to me.
''My mother" said the girl, "can
only speak two or three words, but
I am better, sir, if you will say
what you want"
'She's better than am" said I.
"And you are extremely good. Have
you ever been in England?"
ooh, no. But every summer an
English family stays here. They
come in August to fish. And they
have been good to teach me as
much as I know"
''Do you mean that they stay
here?" said I. "That they lodge
with your"
Always" said Brenda, proudly
for I later learned that that was her
name. ''They have made us beau
tiful bathroom two years ago."
LISTEN" said I. "From nine
o'clock this morning my friend and
I have been securing the country
side to try and find an inn at which
we could possibly stay. We could
not even find one at which we could
break our fast"
Brenda nodded alphabetically.
''The inns are no good" she said.
"Will you receive us?" I said.
eve shan't be any trouble, and my
servant here will do all he can to
help"
The girl consulted her mother. I
watched them with my heart in my
mouth.
Then
''We shall be pleased" she said
simply, until the end of July"
AS may be believed, we did no
more that evening than minister to
our needs and stroll in content about
our heritage. The house, which had
been a bailiff's, was full of fine
rooms: our apartments were all that
two men could ever desire: and the
Rolls was lodged in a coach-house
which would have accepted three
cars. All this was well enough, but
the honest goodwill that was shown
us was such as a man remembers
as long as he lives. With it all, no
questions were asked and we were
left to ourselves.
After breakfast the following day,
we returned to the map. We found
our bearings at once, for the farm
was marked. The name of it was
Raven: and Brief lay II miles off.
Such a distance was very conve-
nient, for while we could have gone
to the castle in 20 minutes or less, we
were out of the range of such Cos
sip as comes to servants hall.
The estate was large, but the cas-
tie stood to one side: and that, of
course, was something, for if it had
stood in the middle, unless we were
ready to trespass, we could have
seen nothing at all. About the estate
stood mountains - so much was
clear. But whether, by climbing
one, we should have fair view of
the castle was more than we could
divine. Still, we carefully penciled
the roads which, so to speak, by
passed Brief on the southern side,
for that was the side upon which the
castle was built. And then we set
out to prove them. Unless the map
was lying, if Brief could be COM
manded from any point, that point
could only be reached from one of
our penciled roads.
At half past ten that morning the
three of us entered the Rolls, and
I drove leisurely westward, while
Herrick and Winter regarded the
countryside. 1t seemed as well to
get our surroundings by heart.
At every side road, stopped, and
we studied the map, so that, though
our progress was slow, we all of
us knew continually where we were.
And then turned north and on to
our penciled roads.
1t was half past twelve and we
were among the mountains, when
the way which we were using began
to rise very steeply, after the way OF
pass. This was SO much to the
good, but hereabouts the map and
the country agreed together so i'll
that we could not determine the