The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-11-23
Prologue bEeve s s:4 !;
Q MARTHA os1Ehso-wNu SERVICE

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''he'n probably tell you what it is
better than I could, my dear.
Though, for that matter, I am in
clined to agree with him in this, I
think"
"What do you mean by that, Hec-
tori"
81 mean-you should not have
come home," Hector said abruptly.
Autumn got irnpatiently to her feet
and stood before him, her hands on
her hips. "Now, see here, Hector"
she exclaimed, "are you going to be
as unreasonable as father has been
about my coming back where I be-
long? He has been perfectly ridicu-
lous about it all this time. I've been
fed up with Europe for two years.
wanted to come back when l was
through college-and I certainly
should have come if it had not been
for Aunt Flo's illness. If ever see
French watering place again I'll
exploded"
Old Hector rubbed his palms ner-
vously together. 81 know, Autumn,
I know. But-your father is not a
happy man, my dear. He-he is
given to moods of melancholy-of-
of brooding. Moreover, he has new
er considered the ranch a proper
environment for you. Pm afraid it
will distress him very much that
YOU have come back"
Autumn flung her head inpetu-
ously upward. 'fThat is simple nom
sense!" she declared. SIS Monte
Carlo my proper environment? Is
Mayfair" She reached for a ciga-
rette on the low lacquered table be-
side the couch, lit it and waved it
triumphantly. GIVE put up with cru
dition and polishing and attempts to
marry me off to anemic noblemen
until I'm sick of it, and now I'm
home. I'm home because I belong
here-here in British Columbia
here in the Upper Country-here be-
tween the Rockies and the Cascades.
Doesn't that sound dramatic? And
here I'm going to stick!"
you'll probably stick, as you
say" Hector commented. you've
got enough of Jarvis Dean in you
for that. And if you hadn't-there's
still the blood of Millicent OdeQ.
If you don't get what you want from
sheer stubbornness, you'll get it be-
cause no one will have the heart to
refuse you"
ga very dangerous combination,
Ell, Hector?" Autumn observed.
She refused a second glass of
wine, although Hector filled his own
once more. She moved to the man.
tel and examined one or two of the
curios upon it, amulets, ancient dice,
an Italian dagger with a jeweled
hilt, a string of Inca beads hanging
down over the Dutch tiles. Some of
the things she could recall, others
had been acquired by Hector in his
travels since she had last seen him.
Presently her eyes fell upon a
strange brass object with a strap
attached to its top. She picked it
up. Instantly sound of unutter-
able purity pierced the room with a
thin, thrilling resonance that seemed
to drift on and on, beyond the con-
fines of the bedecked walls. Star
tied and entranced with the beauty
of the sound, Autumn turned to Hec-
tor and saw that he had risen and
was coming toward her.
81 picked that up in Spain on a
walking trip I took one year through
the mountains" he told her. ''It is
a Basque bella Basque sheep
bell"
"I've never heard anything so
lovely!" Autumn exclaimed, turning
the bell up to examine it more care
fully.
Hector looked down at it and
whimsical usefulness came into his
face. "I should like you to have it,
Autumn" he said. when you come
in again, take it out with you. There
is no one else I would give it to, my
dear-not even your father"
She looked up at him in quick,
pleased surprise, holding the bell so
that it chimed again, light and clear
as the echo of fay song in some
unearthly place. ''Do you really
mean that, Hector" she said softly.
''I know how you hate to part with
your treasures-and this one"
'Tt's very DID," Hector murmuced,
and his eyes narrowed with a
strange absent dinness, as though
he were looking into the remote past
where his spirit abode in a brilliant
reality. "Some shepherd-in the
Pyrenees, perhaps-heard that bell
fifty years ago-when your grand
mother was girl here in these
hills, just over from Ireland. When
your grandmother was breaking
hearts up and down the Okanagan,
my dear, some shepherd boy was
listening to that plaintive note on
some mountain-side-on the other
side of the world"
ITO BE CONTINUEDJ