The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-12-07


opened off the corral. Within it a
large, robust eve stood in maternal
dignity, while about her pranced a
day-old lamb on its ridiculous legs,
Ticking an absurd cottony tail.
Autumn laughed in sheer delight.
"Oh, you little rascal" she said.
"I'n have to learn about sheep all
over again, d."
She glanced up at him and noted
the wistful eagerness that came into
his eyes, and the quick, unaccount-
able restraint that Immediately
masked them.
He sighed heavily. cts no bust
ness for a woman, my girl"
'That's a mans opinion, d."
she countered.
"And it's my opinion that won-
an can talk a lot of damned nom
sense, given the chance" her father
retorted. with the help of God,
I'll be out of the business myself
before another year."
"Out of sheep-raising?"
'I'm going to SELL" he told her.
Autumn caught her breath with
dismay. ''Now who is talking nom
sense? You'd die without all this
you know you would"
One of the sheep dogs, a graceful
collie, came bounding up to them
and Jarvis stopped to pat him. 81
know, l know. But I'm getting too
old for it, Autumn.
They moved to another pen and
Autumn laid her hand affectionately
on her fathers arm. 81 never heard
anything so absurd in my life," she
said, then decided to turn the con-
versation into another channel.
"Now, that eve, Da, is Rambouil-
let, isn't it?"
Jarvis smiled appreciatively,
drawn out in spite of himself. 81
sent you to Europe to forget all
that" he unused aloud. "But it's
little you can do with a woman, it
seems"
With a lighter heart, Autumn
mounted her horse and rode beside
her father up the steep trail that
led back to the highway.
It was ten years or more since the
Laird had opened his wide doors to
the purposes of merry-mak;ng, and
people had come from as far away
as Kelowna to welcome his daugh-
ter's homecoming. The drawing
room and the hall Numbered with
the lusty measures of a Highland
schottische; Old Country folk
stamped resolutely on the polished
floors - middle-aged and elderly
Scots, their gnarled faces scarlet
and streaming, swung their part
ners with the earnestness of war
riors going into battle. Not the least
conspicuous and nimble-footed, and
certainly the most terrifying of all,
was old Absolom Peek, whose fam
ing red necktie rested companion
ably on the shoulder of his partner,
Katie Macdougal.
Autumn stood near the doorway
and applauded the efforts of the old
sheep-herder, who beamed his graft
tude and pursued his course more
desperately than ever.
When the dance came to an end
and the exhausted performers scat
tered to find chairs or to 60 out into
the evening, two or three of the
younger men hurried toward Au-
turnn. One took her peremptorily
by the arm and drew her aside.
tThe next dance is ours, Miss
Dean," he informed her a little COM
placently. 81 have asked the or
chestra to favor us with a tango"
Florian Parr was reputed to be the
most dashing young man of the
countryside. The PARIS, wealthy
Scotch family with a ranch in the
Okanagan Valley, had left their son
in England to complete his educa-
ton and had brought him out a year
after Autumn had left to join her
Aunt Flo in the Old Country. Her
father had introduced him to Au-
tumn earlier in the evening and her
eyes had surveyed him, with a pene-
tration subtly careless, from head
to foot. He was just under thirty,
blond, tall, firmly knit, and dressed
in white fiannels and impeccably
tailored blue sack coat. In that
amusing medley of rustics and bland
sophisticates who were her fathers
friends, Florian Parr stood out like
a man from another world.
His manner was an immediate
challenge to Autumn. "Our dance,
Mr.. Parr? / cannot recall making
any engagements"
He stepped closer to her. "It is
not so much matter of engage
ment, Miss Dean, as it is-a mat
ter of preference"
She laughed. "Yours-or mine,
Mr.. Parr?"
ST can only speak for myself" he
replied.
She wrinkled her nose at him.
"You seem to find little difficulty in
that"
"Are you going to make this awk-
ward?" he countered.
Autumn chuckled softly. 'Not at
all, Mr.. Par. Besides, I should
think man who plays polo and pi-
lots his own plane"
"a splendid ALTERATION" he put in.
Before she could reply, he had
swung her out upon the floor. The
orchestra had already begun to
play. The crystal chandeliers of the
drawing room were turned off, and
Immediately the long floor was
dim pool of violet light from the
colored lanterns that had been
strung below the ceiling. Autumn
noted the eyes that followed herself
and Florian, Swallowed eyes of envy
or of admiration, and overheard one