Thurston of Orchard Valley

ing rights in the vicinity, at the place agreed upon. The captain had brought with him severa

take the law into my own hands. It is the pheasants he is after now, and he'll start early so as to get his plunder off from the junction by the night m

mory, and, long afterwards, when wandering far out in the shadow of limitless forests or the chill of eternal snow, he could recall every incident. Leaves that made crimson glories by day still clung low down about the wide-girthed trunks beyond the straggling hedge of ancient thorns, but the higher branches rose nakedly against faintly l

seen feathery bodies among the spruce, while, when this ceased, he heard a water-hen flutter with feet splashing across a hidden pool. Then heavy stillness followed, intensified by the clamor of a beck which came foaming down the side of a f

r forces once more. If you'll go in by the Hall footpath, Thurston, an

ry dark among the serried tree-trunks. The slender birches had faded utterly, the stately beeches resembled dim ghosts of trees and only the spruces retained, imperfectly, their shape and form. Thurston was country bred, and, lifting high his feet to clear bramble trailer and fallen twig, he walked

rvals, concentrating all his powers to listen, but his ears told him nothing until at last there was a rustle somewhere ahead. Puzzle

ssignation with a maid from the Hall, and no business of his. He had turned to retreat when he noticed the eastern side of a silver fir reflect a faint shimmer. Glancing along the beam of light that filtered through a fantastic fretwork of delicate birch twigs arching a drive, he saw a broad, bright disk hanging low above the edge of the moor. It struck

some affair of Leslie's from the Hall, and whether he ought not to slip away after all. The birch boughs sighed a little, there was a fluttering down of withered leaves, and he remained undecided, gripping his stout oak cudgel by

n too long, and I will not be trifled with. You cannot have both

he disillusion was cruel. The woman's light answer filled him with returning fury and he hurled himself at a thicket from which, amid a crash of branches,

rent-down undergrowth. The pale light beat upon Geoffrey's face, showing it was white with anger. Looking from Geoffrey, the girl glanced towards L

blue eyes were very wide open. The man was shrinking back as far as possible in a manner which suggested physical fear; he had heard the dalesfolk say a savage devil, easily aroused, lu

?" he asked sternly. "No answer! It appears that some explanation

g, even though Leslie, who glanced longingly over his shoulder down the drive, refused to do so. Because there was spirit in her, and she had recove

came out to see the moon rise on the mo

rcely an air astir. And you understand the relations existing between Miss Austin and me

r a pause, "But the explanation must have come sooner or later, and you shall have it now. I have grown-perhaps the brutal truth is

was past, and he was now coldly sav

e asked: "But are you struck dumb that you let the woman speak? This was my promised wife to whom you have been making love, though, for delicacy would be super

s his fears grew less oppressive. He began to excus

estly, when this man first spoke to you, that you had grown tired of me, I would have released you, and I would have tried to wish you well. Now I can only say, that at least you know the worst of each other-and there will be less d

roke a dry twig at intervals as he walked slowly for a little distance. Then he dropped on hands and knees to cross a strip of open sward at an angle to his previous course, and lay still in the black shadow of a spruce. It was evident that somebody was following his trail, and

tly beneath it, halted several score yards away face to face with the astonished keeper. "Weel, I'm clanged; this clean beats me," gasped th

was not unlike a hare squealing in a snare. You and I must have

m badly disappointed at missing your old enemy, Thurston. I never s

amusement in hunting poachers who aren't there," said G

t a swinging pace, and the keeper

ey're an ill folk to counter yon, and it's maybe as wel

said: "You must try to believe I mean it in kindness when I say that I am not wholly sorry, Geoffrey. You and Millicent would never have gotten on well together,

e man, grimly, and the sick girl laid a thin w

here, helpless, I have often thought about both of you, and I feel that you have done well in choosing a new

ale face flushed a little as the man suddenly

to convince him that his downfall is the result of his own folly, but"-and he straightened his wiry frame, while his ey

king of her own helplessne

remember that over-confidence in your powers and the pride that goes with it may co

e land, the mining engineer called upon him with a provincial newspaper in his han

tand he came upon an unexpected break in the strata, coupled with a subsidence which practically precludes the possibility of following the lost lead with any hope of commercial success.

t displayed just now in British mines, they should insert a paragraph. I've staked down your backers' game in return for your

tation of your rabbit burrow would only have been another drop in the bucket to my correspondents, and it's almos

uldn't understand them. Still, in future, don't set down every man commonly honest as an uncommon fool. If I ever h