Viola Gwyn

progress was slow and arduous, for the black mud was well up to the fetlocks of the horses in this new road across the boggy cl

ler disturbed him greatly. That beautiful girl his half-sister! The child of his own father and the hated Rachel Carter! Rachel Carter, the woman he had been br

the mother of so lovely, so sensitive

ers, he revisualized the woman he had known in his earliest childhood. Strangely enough, the face of Rachel

to the day that he lay on his deathbed. Small wonder, then, that his own mother's face had faded from his memory while that of Rachel Carter remained clear and vivid, as he had known it now for twenty years. The passing years might perforce bring about changes in the face and figure of Rachel Ca

low curls had been drowned when a boat turned over far away in the big brown river. Some one had come to his grandfather's house with the news. He recalled hearing the

t Gwynne and Rachel Carter were married,-he did not doubt that they had been legally married,-but he realized in time that in all probability the settler, as well as every one else in t

udying his features with interest, seeking for a trace of family resemblance, not alone to his father but to the girl herself. This had set him thinking. There was not, so f

widow and her husband's son by a former wife,-(the deceased in his will had declared in so many words that he owed more than mere reparation to the neglected but unforgotten son born to him and his beloved but l

mother's eyes, seeing a common enemy. Still, she was his half-sister, and whether he liked it or not he was morally bound to stand between her and disaster,-and if Striker was right, marriage with the wild Lapelle spelled disaster of

oves,-so the case is clear. There is a wall between us, and I shall not attempt to surmount it. What a demnition mess it has turned out to be. I came prepared to find only the creature I have scorned and despised, and I discover that I have a sister so beautiful that, not knowing

they were to pass en route, and the features by which they were to be identified. Far away

t shorely am de Sheridan place, an' ef hit ain't nut

ers live hereabouts, according to Phineas Striker. A house with a clump of trees,-it is Mr. Huff's farm. Soon we will come to the Mar

to stop dere,

ies off to our left, it seems, and reaches almost to the bottomlands of the river. We, Zachariah, are out here in the fertile prairie land. Our west line extends along the full length of her property. So, you see, the only thing that separates the two farms is an imaginary line no wider than your little finger, drawn by a surveyor and established by law. You will observe, my faithful fellow,-assuming that you are a faithful fellow,-that as we draw farther away from th

omefin ailse. Ah done notice dem buzzards flyin' low over yan way.

bout you are the newly come birds of spring, the bluebird, the robin, and the thrush.

r-hammer an' de blue-jay an' de-an' de rattlesnake," he

Garden of Eden. Look about you, Zachariah. Here is the Garden of Eden, right at your feet. Do you see those plum trees over yonder? Well, sir, old Adam and Eve used to sit under those very trees during the middle of the day, res

but dem is hawthorn trees

think of it, it was the red-haw that Eve fan

ting to a tortoise creeping slowly along the ditch. "An' lil Cain an' Abel,-my lan', how dem chillum

f an April morn, traversed this new-found realm of Cerus, forded the turbulent, swollen creek that later

groves. Their passing was watched by curious women and children in dooryards and porches, while from the fields men waved gree

g off to the west, and apparently ending i

that is the grove of oaks that Striker mentioned. Behold, Zachariah,-all that is mine. Four hundred acres of as fine farm-land as there is in all the world, and timber unparalleled. Yes, I am right.

visible above the surrounding stockade, while the barn and styes and sheds were hidden entirely be

my guess, Zachariah, there will be still greater changes before we are laid away. There will be cities and-Ha! Look, Zachariah,-to the right of the grove. It is all as Striker said. There is the other house,-two miles or more to the westward. That is HER house. It is new, scarce two

ed by the seemingly endless forest that stretched off to the north a

ly that they would have started for town at an earlier hour than this. And to think of the damnable situation I shall find in town. She will be my neighbour,-just as she was twenty years ago. We shall live within speaking distance of each other, we shall see each other perhaps a dozen times a

ie would be behind them, they would be plunged into the depths of a forest primeval, wending their way through five miles of solitude to the rim of the vale in which the town was situated. But the forest had no terrors for them. They were accustomed to the long silences,

across the fields to their left and well ahead of them. They watched the rider with interest, str

arse Kenneth, fo' dat man to be r

s no other house in sight over in that direction. I wonder if-" He did not complete th

ered the wood. Kenneth now made out an unfenced wagon-road through the field, evidently a short-cut from Rachel Carter's farm to the highway. He permitted himself a fain

less trees that marked the portal through which they must enter the forest. The flying horseman slowed down as he neared this solitary figure, coming to a standstill when he reached his side. A moment later, both riders were canterin

sanguinary encounter? He slipped his right hand into the saddle pocket and drew forth a pisto

he said to his servant, a tra

lusion that Zachariah would turn tail and flee the instant there was a sign of danger. "Slave hunters, Marse Kenneth, dat's what dey is," he announced with conviction. "Ah c'n smel

ord and an imperative jerk of the head to his companion, advanced slowly to meet K

y. His high beaver hat observed a jaunty, rakish tilt; his brass-buttoned coat was the colour of wine and of the latest fashion, while his snug fitting pantaloons were the shade of the mouse. He wore no cum

by contrast. His skin was singularly white above the bluish, freshly shaven cheeks and chin. His hair was black and long and curling. The thin lips, set and unsmiling, were nevertheless drawn up slightly at one corner of the mouth in what appeared t

ging his horse to a standstill and raising his "

a swift glance that the stranger was apparent

urned. "I am on the ri

" said the other. "Fr

ay. I come from afar, however.

t of us. Unless I am

nneth

approach appears to be

on I should feel h

Gwynne?" said the st

hat is

se parts. You have long been expected. You will find the town anxiously awaiting your appearance." He smiled slightly. "If you could arrange to arrive after nightfall, I am sure you wo

exclaimed Ke

in and do the necessary trading at the store. He almost blew himself and his store to Hallelujah a year or two ago, and so he isn't quite so enterprising as he was. I am on my way to town, Mr. Gwynne, so if you do not mind, I shall give myself the pleasure of riding along with you for a short distance. I shall

ill be pleased to have