Gordon Keith

just sending off a messenger to despatch a telegram to the nearest city for a su

g up the walk. There was something reassuring in the quick, firm step with

ption of the accident, the Doctor following without a word, taking off his glove

st, my poor child

taken the girl's hand, and holding it with a touch that would not have crumpled a butterfly's wings, he was t

he had made an examination. "But it must be rest, entire rest of limb and body--and mind," he add

ignored by any physician. She tossed h

nd brought you down the Ridge?" sa

she asked, her blue eyes

ext time I come, if you get w

he?" s

the Ridge--what is known as the Ridge

oment Mrs. Yor

the Doctor said yo

ace wore an am

" said the girl to him. "How m

red pounds. To

id I was light,"

a school-boy, who lives about her

om you doubtless refer, is the son of General Keith, who lives in an adjoi

. Gates with the desired kettle of hot water, and the Doctor, stopping i

ctor, I have been wondering how a man like you could be content to settle down in this mountain wilderness. I know many fashionable physici

erness need a little shepherding when they get sick. You must reflect also that if we all went away there would be n

ew acquaintance again. He must see her; he would not allow her to go out of his

reason the dull routine of lessons had been duller than usual. The scholars had never been so stupid. Again and again the face that he had seen rest on his arm the day before came between him and his page, and when the eyes opened they were as blue as forget-me-n

n revery, he rose, put up his books, closed the door, and took the same path he had followed the day before. As he neared the spot where he had come on the girl, he almost expected to find her propped against the

He was alone in the wilderness. He had been priding himself on being the superior of those around him, and that strange woman

onged to an alien. He turned his face away. On the other side, the distant mountains lay a mighty rampart across the sky. He wondered if the Alps c

ught strung him up sharply, and before he knew it he was standing upright, his face lifted to the sky, his nerves tense, his pulses beating, and his breath coming quickly. Beyond that blue rim lay the world. He would conque

irst anxiety was over Mrs. Yorke had been inclined to scold her for her carelessness and the fright she had given her. They had not agreed about

n a mile in his arms," declared the girl. "He said

harged Alice with being susce

trong and good-looki

and Alice, who had been sitting silent, with a

t you invite him

e an exclamati

we know nothi

irl was i

he best people about here, and his father was a clergyman. Besides, he is

air. Her thoughts flew to New York and her

know except Mrs. Nailor. I have heard that the people are very interesting if yo

would have been incensed. He had been fuming about her condescension ever since he had met her; yet he no sooner received her polite note than he was in the best humor possible. He brushed up his well-worn clothes, treated himself to a new necktie, which he had been saving all the session, and just at the appointed hour presented himself with a face so alight with expe

y it was of a girl smiling up at him out of a cloud of white. It was a charming visit for him, and he reproached himself for his hard thoughts about Mrs. Yorke. He aired all of his knowledge, and made such a

. Keith," said Mrs. Yorke, with a bow which b

has a higher opinion of me than I deserve," he said, with a boy

him that such cou

at he said?" asked Miss Al

hat?" h

of salt down a mountain, or up it either,

on appeared half teased, th

ke looke

imentary to you, Mr. Keith," she explained seriously. "He said your people were among the best families about he

s. Yorke, who had started to say "preacher," but

ood enough to be one; but he was a pl

ghter in some mystification.

was a clergyman

at the girl i

minister," she replied

roke int

l envoy to England a

trouble to take before, and discovered, under the sunburn and worn clothes, something more than she had formerly observed. The young man's expression had changed. A re

have been planted down there in that out-of-the-way pocket of the world, and thus lost to society. She did not know that the kindling eyes op