The Place Beyond the Winds

n the rocks, then he waited for Priscilla to pay homage, but Priscilla was so absorbed with her own thoughts that she overlooked the expecte

l, t

ht laugh, and readjusting her yoke, w

slowly, still held by the

howed all his strong, white teeth-long, keen

e others?" as

omptly and cheerfully; "dead, and a

mention of death on that glorio

r, Jerry-Jo, is

, he is

ed, wooden house behind its high, stockade fence was at once the pride and relic of the place.

stay, says he, till them as put him th

her entire thought to Jerry-Jo, who, she could see, w

ur father do

chael, and Dad he cried back that to blacken a man's name when he was too dead to stand up for it was a dirty trick, and so it was! Then it was forth and back for a time, with compliments and what not, and if you please just as Dad sent a bit of a stool at Big Hornby, who should come in at the door but Mr. Schoolmaster,

eyes flashe

en mending the lock or nailing up the boards. That's three days since, and yesterday Hornby he comes to Dad and says as how a steamer was in with mail and freight and who was to carry it around? And Dad says as

aused to l

father-and then I'm off to the Hill Place, for them as stays the

m the boat, and Priscilla, her clear skin flushed

. "Oh, Jerry-Jo, do you

the box of seeds and now bent up

en the book was more yours than his, and he wanted me to carry it back, but I knew what was good for you, and I would not! See here, Priscilla, would you like to have a

ds were as ea

t?" A deep red mounted to

ng, Jer

kis

ubtfully

he hot kiss lay upon the smooth, girlish

s his

I sent for

o. And how d

t from that

w that the book was a duplicate of the one

e voice faltered; "but I

flashed in Jerry-Jo's eyes. He had arranged this su

the same, Jerry-Jo

kiss?" The youn

back and held

elinquish the poems, but

book-it'

Jerry-Jo; the adventure was over. Priscilla had filled her pails and had carried them and the book to the house. Something had happened to her, also. She wa

ince the autumn before-and she felt old and different, but still she had a sudden desire to return to it and try again the mystic rite she had practised when she was

arrayed in a fresh gown, over which hung a red cape, Priscilla stole from the house and made her way to the opening near the woods. As she drew close the power of suggestion overcame the new sense of age and indifference; the witchery of the place held her; the old charm reasserted itself; she was being hypnoti

not been softened and school had not been permitted, but there had been lessons given by the master when she told him of her new god. How he had laughed, cl

t this was no dread god that demanded unlovely sacrifice. It was a glad creature that desired laughter, s

, skibble-d

d, in its low, fierce tone, all the significance of abject adoration. With that "dosh" had

th arms over head or spread wide. The red cape floated, rising and falling; the uplifted face changed with every moment's flitting thought. It was a

, skibble-d

never seen anything at once so heathenish and so exquisite. To one hampered and restricted as he was in bodily freedom, the absolute grace was marvellous, but the uncanny words and the girl's apparen

and listened, her eyes dilating, her nostrils twitching. S

lled himself to a sitting position, and, by so doing, presented

d she; "ho

came forward into the open and inclined his uncovered head. He was twenty then, fair and handsome, and in h

appened here, you see, and I could not help the laugh; it was the o

fellow with the crooked wrongdoer of the Hill Place. Jerry-Jo's long-ago description ha

lay for you? You dance like a ny

a shook

only thing that should ever be allowed to dance in the w

. With head bent to one side and eyes and lips smiling, Priscilla listened until something within her caught and responded to the tripping notes. At

t's the nymph stepping this wa

, played on, without a word, a sweet, sad strain that brought tears to the listener's eyes-tears of absolute enjoyment and

er, "just tell me who you are and what in the world prompts

other. Travers felt aged and protecting, but Priscilla grew impish and perverse; besides, she always intuitively

ght sunny afternoons in spring, when flowers and green things are beginning

h a beaming and mischievous sm

thought into words; he merely g

each you

he likes me. He's so dead that he li

adore you could it se

make lovely the blue, richly lashed eyes. He knew she must be from Lonely Farm-Jerry-Jo used to speak of her; lately he had said n

in Hood and I want you to explain yourself. Why do yo

es in her clasped hands,

r. I tried father's God and-it didn't wor

s it you

but it stayed-rocky. Then I began to worship this"-the right hand waved toward the bleached and

heard

h laughing he said he'd been sent by my god to teach m

was fascinated by t

now. Why, I'm going to su

ted Travers; "you wo

o laugh at!" Priscilla held him s

ied from Tr

he repeated.

when you get what you

ot know what that is. It's holding to your ideal, the thing that seems most worth while, and forcing everything else into line wi

s she had the music; something in her was responding. She did not

trong and clean. Lord! how it hurt sometimes; but I grew, after a time, into something approaching the ideal

o the listener. Rigid an

g hard for that me of me that I always see. I don't care what I have to suff

vers was bewild

'm not going to stay here; when the l

yielded to a nervous impulse to laugh again

pagan, let us make a compact. Let us keep our ideals

ut, and the small, brow

ship before that fiend, just you

illa

ou dance once m

g clear and true, and as true tripped the twinkling feet. With head bent and eyes riveted on the graceful form, Travers urged her on by word and laugh, and

ou

d no one could tell, but he had heard and seen enough to arouse alarm and suspicion. In his hand was a long

forth all the resentment and fierce indig

ort and could think of no others, he said to Priscilla, "Don'

ame slowly, defian

was losing con

irl turned, and with no backward loo

more upon the mossy spot from which Priscilla had roused him. H

, stern man was almost more than he could bear. Then memory added fuel to the present. It was that man who had conjured up some kind of opposition to his mother-had made living problems

tting before his pitying eyes, he meant to outwit the rough father in some way, and bring

get her to explain about the lure of the States. What on earth could the little beggar have meant? It sou

tened to. In a short space of time that child managed to cram in more new ideas, words, a