Part 24 (2/2)

There had been so the straight road between the ditches, Jier in London, where he had stopped a week He knew the Canadian cities, but London was different Yet since he left the station the feeling of strangeness had gone; it was as if he had reached a country that he knew He wondered whether he unconsciously remembered his father's talk, or if the curious sense of familiarity was, so to speak, atavistic This, however, was not ilanced at Carrie, who sat behind with Mrs Winter and Jake

Carrie had frankly enjoyed her holiday; indeed, Jiht she had felt more at home than he when they were in town Solishwomen at the hotel, and when Mordaunt met them at the station she had, with a kind of natural tact, struck the proper note She knew Mordaunt was a relation of Jim's, but she met him without reserve or an obvious wish to please If either were conscious of surprise or eht it was Mordaunt

Presently the latter indicated a low ridge that broke the level round of ht and shone wound past it to the sands In one place, a gray wall appeared a,” he said ”We'll arrive in a few ate, and as they clireen turnips, a sht flower-borders opened up, and on the other side a house rose froht front was broken by a small square tower, pierced by an arch, and old trees spread their ragged branches across the low roof The building was of a type not uncorown up about the peel tower that had been a stronghold in the Scottish wars There were barns and byres in the background, and it was hard to tell if Langrigg was a well-kept far was, Jim kneell He felt as if he had come to a spot he often visited; in fact, he had a puzzled feeling that he had come home Then he saw people on the terrace and the car stopped He ju of a shock, for as the group advanced he saw the girl he had ot Mrs Winter and fixed his eyes on the girl She race he reainst the creeper on the wall She was rather tall and finely, but slenderly, proportioned, and when she looked up he knew she was as beautiful as he had thought Then he roused himself and went forith his friends

Mordaunt presented hiracious smile

”I knew you when the car came up the drive You look a Dearhaht to cohter, Evelyn, and lanced at Jihed

”This is so of a romantic surprise!” he said ”Perhaps it's curious, but I've thought about you since the night of the blizzard e came to your shack”

Jim indicated his party ”I want you to know my Canadian friends; I owe them much Mrs and Miss Winter from Vancouver city, and roup, but she gave theht Mrs Winter was not important The thin, tired woman was of a common type and had obviously come from a rude Canadian town: Mrs

Halliday did not know irl, however, had individuality and a touch of beauty; Mrs Halliday felt sheman puzzled her, because she could not place him In some ways, he looked like a rather superior workh he waited calined he was aenerally received at an English country house, but Mrs Halliday knew her duty and welcoracious air

They went in and Jim heard with satisfaction that the others meant to dine with him, because he wanted to talk with Evelyn He caht find her in the hall, but nobody was there and for some minutes he looked about The hall occupied the lower story of the tower It was square, and roughly-hewn bea The spaces betere paneled with dark wood and an oak wainscot ran round the wall Half of one side was occupied by a big fireplace and its old, hand-forged irons

The carved frame and mantel were Jacobean and obviously newer than the rest The old s, however, had been enlarged and a wide caseht

By and by, Mordaunt came in The latter was thin and dark; his face was rather inscrutable, but he had a superficial urbanity Jiht be long before he found out Until he got down froraph shack, and Jim did not know if he liked the fellow or not After a time, there was a step on the stairs that went up the wall, and Ji to see Evelyn At first he was conscious of soe!” said Mordaunt, softly

Jim understood the exclamation, for he had not until now realized that Carrie was beautiful Her color was rather high and her face looked strangely clean-cut against the background of dull brown oak Her eyes were a curious gray that changed to sparkling hazel-broith the light; her hair was broith a coppery gleareen Jim had not seen the dress before and did not know if it was the latest fashi+on, but he felt that Carrie's choice was good It was not that the harave her beauty; the effect was deeper

The girl had a touch of dignity that was rather natural than cultivated

She lifted her head and smiled as she went up to Jim, and asked, as if Mordaunt was not there: ”How do you like me?”

”In a way, you're wonderful,” Jim replied ”Of course, I knew that before--when you nursed me, and in the woods--but soet the dress?”

”When ere in London I hadn't long, but I wanted to be just right,” Carrie answered with a blush Then she laughed ”You're very nice, Jim; but do I really fit in?”

”Marvelously,” Mordaunt interposed ”If rigg That is, you go back, beyond our times, to the folks who built the peel to keep out the Scots”

Jiht

The felloas sensitive and had felt the girl's virility Ji about the Border wars, seeave Mordaunt a quiet but rather piercing look

”Well,” she said ”I have been up against Nature, where she's raw and savage, in the woods”

”Perhaps that accounts for it,” Mordaunt replied, se in the frozen North; perhaps Jiood”