Corona of the Nantahalas : a romance / by Louis Pendleton

CORONA
OF THE
NANTAHALAS
Romance
BY
LOUIS PENDLETON
A0THOS OF "THB SOUS OF HAM," "THK WEDDING
"in TH* wiR-GASS," "KING TOM AND THK
RUNAWAYS," ETC.
NEW YORK:
THE MERRIAM COMPANY. 67 FIFTH AVB.WB.

Copyright, 1895, BY THE MERRIAM COMPANY.

CORONA OF THE NANTA-
HALAS.
I.
GIDEOK McLEOD had lived, from child hood up, in the North Carolina mountains; as had hi a father before him; but it was not until the year 1864, when the conscript officers, under the spur of necessity, became unusually active, that he removed into the fastnesses of the wild Nantahalas. The mountaineers as a class were notoriously indifferent to the issues of the war, and Gideon McLeod was no exception to the rale. With his childless wife and such of his belongings as could well be transported, he retired from view at the first note of alarm, and was seen no more.
\\

2

Corona of the Nantahalas.

The refuge he had selected was a sheltered nook or cove high up in the mountains, and fully fifteen miles remote from any other human dwelling-place. Here a rude cabin was built, and gradually a few acres of ground were cleared. At the outset it was the intention of the refugees eventually to return to the lower valley and the neigh bourhood of their friends, but time passed, aud they remained where they were. The war was over long before they knew of its termination, and their desire to return had meanwhile weakened. Sensitive at first because they hud had BO children a cala mity almost unheard of among their prolific neighbours their alienation -rtfts intensified later on, when a son was born to them, who by-and-by proved to be both deaf and dumb.
So the seasons came and went, and the McLeods thought no more of leaving their hiding-place. The husband gradually cleared more land, ploughed bis fields, sowed and harvested his crops. The wife spun and wove, kept her house, and watched the .boy, who, despite his sad affliction, wag none the less her joy and pride. They were simple, unschooled folk, to begin with,

Corona of the Nantahalas.

3

born in the lonely mountains, and were contented and happy in their solitary situa tion to a degree quite inconceivable from onr point of view. A few times a year Gideon McLcod descended to the settle ment in the lower valley, in order to procure certain necessaries, such transportation as he required being accomplished by means of a pack-mule. A mountain bridle-path was as yet the only highway. And this was their sole communication with their kind.
As the years passed, as he made addi tions to his house and became more com fortable, and as he saw his few sheep and cattle develop into considerable flocks and herds, Gideon McLeod gave thanks that the wherewithal of life was within his grasp. He had no money and needed none. The' few farm implements and articles of house hold nse purchased now and then in the lower valley were all paid for in hides and furs, fruit of the hunting and trapping of leisure hours. The wild mountains were his kingdom. The outside world might go to war, or be wasted with pestilence or with famine; he was free and independent of it all *

4

Corona of the Nantahalas.

It was when the boy, whom they had

named Dan; was about five years old that

an event occurred which was the beginning

of a new epoch in their lives.

*

^ideon McLeod was walking in the^forest

on the slope of the mountain below his

farm, one afternoon, when his attention was

attracted to a very unusual sound the

sound of horse-hoofs on the flinty path

leading down toward the lower valleyl He

was at once stirred with curiosity and

wonder, perhaps even with something of

alarm. Concealing himself behind a tree,

he awaited the appearance of the hone on

that portion of the path in view from where

he stood.

No one in the lower valley ever toiled up

to Lonely Cove, either on business or to

make a social visit, and if this were a

stranger from other parts, what could be his

object ? If the perplexed mountaineer bad

guessed for a whole year, he would not have

anticipated what he saw.

In a few moments a horseman appeared

and drew rein, horse and rider thus being

thrown in relief against the opposite green

wall of trees. Gideon McLeod saw at a

glance that the horse was a fine animal,

Corona of the Nantahalas.

5

though wet with sweat and travel-stained,

and that the rider was not a mountaineer,

hat wore the clothes and had the air of a

man of the outside world. He was young

in years, too, and of a handsome face, bat

distinguished by a cnrioas wild ness of the

eye. McLeod's next discovery was that

the strange young man's right arm sop-

ported a little child, whose wavy, flowing

hair of light gold was all entangled with

twigs and leaves, as if from hurried and

reckless travelling through pathless forests.

Evidently the child was asleep from sheer

exhauston.

These observations were scarcely made

before the horseman turned at right angles

and entered a little open glade between the

path and the tree behind which McLeod

was hidden. It was seen, now, that he was .

communing with himself, and, as he halted, \

these words were distinctly audible:

|

"Shelley, Shelley, Shelley is a skylark,]

a cloud, a sensitive plant, a monster, a king

of the fiends. He is thrice blessed and fou*

times damned. He joggles with death ana

glorifies hell. He brings ' light shade for

the leaves when laid in their noondjw

dreams.' And I I am an oak, and around

6

Corona of the Nantahalas.

me twined my dearest, my loyed one, my little, little vine; and he took her from me, this king of the fiends. He tore her from my arms and twined her in his own; he bonnd her and held her, and recked not that she wailed. And between them anon up rose Falouette, the skylark fair, the sweet, wee bird, the sensitive plant, beneath the old tree; she came into life and wept and grew free till 'twas a maddening thing to see ah! a damned thing to see. And I said to the king of the fiends, come and see if we can better agree when a sword judges 'twixt us three! And I held him hard and slew him that day I laughed as I slew him that day; and cared not that my vine still clang to his clay, stained- with the blood "
Suddenly breaking the thread of his in coherent soliloquy, the strange man sprang to the ground. The shock awakened^he child, and it began to cry. Gideon MeLeod expected to see it tenderly hushed and com forted, bnt the stranger did not even look at it, and walking a few steps away, he set it down carelessly.
"Now let the blood flow blithe and free, blithe and free," he muttered returning.

Corona of the NantaJialas.

7

Gideon McLeod could not believe that he saw aright as the strange man drew a pistol and, after looking furtively around, cocked it, and placed the muzzle against the head of the horse. Surely the whole thing must be a dream. The next moment there was a loud report, and the poor, unsuspecting animal fell to the ground. Then for some moments the slayer stood still, and, with a
wild, indescribable glare of the eye, looked down npon the last struggles of his noble victim. Was there ever a deed so cold blooded, useless, infamous ? GitJeon McLeod's eyes flashed fire.
Turning toward the child and recocking his weapon, the madman spoke again, in the same monotonous, swinging style:
"And now, Tdlouette, the wee, wee bird, the sensitive plant, the sweet fiend's child, the skylark blithe and free, must follow, must follow downward to the sea the sea of red blood which flows from me. Then I even I will plunge info the deep;'in oblivion's red gulf my soul will I

The observer foresaw nothing fronj these mad utterances, but the stranger's actions
he could not mistake. At sight of the

8

Corona of the Nantakalas.

struggling horse the child had begun cry ing piteonsly, and the mountaineer's heart smote him as he listened. If need be, he would fight for Yts protection. Suddenly the pistol was raised, but instantly was lowered; the assassin, mad though he might be, seemed unable to forget that his pro posed victim was a little child. By this time Gideon McLeod was trembling in every limb. He knew what was coming and prepared himself. His long rifle was raised and careful aim taken.
"If you shoot, I'll kill you!" he called out from his place.
The madman started and glanced about him, failing to locate the voice. Then, quick as a flash, he raised the pistol and fired. The one report was followed so closely by another that the two sounded as one. But the results were far diffe rent. The child remained unhurt, the ball passing to one side; but the man dropped his weapon, fell heavily back ward against a tree, and collapsed to a sitting posture, glaring about him 'and muttering.
Gideon McLeod had rushed forward, fall of horror at what he had done. Making

Corona of the Nantahalas.

9

sure that the child was unharmed, he ap proached the wounded man.
"Ah! 'tis he -- 'tis he -- the king of the
fiends," cried the madman, fiercely, as their eyes met. '"Tis Clarence, 'false, fleet ing, perjured Clarence that stabbed me f the field by Tewksbury!' Out of my sight, thon craven ! Get thee hence, base fellow------"
A sudden sense of pain seemed to interrapt him; he started, paused, as though groping for his words, then groaned: " Oh, I am wounded to death !"
"God knows I didn't want to shoot you," cried Gideon McLeod, sorrowfully. "But I couldn't help it. You was a-shootin' that innocent baby, and you can't blame me. What in the devil ailed yon, man ?"
With tears in his eyes, the mountaineer stood before bis victim, speaking earnestly in his desire to justify himself. The wild glare of the wounded man's eyes faded out of them, slowly giving place to a glimmer ing of reason.
" I was mad--crazy, do you understand ?" he articulated, huskily and painfully, for he was now weakening fast. " I wanted .to kill--to kill--the child--and then--myself.

10 Corona of the Nantahalas.
Take--her--send--write----" A gush of blood from the throat choked hia utter ance ; his head sank upon his breast, his body fell over on its side, aud he became unconscious.
Gideon McLeod bent over and examined him. The shirt front was soaked with blood, indicating that the wound was there. The rude mountaineer was amazed at the fineness of the linen and underclothing, but his attention quickly centred on the wound. The ball had entered the breast and pierced a vital part, for in a few moments it was quite clear that the man was dead.
The child had ceased its cries, and stared at the mountaineer in a hungry, wistful way, as though it desired to be taken up by this unexpected and unknown friend. Bat Gideon McLeod looked only at the dead. A great fear fell upon him. He had killed a man. In his own heart he believed him self blameless, but who else would believe it ? Who could be found to credit the attempted murder of that fair and innocent child ? Assuredly the man was mad, as he himself had claimed; but was he mad when he parted with his friends, and would
-!_**-

Corona of tke Nantahalas. ill

not those friends be coming presently to

demand a reckoning ?

,

At this thought the mountaineer leaped

forward and darted into the woods. The

friends of the dead were coming; they

mnst be very near by this time. Perhaps

they were near enough to hear him as he

ran. "What an nproar the dried leaves

made as they scattered before his feet, and

how strangely loud was the cracking of the

brittle twigs ! He ran faster. The over

hanging branches whipped him rudely

across the face, and the underbrush seemed

to strive to seize his flying body. Bursting

into thickets of laurel, it seemed to him

that at every leap he stumbled and was

thrown back.

\

All at once the fleeing man heard a crjf,

and halted, breathless. Ah, they had come

-- and in another minute they would be oh

his track ! The cry was heard again, mor^

distinctly than before--the wailing cry of

a little child, maltreated, forgotten, and

deserted.

;

Gideon McLeod turned red with shame,

and thought no more of flight. He had!

risked too much for that child to think of

deserting it now. Let them come, and if

12 Corona of the Nantahalas.
they refused to believe his story, he would defend his life as best he could, and trust in God. Retracing his steps with all speed, he spoke soothingly to the babe, lifted it tenderly, and bore it to his home. As the child ceased to sob, and shut its tiny fingers around his thumb in a trustful way, the heart of the rough mountaineer was deeply moved.
Mrs. McLeod stood in the doorway, her eyes distended with amazement, as her husband approached.
"What in the name o' --------," she said, and stopped, unable to find words.
"I've killed a man, Polly," she heard her husband saying in a voice strangely calm, " bnt I done it fur this little one. God knows it wa'n't fur nothin' else."
He stood on the ground below her, with his burden, and told his story. She listened motionless, without a word, her distended eyes riveted upon him till he had finished. For one brief while she doubted, as indeed she well might. Who could be lieve such a story?
" Did yon kill that man to git the child, Gid?" she asked at last, terror on her face, although her speech was calm. "Did you

Corona of the Nantahalas. 13
go and do that 'caze I hain't brought you no child that could talk ? "
" Well -- Polly ! " he exclaimed, deeply wounded. " After ten years and better you can't take my word ! "
He mounted the steps and passed by her into the house, placing the child on a bed, and covering it up. She stood back and allowed him to do all this, woman's work as it was. She was in no hurry to relieve him of his charge, which she feared was the price of blood.
The child fell asleep almost at once, and the mountaineer turned away. He went outside again and stood by the steps, pon dering. The wife then stepped to the bed and took one long look, afterwards return ing and standing in the doorway again, looking anxiously at her husband.
Gideon McLeod stood there twenty min utes before he decided what to do. Gradu ally it became clear to him that the dead man's friends were not to be expected at once, for during all this time there had been nothing to herald their approach. Most likely the madman had had no com panions in the first place, and had ridden to the mountains alone with the child.

14 Corona of the Nantahalas.

Then, for the present, there was no fear,

Bat the sun was low, darkness would soon

i

fall, and then the wolves would come forth

from their retreats. The body could not

j-

be left on the ground all night A sugges-

';

tion of prudence warned the mountaineer



that the sooner all reminders of the tragedy

.:

were removed the better. Six months some-

"r

times passed at Lonely Cove without wit-

j-

nessing the visit of even a strolling hunter,

t

but no one could tell what a day might

p

bring forth.

1

With this thought in mind, Gideon Mc-

1~

Leod went to a stable a short distance in

I

the rear of his house, secured ropes, bridled

|.

his mule, and led him forth.

}

"Come on now and look for yourself,**

he said to his wife, rather distantly. "I'll

be bound when you see that horse you won't

think/killed him."

" Oh, Gideon," returned the woman, brok

enly, " I believe yon. Don't think hard o'

me. I was jes' tnrrified."

He insisted, however, and she meekly

followed him, after shutting the door. The

distance was hardly a quarter of a mile,

and they were soon there. Nothing had

been disturbed, and not a sound broke the

Corona of the Nantahalas* 15
stillness of the primeval forest The moun taineer pointed to the stiffening horse, then lifted the body of the man and put it on the mule's back, strapping it there with the ropes. Thus they returned home.

2V' 'T
IL
THI moat careful search revealed no card, letter, or scrap of paper in any of the dead man's pockets, and for the present it was im possible to establish his identity. Sixty dollars in notes were found, however, and a linen handkerchief with the letters " H.M." embroidered in one corner with white silk thread. Also on one of the garments worn by the child the word " Corona " was found, similarly embroidered. After a consulta tion, it was decided to tie the money up in the handkerchief and put it in a safe place, to be carefully kept for the future use of the child.
Gideon McLeod set to work at once, and in less than two hours' time had constructed a rough coffin, in which he placed the body and nailed it up. The sun had now set, but he did not pause. Selecting a spot in

Corona of the Nantahalas. 17
the woods not far away, he began digging a grave -- completing the work by the light of a torch held by his wife. The house meanwhile was shut up, the two children being asleep, while the dead lay at rest on the porch without. An hoar or so after nightfall the weary mountaineer lifted the coffin to his shoulder, and staggered be neath it to the grave, preceded by his wife, who carried a torch in one hand, a small copy of the Bible in the other.
"It don't seem human, Gid, to bury him without readin' an' prayin'," she said, and he agreed.
Having placed his burden in the bottom of the grave, Gideon McLeod opened the Book, made a hasty selection, and read aloud for a brief space. His wife listened with the tears streaming down her face. Then he recited a familiar prayer, and it was over. The earth was rapidly shovelled in, a slight mound raised, and a stake driven down to mark the place.
"Now, if anybody comes, there ain't nuthin' fur 'em to see," he said with relief, as they returned to the house.
In the morning, however, he thought it well to descend to the scene of the tragedy

18 Corona of the Nantahalas.
and carry a spade. As he had expected, nothing was left of the horse hut a few bloody bones. These were soon buried out of sight, even the fresh earth being covered with dead leaves. The same day a heavy rain fell, obliterating all traces of what had taken place, and Gideon McLeod drew a long breath of relief.
After the lapse of days, weeks, months, without a warning of the coming of the dead man's friends in search of him, the , mountaineer gradually ceased to dread their arrival arid their questions, and he saw that it rested with him to keep the secret for a lifetime if be chose. He could either contrive to advertise the lost child, and so restore it to its home, or do nothing, bringing it up as his own.
After much uneasiness of mind, he chose the latter as the only safe course. He pitied the bereft mother, if a living mother there were, and would gladly have returned to her her own, could he have known where to find her; but to make the matter public would be to declare himself a homicide -- some might say a murderer -- and he could not persuade himself to do this. Besides, the difficulties of an investigation would be

Corona of the Nantattalas. 19
greater than he felt that he could success fully undertake.
After all, the little girl owed her life to him. But for his interference the mother would have been more truly bereft than now; and he thought that this claim to a large degree justified his course. He saw that his position was impregnable, if he ehose to make it so; it was within his power to say and maintain that the child was his own. JS"o one could disprove it for he and his wife had lived absolutely alone and remote. Xo eye but theirs had seen the child until the clothes worn on the day of its arrival had been laid care fully away and replaced by others, of Mrs. McLeod's own making. The little waif was now apparently between two and three years old. Let a year or two pass, and she could scarcely be recognized by her own family. The prompt exchange of clothing, however, was accomplished less as a matter of concealment than as a precaution in suring the means of a possible future iden tification.
Apparently delicate at first, the child soon began to thrive in the mountain air, developing into a bright, happy-hearted,

2O Corona of the Nantahalas.
docile little girl, strong of limb and beautiful of feature, the light of the mountaineer's eye, an ever-cheering companion to his wife through her lonely hours, and the un failing delight of the deaf mute Dan, who was always her willing and obedient slave. She was early taught to call her adopted parents uncle and aunt, and grew up igno rant that these titles were a mere form. The McLeods supposed that the word " Corona," embroidered on one of the little garments now laid away, was the child's baptismal name; but found it too difficult and strange for daily use, choosing rather to call their charge Anna.
The infantile impressions of her past life were soon effaced from little Corona's mind, and the surroundings of her mountain home assumed sole dominion in her memory. When she was five years old, and Dan was eight, a sense of responsibility began to weigh on Gideon MeLeod; he felt that household training was not enough, and that something should be done looking toward the education of the two children. Little could be made of Dan, of course, owing to his infirmity, but much might be done for Corona.

Corona of t/u Nantahalas. 21
The mountaineer was a man of few words, and no book learning beyond a slight ac quaintance with the "three R's," but he meant well, and the beginning that he made could not have been improved on. This beginning was the reading aloud, each evening, of a chapter from the historical parts of the Bible. Poor Dan could hear nothing; but Corona's manifest pleasure, as she gradually began to follow with com prehension, was a continuing delight to him, and he never failed to sit beside her as she listened, just as if he understood everything.
A year or two later a primer and a little reader were procured from the store in the lower valley, lessons were given by the husband now and then in the evening, and by the wife more often in the afternoons; and in the course of a year both books were mastered.
It was when Corona was ten or eleven that a schoolmaster came to the lower valley to spend a summer vacation. He was not a teacher of the mountaineer type, but a man of considerable attainment, who taught Greek and Latin in a select Carolina school. Gideon McLeod liked his looks,

22 Corona of the Nantakalas.
and one day sought him out and made an extraordinary proposition. He said, in substance, that he had sixty dollars to expend on his niece's education, and wished to secure the best talent he could find. If the schoolmaster would spend two vacations at Lonely Cove? and instruct the girl daily, the money was his. The offered salary, in more parti cular terms, was ten dollars a month and board.
The schoolmaster smiled at the naivete of the proposal, but he was poor, un married, and unwell; he needed the moun tain air, and after some reflection signified his willingness to accept. Thus was the money found in the pockets of the dead man expended, and in this wise was Corona taught to speak, read and write English with ease and intelligence.
So unusual was her progress, and such was the schoolmaster's affection for her, that he felt moved to promise her another summer's instruction gratis; but before the time arrived they were informed of his death. The letter carrying this intelli1 gence also informed them that he had left ". f certain of bis favourite books to Corona,

Corona of the Nantahalas. 23
and in due time the package made its ap pearance in the lower valley. This being carried up on the male's back to Lonely Cove, and opened, a carious collection was displayed -- considering that the books were intended for a young girl. There was no single volume more modern than Shakespeare. Most of them were transla tions of Hesiod, Homer, -^Eschylus, Sopho cles, Plato, Ovid, Virgil, and the Greek historians -- Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon.
Corona began to read these books at thirteen, and in the course of time read and re-read them all, obliged at first to pass blindly over tho words that were new to her, bnt going on, always going on, and receiving vivid, ineffaceable impressions. And here began new perplexities for Gideon McLeod and his wife. Corona asked a thousand questions, which they could not answer--abou goddesses, demi gods, heroes, dryads, centaurs, satyrs, and so forth, in unending catalogue. Mrs. McLeod answered gravely that she had never " hearn tell" of any of these things, and she was pretty sure they were not to be found anywhere in North Carolina, bat they

24

Corona of the Nantahalas.

might have 'em across the mountains in Tennessee; she really could not speak for Tennessee. People had often told her that the latter was the last place in the world to lire in -- the " jumpin' off place,"
so to speak, and there was no telling what might be found there. Being asked where Greece was, Gideon McLeod, who had neyer heard of that country, replied that all he knew about it was that it was usually in the frying-pan at hog-killing
time. Her questions remaining unanswered,
Corona's imagination supplied answers for herself, and it was a strange world which she constructed. As she grew older, the girl became more and more devoted to the schoolmaster's books, and the gradual effect of these ancient authors upon a thirsty and yirgin mind may be imagined. Without instruction, intellectual companionship, or sympathy, without a modern book, periodi cal, or newspaper, with nothing about her but wild mountains and forests, and a lonely frontier farm, she inevitably came to live more and more in a world of fancy -- a world built upon old Greek forms, tempered by the more modern Shakespeare, and

Corona of the Nantakalas. 25
coloured but little by the realities of her actual human environment
It is not meant that she became silent, peculiar, or impractical. She was as human as she was beautiful, and never forgot her affection for, and her duty toward, her three companions at Lonely Cove. While her hands were engaged at the spinningwheel or the loom, her thoughts might indeed wander off into her fantastic world ; she might fall to wondering whether the wood and water nymphs, which had so long eluded her search, were abroad in the forest to-day, laughing and singing and scattering the dry twigs before their feet as they ran through the long leafy aisles. But meanwhile her household work was not left undone. She became remarkably deft with the needle, and after some failures learned to fashion for herself a number of wonderful Greek gowns, designed from the illustrations in her beloved books, and made of white or scarlet wool woven and dyed by her own hands.
She and the deaf mute Dan were de voted friends, and had long ago learned to communicate their thoughts, in a measure, by signs. They were as venturous and

26 Coron^of thf Nantakalas.
bold aa 3ny two boys, wandering together or .atene in the pathless forests far from home, and fearing nothing. They climbed the highest peaks and looked down on the clouds, caring not if the dark mists en veloped them, if the lightning blazed about them, or if the thnnder shook the ground on which they stood. There was nothing in all this to frighten or distress these verit able children of nature.
The three highest points near their home were renamed Olympus, Parnassus, and Helicon, and much of their leisure was spent upon these peaks and in the spaces between. Strong of limb, light of foot, and tireless, snch mountain climbing was to them as play. Oftentimes they were followed on their tramps by two tame deer, captured long ago when very young, which Corona had of late begun to call To and Atalanta. And, to complete the classic outline, they would sometimes run bard-fought races, and the victorious Dan would be crowned with a wreath of leaves of the mountain laurel
By the time Corona was seventeen the occasional hnnter who looked in on Lonely Cove had spread the fame of her unusual

Corona of the Nantahalas. 27
beauty, and during the following two or three years one suitor after another ap peared from among the young mountain eers of the lower valley -- finding their way up the mountain path early on Sunday morning, spending the day, and returning the same night. One after another they grew discouraged, and abandoned the diffi cult undertaking. Corona took no inter est in them after their first appearance. She was by no means unkind; it was merely that she could not adapt herself to them, that they appeared to her, as it were, a species far removed; and when she spoke, her words only seemed to fill them with wonder and strike them dumb.
If they persisted, she did not scruple, finally, to leave them to be entertained by the elders, slipping away with a favourite book, and making good her retreat to the topmost peak of Helicon or Parnassus, fol lowed by Dan.
" He mought as well go barkin" up an other tree," Gideon McLeod would say with a laugh, as each suitor appeared and assumed the regulation "courtin'" atti tude. The girl's manifest indifference in no way alarmed her adopted parents. They

{.' " 28 Corona of the Nantahalas.

;.. loved her, were proud of her, and were

?:- ' in no hurry to see her marry an uncouth



mountaineer, or even--had they been ac

quainted with one -- a prince of the blood

himself.

III.
FOB years it was Corona's supposition that Lonely Cove was not very far removed, either by time or space, from ancient Greece-- that ene important country and civilization to which nearly all of her books referred. She knew nothing of 05e\lapse of ages, of the story of the rise and fall of successive empires. She had only the Greece that was pictured in her books, and the moantains that loomed before her eyes. It was clear euough that Shakespeare wrote of another period, but there was no history of the middle age at hand, and she was nnable to fill the gap.
Her mountains were in a "State" called Carolina, she well knew, and beyond them there was another called Tennessee. She occasionally heard the expression "United States," and had a general idea of an indefi-
.4

30 Corona of the Nantahalas.
nite number of Carolinas and Tenneesees joined in some sort of union. And this was all. The schoolmaster had failed to teach her anything of geography or history, devoting his time, as well he might, to teaching her to speak and write correctly, and to read with intelligent comprehension, so far as was possible.
There was, therefore, really nothing of the marvellous in the result that followed. Corona even wondered if the people of the outside world dressed like the Greeks. The Carolina mountaineers did not, so far as she had seen, but that proved nothing, for they were ignorant people as a class, doing nothing but raise sheep and till the ground, and having some characteristics that sug gested comparison with the Spartan Helota. She recollected that the schoolmaster had not worn the Greek costume, but there may have been some reason for that also.
One day she chanced to overhear McLeod saying to his wife that she was net akin to them. Going forward at once she asked what this meant, and they were obliged to reaffirm what she had already heard. In reply to her eager questions as to where she had come from, they briefly replied

Corona of the Nantakalas. 31
that they had found her in the forest, and, being urged to do so, indicated the spot.
This knowledge was the text for many strange fancies. The girl wondered if she had ever had any parents at all -- if she had not been born of the forests and mountains, as the wood nymphs were. For Oorona was almost a pagan. She had not indeed forgotten thestories read to her from the Bible in earlylife, nor what she had learned from it for herself. She believed there was one great God, the creator of the world and of mankind; but she supposed that the gods of the Greeks existed also, .and, in a vague, uncertain way, thought of them as being in some sort one and the same with the angels of the Scriptures.
The prophets had seen the angels and the Greeks had seen the gods. Corona sometimes found herself wishing and hoping that she, too, might be allowed to see one or the other, or both -- if indeed the two were distinct orders of beings. Many a time, as she walked forth iu the forest alone, her fancy went before her and revelled in the bright presence of aii angel or a god; and when the dream was not realized she

32 Corona of the NantaJialas.
did not lose faith, bat told herself that she was unworthy of such honour.
Untouched as she was by the all-per vading doubt and scepticism of the modern world, there was the more opportunity for the development of her unquestioning beliefs and persuasions. Repeated disappoint ments failed to disturb her confidence, and she still dreamed of seeing a dryad, or at least a water nymph. Many a day she stole through the forest with bated breath, or sat watching beside the roaring mountain torrent, which she had named Simois -- in vain, always in vain.
One day in early summer for an instant she was almost convinced that her wish had been granted. She was now turned nineteen, and was tall and full of grace of movement. Her face was unusually per fect in outline, and rich colour came and went in her ronnded cheek. Her eyes were of the darkest brown, large, pensive, tender, and her whole expression was remarkable for a deep, dreaming wistfallness. Her dark, shining hair, long and wave-like, was now bound up in that conical pyramid so favoured by the women of Greece. Her head was crowned by a fillet of laurel leaves, and she

t
Corona of the Nantahalas, 3J[

wore one of those graceful robes of scarleto

wool which she had learned to fashion so}

welL It was mid afternoon and she had';

gone forth to walk alone, a book in her \

hand.

1

The mountain forests were gay with the \

bloom of early summer. The fresh, light ^.

green of the poplars, maples, and beeches, I

mingled in uncertain and irregular variation |

'on the rising heights with the darker hue

of the hemlocks and pines. The gardens

of white birches were as light against the

darkness of the funereal black balsams.

Tender ferns grew in myriads, and vivid

patches of colour were contributed here and

there by rhododendrons and azaleas.

Corona paused where a tiny stream gushed

forth from the rocky soil, and sent a little

rill to join the roaring Simois. The place

was in full view of that other spot which

ehe knew so well and had visited so often --

the spot where she had been found as a

child. Gideon McLeod avoided it for

reasons of ITS own, but it possessed for

Corona a strong fascination. Here had

been the scene of her mystical birth ; here

her celestial guardians had set her down

within reach of those kind earthly guardians

34 Coroner of the Nantahalas.
who had taken her in and cared for her so well . Here, if anywhere, she fancied, would the former be pleased to manifest them selves to her.
As this thought took shape in her mind, the girl heard the stroke of a horse's hoofs on the rocky path, just where Gideon McLeod had heard the same sound sixteen years ago; but the vision which shortly presented itself was a far different one from that of a madman and a babe. What she saw was a young man of unusual physical beauty, clothed in a soft wool cap, a light silk outing shirt, and a coat and trousers of cream-coloured flannel. This could scarcely be a god, but might it not be one of the heroes, in spite of the strange apparel so unlike the Greek ? At the least he was a part of that great unknown outside world, so different from her mountains, and Corona gazed en rapt
The young man saw her, dismounted, threw the bridle over his arm, and ap proached, believing he had found the object of his quest. He was on the look-out for that wonderful girl of the Nantahalas who was said to be "as wise as a sage and as beautiful as a dream," and assuredly this

Corona of the Nantahalas. 35
was she of whom he had heard--this tall sylvan goddess in a scarlet Greek robe, with a fillet of leaves round her head and a book in her hand. There could not be two such extraordinary persona in the same region.
"May I have a drink?" he asked, with smiling face and uncovered head, as he stepped forward.
He marked a certain gravity and statelinoss in her acknowledgment of his salute, bnt saw no lack of friendliness in her face. As she answered, he was strnck by the engaging quaintness of her accent and dialect, in which latter he soon re cognized a peculiar mingling of moun tain idioms with many archaic words and phrases. Such a dialect, if reproduced, would seem stilted and unnatural at best and may with profit be left to the imagi nation.
Stooping, Corona dipped up water for the stranger in the rude cup which belonged to the spring. While he drank, after thank ing her, she thought of the meeting of Nausicaa and Odysseus.
"Have I reached Mr. McLeod's?" he asked.

36 Corona of tke Nantahalas.
"It is not far--up there," she answered, pointing. "I will show yon the way."
" You do not live there? " "I have always lived there. Mr. McLeod is my uncle." She checked hereelf, re collecting that the relationship was not real. "My name is Henry Summerfield," the young man pursued, as an introduction. , "I like your name," she said innocently, as he paused. "Did they give it to you because they expected you to be as beauti ful as the fields in summer?" The words were those of a jest, but her face was wholly serious. "I hope not," said Snmmerfield, asto nished, his handsome face a broad smile. "They were doomed to disappointment in that case. And may I know your name?" "They call me Anna, but Corona is my name," she answered simply, unaware that her failure to mention a surname excited surprise. "That means a crown--a name proper to a queen among women," he said with somewhat effusive gallantry. He felt that he was at liberty to say almost anything

Corona of the Nantahalas. 37
that was not unkind; nature and not eti quette ruled here.
" Where did you come from ? " she asked, turning to lead the way up the slope. " You do not belong to the mountains. You are not like the mountain people."
He told her that New York was his home; he had been spending some weeks at Asheville, and a few days since had concluded to make explorations higher up in the mountains. He had spent the night in the lower valley, and since early morning had been riding up the difficult pathway that led thence. It was said that Mr. McLeod's was the highest settled point, and he had wanted to visit it before returning. - "My uncle will be glad to see you," said Corona, as he paused. " We seldom have a guest."
They now walked forward together, the young man leading his horse.
" What were you reading ?" he asked looking inquiringly toward the book in her hand.
"The'Odyssey,'" she answered, holding it out to him. " Is it not beautiful ?"
"Really, I don't know much about it," he acknowledged. "I recollect reading a

38 Corona of the Nantahalas.
little of it in Greek when I was in school. Hare you read it all ? "
"This is the third time. And I hare other beautiful books which I will show you/' she said enthusiastically.
He saw that there were illustrations in the volume, and understood the origin of her Greek dress, which had greatly puzzled him. He perhaps wondered at her and admired her all the more, however, for he realized that it must have required no little skill to fashion so graceful a robe from pictures alone.
"I have the 'Iliad' and the great Greek tragedies," she continued, "and Shake speare's dramas."
"I know something about Shakespeare," he said.
" I like the way you dress," she pursued naively, "but when I first saw you I won dered why you did not dress like the Greeks--like Perseus, and Heracles, and Theseus, and Meleager, and Jason, and Achilles, and Odysseus, and all the great heroes. My uncle and the mountaineers do not, but yon are different from them."
"I am not acquainted with all the gentle men yon name," laughed Sommerfield,

Corona of the Nantahalas. 39

" bu I can tell you why I don't dress like

them. Fashion has changed a good many

times since their days, and fashion, yon

know, is a tyrant who rules with a rod of

iron."

t

"What is fashion?"

" The custom which dictates what we are

to wear."

" Then I am not in accord with fashion,"

she said, looking down at her flowing robe

in a doubtful way.

" You?" he exclaimed. " You are above

fashion. You are perfect in that costume,

and should wear no other."

He looked at her with an artist's appre

ciation in his eyes, and she felt reassured

and pleased, although she did not quite

understand.

"After all, fashion is a fickle jade," he

laughed. "It would take volumes to

enumerate all the caprices she has indulged

in since the time you refer to, which is, I

suppose, about three thousand years."

"Three thousand years!" exclaimed

Corona, aghast "I did not know -- I did

not dream ---- " Tho girl looked like one

who gazes, suddenly and without warning,

into a bottomless abyss. "What has hap-

40 Corona of the Nantahalas.
pened in all that time ? " she inquired at last.
"Innumerable things. The world has been shaken with countless wars, empires hare risen and fallen, Christianity has suc ceeded Paganism -- everything conceivable has happened."
They were now at the gate of the farm. "There is so much that I mnst learn from you while you are here," she said, earnestly, her thoughtful eyes fastened upon him. Her tone was almost confidential, al though they had met only a few minutes before. Summerfield smiled encouragingly, and his hand involuntarily sought a note book in the pocket of his coat. He wished he could be alone for a short while in order to take down her speeches before he forgot them. He thought he saw a great oppor tunity within his grasp, and congratulated himself on being where he was. "I shall be only too glad to tell you all you wish to know -- so far as I can," he said, promptly. He felt encouraged by her words to con template staying longer than he had in tended at first. She was evidently as deeply interested in him as he in her, and the

Corona of the Nantakalas.

4!

acquaintance promised to be very enter taining and useful. Already he saw the outline of a possible story with her as its central inspiration. Meanwhile he was far from considering her forward, perceiving at a glance that she was absolutely igno rant of the conventions of social life, with nothing but an instinctive delicacy to guide her.
As they reached the gate a large, muscnlar young man appeared from the woods in the opposite direction, and ran up to them eagerly. His broad, ruddy face indi cated robust health, but not a high degree of intelligence, and there was something infantile in his expression, although his eye seemed keen enough. He smiled at Corona in passing. Then, halting less than three feet distant, he fixed his fearless eyes on Snmmerfield, devouring every detail of his features and dress.
"This is Dan, my uncle's son. He can neither hear npr speak," said Corona, not quite cheerfully.
The deaf-mute then turned to the girl, and his expression seemed to say "Where did you find this novelty in the way of a man?" Corona'having answered by signs

42

Corona of the Nantahalas.

and gestures, Dan's devouring glance was again turned upon Summerfield.
The mountaineer's honse, first constrncted as a mere log cabin of the rudest sort, had long since been improved on. It had now fire or six rooms, besides a porch both at the front and the back. There were climb ing plants growing on it, and in the yard a variety of shrubs and transplanted flowers. Though so simple and rude, the effect of the whole was pleasing and homelike to one fresh from wanderings through the wild forests and mountains.
Mrs. McLeod, a timid, faded, solemnfaced woman, saw the stranger from the doorway, but did not go out. She called to her husband who was at work in the rear, and by the time the party had entered the yard he was there to meet them. He was almost as ruddy and robust as his son, but the evidences of advancing years were to be seen in his iron-gray hair and hard, wrinkled face. He, too, looked tenderly on Corona in passing.
"We are mighty glad to see yon, sir," he said simply and heartily when Summerfield was presented.

IV.
StrxxBRFiKLD explained that he was a tourist, with mach time at his disposal, omit ting to add that he was by profession a jour nalist. He desired to spend a few days in the higher altitudes, and if they had room and could take him in, he would be glad to pay well. He saw at once that he had made a mistake, and that the mention of money was offensive. In the Nantahalas the^-sojourning traveller is taken in as a gn'est or not at all. However, he was cor dially urged to stay at the McLeods' home, and was not slow to accept the offered hos pitality.
He took copious notes relating to every thing he thought interesting, and before hia departure had completed a letter for a newspaper with which he had a regular connection. He found that a mere de-

44 Corona of the Nantahalas.
scription of the peaceful life at Lonely CoTe was lacking in sensational features. In fact, with Corona left out -- she being reserved for his romance --it was hopelessly tame. So, with much picturesqueness and humour, he described a dancing party, sug gested by something seen in the backwoods elsewhere. Not content with this inven tion, he boldly turned his peaceful place of sojourn into an illicit distillery of " moun tain dew." ,
Gideon McLeod (not mentioned by name) was made to play the role of the regulation moonshiner, generous and hospitable with his friends, bnt burning with hatred of revenue officers and of all persons sus pected of sympathizing with them. The distillery itself was described in detail, and placed in a convenient mountain cave not far from the moonshiner's abode. The stealthy methods of disposing of the colour less whisky to the lower valley people were recounted, one of them, being the familiar practice of placing a jug and a piece of silver at some lonely spot in the forest, and returning later to find the money gone and the liquor there in its stead.
Sammerfield did not write all this with-

Corona of the Nantahalas. 45
out some slight prickings of conscience -- he was not altogether hardened as jet -- bat he easily persuaded himself that he was doing no harm. It was notorious that there were illicit distilleries in the North Carolina mountains, and what mattered it if he located one at Lonely Cove? Nobody could claim that it was a libel on the sec tion, and, as the readers of the " Chronicle" would not know where the place was, no harm could result
On the other hand, a readable letter could be written and his time not be wasted. Summerfield thought he had wasted too much time already in his search for illicit distilleries, since up to date he had found nothing more than a sort of rural " speak easy," where the colourless liquid was poured into the purchasers' bottles from a new and innocent-looking kerosene can. Summerfield was not the man to waste time in self-examination or in the contem- j plation of moral questions. His attention j was usually centred on gathering the mate- | erial for a readable letter. Rather than fail, j to do this, he was at all times ready to | still the faint whisper of the inward monitor. J
It was Corona, however, who now ab- I

46 Corona of the Nantahalas.
sorbed the greater part of his time and attention. As he came more and more to recognize her absolute innocence, he grew bold enough to take down her speeches, often as soon as they were nttered. The girl showed him Olympus, Helicon, Par nassus, the Simois, and the Scamander indeed, all her favourite haunts, and he was constantly taking notes. The deaf mnteu always accompanied them, whether from mere curiosity or because he was told so to do, the guest could not decide.
Once, as they halted at a little stream, an affluent of one of the classical rivers, Sammerfield threw himself down on the bank to drink. Corona, who was standing near, saw his reflection in tho water, and noticed that he looked at it steadily before breaking the mirror with his lips.
"Eemember the fate of Narcissus," she said, with a half smile, but seriously. "There is danger in that for such as you."
"Who was Narcissus?" asked the young man, as he rose to his feet. "I believe I knew once upon a time."
Quite simply and seriously she repeated the story of the beautiful youth who fell

Corona of the Nantahalas.

hopelessly in lore with his own image

fleeted in the mirror of the brook.

I

Snmmerfield burst into a great laugh.

" Do you think I am as vain as that ?'" he

asked. "I think I could preserve a level

head even if I were good looking."

"Narcissus could not have been more

beautiful/' was Corona's thought, as she

stood silent.

"You don't believe that story was true ?"

asked Summerfield.

" I do not know. It may have happened.

If it did not, it must have been invented in

order to convey some hidden meaning."

" What possible hidden meaning could

there be in such an idle fancy ? "

" Socrates could have explained it, I think.

He would perhaps have said the story was a

fable, describing the disastrous results of un

bridled self-conceit."

Summerfield took out his note-book and

began to write.

"Why do you write so much in your

book ? " she asked, for the first time. ;

"In order to make sure of things before

they are gone forever," he said, laughing.

"One must pin down a thought before it

blows away."

48 Corona of the Nantahalas.
She was far from comprehending him thoroughly, supposing he only wrote down reflections for the pleasure it gave him, and thinking he must therefore be thoughtful and wise. For the first time was thus suggested to her the idea of keeping a diary.
"It would be worth while for you to look in the brook's impartial mirror," said Snmmerfield, returning the note-book to his pocket
" Why so ?" she innocently asked. " Because yon would see beauty itself." "Do you think I am beautiful, Henry ?" the girl asked very seriously. He smiled as she pronounced his Chris-; tian name, but preferred to leave her in ignorance of her unconventionally. He only said: "You are very, very beautiful." " I am glad," she said simply, going on to ask: "and am I as beautiful as the women you know in the outside world ?" "More so -- far more so," was the earnest
answer. " But you will go back to them, Henry ? " "I must go back, but I can return --
here," he said in a low voice, with something like passion.

Corona of the Nanfa/uz/asJ 49
They stood near together, aud hia eyes were riveted upon hers. The deaf mute, who had lain on the ground absorbing them with his glance, now sprang suddenly to his feet and looked about him. Corona started, and what was perhaps the first blush of her life suffused her cheek and brow. She had led the conversation up to^ this climax with an innocence that was childlike, but her eyes were opened now, and she feared she had committed a grave breach of decorum. Turning away in con fusion, she moved to walk homeward.
After one turbulent moment of disap pointment, Summerfield felt qnite resigned. He was not really in love, and did not de sire to be ; therefore it was better that they / should stop at that point and say no more. Ta spite of his journalistic lapses1 from virtue, there was something honourable in Sumraerfield.
Before the week was quite gone, he de cided that he had better take his leave. The purpose for which he came had been served. He had written a taking letter, his book was full of notes, and he felt sore of a good story. It would now be well to go -- while there was time. Had Corona

JO Corona of the Nantahalas.
been lees attractive, less beautiful, leas inno cent, he thought he might hare stayed. She was not the woman he ought to marry --and stay he could not.
He observed that the girl was constantly more shy and reserved after the moment when she had blushed, and at the hour of parting she said little. After he bade the McLeoda good-bye, Sumraerfield was ac companied a little way into the forest by Corona and Dan, leading his horse and walking with them.
" We will turn back here," said the girl abruptly, as they reached the spring.
"Good-bye, Dan," said Sammerfield, shaking the smiling deaf mute's hand. Then he turned to Corona with some rather commonplace expressions. He would never forget his stay at Lonely Cove ; some day he hoped to come back -- if he might.
"If you wish to --yes," she said, smiling. " We should be glad to see you again. We rarely have a guest, and it gives my nncle great pleasure."
t( Au rrvoir, then -- good-bye !" he said, with a warm clasp of the hand.
Then be was off and away before she

Corona of the Nantahalas. 5 1
could realize that the parting had really come. The two stood looking after him till he was lost to view, and then their eyes met. "I have only yon now," Corona's glance seemed to say. Acting from a sudden impulse, she leaned forward and kissed Dan on the cheek, to his evident delight
A moment later both her strength and composure gave way. With a low, desolate cry, she fell prone upon the grass and burst into tears. Such an unwonted exhibition of distress greatly excited Dan, and with a face expressive of astonishment and deep concern, he bent over her, uttering inarticu late sounds as though struggling to make inquiry. But she took no notice of him, and only seemed to sob the more.
All at once a ray of intelligence appeared in the deaf mute's perplexed eyes, and, leaping to his feet, he looked threateningly in the direction Summerfield had gone. The fierce glance returned once or twice to the girl's figure on the grass, only to dart again down the leafy vista through which the horseman had disappeared. For a few momenta longer Dan stood thus, and then, apparently seized by a sudden and serious

52 Corona of the Nantahalas.
determination, he took a few doubtful steps, and at last darted away in the direction of the farm-house.
It is certain that Summerficld felt a distinct admiration and something of a vague reverence for Corona. He was con scious of almost a tender regard for her welfare, of a real regret that her lot had been cast in such desolate pi ices, and of a hope that bright days were awaiting her in times to come. But as he rode along the downward path through the forest, it is equally certain that his thoughts were bat little concerned with her personally, although as a prototype for one of the love liest of heroines, she absorbed his whole attention.
For the time he was almost serenely happy. Just now, after starting, he had something like an inspiration. The idea for which he had been waiting had come to him, that central idea which would give life and vigour to his proposed tale. His halting imagination was aroused ; scene after scene took pleasing shape before his vision, and the hours spent on this long lonely ride promised to be among the most agreeable of his life.

Corona of the Nantahalas. 53
He was not troubled with thoughts of the personal Corona. He did not ask him self how she was now to take up the threads of her life, and go on with them in the old-time simplicity and content. He did not see her sorrowful, hungry days foreshadowed --her sweet and oitter fancies, her hopes and fears, which would be irre vocably commingled, though less evenly than the warp and woof at her weaving; her sighs, which would blend with the mournful sound of the spinning-wheel, and mayhap her tears which would dampen the span yarn as she drew it through her fingers. How should he ? How was he to know that one week of pleasure could entail such results in the history of a lonely soul ? He did not and could n }t; he only saw her before him radiant, lovely, in a luminous cloud of fancy--his inspiration.
As Summerfield pursued his journey, looking neither to the right nor to the left, absorbed wholly in the play of his imagina tion, he was suddenly and rudely aroused. He was first aware of a whirring sound, as of something flying rapidly through the air. A shadow glanced before his eyes, and then he knew that a rope had tightened around

54 Corona of the Nantahalas.
his waist, pinioning his arms to his sides. Before he saw whence the attack came, he was jerked from the saddle and fell heavily to the ground.
In the act of bounding to his feet, he was borne down again. A heavy, muscular man had sprung upon him with the agility of a cat With his knees planted upon the prostrate man's breast, the assailant threw his body toward the feet, quickly slipping a nooee around them and binding them together. Thus was Summerfield so securely bound that he could move neither hand nor foot, before he saw the face of his captor.
"What does this mean?" he cried fiercely, as he recognized the deaf mute.
Dan saw that his prisoner's lips were moving, but did not trouble himself further than to see that the knots were securely tied. A moment later he was off to secure the straying horse. Returning shortly, he lifted his . struggling captive upon the animal's back, and strapped him there.
In his fury Summerfield made use of the most fiery invective, railing ai the deaf mute, just as * if he heard it all; he was an idiot, a madman, a robber, an

Corona of tlw Nantahalas. 55
assassin--all these, with qualifying adjectiyea of an expressive and explosive kind. Bat Dan gave no sign, and walked steadily forward through the forest, the bridle over his arm.
Realizing that he might as well talk to a stone, Summerfield at last bottled up his wrath and was silent. Anon his auger cooled, and anxiety succeeded. What was to be done with him ? This could not be mere sport on Dan's part; he must have been incited to it. Could Corona know ? Assuredly not Was it, then, McLeod ? Was he waiting at an appointed spot, and wonld they murder him for the sake of his horse and what money he might have ?
A prey to such misgivings, Summerfield forgot how uncomfortable was his position. Though absorbed in reflecting upon the probable outcome of his captivity, he did not fail to note that the deaf mute led the horse away froni the path and over a wind ing route through the forest, halting only after almost an hour's tramp.
The stopping place was not familiar to Summerfield. The mountain side rose almost perpendicularly at this point, and in the rocky wall the captive's anxious eye

56 Corona of the Nantakalas.
descried a small opening, perhaps the month of a cave. There was indeed an opening, but the cramped chamber within, of some fifteen bj thirty feet, was rather a niche in the wall than a cave.
The spot was one well known to Corona and Dan. Years before, the rocky chamber had been a favourite playhouse with them. Later on, it had been classically entitled the cave of Calypso.
The opening was fringed with vines, and was larger than it looked. When Dan lifted the burden from the back of the horse and shouldered it, he was able to enter the cave without stooping. The rocky, uneven floor of the dim interior was softened in one corner by a pile of dead leaves. Here the unresisting form of Summerfield was gently deposited, and a few moments later the amazed young man was left to his own thoughts and conjectures.

V.
BY this time it was near the hour of noon, but the sun had set before Summerfield was disturbed. As the time wore away, his amazement was intensified. Try as he might, he could invent no reasonable explanation of the situation. If his detention meant murder and robbery, why should there be such delay ? Ho asked himself this ques tion again and again, and the long hours and deep silence only emphasized the pro blem, while bringing no solution. Once or twice during the afternoon he thought he heard stealthy footsteps. Once he was con vinced that a shadow darkened the vineclad doorway, that some one stood there for an instant looking at him ; but he lay with his feet toward the inner wall of the cave, and before he could twist his head about and direct his glance toward the opening, the shadow was gone.

58

Corona of the Nantahalas*

Shortly after sundown the deaf mate appeared and offered him food -- with a face very serious, almost remorseful. Summerfield scowled threateningly, and motioned the offered refreshment away. But Dan refused to remove it, and seemed to be much grieved by this obstinacy. Hesitat ing a moment, he took up another mouthful on a fork, and put it to the captive's lips.
Summerfield had eaten nothing since breakfast, and was very hungry. As the grateful odour of fried venison again entered his nostrils, involuntarily his lips relaxed. After all, why not eat and be comfortable while waiting to know his fate ? Dan smiled with all the delight of a successful child, continuing to ply the fork, and when the prisoner's hunger was appeased, he took his leave, apparently well satisfied with himself.
Sammerfield had spent the afternoon in multiplying vain conjectures as to the meaning of hia captivity, and in straggling to loosen his bonds, by turns. He now did neither, being weary of both. . Comforted by the food, he lay quite still, and soon fell asleep. The morning light had entered the doorway when he awoke, and he then laj

Corona of the Nintahalas. 59
for hoars, as it seemed to him, awaiting the next visit of his jailer, meanwhile listening with impatience rather than pleasure to the twitter of the early birds aud the soft sigh of the breeze in the trees outside.
At last he heard footsteps near the open ing, aud voices. Who was that speaking ? A woman ? Yes, it was Corona ! She, then, knew of his capture -- had caused it, per haps. Summerfield's face flushed aud his heart beat violently -- with indignation, or was it with pleasure ? Corona loved him -- she wished him to stay; this could be the only explanation. The modern Odysseus was a prisoner in the cave of Calypso, and Calypso herself was coming -- by her spells and her love to lure him to stay. If, then, she willed it with such passionate determi nation, with such forgetfulness of the cus toms of mankind, why should he not be persuaded to stay -- for a time, if not for the full seven years ?
As soon as Dan had deposited his burden iu the cave and secreted the horse, he ran to the spot where he had left Corona weep ing on the grass. Finding no trace of her, he looked for her at the farm-house, bat she was nowhere to be seen. Immediately
..&.._..- ;.-.'

60 Corona of the Nantahalas,
returning to the forest, Dan sought her in one after another of their favourite haunts, in Tain. He even climbed Helicon, and then Parnassus. By this time it was mid afternoon ; he was weary and hungry, and concluding that he had missed her, he re turned home.
Inquiring of his mother by signs, he learned that Corona had just come in from the woods after an absence of five or six hours, that she complained of being ill, and had retired to her room without eating. Seeking her there forthwith, he found the door shut and fastened from within, and there was no response to his knocks.
Gideon McLeod received little assistance from Dan during the remainder of that afternoon. The thought of what he had done weighed upon the deaf mute, and half an hour's pursuit of quiet labour was as much as he could bear at a time. Twic<2 he dropped his hoe and ran to the cave in order to see how the captive fared; more often still, he returned to the house in the hope of finding his beloved playmate visible. And when supper had been cooked and served, he surreptitiously carried off a plate ful to the cave, as above described.

Corona of the Nantahalas. 61
Nothing more was seen of Corona till next morning, when she came forth, a little pale, bat otherwise unaltered. As soon as breakfast was disposed of, she placed her spinning wheel on the porch and worked with an eagerness suggesting desperation. Dan seated himself on the steps in the direct line of her vision, and from time to time endeavoured to engage her attention. But she had no glances for him to-day. At length he went and stood by her, making signs. Did she not want to walk with him in the woods ? Did she not wish to visit once again the cave of Calypso?
" Not now," she said. " Go away, Dan." Bat he persisted. If she only knew what he had there to show her, she would come. He had a great surprise in store for her. What was it? He would not tell; she must guess. She would be sorry if she did not go and see it. And at last the girl rose and followed him through the thick woods to the cave. " Have you lo and Atalanta shut up there?" Corona asked aloud, forgetting to make signs. "I have not seen them this morning." This was just as they arrived, and these

62 Corona of the Nantahalas..
were the words partly overheard by Summerfield. Dan shook his head, with an important smile, as the inquiry was duly communicated to him, and motioned his companion to enter. Leaning forward to look through the doorway, Corona drew back hastily as she saw the indistinct out lines of a man lying on the ground.
"Don't be afraid," signed Dan, and en tered first
Corona followed, but with great hesita tion. Her eyes were not yet accustomed to the dim light, and she neither saw Summerfield's bonds nor recognized his face.
"What can this mean ?" she cried aloud. "Good morning, Miss Corona!" said Snmmerfield, with affected gaiety. The girl started at the sound of that familiar voice, and looked at Dan almost in terror. One instant of uncertainty, and she stepped quickly forward and stooped over the form of the captive, recognizing his face and perceiving his helpless condi tion all at once. Snmmerfield saw amaze ment, concern, fear, written in every line of her face, and his heart smote him for having so cruelly misjudged her.

Corona of the Nantahalas. - 63
"Don't bo alarmed," he said gently. "I am all right. The experience baa been rather uncomfortable, .bat there are no bones broken."
"How came you here?" asked Corona, excitedly. "I thought you were many miles away."
" Evidently I did not walk," he answered with a laugh, struggling a little within the folds of the rope.
" Who has done this ?" exclaimed the girl, her eyes aflame.
" Your playful cousin there," was the answer. "As 1 rode away yesterday, ab sorbed in thought, he threw a lasso over me, jerked me from the saddle, and jumped on me. Before I realized what was going on, he had slipped another noose over my feet and had me secure. He then put me on my horse, and brought me to this place--for what purpose, I have as yet been wholly un able to guess."
Corona rose slowly to her feet, directing a fiery glance at Dan, before which he quailed.
"And you did that!" she said, a look of mingled grief, anger, and horror on her face. " Who would have belie?ed there was

64 Corona of the Nantahalas.
roch wickedness in your heart ? N"o wonder tbe gods decreed that you should be deaf and dumb."
Recollecting that he could not compre hend her spoken words, she began to ad dress Dan by signs:
"What could have made you do this frightful thing? What evil influence has possessed you ?" she said, in substance.
"It was all for yon," indicated the un happy deaf mute by means of his rapid signs and gestures. "I saw you fall on the ground and weep after he had gone, I thought you wanted him to stay, but he would not, and so I----"
Corona turned away, and his silent speech was cut off. The blood had rushed tnrbulently to her face, spreading from neck to brow; now it is as suddenly receded, leaving her alarmingly pale. For an instant her body seemed to sway, as though she would fall; but she recovered suddenly and turned again to Dan.
"Untie him!" she said, and her gesture denoted an imperious command.
She had spoken aloud, not by signs, but the deaf mute had read her face and comprehended fully. He started, as if

Corona of the Nantahalas. 65
from a sodden and unexpected blow, and bounded forward to do her bidding. The blade of a knife gleamed in the dim light, and the ropes were soon cut.
"Now fetch his horse/' commanded Corona, this time by signs, and Dan hurried from the cave.
Summerfield gathered himself up stiffly, and followed the girl through the vine-clad doorway into the open air.
"I know not what to say," she faltered with downcast eyes. "Such an outrage ----"
" Do not speak of it," the young man interrupted kindly.
" My uncle will be most deeply mortified --as I am," she pursued. " He knew nothing, nor did I, till now. "We beg of you to ac cept our apology, and ask you to remember (hat this poor Dan is only a child as to his mind, and is truly not responsible for his acts."
" I am quite aware of it -- I have seen it." was the considerate reply.
Dan now appeared, leading the horse. Delivering the bridle to Summerfield, he turned away, a sad, perplexed look on his face.
"And now I will ask you to mount and ride

66 Corona of the Nantahalas.
away at once," continued the girl bravely, "so that my uncle will not know of this at all. It would grieve him to the heart. Good bye ! All our good wishes go with you, although you leave us unhappy -- grieved for this terrible thing that has occurred."
He pitied her in her mortification. She looked very sad and very beautiful ; he almost believed that he loved -her.
" May I come -- may I come again ? " he asked ardently.
" If yon wish it," she replied, in a low voice, and with averted face.
Admiration for her came suddenly over him in a great wave. He felt touched be yond expression ; and yet, even in that generous moment, a theatrical impulse which sometimes moved him, rose to the surface. He felt irresistibly impelled to seize her hand, to bend low and press his lips upon it
"The memory of Corona will live with me forever! " he said, with a touch of real passion.
She drew her hand quickly away. " Wait until you return," she said.
Then he leaped on his horse, lifted his hat to her, and was gone.

Corona of the Nantahalas.
When the sound of his horse's hoofs 4a$ no longer heard, Corona turned towirtl Dan, who stood apart and seemed afraidf to look directly at her, shame and perpleiiiy written on his face. However, he now ceived that she beckoned him, andl he timidly approached. She seated herself on a stone, and bade him do likewise.
"My poor Dan," she said aloud, as he obeyed. For a time she spoke no more, looking along the path Summerfield had taken.
"And you did all that for me," she mnscd at last, looking at Dan again. "You meant to please me, bat you have broken my heart, poor boy."
Then all at once she put her arms round his neck, rested her head on his shoulder, arid wept as the desolate weep.

VI.
THE winter season was over at Asheville, and the summer season had not yet begun. The long veraoda of the Battery Park Hotel was almost deserted; scarcely an eye was left that cared to dwell on the wide prospect the scattered town below, the rolling valley' beyond, and the blue moun tains against the horizon. The only persons enjoying the ubiquitous rocking-chair were two young men, who were more than half persuaded to stretch their legs over the balustrade. Why not? It was so com fortable, and there was no one in sight likely to be shocked. There seemed to be an end, now, of that incessant tramping back and forth of ladies who had nothing in the world to do bnt to seek an appetite for dinner.
" When do you go away, Snmmerfield?"

Corona of the Nantahalas. 69
"To-morrow. And you ?" "As soon as I can get everything ready for camping." The last speaker was a man of perhaps a little more than thirty -- half-a-dozen years older than Htnry Summerfield. In many respects the two were- contrasting types. Edward Darnell's clothes did not fit well, nor were they very new, and although his features were good, and there was evidence of strength in his serious face, no one would have called him handsome. He bore the air of one who had given over play for work. His dark hair and eyes emphasized the pallor of his rather thin face, and, although it was not possible to detect the odour of the traditional midnight oil, there was about him an unmistakable air of the student " You don't mean to say that yon expect to camp all alone another summer ? " asked Summerfield, with an air of concern which was hardly genuine. "I did it in the Yellowstone last summer without disaster, and why not here ?" was the reply. "These North Carolina moun tains," Darnell continued, "are remarkable for being forest-clothed up to the top,

70 Corona of the Nantakalas,
although so very high the highest land east of the Rockies, in fact. I want to give a special study to the flora of these high altitudes."
"If I were you, theu, I'd choose the Nantahalas, rather than the Smokies or Unakas," said Summerfield. " Really, they are wonderful. And, besides, that's where I met that remarkable girl," he lightly added.
"I had been thinking of Mount Mitchell," Darnell continued, passing over his friend's last remark. "I don't quite know where the Naotahalas are. They are not visible from this point"
Snmmerfield said he fancied they were about a hundred miles to the south-west. " But how are you able to manage this camping of yours ? " ho asked a few mo ments later. " Where do YOU get anything to eat ? "
"Simple enough. I carry a pot and a supply of steam-cooked oatmeal. Then, too, you really have no idea what a public benefactor was the inventor of canned goods," Darnell went on, smiling and almost enthusiastic. "I have my gun along, and occasionally I take the trouble to kill and

Corona of the Nantahalas. 71

cook a partridge, or something else not

always as nice. I eat when hungry, drink

when thirsty, sleep when weary--the niost

independent life in the world, I assure you.

I can't lay claim to the gipsy's blood, but I

dote on the gipsy's way of life."

" But how dull it must be! "

I.

"No time for that when a man is collect

ing, classifying, and cataloguing specimens."

" But you can't work all the time." I

"Certainly not. Of course I carry a few

of my favourite books, and now and then^F

condescend to read a novel. I even read

your sketches occasionally."

\

"You don't say!" Sutnjaerfield laughed

heartily. " But, after all, you must oftei be

desperately lonely."

I

"Ah, there you say true"--with a talf

sigh. " But then I am a lonely man in! the

city, you know. I have nothing but! my

lectures at the Academy and my books." -,

"What a dry life! By the way, has that

rich cousin of yours made any further efforts

to introduce you into society?"

]

"She mentioned it again last fall, bnt I

backed as usual. I don't care for jfine

ladies. I don't know much about either,

bat I prefer the working girl."

j

72 Corona of the Nantakalas.
" The kind who stands behind a counter and says that one colour is more becoming 'than what' another is for a light com plexion, and who informs you that she has a sister 'Alas' also in business, and that if their father 'had of known how to hold on to his money they would all now be driving in a 'cope,' instead of--et cetera, et cetera."
"You mustn't go into particulars. That is the way to spoil the best of theories," said Darnell, smiling. "I mean the work ing girl in the abstract. I prefer her because, to my mind, she is more in the order of creation. She does something for others--something of use to her neighbours --while the fine lady lives only for herself. I admit, of course, that where the working girl does not love her work, the one is as selfish as the other."
"But how do you dispose of the advan tages of culture and----"
_" True education is a great thing for any one, especially if he be caught young. But the varnish called cultivation will not im prove a shallow mind or refine a selfish soul. I prefer strong characters, wherever found."

Corona of tkf Nantahalas.

" Darnell, you ought to meet that girlj I

saw last summer."

\

"Who is she?"

j

"Did you read that story of mipe published last winter called 'A Sylvkn

Princess ?'"

I

"Yes."

j

"The whole thing was based on wjat

happened to me in the Nantahalas ia con

nection with this girl. I dared not descijibe

eyerything just as it was. I knew it woulqn't

be believed."

j

" What were you doing there ? "

"Last summer I went up to the moun ain

village of Bryson, on my way to Oconoluf e, the Cherokee reservation -- I wanted to write an article about the Indians, -- and w lile

there I heard mention of a remark; ible young woman who lived some forty n lies

away -- far up in the fastnesses of 1 the

Nantahalas."

j

"Not alone?"

j

"No. Her companions were an jold farmer, his wife, and a deaf-mute son. | It

was said, in substance, that she was as ^ise

as a sage and as beautiful as a dream, and

I determined to see her."

f

"How singular."

s

5
.' \

74 Corona of the Nantakalas.
"Take another cigar, and I'll tell you all about it"
"It is certainly a remarkable story," said Darnell half an hour later, after listening to an outline of his friend's experience in the Nantahalas. "And you have never since communicated with her?"
"No. I thought once or twice of send ing her a copy of the story of which she was the inspiration, but decided not to. I believe I should have gone back myself long before this if I had dared. It seemed wiser to stay away; she is too fascinating. I am not ready to marry yet, and, if I were, she is hardly the kind of girl to introduce to one's friends."
" She is worth a hundred of the conven tional girl, if your report is at all accurate," said Darnell positively.
"No doubt she is -- in a way. Bat society's way are different. She'd interest yon, Darnell, I am sure; and there would be no risk in your going. You are such a cold, phlegmatic fellow, that there would be no danger of your falling in love, and ----"
"And as I am not good looking, there would be no danger of her falling in love with me, eh?" Darnell replied dryly.
flL."

Corona of the Nantahalas. 75
"You know I did not mean to say that." "It is true, however, and it is possible that I may adopt your suggestion. I can doubtless find the same specimens on the peaks of the Xantah ilas as on Mount Mitchell, and there seems no real reason why I should not follow your trail."

VII.
COBOJTA. waited in vain through.the long weeks and months of the summer and autumn. Summerfield did not come back, and sent no word. Many a time the girl visited the spring where he had first entered her life, and lingered there, vaguely hoping to hear his horse's hoof-strokes on the flinty path lingered long and drearily, falling prone upon the ground at last before the oppression of her disappointment and grief. She had little idea of the long distances, of the hindrances that might prevent, and had really expected him to return, believing im plicitly all he had said. She had learned many things about the outside world during the few days he was with her, but she had not learned enough.
The spot became hateful at last, and she went there no more; but on Helicon and

Corona of tht Nantahalas . 77
the other heights which they had visited together, on the banks of the Simois, and in the care at Calypso, she still thought of him. After some weeks, in the intervals between weaving, spinning and other work, she went back to her books, especially her poets, with renewed affection and absorp tion. She had felt the pangs of a great disappointment, and now understood the feelings of Ariadne, of Medea, of Calypso, of Dido, of Cleopatra, and Ophelia, as never before.
Still later, though scarcely less sad, Corona found a certain relief in giving ex pression to her troubled thoughts in spoken words. As she wandered alone through the wild woods, or sat upon the loftiest point of Helicon or Olympus and looked out over the vast, hazy blue sea of moun tains, she now and then fell into a measured recitation of her griefs, her thoughts, her hopes. It did not occur to her that she spoke in rhythm ; the voices of the ancient bards forever haunted her mind, and, had she thought of the matter, their mode of speech would have seemed to her more natural and fitting than prose for these melancholy soliloquies. She was observant
,v.c2

78

Corona of tke Nantakalas.

and reflective enough, however, to become aware that this habit of measured soliloquy was growing on her, and she wondered if she were the victim of a peculiar form of madness. While wandering on one of the higher peaks of the neighbourhood one day late in the fall Corona witnessed a thunder storm in the clouds beneath her, and was filled with delight rather than awe by the terrific beauty and grandeur of the scene. Eeturning home it o- ..ed to her that if Summerfield had seen it he would have written about it in his book. It was this suggestion which ended in her spreading paper before her the next day and be ginning to write.
Once begun, the habit grew on her, and almost every day Corona wrote something ;in a little blank book left behind by the schoolmaster. From this beginning of a simple description of the thunderstorm, she advanced toward the most fantastic and poetical fancies, everywhere coloured by the pagan atmosphere in which she had grown up. What the birds said to each other, what the river said to the mountain, the myriad murmurings of the forest from day to day, the beat of the gentle rain

Corona of the Nantahalas. 79
on the glad leaves, the language of the clouds, of the stars, the soft coo of the doves who knew that her heart was torn, the harsh laugh of the crows who knew it, too, the friendly sympathy of the wood and water nymphs, of whom she still dreamed, the indifference of fauns and satyrs, the mystery, the beauty, the sad ness, the joy, of the vast, illimitable world of nature.
Once, forgetful of her uncle's warning that the place was unsafe even while it was day, Corona wandered into the pathless forest on the far side of Parnassus. Dan was busy and could not go, so she called the deer and started off, lo and Atalanta trotting contentedly at her heels. As the way became precipitous and difficult her pets strayed off, feeding, and she ascended to the top alone, remaining there an un marked length of time absorbed in con templating a grand prospect of unknown peaks wreathed in smoky blue, of wide intervening valleys traversed by slender, shining streams, and of shifting white mists which here and there swam low between the piny walls of long, deep glens.

8o Corona of the,Nantahalas.
Descending into the great forests again, she came upon a huge old talip tree with a small hollow at its centre on a level with the ground, evidently at one time the den of some animal, for the rotting protuberances were all worn smoothly away. Its height would not permit stand ing erect, but Corona calculated that two, perhaps three, persons could sit comfort ably within the hollow, should shelter from a storm be desired at any time.
She would show this to Dan without delay, and should a rain-cloud descend upon them while in this neighbourhood, they could henceforth find refuge here. It was while she thought of this that she missed the deer. Detecting a faint sound of howling in the distance, she remem bered her uncle's warning, and feared the worst.
In a few minutes fleet-footed Atalanta bounded through some neighbouring laurel bashes and leaped madly forward. At sight of Corona, and at the sound of her voice, the frightened hind halted and came to her, panting and trembling. lo followed in another moment The howling had now grown loud and fierce, and the pursuers

Corona of the Nantahalas, 81
were close at hand. Corona"" had barely had time to push the terrified but obedient young deer into the hollow of the tree, and follow them, when half-a-dozen wolves burst through the laurel and halted snarling be fore her.
As if fully aware of the helplessness of their prey, two of the foremost beasts sprang half way into the hollow, and, sinking their teeth into the neck of poor Atalanta, dragged her forth, in spite of Corona's threatening cries and the futile blows from her bare hands. Fearlessly the girl went forth after them, and, seizing a large stone, dealt one of the wolves a blow which caused it to relax its hold with a howl of pain. The advantage thus gained was only momentary. Two more wolves immediately sprang upon the bleeding hind, a third seized Corona's dress in its teeth, tearing it to shreds, while a fourth attacked lo, who was shrinking in the hollow.
The consequences would doubtless have been disastrous for Corona as well as her pets bat for the fortunate arrival of Gideon McLeod, who, while hunting on the moun tain slope at no great distance, heard the

82

Corona of tht Nantahalas.

howling and hurried to the scene. Two of the wolves were quickly shot, and the remainder sought the safety of distance. Bat poor Atalanta was dead, and lo staggered about, bleeding from several wounds.
For the first time since the day of Summerfield's departure, Corona wept copious tears, and could with difficulty be consoled. Having examined lo's wounds and found that they were not serious, at the weeping girl's suggestion Gideon McLeod sought a burial-place for Atalanta. Not far away he found a small rocky hollow in a steep slope, and here was deposited the dead hind, Corona first strewing the bottom with laurel leaves, regretting that she could not obtain the funereal cypress which the Trojan matrons threw into the graves of their loved ones, A pile of loose stones was heaped over the spot, and then they started home ward, poor lo limping after them. All this waa recorded in the little book in highly imaginative style, the mystical, ancient idea of metempsychosis playing a part. Poor Atalanta was made the flesh-clothed soul of a beautiful maid of some far time was not the original lo transformed into

Corona of the Nantahalas. 83
a cow? -- and the pack of wolves, while scourged with a whip of flaming words, were declared the eternal prison-house of the souls of once depraved and wicked men.
The fall and winter wore away, the monotony of Coroua's life being varied only by the jegular visits of one Jonathan Scruggs, a mountaineer from the lower valley. This young man, who was not good looking or otherwise attractive, ap peared to be decidedly deficient in mother wit, and could not take no for an answer. He was less lacking in appreciation of his own importance, and was thoroughly con vinced that Corona would succumb to his persuasive eloquence in time. However, he was wise enough not to be disagreeably urgent, and so his frequent presence was tolerated by the family, the elder McLeod being always polite to him. But Dan more than once meditated a quarrel, seeing how his beloved playmate was annoyed.
After the winter snows had melted, and Scamander and Simois had borne the waste of water down to the lower country, when the bare trees leafed out and the spring flowering began, Corona was less unhappy
^, v *r*

84 Corona of the Nantahalas.
*
while still thinking of him who had come into and gone out of her life, to return no more. She thought of him, but quietly, with a patience aad resignation which she had learned at last. In her little book she wrote that the budding of the leaves was her returning smile after the dark winter of j>ain -- her sad, forgiving smile which would go downward through the world to him.
One day early in June, about a year after the departure of Summerfield, she walked forth in the forest alone. It wag afternoon, and her work was done -- the hour when she usually went out with Dan ; but to-day she avoided him and slipped away alone. She felt unequal to the tramp up to the heights, and went and sat by the roaring Simois, watching with unfailing interest the turbulent sweep of the crystal water over the rocks and shoals. Her old fancies re turned to her as she lingered, and she found herself wondering if, after ail the faithless Summcrneld had said, the naiads were not there in the swirling water, chasing each other playfully round the eddies, and laughing in the fullness of their content

Corona of the Nantahalas. 85
The path she chose in returning led past the cave of Calypso, a spot still visited, though associated with some of her most painful recollections. The snn had set ere she reached the spot. As she drew near, the sound of an axe caused her to halt in great surprise. A little nearer, she saw that a fire glimmered through the trees, and won dered what Dan, who should be at home milking the cows, could be doing there at this hour.
At the verge of the open in front of the cave the girl stopped, amazed. Close to the opening in the rock two men were engaged in driving down the stakes of a small, comfortable-looking tent. Near by, two horses and a mule were tethered, and between the stamping animals and the busy men, a saucepan simmered on a fire. A tin teapot, a few other utensils, and some unpacked luggage, all within a few feet of the fire, completed the catalogue of strange objects presented to view.
It could be seen at a glance that one of the men was a mountaineer from the lower valley. As a twig snapped under Corona's foot, the other man looked up quickly, saw

U6 Corona of the Nantahalas.
her, and came forward. There was still light enough for the girl to observe that he was tall, with striking bat not handsome features. His dark hair and eyes seemed the darker in contrast with the pallor of his face. He wore a woollen cap, a grey Nor folk jacket, and dark trousers ; and though neither of the latter fitted as well aa they might, it was evident that he was a man of the world. As he approached, Corona re gretted that she had not exchanged her plain working garb for one of her Greek gowns.
"Good evening, madam," he said. "I suppose you are from Mr. McLeod's ?"
"Yes. I was passing this way -- I did not know you were here," she answered.
"My name is Edward Darnell. I have come here in order to study the flora--the plants. We passed your house this after noon, and would have stopped, but saw no one about There was little time to lose, and we came on here and struck camp. Do you suppose Mr. McLeod will have any objection to my camping here for a time ? "
"None at all, I am sure. How could he?"

Corona of the Nantahalas. 87

"Thank you. I thought it a suitable

place on account of the little cave. I can

build my fire there on rainy nights."

It occurred to Corona that fo make a

kitchen of that cave would be a desecra

tion, and it was the expression of her face

which prompted him to add :

" But perhaps I intrude. It seems to

have been used ---- "

" You do not intrude. It was only used

as a playhouse when my cousin and I were

children. You are welcome to it."

?

Again he expressed his thanks, and she ?

turned to move away. " I must go. My }

uncle will like to see yon at the house," she f

said.

'|

Darnell had contracted the unwholesome |

habit of thinking aloud at times, from living ?

much alone, and when she had gone, and f

he turned toward the fire, he absently re- f

marked -- the mountaineer being too far |

away to hear :

I

" She doesn't make as striking a picture I

as I expected -- for of course this is she.

I might have known that Summerfield's'

imagination had coloured everything con-l

nected with her."

i

VIII.
u I LIKE your mountains," said Darnell,with great cheerful ness. "Already I have dis covered a new plant -- a new species. I say new -- it may* be as old as the mountains themselves; what I mean is that it is not recorded in the books. At this rate I shall be on the high road to fame before the summer is over."
"Is it worth so much to find a new plant ? " asked Corona.
"It is a distinct gain for science." Darnell sat on a goods box near his tent. Stretched out at ftill length in front of him lay Dan, devouring him with his glance; and close to the deaf mute Corona sat up right in a low hammock. Two weeks had passed since the botanist's arrival, and ali bis arrangements for a summer's sojourn were now complete. The mountaineer who

Corona of the Nantahalas. 89
had brought him and his goods up from the lower valley had long since returned, takiug the horses on which they had riddeu, and the pack-mule which had staggered beneath the weight of the tent, the blankets, the canned goods, the outmeal, and the rest of the camper's outfit. Several visits had meanwhile been made at the farm-houso, where he was cordially entertained, and Darnell now felt well acquainted with its unusual inhabitants, and thoroughly do mesticated at Lonely Cove.
Corona interested him intensely from the first, not as a type -- or rather as a unique specimen -- of womankind, not as a literary artist's material or model, but as a women, as a strong, free nature which had de veloped beyond the reach of the trivialities of civilization. A certain vague disap pointment, which had been felt at the first glimpse, was quickly effaced and for gotten.
The cave was hardly half a mile away, but Corona had felt shy about going there, and it -was only now, at the end of two weeks, that she took Dan with her and made their new neighbour a visit. Gideon McLeod had gone several times, and the

go Corona of tJie Naittahalas.
two men had sat and smoked together with great amity, each seeming to like and re spect the other from the first meeting.
Almost as a matter of course, Darnell was soon cordially invited to make the farm house his home, but he politely refused. In order to make amends for what seemed to them a shockingly inhospitable state of things, the McLeods sent Dan to the camp with frequent presents--as a chicken pre pared for the pot, or a hind quarter of mutton or venison.
After this first visit, Corona found it easier to go, and as time passed their inter course became more and more a source of pleasure. Later on it seemed the most natural of all things to walk out with Dan every afternoon and halt for some time at Darncll's camp, while the young man, on his part, fell readily into the habit of spending two hours each evening at the farm-house, smoking on the porch with Gideon McLeod, but talking mostly for the benefit of Corona, who always sat by.
"Do you believe in the gods, Edward?" the girl asked suddenly, as they walked together in the woods one afternoon, ac companied only by the earless Dan.

y
Corona of t/u Nantahalas. 91
"It perhaps docs not matter here," said Darnel 1, "but if you were out in the world it would not do to call a young man by his Christian name, unless you had known him very intimately for a long while."
"I did not know," said Corona, with a blush. After some hesitation she continued: " I always spoke to Henry so, although I saw him only for a few days, and he did not--tell me." It was her first reference to Summerfield.
"He ought to have told you." " Did you know him ?" she faltered. This question had many times trembled on her lips. "If you mean Henry Summerfield, yes. I saw him recently. He is a friend of mine." "Is he--well?" " He is the picture of health." " Will he come to the mountains to--to-- see you ? " "Not likely. No ; I don't think he will ever come here again." They walked on then in silence till they reached a point where the little mountain river which Corona had named from the Homeric Simois fell with a thunderous roar

92

Corona of the Nantahalas.

some seventy feet over the rocks. There they halted long, and she, half smiling, half serious, bade him listen and he would hear the naiads singing. She freely told him how often she had waited and watched along the stream, hoping to see them ; she knew they came out and spoke to the dryada of the forest when she had gone.
" These are only the poetic fancies of the ancients," he said, hardly smiling. " They are not to be entertained seriously, as realities."
" They have been very real to me." After a moment's thought she added : " You did not answer about the gods."
"Did you mean to ask if I believed the gods really existed ? If so, certainly not. The ancients may have seen something of a hidden and true meaning in those old tales, but to us they are nothing bnt fables. There were many noble men among the ancients, but even these for the most part groped in comparative darkness."
"I cannot believe that--not as yet," re sponded Corona, earnestly. " To me the ancients seem to have been the best and wisest of men, understanding the most pro found questions."

Corona of the NantaJialas. 93
" It is likely enough/' he rejoined, " that they often saw a meaning in what ia to us meaningless."
"Can you tell me why it is," she asked, " that when I have good thoughts all things appear more pleasing ? Even the birds fly ing across my path are then the harmless and beautiful ones. But when I have evil thoughts there is a change -- nothing is beautiful, and if I walk out I am sure to see birds of prey, or snakes, and such ngly things."
" Yon never think or do evil ? " \ "Indeed, yes. Does not every one, at times ? I remember once when my aunt wanted me to weave, I refused, and ran avray to the woods ; and the first things I saw were a hawk, a toad, and a poisonous snake." The next day she asked him if he under stood the Logos of Plato, and by way of rejoinder he said : " You know too much about the ancient world and not enough about the modern. It is certainly true that the modern world is more or less over-educated as to the head and gone to decay as to the heart, and in some ways the ancient was perhaps best;
. ^i_ .-.. -"

94- Corona of tht Nantahalas.
but the latter is ages gone, while the former is at hand. You most read some modern books."
He said he- had a few that would be usefol to her, and proposed that they read them together and discuss them -- which suggestion pleased her greatly. " I am not a wise man," he said, smiling, " but I can tell you a good many things that you need to know."
" You are not beautiful like Henry," Corona naively informed Darnell one day toward midsummer, " but you are good, most good, and I like you as I never liked any one before, except him. If I could have a brother, I should wish, him to be yon."
"I should prefer some one else to be your brother! " he answered quickly, a strange glow leaping to life in his quiet eyes.
Corona supposed he must be offended, wondered wherefore, and changed the sub ject. A day or two later, as they talked over a book they had read together in which there was much about love, she fully con fessed her feeling for Summerfield, earnestly avowing that she could never Jove another,

Corona of the Nantahalas, 95
.1
.!
and describing what displeasure was ex-f

cited in her by the attentions of her moun-*

taineer suitors. Darnell listened without?

much comment, the same curious fire in

the eyes which now and then were fixed!

upon her.

:i

" What a Penelope you are!" he said, as-'

she referred to her suitors from the valley. \

''Am I not rather a Calypso or a Dido, |

since Henry has deserted me?" she asked

frankly, almost mournfully.

" Far from it. You did not love as they

loved. No; your love was only a thing of

the imagination."

" If you but knew what pain I felt--still

feel," she said, solemnly.

" Love is a union of two minds or souls

of a similar cast which mentally attract

each other," he pursued. " There cannot

be this union until two people thoroughly

know each other inwardly as well as out-

wardly, and no two can come to know each

other in this way in the space of a few days.

Therefore your love was not real."

But she refused to be convinced, and the

next day, in order to refute him, brought

her journal and read aloud to him much of

what she had written during the past year

L

96 Corona of the Nantahalas.
Darnell listened with profound interest, dis relish, admiration, amazement, written on his face by turns.
"What do yon say now, dear friend?" she asked at last
The young man was slow to answer. "I am of the same opinion," he said at last. "This writing does not prove that you truly loved, but I think it proves that you might become a poet."

IX.
day, when Dan was too busy to ac company her, serenely ignorant of the im propriety of such a proceeding, Corona visited the camp alone. Glad enough to have her all to himself, Darnell, too, forget conventionality and proposed her favourite ramble. Together the two then walked or climbed to the top of Mount Parnassus. Darnell thought no pen conld suggest the impressiveness of the endless mountain soli tudes encompassing them. To him the sol emn stillness was sometimes terrible, and yet beautiful, for it seemed to speak with a thou sand faint, and far away voices of things ineffable; fie abiding place for the poetsouled girl at his side.
They spoke frequently of things beyond their surroundings, and were more intent on each other than on the sights before

98 Corona of the Nantahalas.
their eyes; but afterward it seemed to Darnell that every smallest detail of that moantain climb was pictured on his memory. The vast solitude, the profound stillness full of strange whisperings, the endless for ests, the brawling streams, the deep ravines, the gardens of white birches, the jungles of dark laurel, the vivid colours of the rhododendron, the still ferns, the damp green mosses on the rocks, the black balsams shuddering and groaning before the gale at the summit, the cold sweep of the air cur rents over then arrow, grass grown "bald," the pale sunlight and azure sky, the deep, deep, hazy valleys, the crowding blue moun tains far away -- this was the picture that went with him for days as a background for the yet more vivid image of the girl at his side.
As they climbed upward their con versation wandered to the subject of the Muses.
"Did you name this mountain Parnassus because you thought the immortal Nine would be more likely to appear to you here than elsewhere ? v asked Darnell.
" Yes. I thought they would choose it because it was the most beautiful."

Corona of tfie Nantahalas. 99
"It may be that Calliope has appeared to you," said the young man, turning upon his companion a pair of laughing eyes. ' Doubtless she came while you were asleep, imprinted a kiss on your forehead, and left her shadow behind. Then, in the morning, you rose and began to write those poetical fancies."
"I used to hope especially to meet Cal liope and Clio here," she told him seriously. " They were my favourites. But after Henry li-ft it seemed to me that Melpomene would more likely visit me.*'
" It may be that 7 hare made the acquain tance of Erato without seeking it," said Darnell with heightened colour, then abruptly called Corona's attention to a rare flower which they were passing.
As they stood on Parnassus' grass-covered, treeless top an hour later, and looked far out on an endless scene of mountain peaks and ridges crowding to tho horizon in every quarter, some of them in shadow, some gleaming in the pale sunlight '--- all wooded, the nearer dark green, the distant milky blue, and none marked by a single clearing or sign of a human habitation -- as they gazed upon this indescribably grand and

IOO Corona of tht Nantakalas.
lonely prospect, the botanist's quick eye took note that clouds were gathering and drifting toward their own lofty point. Slowly the great aerial monsters swam to ward them from the far horizon, becoming more and more clearly outlined as they drew near. Some were above, some on a level, and some below the top of Parnassus; all basked in a sea of sunshine from above, contrasting with the darker atmosphere below through which the rain fell fast as from great sieves. Enormous patches of shade in the deep valleys below imitated the uncertain movements of the great Protean creatures on high.
As the vast, ragged cloud-bodies floated nearer, sudden flashes of lightning zig zagged from one to another, and a deafen ing roar of thunder reverberated through the mountains. The suggestion was of gigantic swimming monsters at war, each plunging a sword of flame into the breast of his adversary, and bellowing hoarsely and mightily when so served in turn. As the battle rag*d, the loosened rain descended upon the fair valleys in torrenta. .
" We shall get wet," announced DarnelL

Corona of the Nantakalas. 101
"Those clouds will be here in less than fifteen minutes."
He turned to go, but Corona still gazed enrapt, loath to move. A second suggestion of retreat was made, somewhat more urgently, and then they hurried away on the downward track. They had scarcely entered the forest when the treeless top of the peak was enveloped in the higher va pours, and in a few minutes the whole upper portion of the mountain was wrapped in the dense gray mist we call a cloud. Hurrying downward through this, they soon passed below the region of cloud-land, where the rain no longer floated, but fell, and fell heavily.
They were now not far from the hollow tree where Atalanta had fallen a prey to the wolves, and it was decided to seek the shelter of that retreat. Corona led the way at a run, and they reached the place in time to escape a thorough drenching. There they were obliged to remain an hour or more, as the rain continued to fall steadily, accompanied by blinding flashes of light ning and a perceptible quaking of the mountain after each thunderous roar.
The hollow of the tulip was far from

IO2 Corona of the Nantakalas.
ample, and the refugees were necessarily brought into close contact As they sat thus, while the storm raged without, Darnell was obliged to struggle hard to resist the oft-recurring desire to put his arm around his companion. They were all alone on the wild, stormy mountain; each had only the other, and should be all the world to that other. How Daniell wished it were literally true that she had him only! Corona, on her part, felt now and then that she would like to rest her tired head on his shoulder, just as she would have done had Dan been at her side instead; he was such a dear, wise friend, had become so necessary to her, and she liked and trusted him so thoroughly.
"I wish you were my brother," she said innocently at last. "Then we could be together always."
"Don't say such things -- it is too painful to listen to!" he rejoined quickly, and as she looked into his face she saw that he was deeply moved.
"What can you mean?" she asked in astonishment and concern.
"I mean that this is a strange world, where love wastes itself on every side, in

Corona of the Nantahatas. 103
vain. You love Snmmerfield, or think yon do, and he will never love you. I love you, and you cannot love me. You want me to be your brother, and I want you to be my wife !"
"Oh, Edward!" " It is true. I asked your uncle last week if I might become a suitor, and he agreed." "I am very sorry," she said, simply, a pained look on her face. " I can never love again." Darnell started up suddenly. "I must get out of this," he said, huskily, and stepped outside. Fortunately the rain had now decreased to a drizzle. He stood in it waiting, bid ding her remain where she was. A few minutes later she ventured out in spite of his protest. However, the drizzle was soon over now. "I was never in love before, and it is hard to bear : but you need not be afraid of me," he said, with a ghostly smile. "I shall never be afraid of you," she answered gently. Tho subject was then dismissed. Calling him to look at the pile of stones over the

p*-.
104 Corona of tkt Nantahalas.
grave of Atalanta, Coroua told the story of the memorable day of the poor hind's death. And afterward, as they descended the mountain, he walked ahead in silence, carefully shaking the rain from the branches which most touch her.

X.
COKONA did not visit the camp next day, bat Daraell came to the farm-honse as usual in the evening, and sat and smoked with her uncle on the porch. As he rose to go at nine o'clock, she rose, too, and accompanied him to the gate.
"If what you told me yesterday is -- is true," she said, "perhaps we should see less of each other."
" Do you want to torture me !" he asked with euch a fierceness of gloom that she was frightened.
" That is why--why I did not go to-day," she added gently, then said good-night, and turned toward the honse.
Next morning, while ont in the mountains looking after bis sheep, Gideon McLeod had a fall and sprained his ankle so severely that, although he dragged himself home,

106 Corona of the Nantahatas.
he was confined to the house a week there after. At first he snffered much pain, and the two anxious women cared for him very tenderly. Thus Corona, who doubted the wisdom of going near Darnell, found an excuse for staying at home.
It was near noon of the third day after the V
accident that Jonathan Scrtiggs, Corona's persistent suitor, appeared at the gate and hailed her uncle. His manner was excited, and his horse was wet with sweat and flecked with foam. Evidently he had ridden up from the lower valley in great haste.
Mrs. McLeod went out and invited him to "light," beginning at once to tell him of the accident to her husband. The visitor listened to the particulars with manifest signs of impatience. He was a well-grown young man of twenty-five, already a little inclined to be stout, whose excessively florid complexion was perhaps partly due to exposure, but more largely to vigorous health.
" I ain't got time to 'light,r said he, look ing behind him anxiously. " They'll be h-yer turreckly. I h-yeared 'em say thar to Wolf Creek that the revenue men and the sheriff aimed to 'rest Gid McLeod, and I rid

Corona of the Nantakalas. 107
up right off to tell yon, ao the old man 'ud have time to hide oat."
'"Rest him for what?" asked Mrs. McLeod, bewildered.
"Furdistilliu' whisky." "He ain't no distiller," declared the wife, indignant. "Well, that's what they're after him fur, and I thought I ought to let you all know. Good-bye -- I'm gone. They'll be h-yer in j ten minutes, and it won't do fur 'em to see j me. It was all I could do to git h-yer first." j " Thank you, Jonathan," called out f Corona, who had come out on the porch j and overheard everything. To gain favor with her had been the young mountaineer's j main object in coming, and he now de parted well satisfied with himself. The two women hurried in and reported everything to the lame man. As it was impossible to go forth and hide himself in the mountains, Gideon McLeod decided to stay where he was, ordering' the house shut np close in order to give the impression that nobody was at home. To Corona this seemed unwise, but she knew not what else to suggest. Before the door was closed, however, she took a horn out on the porch

IO8 Corona of the Nantakalas.
and blew three long blasts. Darnell had proposed that she should call him in thia way if she should ever have need of him, and she felt sure he would be of use now.
When shot up, the house looked inno cent enough, except in one particular -- the smoke issuing from one of the chimneys. A fire burned in the room where the lame man lay. and this fact was overlooked in his calculations. Accordingly, when four horse men shortly emerged from the woods and halted at the gate they were not deceived. After a careful survey of their surroundings, three of them dismounted and approached the house. One of these was the county sheriff, another a revenue collector. The former knocked loudly at the door, and after some moments of dead silence called out authoritatively:
" Open this h-yer door! In the name of the law I summons Gideon McLeod to come out."
The majesty of the law was disregarded, for there was no response, and the only sound was that of the sheriffs loud knock as it went off echoing among the hills. After knocking and calling repeatedly, the

Corona of the Nantahalas. 109

i angry representative of the law uttered an!

oath and shouted:

|

" Bring me the axe ! They can't fool me.'|

Gideon McLeod leaped oat of bed ana

reached for his gim, which stood in th

corner of the room; but as he came dowii

upon his lame foot his face was distorted

with agony, and vhe fell groaning on ttfe

floor. Leaving Mrs. McLeod with hifa,

Corona disappeared along the passajge

leading to the back porch. Unfastening

the door, she went out and shut it softly

behind her. Then she walked around .the

house and faced the intruders.

/

" What do you want here ?" she as!ked

haughtily.

\

All eyes were riveted upon her, and,' ad

miration showed on every face. Corona

had never been so angry in all her life.

Her faced was flashed, her eyes flashed, her

breath came in short, quick gasps. They

thought her beautiful beyond all the re

ports they had heard.

"We "want Gid McLeod," said the

sheriff, after dropping the axe just brought

him and backing away from the door.

"We got a warrant to arrest him for dia-

tillin' whisky."

. ,'L'

110 Corona of the Nantahalas.
" Are you the sheriff ? " asked the girL "I am, mum." "And you intend to arrest an innocent man?" tf We got the proofs, mum. A man was up h-yer some time back and seen it goin' on."
" Which man was that ?" demanded Corona, looking eagerly from one face to another. "Is there a man here who will dare tell me he saw it going on ? " Again" she looked from one to another, and every eye quailed before her.
" We got the proofs," repeated the sheriff uneasily.
" The man who says he saw whisky dis tilled here lies," spoke Corona, io low, distinct tones. " Were he sheriff, judge or king, I would tell him to his face that he lies."
The three men stared at their accuser, dumbfounded. There was now th sound of the opening of the gate. Corona glanced that way, saw Darnell, and ran to meet him eagerly.
"These wicked men," she said excitedly, "want to arrest my uncle and carry him away to jail."
BV

Corona of the Nantahalas. HI
She hurriedly told him of the warning brought by Scruggs, of her uncle's deter mination to shut up the house, of the arrival of the raiders, and of the assault upon the door. As soon as the situation was clearly before him Darnell advised her to go instantly and open every door and window, and tell her uncle not to be alarmed. Then he walked forward and spoke to the men.
" Surely you have made a mistake and come to the wrong place," he began mildly.
" No, we hain't," declared the sheriff. "Ef this warn't the place, what made 'em lock up that way and try to fool us ? "
" They received warning of your ap proach and were badly frightened -- that was alL"
" Warning, eh ? W-e knowed somebody rid up ahead of us. We seen the fresh tracks."
"There is no whisky distillery here," Darnell declared earnestly. " I have camped for seven weeks within half a mile of this house, and spent a great deal of my time here, and I have seen no signs of anything of the sort. You are

112 Corona of the Nantahalas.
on the wrong scent, and you will find it out"
They saw that they had to deal with an intelligent man of the world, and listened to him respectfully. The sheriff, who had heard of the " camping gentleman," and was not surprised to meet him, showed his warrant. The revenue collector also stepped forward, and unfolding a news paper which he took from his pocket, he invited Darnell to look at the "proof." The latter saw at a glance that it was a copy of the paper with which Sammerfield had a regular connection. He found that it contained a letter from the North Carolina mountains signed " Henry Snmmerfield," with such startling headlines as " On the Track of the Moonshiners," "How the Mountain Dew is Bought and Sold," "Our Correspondent Discovers an Illicit Dis tillery at Lonely Cove."
Glancing hastily through the letter, Darnell's eyes were arrested by the follow ing paragraph :
"The cave was narrow at the opening, but widened as we proceeded. A cumber of dark, irregular passages strayed off from the central

Corona of the Nantahalas. 113
cavern which we were following. An unex pected turn brought us upon the place. Sud denly an uncertain, reddish haze swam before our eyes; then came dusky, distorted figures, curling smoke, and a fixed band of flamy red-- the latter, as was soon found, being the coals visible beneath the closed door of the furnace. At this moment the door itself was thrown open with a rusty creak, the strong red tight revealing several uncouth figures, one bent over to feed the fire, another seated on an inverted basket, a third but dimly outlined in the gloom beyond.
The central feature of the place was the rude furnace of fire rock, with its all-important accompaniment of a small copper still, the neck of which curved away into the shadow. The sound of gurgling water from an underground spring was heard, as it flowed through the tub where the worm was coiled and served to condense the precious vapors which dripped slowly into the primitive receiver."
"Have you noticed that this paper is nearly a year old ? " asked Darnell, breaking off from what he was reading. .
"Yos," replied the revenue collector, rather uneasily. " The fact is, that marked copy was mailed to me last fait, bat it got misplaced, and I only read the article

H4 Corona of the Nantahalas.
two weeks ago. I began to try to find out where Lonely Cove was right off, but didn't succeed till I stopped at Wolf Creek yester day. They told me there that Gideon McLeod was the only man who had a place up here, so I got out a warrant against Aim."
"And on such a flimsy bit of evidence as this you expect to drag a man away from his home ? "
"Well, you see, I calculated to surprise him and get positive proof."
"If you can do that, justice will be on your side," said Darnell. "But you will have to go to work and find that wonderful cave and all it contains, as described in this paper. There is a cave--a very little one-- bat you will be mightly disappointed when you go through it. I venture to say that if yon kept a spy in these mountains for six months, you would get no more 'proof than you hare now."
" Well, well take a look around anyhow," ssid the revenue collector, with a knowing look, but yet with somewhat of a disap pointed air.
"We'd hardly have a right to take him, lesa'n we could find a plant or a stock of
>"\fc'jt-*"*^-*fc ;^.~

Corona of the Nantahalas. 115

liquor some'res about," remarked the sheriff

dubiously, inclining to Darnell's view of

the case. He had a lurking sympathy for

McLeod, innocent or guilty. He had never

been able to understand why a man should

not be allowed to turn a portion of the

fruits of his own cornfield and orchard into

pure, colourless whisky and applejack, and

even sell a little of it if he chose; and his

motive iu accompanying the revenue col

lector was no more nor less than to make a

show of doing what he considered his duty.

He had grown angry, and called for an axe

to beat down the door, because he felt

that his authority should have been more

promptly recognized.

;

" I happen to know the man who twrote

this letter," said Darnell, again glabcing

into the paper; "iu fact, he considers'him

self a friend of mine. I know that he ipent

a few days here last summer. He tstlked

to me a great deal about his stay here,' but

said not a word about moonshine whisky.

I know something of his habita a| a

journalist -- I have found him inaccujrate

before -- and I give you my word, gentlerien,

that the whole thing is a pure invention!--a

newspaper yarn."

.!

-attack ' i

116 Corona of tht Nantahatas.
"Do you mean he had a grudge----" began the sheriff.
"Oh, no. He didn't do it maliciously. If he had supposed the result would be anything like this, I am sure he wouldn't have done it. He merely wanted to write a sensational and readable letter, and doubt less assured himself that no reader of the ' Chronicle' would have the remotest idea whore Lonely Cove was. Write to this Snmmerficld in care of this paper, and he will confirm what I tell you."
Corona now appeared on the porch, having conferred with her uncle, and opened the house, as she had been advised to do. Darnell invited the men to enter, and talk the matter over with McLeod, which they did, the sheriff being moved to apologize for his violence. As a matter of course, the suspected man swore that he was innocent, and bade his accusers search the premises. The afternoon was spent in doing this. The house, the barn, the neighbouring woods, including DarnelPs tent and Calypso's cave, were carefully searched, without the dis covery of a single trace of "mountain dew," or the machinery of its manufacture. Darnell followed them over every foot of ground,

Corona of tkt Nantahalas. \ \J
and toward sundown returned with them to the farm-house. The revenue collector was greatly annoyed and disgusted, and swore roundly at the writer of the misleading article.
"Either that man was a blamed liar, or there is a still up here somewhere. "We'll keep on the look-out, I promise you," he said to Darnell, who disdained to reply.
Gidron McLeod sent his timid wife out to ask the party to wait for supper beford starting on their fifteen mile ride, but they had the grace to refuse this invitation.
"I wish you'd gTve~me that newspaper," said Darnell, as the revenue officer was mounting his horse.
" What do you want with it ? " "I want it," said the young man simply, a rising flush on his face. "What good would that do?"--sus piciously. " I could send for another easy enough." *' Certainly you could. I had no such object in asking for it; my object is a private one. I will engage to return the paper promptly, if you will give me your address." A few minutes later the party rode away,

118 Corona of tkt Nantahalas.
leaving their copy of the mischief-making newspaper behind. Darnell folded it care fully and put it in his pocket, then called out to Corona:
" Tell your uncle not to be uneasy. They won't come back." And then, instead of going to listen to their thanks, as the girl was hoping he would do, he bade her good night, and took the path leading to his solitary camp. . After this Corona hesitated no longer. Go to him she must and would, and thank him for his friendly help in a time of great need. The following afternoon she took Dan with her and walked to the camp. They found the botanist lying in his ham mock reading, his work for the day evidently being done. Near him on the ground lay an unfolded newspaper, and on a box within reach of his hand several books. He was so absorbed in what he read that he did not observe their approach. Not until Corona stooped to pick up the newspaper did ha see them and start up with a glad look of welcome.
" It brings back the old days to see you here'again," he said.
ee These days are hardly ' old,' are they ? "

Corona of the Nantahalas. 119
she answered. " It is less than a week since I was here."
" It seems a twelvemonth." Dan threw himself on the ground and began absorbing them with his eyes, as usual. Darnell invited Corona to sit in the hammock, and clearing the box of its weight of books, moved it away a little and seated himself thereon. The girl remarked that he had seemed deeply interested in his book, and suggested that he should go on with it a little longer while she examined the newspaper ; she had seen but few during her life, and these were all old. The proposal was agreed to, but although he reopened his book, Darnell did not read a line. His attention was riveted on the girl. He marked that she glanced aimlessly at the headings in the paper for a few moments, then suddenly an intent look crept into her eyes, and her glance wandered no more. A flush overspread her face as she read, and her breath quickened. The minutes passed ; her glance gradually trav elled down to the bottom of the sheet, then leaped to the top, and continued steadily down to the middle, where the article was apparently signed and came to

12O Corona of the Nantahalas.
an end, for her eye descended no further. As she came to the stopping place and paused, the observer marked that her height ened colour gave place slowly to a deadly paleness, and that her eyes were full of quickening fire. The paper dropped to her lap and ahe looked up.
" Have you read this article, this ( On the Track of the Moonshiners ' ? " she asked, in a voice so unlike her own that he was startled.
"Yes, I have read it" " Where did you get the paper ? " " That revenue man gave it to me yester day." " And it was this that brought them here, that made them suspect my uncle ? " She stood erect as she asked the question, the expression of her face showing that the inquiry was needless. "Yes."
"It is so difficult to believe--that he wrote this. How can it be true ?" she asked, with asound in her throat resembling a sob. For one moment she looked stupefied -- crushed.
"It is certainly true," said Darnell, look ing into his book.

Corona of the Nantahalas. 121
"And it was such a man as this that I hare loved !" It was a cry of incredulity -- of angry realization--of sore pain. Her spirit was not broken.
Darnell threw down the book and looked into the forest with flushing eyes. What could he say to her ? Could he be expected to defend such a man as Summer-field, and when that man was his rival ? It would be ranting hypocrisy, cant, lying. He said nothing.
"Hesiod declared that there had been a goldeu age, a silver, a brazen, and finally in his own day the age of iron/' said Corona, reseating herself and looking absently before her. " This must be the age of a baser metal still -- the age of clay, of mud, of mire !"
"I must say to yon, as I said to those men yesterday," spoke up Darnell, "that Summerfield did not do it maliciously, and doubtless believed no harm could come of it." He went on to repeat what he had said the day before as regarded the journalist's motives.
"It is just as much a lie," said Corona, silmost fiercely.
"Many would not consider it so -- would see something of palliation."

122 Corona of the Nantahalas.
Her expression showed him that she was unalterably fixed in her opinion. She rose and moved toward him with outstretched hands.
"Yon told me once that T knew too little about this modern world, and you were right," she eaid. "I know too little how a sincere and beautiful face can be made the mask of a wicked heart. Teach me -- teach me to see behind the mask,"
He took her hand, lifted it and gently kissed it. But she promptly drew it away.
"Oh, no, not that," see pleaded. "I cannot love again. You are my dear friend, my brother; but I can love no more in that way."
"It is something gained to know that you no longer love another," he answered hopefully.
The next day Corona burned the little book in which she had written so often while thinking of Snmmerfield. She slowly tore out leaf after leaf and committed it to the flames, with never one thought of a possible literary yalue which the work might possess, or a regret of any other nature. She wished to be rid of all re minders-- to start afresh. She was fltill

Corona of the Nantahalas. 123
ignorant that she had been loving a mere phantom, bat understood at least that she loved no longer.
" Thus perish the memory of that beau tiful wicked one," was her thought.

XL
SOME days later, when visiting the camp in the company of the silent Dan, Corona told Darnell that after burning her little book she had determined to write no more sad thoughts, and to have done with vain imaginings. She had wished, while think ing no more of Snmmerfield, also to give over her past follies, to dream no longer of naiads and wood nymphs, to cease to fancy the hemlock, the spouse of the pine, the beech of the oak, the birch of the maple, and to imagine never again that the dove cooed sympathy, or that the crow and the hawk mocked her in her pain.
She had striven to have done with all these fancies, and to turn her thoughts toward the realities which he had taught her, but she had not wholly succeeded.
The old imaginations had not entirely
.A^

Corona of the Nantakalas. 125
vanished at her bidding; and one morning a tale had taken form in her mind, and grew and grew, and she had thought upon it until it was pain. She had tried to for get it but could not, and so she had come to him to ask advice.
" When a tune persists in haunting me," Darnell told her, "my remedy is to ultimate it by singing or whistling it, and then it drops out of sight and leaves me in peace. Suppose you do that. Tell me your tale, and it will then doubtless fade away from your mind and trouble you no longer."
Adopting the suggestion, Corona seated herself on a stone a few feet from him, and, casting her eyes down the long leafy vistas of the forest, began to speak in soft and low but measured and impressive tones, her manner serene, fearless, free from every appearance of self-consciousness. And this was the tale she told:
In the house of Orcus, the Athenian archon, there was that day a happy mar riage. Philippa, his sister's daughter, had been wooed and won by a gallant leader of the hoplites, one Telamon, whose suit was pleasing to the maid as well as to her kin-

126 Corona of the Nantahalas.
dred, and this was not always so in Athens. No priest stood forth to bless the tie, but wine was poured out before the altar of Zens in the great hall of the andronitis, or male quarter, and before the never-for gotten shrine of white-sou led Hestia in the privacy of the female quarter. Votive offerings had also been made to Hre, Artemis, and Aphrodite; all omens had been anxiously observed; and lastly, the bride had piously bathed iu water from the sacred fountain of Kalirrhoe. And so, after a merry dinner in the house of Orcus, Telamon and Philippa were man and wife.
At nightfall, arrayed in beautiful floweradorned robes, the veiled bride was assisted to a chariot, and, preceded by slaves with flashing torches and followed by a gay train of friends, drove with her husband through the streets of Athens, listening meanwhile to the joyful notes of the marriage-song and the cheerful piping of the flutes. This till the house of Telamon was reached, when the procession lost itself, all the kindred and invited "guests being led within and given couches around the banqueting-board.
Tbe greatness of the occasion permitted also the women to be present at the feast,

Corona of the Nantahalas. 127
bat only at a separate table where the bride still wore her veil and ate her food in dis creet and modest silence, her example fol lowed by all her friends. Nor was there much speech at the table of the men until the solids were removed and the dessert was brought in, preceded by a golden vessel of wine from which was poured ont a liberal libation. But after the finger-bowls of ecented water were handed round, and gar lands of myrtle and roses were distributed, the symposium -- the "feast of reason and flow of soul"--began.
The women now retired to the gynaeconitis, or female quarter, where, after con gratulations were spoken, the guests were left with others of the household, and the bride, together with her mother, withdrew. The retired apartment which they sought was small but richly furnished. Elaborate frescoes on the walls showed the Graces, the god Diouysos, and the harvesting of the grapes. Soft purple rugs were scattered on the marble floor, the centre of which was marked with a delicate star-shaped mosaic. The curiously-carred chairs and conch were inlaid with ivory and gold, and over the latter a scented coverlet of knitted peacock-
. v.'

128 Corona of the Nantahalas.
plumes were spread. But the glory of the room was a statue of the goddess Aphro dite, wrought by Phidias a hundred years before that day.
Upon a long, low-cushioned seat against the farther wall, the two women silently seated themselves. The elder, the widowed. Ariana she whose solemn duty it was to light the nuptial torch was now grayhaired and marked with age ; bat the early beauty of her face had not all faded, and there was a noble patience in her manner which told of sorrows long subdued but not forgotten.
"Here will we talk, my daughter," she began, with soft solemnity. "I need not tell thee to be good and true, and ever love thy hnsband ; for all this thou hast heard full often, as together we spun the wool in the days sinoe thy betrothal. Instead of added counsel, let me now speak of what befell at Delphi long ago. For thou wilt surely hear it now from thy good husband, and I would have thee know the tale, not as men may please to tell it, hut as it is written on my heart
"Know then, Philippa, that in my yonth I was less merry and content than thon.

Corona of the Nantahalas. 129
A thoughtful, dreaming child, I early was endowed with ardent faith in the invisible world, learning before my time all that was taught of the immortal gods and all the histories of Jeini-gods and heroes. For always, when the bards or the rhapsodes came and sat in the court of the andronitis and stj-uck their harps, I begged to go out and listen, and. so heard many and long recitals from the sacred books of Hesiod and Homer, telling the grand story of the days when gods and heroes walked upon the highways of our world.
"From a very child, I nnrsed the hope that one day I might see a god, although I ? heard it out of Hesiod that the golden age I was long gone by, and that men were now ! too wicked to be thus blessed. But might | it not yet be in the hearts of the glorious gods to manifest themselves at times to chosen men ? And if I did no evil, and worshipped with a pure and reverent heart, might I not be chosen ? Assuredly the fell spirits of evil whispered this proud thought to me, for I did often strive to shun it as a grevioas sin; but always it came back and followed me through the days and years. Sometimes I ceased to strive, and lost myself

130 Corona of the Nantahalas.

in rapturous contemplation of such a holy '

destiny; and so it was, that, in every grove

or solitary place which I might chance to

visit, my fancy ever ran before me and rev

elled in the glorious presence of a god.

"Thus dreaming on, I grew up tall and

handsome; and one day, Tcucer made pro

posals to my father for my hand. Teucer

was a man in whom my father was well

pleased; bat I had long abhorred him as

one of those rich and lazy Athenians who

refused to go out to buttle when Epami-

nondas, the noble Theban, was humbling

haughty Lacedaemon, our ancient cruel

enemy. All this was years agone, but I

had not forgotten. My mind and heart

alike rebelled against this Teucer, but my

father would not harkon to my prayers.

No mother was there to pity me, and those

were sad days, 0 my Philippa. I grew at

last to be a very shadow of my former self,

from grief, so that they feared for me and

hastened to make the accustomed offerings

to Escnlapius. And then they ceased to

speak of Tencer for the time, and I came

slowly back to health.

''

"When almost well again, my father took

mo with my brothers to Delphi -- they to

iv

Corona of the Nantahalas. \ r 31 i
!
join in the celebration of the Pythian festival, and I to be with them, looking to their comfort, as they tarried there. The house in which we lodged at Delphi was on the outskirts of the town, close on the borders of the forest which leads up from the shining Gulf of Corinth to the greenclothed heights of Mount Parnassus, whereon the Muses dwell. One day -- my kinsmeu being gone -- I stole out alone and lost myself among the pines and laurels, the olives and the myrtles, of this great wood. It was the full noon of summer, and the blessed Graces had clothed the world all in ' a glory of colour, perfume, and brightness. Up from the sea, ./Eolas blew a sweet and gentle breath; and, as I walked, I heard the spirits of the air whispering softly among the quivering leaves. Here was the place: oh that I might now see a god!
"Suddenly a cuckoo fluttered swiftly by me, and my startled eyes alighted on a peacock, all with gorgeous plumes outspread. My heart leaped in my breast These were her birds: could she be coming? Oonld Here, beautiful-browed, ox-eyed H6r, Queen of heaven, be pleased to walk abroad in this great wood? I fell, all

Corona of the tfantahalas.
trembling, on my knees, and lifted up my heart to her in prayer.
" I waited long, yearning and hearkening, while all was deathly still, save for the spirit-whisperings among the trembling leaves; bat she came not. I rose np sadly and wandered on; and when a hind ran post me from the bush, the thought that it might herald the approach of beloved Artemis shook me again with hopes and fears. But no goddess' presence blessed the wood: I was unworthy. That well I knew; and as I still moved forward, tears came to ease my grieving heart. I plucked some flowers, and took fresh hope ere long. Might not I see a dryad or a river-god, or at the least a water-nymph ? But all along the shore of a deep round pool I stole, with bated breath and stealthy foot, in vain.
"At last, despondent, I rested in a smooth green-swarded gl;ide, and made a crown of red oleander for my long, dark hair. The tireless whispering in the leafy heights was mingled here with the sleepy drone of golden bees and the far-off piping of strange wild birds. My senses revell d in such gentle uproar, and I tarried long. So came it that the shadows of the tall tree-trunks

Corona of the Nantakalas. 133
fell all athwart the glade when at last I started up from my forgetfulness, with in tent quickly to return to Delphi. But ere I took a step, the sound of fast-approaching feet fell on my ear; and as my eyes swept hastily over the encompassing spaces, lo, I beheld a youth who looked and walked a very god.
"In his right hand he swung a long bright javelin ; and at his heels there fol lowed close a pearl-white goat. Except for the laurel fillet round his head, he wore naught save a leopard's skin about his loins; but, my Philippa, not one of Phidias' beauteous statues was ever so endowed with grace of shape and poise. To me, the dark clustering locks about his brow were far more comely than a young king's crown. In tremulous wondering joy I waited, as with heavy step he came toward me down the glade, the light twigs and leaves spray ing and scattering before his sandaled feet. At last I had my wish : this -- this must be a god !
" He saw me and halted, looking at first amazed, then smiling brightly; and as he smiled, I thought of the liquid sun which pours through breaking clouds.

154 Corona of tkt Nautakalas.
" With great respect, he asked me who I was and whence I came, and, trembling, I made answer: - u * I am Ariana, a maid of Athens, who long hath hoped and prayed to see a god.'
" 'And hast them seen one?' asked he, with freshening smiles.
" ' Never till now -- if now I hare. I did suspect thon wert no common man of earth.'*
" A look of langhing wonder danced within his eyes; I marvelled that he should seem so amazed and yet so merry. ' Thon hast truly guessed,' quoth he at last, the voice of laughter in his words. ' I am im mortal ', and down from high Olympns hare I wandered in this shepherd's guise, to view the affairs of men.'
"Lo> it was even as I thought. My knees quaked under me ; I bowed before him to the ground, lifting my eyes in adora tion. I saw a swift shadow fall athwart his face -- a look almost of fear -- as he stooped in haste to raise me up.
" ' Thou ahalt not kneel to me, fair maid/ quoth he, with returning smiles; 'for, by right of beauty, thou art thyself almost a

Corona of tlie Nantahalas. 135
goddess. Yea, I did take thee for the very queen of dryads in this wood.'
"With hearing such sweet words of praise, I presently grew more bold, and asked of him: ' Art thou not the god Apollo?'"
"Lightly langhing, he answered me : f I will not tell thee now by what name they call me on Olympus. Let it suffice thee that I am immortal/
"And then he took my willing hand, and thus we went down though the wood to ward the sea, the frisking pearl-whito goat behind us. Ah, my Philippa, the gates of heaven seemed open to my view; the world was all a glorious happiness. The whole forest sung for ns as we passed. From the tall tops of the oaks and pines, a long, sweet welcoming whisper reached ns; and from the vine-twined thickets of the bonding myrtles, there seemed to come the voices of dryads in mingled chorus, faintly swelling and falling. The very crocus seemed to scatter its scarlet blossoms in homage as it brake before our feet.
"What said we to each other ? Tasked him timid questions about Olympus and the under-world, and he--still with his

136 Corona of the NantahalaS.
sportive smile -- made answer that our sacred poets had told us all that it was meet for men to know. Then he recited from Heaiod and from Homer, like the bards, bat far more beautifully, although he had no harp. Never before did the great poets speak such grand things to my ear.
" The sandy verge of the Corinthian sea was reached in time to view departed Helios' after-glow upon the mountains and mark the slow gathering of the dusky spirits of night. Here we sat down to eat the clusters of the early grape, which we had gathered along our path. It was then I asked him what was that ambrosia which the gods were said to eat, and, with his sunshine smile, he repeated the poet's words, naming it as the food which gives immortal life.
"' Oh that I, too, might taste that food !' "Without answer to my foolish words, he looked suddenly toward the sea and cried : * Behold the chariot of Artemis !' "J turned and saw one half of the beantiful golden orb, as if afloat upon the far dark water, and then I knelt and said the accustomed prayer to the glorious goddess who rides in the changeful moon. As we

S
Corona of the Nantahatas. 137!

watched her mount higher and higher upl

the sky, I asked jet auother question; for;

he seemed so full of sport and gentleness:

that I ever felt more bold :

f

" 'My lord Apollo, what do the gods when!

among themselves and not concerned with!

the affairs of men ?'

[

"At first he laughed outright, then turnedj

on me his eyes, which seemed to falterj

betwixt mad meniment and concern. 'Let!

me warn thec,' quoth he, in mild rebuke, \

'that pitfalls lie in wait aloug the path of

the over-curious. Yet will I show thee what

the gods sometimes are pleased to do.'

" Then up he rose, and among the rocks

behind us found a round flat stone much

like the discus ; and, as the time wore on,

he showed me many marvellous feats of disc-

throwing, leaping, and casting the javelin.

I sat there on the saud and watched him

with delight, as his long lithe form moved

back and forth between me and the dusky

arching sky, where Artemis' beauteous moon,

already become small ami pale, climbed on

its upward track through scattered bits of

cloud.

XII.
WEARY of this sport anon, he sat him down and saug for me, as never bard in Athens sang, a love-song of teantiful-tongned Sappho's. Listening absorbed, I marked not that the light was fading fast, until I chanced to look on high and beheld a dim ness in the inoon. The orb now wore a strange and gibbons look and seemed slowly to withdraw behind a black and hideous cloak. Already fnll one half its shinning surface had been thus obscured.
"'Oh, look, my lord !' I ciied. 'What means it ? la she augry ? Is great Artemis, thy twin sister----'
"He waited not to hear me; without a word, he turned from me and went down toward the darkening water. And as I fell npon my knees, I saw him likewise bow himself and lift his hands to heaven.

Corona of the NantaJialas, 139
"'Beloved Artemis, gentle goddess/ I prayed in fear, ' why art thou angry ? 0 thou huntress, thou friend of water-uymphs, thou careful guardiau of all pure-hearted maidens, what have I done to thy dis pleasure?' I hid my face in darkness on the ground and further prayed ; but when I looked again, the goddess' chariot was but a silver crescent against the devouring darkness. And he -- out there before me on the sand, he still bowed low. In abject fear, I crept to him.
"' My lord/ I whispered, whereat he tamed and looked at me, his face all dark and mournful.
" "Twas thou/quoth he, "twas thou -- not I!'
" ' My lord, what have I done ?' " He made no answer, but fiercely seized my hand and led me fast along the shore, I strove in vain to match his rapid gait, and anon I stumbled and almost fell. But never did I murmur, such was my fear. Yet, through all this, I wondered why he should dread his sister's wrath. " Into the dreaming woods, we came at last, and fled along a path which he ap peared to know. The dusky, sighing trees

140 Corona of the Nantakalas.
hovered high about us as if on spectral wings, and reeled past swiftly in noiseless crowding troops. Huge spirits of the earth, with faint uncertain outlines, seemed to rise along oar path and draw back whispering as we passed. At every turn, the wood was thick with nameless shapes, which sprang up hastily from their beds of leaves, to hearken with bent heads as the brittle twigs snapped harshly beneath our feet.
"The ground began to rise before us, and cruel stones to bruise our feet, until the world was all a blackness of despair before my sight. ' My lord, where go we ?' I implored, and fell all breathless against his side. And then in silence he took me up and held me close and tenderly, and so went on. Ere long, his breast was hearing and he panted like a hunted stag, but struggled on with equal pace and would not set me down.
"The rest was like a dream. At last, high up on the mountain's side, we gained a level ground, and there I saw that Artemis' beauteous orb was now a dull-red ghastly spot upon the sky. I shut it,'shuddering, from my sight, and looked no more to the right or left until I was set gently down

Corona of the Nantahalas. 141
before the threshold of a house. Then he that carried me fell fall length on the ground, and raised his weary hands to beat upon the door. The sound seemed lond and harsh, and went off echoing on the night air far among the hills. I wondered why should he -- a god -- be weary; and was amazed when auon a woman came to let us in, and he cried to her frenziedly from the ground :
" ' Mother -- mother, take her in! Take care of her, my mother.'
"The woman faltered, but said: 'Come in/ As one walks cloudily in a dream, I followed her and left him panting and pros trate there. .The woman led me straight way to a spare chamber of the house, gave me milk to drink, and left me with scarce a word. Like one stunned, I looked about me stupidly for a time, then lay down wearily and lost myself in sleep.
"That night, I dreamed that, in a hollow of the hills near Delphi, all the great gods came and smiled on me. Pallas Athene aud Demetcr dressed me in a robe of knitted oleanders and roses, and with ambrosia anointed my head; then, beauti ful Aphrodite having sweetly kissed me

142 Corona of the Nantahalas.
and clasped her starry girdle round my waist, they led me -- as they said -- to meet Apollo before the throne of Zeus. And when we came, lo, the god and the noble yonth of the leopard-skin were one! Bat, all in a moment, there was then a wondrous, frightful change. My heart grew deathly sick to see the glorious goddesses trans formed to tittering bold-eyed I'hokian maids, and Zeus himself to a chubby-fisted clown of Athens, who came down from his throne, laughing a load, coarse laagh. Only my lord Apollo remained the same, and, amid the loud derisive laughter of the rest, he but smiled tenderly and held his arms round me.
"Wh^n I at length awoke, rosy fingered Eos bad long opened wide the doors of day, and Helios' chariot had climbed far up the sky. I rose in haste and looked about me fearfully. What if he had gone! The woman heard ine and came in. She bade the gods give mo good health, and placed goafs-milk, figs, and barley bread on a table for me to eat
" 'Where is -- he who brought me herft ?' I asked at once, and through the window
showed me where he stood, not far

Corona of the Nantahalas. 143
from us, on the green brow of a steep in cline looking toward Delphi Careless of the food, I hastened out and found my way to him.
He stood so still, and looked with snch strange earnestness at a single spot of ground before him, that I marvelled and was afraid. Nevertheless, I went close up to him.
"'My lord, why tarry we in this poor hut?'
"Thereat he turned on me a deep and mournful glance. 'I ain not thy lord,' he answered, very low. ' P lied to thee when I called myself a god. I am Philomen, a shepherd, and yonder dame's my. mother.'
"The world recoiled--the land shrunk away from my feet -- suffocating mists swam round before my eyes. At last -- at last I could see him and-could speak:
" ' Thou blasphemer!* " ' Ay, so am I -- the gods pardon me.' "' Thou cunning rustic ! Thou--slave !' "He leaped as though one struck him. 'Thou alone mayest dare to call me so/ cried he, in vehement, husky tones. ' I would have thee know that, if I am but

'f.-
144 Corona of tht Nantahalas.
a shepherd youth, I have the blood of the Heracleid gens, and am as proud as thou.'
"' Thou hast done honour to thy noble gens,' I answered without pity.
"'Let me go,' he cried, like one mad dened. 'My father will take thee safe to Delphi.'
" ' Stay, thou lying shepherd/ I called, as he was going. 'Explain to me how is it that the just gods still let thee live.'
" I could not stand his gaze. I faltered, recalling how unwittingly I had tempted him, how always he had laughed and seemed but to sport My anger was sud denly burned out and left me helpless. The wide world was a desolation before my eyes. I fell upon the grassy earth and wept; and, as I wept, I knew that he came close to me and tarried there, although he made no sound. At last, I called to him from where I lay; and by-and-by my questions bade him speak And so he told me that not always had he lived a shepherd boy on Mount Parnassns.
"He had been early sent to friends in Thebes, there becoming excellent in all athletic games and learning to repeat the

Corona of the Nantahalas. 145
poeta by heart; and so, when he returned to keep his father's sheep, he pined and pined. He knew all the story of the grand ancient days,-- the voyage of the Argonauts, the Kalydonian boar-hunt, the Trojan war; he envied and wished to rival Perseus and Heracles, Theseus and lleleager, Jason and Achilles; he gloried in the Greeks who fought at Marathon and Thermopylae, and exulted in the story of Xenophon and the Ten Thousand. Oh, that he too might go forth to battle and become more than a peaceful shepherd ! But Epaminondas had long ago beaten Spartans at Leuctra and Mantinea, and Greece was sunk and decaying in the indolence of peace; he prayed the gods for war in vain. Nothing was left but the four great festivals, and all of these he visited -- even the Olympian in far Elis. He could have stood up bravely before any man in Greece; but only the rich and great may enter the contests, in these days. So he came buck from the Olympian, self-crowned with olive, and followed his sheep over this mountain again, with rage in his heart. Likewise, after the Isthmian, he crowned himself with pine, and after the Nemean with parsley, only to

146 Corona of the Nantahalas.
tear up the wreaths auon, deriding himself for the cheap device, while yet believing that he might have fairly won them. He was fresh from the Pythian games with another cheap-gotten fillet, this time of laurel, when he met me in the wood and sinned the sin of blasphemy, which is not forgiven.
" His sin came not of a callous heart only. In Athens, he heard men say that there were no goda--that the wise pronounced them fables ; and he knew how banished Pisistratus had regained control of the city by leading forth a tall, handsome maid from a village in Attica, and showing her to the people as the goddess Athene. So he doubted, asking himself, if the gods lived and wore great, would they suffer such blasphemy. Then, too -- he confessed hum bly -- he had been made vain by a sculptor in Corinth; who said the great Phidias would have given a pile of gold to procure him as a model for the Apollo.
" ' It all returned to me,' quoth he, 'when I met thee yesterday and heard thy inno cent, trusting speech ; and so I lied to thee in merry jest, repenting only when great Artemis showed her anger. And then, as

Corona of the Nantahalas. 147
Delphi was far away, 1 brought thee hastily to my father's house. And now I go, never more to afflict thee with the sight of me. I go over the mountain to Kirra, to procure an ass whereon thou mayest ride as my father doth lead thee back to Delphi. But, ere 1 go, let me tell thee that thy tears have fallen with the pain of showering darts upon my naked heart; and, though I go from thee accursed of the gods, thy beauteous face will ever go with me, a star to light my forward path.'
" I looked not up, but heard his moving feet. So he was gone--gone from me, and the world was left a gaping void. All my heart went forth to follow him on his way; I felt that I should die if he were lost I got me up from the ground in haste and searched for him with frantic eyes, calling aloud his name.
'' He was not far; he came to me on winged feet. He caught me close and kissed me on the mouth, and the mountain seemed to swim as we stood lost in love's embrace.
-Jt^- j- f :^*, 2j^-_

XIII.
so I staid and was his wife. He was no god ; he was but a Phokiau shepherd youth, but he would dwell forever in my heart. We made our offerings to Zeus, to Here, and to Artemis; and then I said a prayer to Aphrodite, and it was done. All i:i secret made I my praye1- and in such wise :
"' O Aphrodite, queen immortal Of love's blest joys in heaven begotten, Bend down to me from thy pure ether; Incline thine ear to my petition
0 thou most lovely!
" 'Breathe thou on him, 0 gentle goddess-- On him now yoked with me in marriage; Sow in his heart the seeds all golden Of leve most true, of love eternal,
From thee outflowing.

Corona of the NantaJtalas. 149
"' O thou fair child of Zeus almighty, Heed now my prayer : when all my beauty With length of years hath waned and wasted, Be with me still ; do not forsake me --
Oh, I implore thee I
" 'Blind thou his eyes, when age hath claimed me;
Send down thy birds of plumage dusky, Thy precious doves, that they may whisper Still in his ear and quicken ever
Love's holy rapture.
" ' And when in death we pass the borders Of mortal life, do thou us welcome; Do thou provide, blest Aphrodite, That there our love, with youth endowered,
Shall keep for ever!
" ' For this dear boon my soul will praise thee-- Praise thee with gladness -- day and evening; So shall I walk before thee ever, In purity of thought and doing --
Thus to adore thee.'
" Seven times the God Helois climbed up and down the great sky-dome while I dwelt upon Parnassus with Philomen, my husband; seven times he rested in the zenith and sought with warm and piercing gaze his own chosen cattle, sleek and beautiful in

Corona of tke Nantahalas.
their pastures; seren times the happy spirits of light awoke from sleep, brightening to the glory of the mid-noon and slowly waning to the evening. Then came the end.
"Philomen's sin weighed on our hearts and frighted as through aD our joy. Then, too, the shadow of my injured father hannted every hour; each day, I felt the more that filial piety had been shamed by me. My love and I confessed our thoughts and made agreement to go to Delphi and uncover our hearts before the god, then seek my father. So in the early day, when white cloud-mists swam low between the piny hills of the long, deep glens, we joined our hands and followed down the path which went to Delphi.
"And as we rested at the monntain's foot, lo, all at once, they fell upon us there -- my father and my brothers, come forth from the town to search for me once more. My Philomen rose up and fought them with the might of three brave men; but they were four beside the slaves and bore iim down. Bat for my cries, they would hare slain him without pity; and when I showed him how I was the shepherd's wife, my father burned with wrath and most

Corona of the Nantakalas. 151
cruelly reproached me. He waited bat to hear the tale, then hurried us on toward the temple of the god.
"'The sacred oracle shall declare his fate !' they cried.
'As we ascended the rocky Pytho, my soul fell deathly sick within me; well I knew how it would end. My haughty kinsmen, would not brook my marriage with a shep herd, and were resolved to slay him. I saw it in their looks, their covert speech, in thei rich gifts of gold to the temple priests wh< came forth at our call.
"When these had heard the case an< retired from our view, Philomen reverentl; knelt him down, all in his bonds, and tha he waited with bowed head to hear bis fat I would have passed the guarding slaves an knelt beside him, but my father drove m back with harsh and much upbraiding till drew away and tempted" him no more, S came it that I wandered back and forth, beneath the oaks, with lightness in my head and heaviness in my feet, my eyes afloat m agonies of unshed tears, and straining all my soul to pierce the darkness of the com ing hour. At last I came upon a side door to the temple, and, when none looked, I entered

152 Corona of the Nantahalas.
there and softly stole within the holy place, in mad unconsciousness of what I did.
"And when I thna drew nigh, lo, all the priests were upon their knees, and utter stillness filled the place. Enthroned upon the mystic tripod, the Pythian priestess looked before her with a dull straight stare, and there was that about her pale, unearthly face and swollen eyes which made me to loathe her with my utmost strength. All hope within me died; full well I knew she would speak ill for Philomen. Aa thus I looked and thought, all on a sudden a wave-like thrill or spasm seized the priestess' form and seemed to shake her cruelly, even to her inmost seat of life. As suddenly it was gone, leaving her white and still, with hands fast clenched. Then slowly she made shift to speak in words which fell like leaden hail upon my heart; lo, thus she spake:
" ' The mountain wolf, that from his hiding-place cornea forth
To make a lie, to build with crafty worda a snare,
To breed, in supine, halting Hellas light concern For majesty enthroned above--on him the
curse !

Corona of the Nantahalas. 153
The sons of men shall rise upon him in their might;
The tender lamb, by him deceived, shall mark his fall;
With throe on throe, his slow-quenched springs of life shall cease!
Say to the kings of men: who blasphemes gods--'

"So much I heard, and then the world

dissolved in darkness. They lifted me and

bore me oat and away, all when I knew it

not. We had come down the steep incline

and gone far into the woods, when I awoke

to life. They brought me there that I, who

was the lamb, might behold the wolf in the

throes .of death: so they read the oracle.

I broke from those supporting me, and

stopped them as they raised their cruel

swords. A. madness seized me, and I stood

forth, fearless, against my father and my

brothers:

"' The relentless Erinnys pursue you

now and for ever, if ye do this awfnl

thing!'

"'Thou art mad/ they cried. 'We but

obey the sacred oracle.'

j

'"The word of the oracle is dark and

hidden, and ye bat bend ifc to your wicked

154 Corona of the Nantahalas.
purpose,' I answered them. 'If ye say true, the oracle is no longer the voice of great Apollo, but a lie. The gods would not condemn a shepherd youth who sinned in jest, and pardon the far more grave offence of a mighty man of Athens. Phtiomen sinned only to make sport of a foolish maid who loves him and who is his wife, but Pisistratus blasphemed in the name of Pallas and deceived the whole Athenian state! Which one, tell me, hath done the sin which may not be forgiven?' "So I spake on till the world was again a dark and form less waste, and I sunk down before their feet.
"My Philippa, they did not slay thy father. Divine Apollo looked with pity on my woe and touched their cruel hearts. It was my good brave Orcus who spake of mercy first, and bent my father's will.
" 'If we slay this youth to whom her soul is knit,' quoth he, 'we slay thy daughter too. Let him go free, my father, and send thy sons to slay a real wolf--thus to obey the oracle's sacred word.'
"And when the cloudy sea of faintnesa rolled back from over me, lo, they prepared to loose his bonds.

Corona of the Nantahalas. 155
" 'Swear never more to approach this maid, and thou art free,' qaoth they, in haste.
" Bat he disdained the price and opened not his mouth, whereat their wrath waxed hot and again they drew their swords. But he set his face and locked his lips, and would not swear. Then fiercely turned my father on me and cried : * Swear by the throne of Zens never to look upon this yonth again, or, by the gods, the fowls shall eat his flesh!'
" 0 my daughter, I swore--to save his life, I swore. And then they loosed him and angrily bade him go; bnt, as they swiftly bore me away, he still stood proudly there.
"After those many, many days of va cancy at Athens, I remember that my father and brothers were" pleased to show concern for me. They took me to see the tragedies of * Antigone' and 'The Seven Chiefs against Thebes,' desirous thus to divert me from my griefs. My brother Orcus also contrived that I might see a comedy, and strove hard to make me merry. But, with me, the springs of mirth were all dried op; only after I heard thy

156 Corona of the Nantahalas.
voice, Philippa, could I smile for my good Orcus.
"What of thy father? Once, with a band of mountain men, he came within ten stadia of the walls of Athens, and got me word through slaves. I sent thee out that he might kiss and bless thee, but I would not look upon his face. I remem bered the sacred oath which had saved his life and broken my heart, and bade him go his way. That was the end. Ere that Olympiad drew to its close, he fell before the Macedonians at (Jhaeronea, and all the glory of Greece died with him there.
""Men have wooed me since those days, but all in vain. For me, in all the uni verse, there is but one--my Philomen. It is as if I had no life apart from him; and well do I believe that, when I wander down to the under-world, I shall be joined with him. In these sad daya of callous unbe lieving men, some say there is no under world--that man in death can only rot and so return to mother earth; but I look for ward to the day when Death shall touch me with his frozen lips, as to a long-pre vented voyage to a wished-for shore.
" Bat enough, my danghter. The sym-
, 1*4 .-^&JF^

Corona of the NantaJtalas. 157
posium is ended; I hear the guests as they go forth. Let me now lead thee to thy husband."
Darnell sat dumb, staring at the girl, long after the music of her low-toned voice had ceased. She, too, sat motionless, an expression of relief on her face.
"Did it weary you?" Corona asked at last.
"It fascinated me/' was the prompt answer. "Bat it is so sad. Why did you make it so?"
"Because I am sad and could not make it otherwise. And then, according to his tory, you remember, it was in that sad time when the glory of Greece was fading, dying. I thought of a woman deceived," she told him further, " bejcause I have been deceived. But I was moved with pity for her, and made it possible that she could still love."
"One can see you in the tale." "You said once that I might become a poet," she reminded him anon. "Do you think what the Greek girl says to Aphrodite" in her prayer is poetry? " " In essence surely, if not in form. Yon

158 Corona of the Nantahalas.
may acquire the form," Darnell added after a moment
"I shall not try. The thoughts that come to me are too sad and give me too much pain. I shall leave writing to him who has no heart and will not feel it I have told you my sad tale and am done/' she added later. " Teach me of other things teach me of the plants you love. I write no more."
"Many would call me selfish, but I am glad," was Darnell's smiling answer. " I'd rather see you a woman than a poet"

\
XIV.
SEATED on the porch, Corona and Darnell talked late one evening a few days later. Gideon McLeod sat on the steps most of the time, smoking his pipe and taking no part iu the conversation. The night was beautiful. The full moon rose high over the dark, slum bering mountains. Helicon, Parnassus, and the other peaks lifted themselves skyward in dim, uncertain, yet bulky -outlines. A gen tle current of air shook the foliage on the neighboring trees, and the occasional chirp of a sleepless bird was borne to the listeners from among the rustling leaves.
Darnell had been saying that people who dwelt close to nature's heart, as in the lonely places of the mountains, were likely to entertain serious thoughts more uninter ruptedly than the people of the cities ; to

160 Corona of the Nantakalas.
be less merry, bat more trustful and more really contented; and this was likely to affect the expression of their faces, giving them an. air of unusual gravity.
" But you, who are from the cities, have that serious look, too/' said Corona. " I hare often observed that you were so differ ent from -- from Henry."
"Perhaps I have, but if so there is a reason for it. It is doubtless because of the unhappy atmosphere in which I grew up."
" Will you not tell me about your early life, Edward ? " she asked earnestly. " Was it go unhappy ? "
"I can tell you, but it will hardly in terest you." He made an effort to change the subject, but she brought him back to it
"I know almost nothing about my own parents beyond the fact that their name was Darnell," he began at last. " I was left a destitute orphan at the age of six, and was adopted by a remote cousin of my mother's. My adopted mother was the wife of a man named Cusimiro, a Cuban cigar merchant in Charleston. Carlos Casimiro, judging from all I have since heard

Corona of the Nantahalas. 161
of him, was perhaps over punctilious and particular in matters of honour, but he was sober, intelligent, and probity itself. He made a place for himself even in a strange city, and in the course of time he married into a good family, as such things go, although neither he nor his wife, Evelyn Mtrion, could be called wealthy. It may interest you to know that you have often reminded me of my adopted mother. She did not have your dark eyes and hair, but she had your expression, your manner, and she was like you in disposition.
" It was a case of love on both sides, and there appeared to be only two obstacles in the way of complete happiness for the Casimiros. One was the fact of their having no children -- that is why I was adopted ; the other was the presence in the house of a third person, brother of the wife. My adopted uncle, Harry Merion, started out well, and was generally supposed to be a youth of bright promise, though there were afterwards some who declared that they always knew there was a screw loose some where. His father and mother had been first cousins, and some people attributed the trouble to that. Whatever the cause,

162 Corona of the Nantahalas.
by the time he was eighteen his mind had gone under a cloud, and after that he was never quite right. He should have been sent to au asylum where he could have been treated systematically, and perhaps cured. Some of the relatives were wise enough to urge this, seeing that he had to be taken out of school, and became a barden in his mother's home ; but no step to ward such an arrangement was taken. His mother was bitterly opposed to it, and willing to sacrifice the remainder of her family for him. When she died, his sister Evelyn assumed the cross, and would listen to no proposals looking toward a separa tion. She finally married Casimiro with the understanding that her afflicted brother should always be permitted to live in their home.
"Harry Merion was never very violent tin til toward the last, but he often raved mildly and talked irrationally fur hours without a moment's pause. They said he would talk of everything, from the Pope to the chickens hanging in the market. He had read much poetry, and usually recited his interminable imaginings in a sort of singsong rhythm. I can remember hia

Corona of the NantaJialas. 163
roaming about the house late in the night, making queer noises. He early showed a deep and jealous afiVction for his sister, and this in itself was sufficient cause for their separation after her marriage. He made trouble between husband and wife more than once, but Casiiniro was not alarmed, and allowed affairs to drift on from bad to worse.
"Two years after my adoption a child was born to the Casimiros, a girl, whom the father named Corona, because, as he said, she had crowned his life with happiness"
"How strange -- my name!" murmured Corona, deeply interested, and Gideon McLeod turned his head as though he had begun to listen.
" That is another reason why yon have reminded me of my adopted mother," pur sued Darnell. " I have often wondered where your parents, being mountain people, got such a name. When the baby came, Harry Merion was about twenty years old. Xot long after that it was observed that he grew steadily worse. He seemed to lore the child more than its mother, but there were times when (his remarkable affection disappeared utterly, and they became afraid

164 Corona of the Nantakalas.
to leave him alone with it. Meanwhile his insane dislike of Casimiro increased until it was clear that he felt little short of hatred for the man who had generously opened his home to him.
"So the time went on until the child was a little more than two years old, and then came the terrible trag.-dy which, it has al ways seemed to me,they might have foreseen and guarded against. One night -- I was a boy of twelve and asleep in the house at the time -- Hurry Merion flew into a rage and shot Casiiniro dead without any provocation whatever, and while the mother was weeping orer her hnsband's bleeding body, he lifted their sleeping baby out of its cradle and dis appeared, Neither the one nor the other was ever seen again."
Corona suppressed a desire to interrupt with questions, and Darnell proceeded: "It was learned that a man answering to his description boarded an outgoing train, and got off somewhere in North Carolina at a late honr of the same night, still carrying the sleeping child. There all trace of them was lost. It was thought that he might have thrown the child into a river, or aban doned it in some town where it was picked

Corona of the Nantahalas. 165
np and adopted, and that in some way he met his own death. It was easy to multiply conjectures, but not one of them was ever verified. Thousands of dollars were spent in the search for the madman and the child, but neither of them was ever heard of again. If they had gone away in a balloon, all traces of them could not have been more completely obliterated." . Gideon McLeod sat still on the steps, Bay ing nothing, but so intense was his interest in Darnell's narrative that he had forgotten to smoke, and had allowed his corn-cob pipe to go out.
"Now you have the story of the unhappy atmosphere in which I grew tip," the speaker concluded. "Robbed of her hus band and child in one night, my adopted mother received a shock from which she never rallied. Necessarily our home was a gloomy one. I think I did all I could to cheer hefVjcertainly I tried hard to be a true son to her, and I know that she loved ' me. The tragedy occurred when I was twelve, and she died when I was nineteen. There was not a great deal of money left after the estate was settled, and what there was I expended on my education. I went

166 Corona of tfa Nantakalas.
*
to New York, and spent several years at Colombia College, afterwards pursuing the study of botany in Europe. Five years ago I returned to New York, which is still my home."
The sad story deeply engaged Corona's interest, and she now asked question after question, thus bringing out many particulars which had been omitted. Finally, when there seemed no more to tell, Gideon: McLeod moved uneasily on the steps and cleared his throat several times, as if about to speak.
".Mr. Darnell," he began at last, " if you was to see a man -- a crazy-lookin' man -- about to kill a little child, what would you do?"
"I'd prevent it," answered Darnell, sur prised at the question.
" Would you shoot him ? " "No; I'd jump on him--overpower him -- get the child out of the way." " But s'posin' "--Gideon McLeod seemed to hesitate -- " s'posin' you was to come upon him jes' ez he was about to shoot the child, and you had a gun with you ? " " I don't like to propose to myself such questions," answered Darnell, more sur-

Corona of the Nantahalas. 167
prised. " At each such a crisis I should cer tainly act, however. It would surely be in human to staud by and not attempt to prevent such a shocking -- but why do you ask?"
" I was jes' a wonderin'. What would be the law in such a case? ''
' I never heard of such a case, but I don't see how the law could touch a man who shot a madman in order to save the life of an innocent child."
" Well, now, that's jes' the way it seemed to me, and when I seen him p'intia' his pistol at the child that day it was more'n I could stand, and I jes' blazed away."
"What! You really shot -- a madman--" Gideon McLeod suddenly got upon his feet and went and stood before them, stag gering like a drunken man. In the pale light of the moon they perceived that he was strangely excited. " It's out now, and I mought ez well tell it," he said in an agitated voice. " I'm goin' to tell you two what nobody in the world knows but me and my wife, and yon kin judge betwixt me and that crazy man/' Corona made room for him on the bench, and he sat down by them and told the story

l68 Corona of the Nantahalas.
without interruption, although both his com panions were breathing hard with excite ment and their minds were fall of conjec tures.
"What did you do with the child?" asked Darnel! as soon as there was a pause, leaping to the conclusion.
" Here she is -- right here " -- placing his hand on the girl beside him.
Corona and Darnell both started to their feet, incredulous, yet believing. " Can it be -- can it really be true ? " they repeatedly exclaimed, a glad note in the sound of their voices.
"Mebby she ain't the child that was took from yon-all, Mr. Darnell," said Gideon McLeod solemnly, "but ez shore ez I'm a livin' she's the child that crazy man waa about to shoot in the woods down yonder. And now do you blame me?" he asked with eagerness.
"/ blame yon?" echoed DarnelL "I thank you."
" You saved me and became my father," murmured Corona, reseating herself and putting her arms round the mountaineer's neck.
" Your only fault," said Darnell, on second

Corona of the Nantakalas. 169
thoughts, " was in keeping the secret. If you had advertised and reached the stricken mother -- how much happiness you could have given her !"
"I wonld 'a, but I was a-scared --and I didn't know how," was the remorseful response.
"But when was this?" Parnell hurried on to ask.
" Eighteen years ago this lust spring/' " The dates agree exactly, but that alone is not proof enough. Were there any letters on him -- anything by which to identify him or the child ? " By way of answer the mountaineer went into the house, calling his wife. "If this be really true, then you are my brother," said Corona gladly. " Not by blood," was the prompt correc tion. "If you arc Corona Casimiro, I am a very distant relative of yours, nothing more." Gideon McLeod returned shortly, bring ing a candle and a white bundle which proved to be the garments worn by the hapless little girl eighteen years before. The word " Corona " embroidered in white silk, now yellow with age, on one of them,

170 Corona of the Nantahalas.

was pointed out, and then they were shown the linen handkerchief marked " H. M."

which had been found in the madman's

pocket.

"It is sufficient." said Darnell at last. " There can be no farther doubt That handkerchief certainly belonged to Harry

Merion. My adopted mother was fond of

doing such embroidery. I still have a

O

>

handkerchief laid away somewhere on which

she embroidered my name with that same thread." Turning to the girl, he continued : " The proofs may not be sufficient to estab lish your identity before a court, but that

will not be necessary. You have no fortune

to win, and need not go to law. As I have told you, I spent everything that was left

on my education, and I engage to pay it back to you."

" Only half of it could be called mine, and "

" You shall have it all. There can be no possible doubt," he continued. " From the first day you have reminded me of your

mother." "That crazy man must 'a found that
horse sfandin' waitin' for somebody 'else

when he got off the train that night," said

Corona of the Nantahalas. 171
Gideon McLeod, " and I reckon he tack to the woods right straight and kep' a comin' till he got h-yer. It was a mighty fine horse."
Daruell seconded this conjecture, although he had barely caught the gist of the remark, being^ occupied with Corona's multiplying questions concerning her parents and kin dred. The mountaineer presently re-entered the house and returned with a torch, pro posing that they should go and see where Harry Merion waa buried, as the distance was short. They rose and followed him, Corona continuing her questions as they walked down the path, out at the gate, and into the woods.
"I'm more 'n middlin' glad you ain't got no call to go into court," said the moun taineer, as a silence fell between the two younger people. "There wa'u't no witnesses to the shootin' and how I come to do it, and I mought git into a sight o' trouble."
They were now on the ground, but there was nothing to be seen but the stake that had been driven down on that memorable night so long ago. Gideon McLeod held the torch aloft and told them how, at the suggestion of his wife, he had read from the

172 Corona oftkc
\
acred Book and recited a prayer before the earth had been shovelled in. As they were retracing their steps, Darnell assured him that he had nothing to fear, then or in the future. It was not necessary to go into court, and as all the relatives were dead bat distant ones, the facts need never be known outside of Lonely Cove. "Corona can go back with me to New York as my wife or my sister, as she chooses, and it will not be necessary to tell her history."
They did not observe it, bnt the expres sion of the old mountaineer's face suddenly altered strangely, and he uttered a deep sigh as he relapsed into silence.
"It is just as well," Darnell continued, "for the story would doubtless be received with incredulous smiles."
They were now at the gate, and he went no farther; Corona halted also, bnt Gideon McLeod walked on, presently subsiding into his old seat on the steps, too excited and wide awake to think of retiring as yet.
" We belong to each other now, whether you ever marry me or not," said the young man, in a low, glad voice, before taking his leave.
"Yes--we are brother and sister.**
I

I
'Corona of the Nantahalas. 173 '
As Corona returned slowly and medita tively toward the house, she observed the figure on the steps and distinctly heard these words muttered in a troubled voice : " He'll take her -- of course ; but, thank God, I done my duty, anyhow." The girl ran forward aud seated herself by the moun taineer's side, resting her arm upon his shoulder affectionately.
" You'll be goin' off from us soon, I reckon," he said, in the same troubled voice. " That's why I hated to tell -- I knowed he'd carry you off."
"Dear uncle," said Corona, impulsively, deeply moved, "I will stay -- I will not leave you."
"No use a savin' that," he laughed. "It wouldn't be right nohow. Young folks must marry."

XV.
CORONA still felt unable to think of Darnell as a lover. She thought she could never love again ; bat he had become very dear to her, and was almost constantly iu her tb.ongb.ta. It had seemed more and more difficult of late to construct a future which did not include him as an important part of it, and she had begun to wish earnestly that he might al\vays be beside her to guide, in struct and protect. Now that her family history had come to light, revealing the fact that he was not only a relation but an adopted brother, she basked in the sunshine" of a great content. This man in whom she thoronghly believed, this man of a noble heart, was now in very truth her brother, teacher, friend, protector !
She- had occasion to think of him espe cially in the latter respect a few days later.

Corona of the Nantahalas. 175
Within a week after warning them of the approach of the raiders, Jonathan Scruggs turned up at Lonely Core, unmistakably in the r61e of a suitor come a-courting. They one and all treated him with every kind ness; he ate heartily of the early dinner prepared for him, and in the cool of the afternoon, as Corona and Dan started off for a walk, he was invited to accompany them. The girl had intended going straight to the camp, in case he remained with the McLeods, as she hoped he would; but the party now took their way toward the river Simois.
"Ain't yon got no good word for me, Miss Anna, after what I done for you-all t'other day ?" asked the foolish lover, with the air of one come to claim a reward.
They had seated themselves on the little river's bank, and were watching the clear water swirling white and frothy over the rocks. Corona turned and looked at him coldly.
"Nothing, Jonathan," she said, "except that we all thank you for warning us as you did."
" IVe been a runnin' after you a right smart while, Miss Anna," he ventured, '

176 Corona of tJie Nantahalas.
after a few moments. "It's now goin' on two year."
"It is a pity to waste so ranch time," she remarked, her glance returning to the leap ing water.
"I lore to waste it -- on you" declared this personification of obtuseness. "I'm willin' to waste a big sight more on you." His little, yellow eyes seemed to dance as he gazed at her.
" I have told you often that it was useless to continue," she reminded him.
" So you did," he assented, his broad, red face expanded in a knowing smile, "but women folks is powerful apt to change their minds, they tell me. Mebby well make it after a while. Nothiu' like keepin' at a thing," he laughed loudly.
Corona rose to walk on, an expression of disgust on her face. Just then they heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and the girl's face lighted up as Darnell ap peared. He carried a light spade, very long and narrow, and two or three uprooted plants.
" I'm so glad yon have come," she said to him in. a low voice.
DarnelPs smile showed that he was no

Corona of tht Nantahalas. 177
leas glad. After a moment he turned from her and nodded to Dan and young Scruggs. The latter was unwise and intemperate enough to scowl instead of returning the salute, and presently burst out with the rude remark :
" Two is comp'oy and three is none, they tell me."
Corona and Darnell both turned at this, the latter surveying the angry mountaineer with a critical eye. " What do you mean by that ? " he asked mildly.
" I mean two is comp'ny, and three is none in my country."
" Then suppose we leave him," suggested Darnell.
Corona indicating assent, they began to walk on.
At that Jonathan Scruggs swore an oath, and lost his head completely. "I reckon this is my inniu'," he shouted. " I walked out with her first, and you or any other man has got me to whip before you kin take her away from me that-a way."
He rushed up to his rival with doubled fiste, and stood close to him in a tbreatebiog attitude. The blood mounted to DarnelFs face, and before he knew it he had taken

178 Corona of the Nantahalas.
the initiative. Suddenly his right arm shot out from the shoulder, and there was the dull sound of a heavy blow. The moun taineer staggered back, and for a moment he seemed to be falliug; but he rallied, leaped forward, and the two men grappled.
Though an inch or two taller, Darnell was much the lighter man; bat he had had considerable athletic training in his youth, and his many summers of outdoor life, with much mountain climbing, had aided in the development of his muscles. The over confident Scruggs soon found that he ha<l met his match. For many moments the issue of the struggle seemed doubtful; round and round over a confined open space carpeted with dead leaves they gradu ally worked their way. Corona looked on, terrified, yet conscious of a strange fasci nation, while Dan was so pleased at so un common a sight that he could not contain himself, but went leaping and dancing about the wrestlers, smiling and uttering inarticu late sounds of delight
Corona waa conscious of the most intense satisfaction, of almost a desire to shout, when at last she saw Scruggs go down heavily and Darnell partially rise with his
- f--. ^> .

Corona of the Nantahalas. 179

knees upon the breast of his panting and

farioos ad versary.

"You deserve a great deal more than

this, but T aui going to let you go/' said

Darnell sternly, as he held the man down

aud they glared at each other. "Another

time I hope you will know how to behave

yourself in the presence of a lady."

When released, Scruggs gathered himself

up very quickly, considering that he was

out of breath and pretty well spent. He

looked from Corona to the victor, his face

aflame with passion. ' I'll get even with

you yet," he saM huskily, with a dark,

threatening look toward the latter.

\

"Yon onght to be satisfied," said Darneill,

smiling serenely. "I am. It was a

fight/'

By way of response the mountaineer

peated his threat, more bitterly than befom.

Fearing more and perhaps worse trouble,

Corona signed to Dan to take Scruggs

back to the house, and speaking urgent!

to Darnell, the two walked away togethe:

leaving the deaf mute to obey his orde

if he could.

Some men would have seriously reflected'

orer the fact of having aroused the bitter

180 Corona of tht Nantahalas.
enmity of another, and would thereafter have always been more or less on their guard. A more cautious man would per haps not ouly have been on the look-out by day but would not have slept unprotected by night. Darnel 1, however, did not give the matter more than a passing thongbt, and soon forgot the threats of the vanquished mountaineer.
It was in the morning, a week or two later, while preparing his breakfiisf, that he once or twice thought he heard stealthy footsteps beyond the borders of the open spsce surrounding his camp. He raised his head and scanned the leafy aisles leading away in all directions, but saw nothing. He attributed the sounds to the rustle of dry leaves moved by the wind. At the same time he reflected that the air seemed phenomenally still that morning, and wond^red if some little animal, perhaps a squirrel, were not frisking about in the vicinity. Having breakfasted, and set his tent and surroundings in something like order he made ready for a tramp.
"The air is remarkably still," he said aloud, as he stood, spade in hand, ready to start

Corona of the Nantahalas. 181
It was just then that his eye caught the leap of a slender tongue of flame from the thicket directly in front. Almost at the same instant he felt a heavy, burning blow, heard a loud report, and realized, as one in a dream, that he tottered and fell.
Darnell knew that he was shot--a burn ing, tingling pain in his left leg, about half way above the knee, was distinctly per ceptible--and a great fear seized him. He was alone--he might bleed to death; the assassin would of course abandon him to his fate. He was about to lift himself on his arm and look around, but hearing foot steps he remained quiet, closing his eyes.
Seeing his victim in a state of physical collapse, the assassin emerged from cover and cautiously drew new, curious to see if death had been the result of the shot. When the approaching footsteps were stilled, and he felt that some one bent over him and stared into his face, Darnell sud denly opened his eyes and recognized Jona than Scruggs.
"Oh, it is you, is it?" he said con temptuously, a feeling of recklessness sud denly succeeding his state of fear.
"Yes, it's me," was the mountaineer's

182 Corona of the Nantahalas.
defiant response, after a start of surprise. His haggard face and bloodshot eyea emphasized the malevolence of his expres sion.
" What made you shoot me ? " f' You know well enough." "Because I whipped you in a fair fight, or because you think I stand in your light with the woman you want to marry but do not love?" "Who says I don't love her?" 'The love of a good woman ought to make a man out of any sort of a fellow. Instead of making a man of you, it has made yon the most despicable of all creatures--an assassin, which is only an other name for devil" The mountaineer flushed with anger and shame, ofting his rifle threateningly. "If yon don't stop sassin' me," he burst out, "111 put you out o' yo' mis'ry mighty quick." Suddenly Darnell closed his eyes, and a faintness stole upon him. In a moment or two he opened them again and said: "If - you don't intend to finish me, bring me some water." Then quite as suddenly his face blanched,

Corona of the NantaJialas. 183
his eyes closed, and he lapsed into uncon sciousness.
" He's dead ! " whispered Scruggs, draw ing away in horror and fear.
A few moments of intense stillness suc ceeded. They were cut short by the rustle of dry leaves beneath the tread of approach ing feet. Scruggs bounded away like a hare in the opposite direction, and when Corona appeared along the path leading from the farm-house nothing met her gaze but the mouth of the cave, the tent, the empty hammock, and presently the limp figure on the ground. She stopped, startled -- could he be asleep in such an attitude and on the bare ground ? Drawing nearer, she beheld all in one moment the deathly pale face and the blood which had oozed through the thick woolen of Darnell's trousers.
With a low cry nnlike anything she had ever uttered iu her life before, the girl threw herself upon the prostrate figure. She saw that he did not breathe -- assuredly he was dead! She gathered him to her, pillowing his head on her breast and press ing her lips long upon his, inwardly say ing : " If he be dead, how can I live ? Let

184 Corona of the Nantahatas.
me die, too, 0 my God !" She knew at last the difference between a dream and a reality.
Suddenly Darnell revived, and, without opening his eyes, called faintly, "Water!"
Gently, but swiftly, and with the light of a great joy in her eyes, the girl laid him out of her arms before he was aware of her presence. Running to the tent she found water standing in a bucket, ran back with a cupful, and put it to his lips. He drank eagerly, then looked to see who ministered to him.
" Oh, it is you," he murmured contentedly. "My last thought was of you, Corona. I thought I was going to die, and I wished you could be by me. ... I have been shot"
" I am here and will stay with you," she said, touching his forehead caressingly with her hand. She would not ask the name of the assassin, fearing to excite him.
" And I am not to die, it seems," he said. "How could I from a wound in the leg? "
"But it bleeda rapidly," she said, with anxiety. "I can feel the blood gushing forth under the cloth. It has run out on the ground."

Corona of the Nantakatas, 1 85
"The femoral artery must be cut," he said, weakening with sadden misgiving. "If so I shall bleed to death, unless the wouud has very careful attention."
Corona started to her feet; something should be done at once. A deadly pallor overspread Darnell's face, and a second time he lapsed into unconsciousness.
The girl's distress was intensified. She realized that she must act--immediately-- but what should she do ? Should she leave him--ruu to the house for help ? He might die while she was gone; no, she could not leave him. Perhaps she could carry him there--if she tried hard--desperately hard ; she was very strong--she believed she could do it
Stooping over him, she exerted all her strength, lifted him in her arms, and stag gered a few stepd with her burden. She could not do it--she could never do it; something else must be done.
Looking about her helplessly -- supplicatingly--her eye fell upon a crooked ram's horn belonging to Dan. It lay on the ground near the tent, where he had dropped it perhap,s the day before. Leaping upon it as though in fear lest it should fly from

186 Corona of the Nantahalas.
her, Corona put it to her lips and blew three long blasts, then three more, and then three more. Surely they would hear that at the farm-house, and understand that something was wrong and come to her aid.
The stillness that followed was frightful to her in its intensity and suggestion of disaster. Half an hour must elnp.-e before any one could come to her aid, and mean while the assassin's victim might bleed to death. She could not wait she must begin the work. Dropping the horn, she returned to Darnell's side, steeling herself to the accomplishment of the task before her. The blood must be stanched she must do it and before it could be done his clothing would have to be removed. As she stood over him, hesitating, a suggestion came to her. Banning to the tent, she looked about eagerly, picked up a long, sharp knife, and came back.
It was the work of but a few momenta to rip open Darnell's trousers, and lay bare the wound, from which the blood flowed in a rapid stream. She did not stop here, but cut away the ripped cloth entirely, and, tearing it into long strips, bound them

Corona of the Nantahalas. 187
tightly around the exposed limb, covering the wound and checking the great flow of blood.
By the time all this was done she heard the sound of footsteps. Looking np, she was overjoyed to find Dan at her side. Mrs. McLeod had been alarmed by the repeated blowing of the horn, and had sent him off at a run. Hardly stopping to speak a word in explanation of the situation, Corona bade the deaf mute lift Darnell and carry him home as fast as he conld.
Dan, who was almost as strong as an ox, willingly obeyed her. Lifting the still in sensible man, and placing him partly across his shoulders and partly on his back, he trotted easily after Corona along the path leading to the house.

XVL
GIDEOH McLEOD was out in the moantains looking after some straying sheep. When his wife saw Corona running towards the house, followed by Dan with his burden, her first thought was of her husband, and she began at once to blow the horn. She blew blast after blast, ceasing only when Corona reached the steps.
"Is it Mr. Darnell that's hart?" she asked anxiously.
" Yes "-- with a gasp for breath.
" What ails him ? Look at the blood! "
" He has been shot" "JFAodoneit?" " I believe it was Jonathan." Dan carried the still unconscious man in, aud they placed him gently on a bed. Then, as the two woman busied themselves about the room, he went out, as he was

Corona of the Nantakalas. 189
directed to do, took up the horn, and walking some distance from the house, blew it with all his strength,
A short while afterwards, as Corona, in her own room, was tearing cloth into strips for fresh bandages, Mrs. McLeod came to her and said:
"He's come to. He says we must get a doctor right off to probe for the bullet."
" I thought that ought to be done, but I was waiting for uncle to see him," was the anxious reply.
The girl ran out and looked toward the mountain heights. Dan was still blowing the horn at intervals, and there was as yet no sign of his father. Corona caught his eye, beckoned to him, and began to make signs, directing him to bridle the horse, and put on her side saddle. Dan himself could not go for the doctor--no one at Wolf Creek would understand his signs -- and it would not do to wait for his father, who might be beyond the reach of the horn. Corona de cided that she must go herself.
Having reached this determination, she returned to the wounded man's bedside, and bent low over him, saying that the doctor was to be sent for at once. He smiled as

190 Corona of the Nantakakzs.
he saw her, pressed her hand gently, bat seemed too faint to speak; and then she left him.
" Watch him closely till I return, " she whispered to Mrs, McLeod, but did not an nounce her determination, fearing opposi tion, and thus delay.
Corona wore one of her white Greek gowns, and it was now stained with blood, but she did not pause to make a change. The horse was ready, and not a moment was lost. Once upon his back, and ont be yond the gate, she plied the whip and rode at a breakneck speed along the difficult path way leading downward through the moun tains. Over fallen trees, along narrow ledgee, aboye yawning ravines, through shallow, roaring mountain torrents full of huge, slip pery stones on she went!
She had made the journey to Wolf Creek, a distance of at least fifteen miles, only twice in her life, and the last time more than five years since; but there were no cross roads, and she knew that she could not miss her way. But the horse might slip or stumble, and fall at a dangerous point, .and both be precipitated downward to certain death. Corona thought not of

Corona of tJie Nantakalas. 191
4
this; her only fear was that Darnell might die while she was on the road, and with apparent recklessness she urged her labour ing horse with a merciless hand.
Two hours or more later, as the panting animal carried her into the more level region of the lower valley, she saw on the road ahead of her a horseman riding rapidly toward Wolf Creek. As she neared the village and saw him turn off to the right, she recognized the face of Jonathan Scruggs, and was confirmed in her suspicion of his villainy.
The inhabitants of the mountain village, which consisted of a half-dozen or so of dwelling houses, a post office, and two small stores, were amazed at the sight of a pant ing, foam-flecked horse, with a handsome young girl on its back, dashing madly into their midst. Thinking it a runaway, one man rushed into the road to the rescue, but Corona promptly motioned him back and began to check her plunging horse. As she came to a standstill several men approached her questiouingly.
" Please tell me where the doctor is," she said to them hurriedly.
"Yonder he is right now -- there in front

192 Corona of tfu Nantahalas.
o' the post office," said the nearest, pointing oat a stout man who sat in a chair, reading a newspaper, under a tree fronting a little frame house. " I'll go and tell him."
" Anybody sick ? " asked another. "A man has been shot in the mountains. He is at the McLeods'. I am from there." They asked a few more questions, and then the doctor came forward. Corona waited for no introduction, and earnestly appealed to him. Could he get a horse and go with her at once ? The case was ur gent The man at Lonely Core might bleed to death. "Who shot him ?" asked the doctor de liberately. He was a little fat man somewhat past middle age, who looked as if he had never been in a hurry in his life. " I found him so in the woods, answered Corona restively. " I suspect a certain man, but as I am not sure, I will not mention his name -- as yet. Can we not start at once?" The doctor looked at the sun. " Dinner will be ready in 'bout an hour," he ob served. " Won't you 'light and take dinner with me and my wife ? Then we could

Corona of the Nantahalas. 193 ' \

start right off. It's a powerful long ways j

up to Lonely Cove, and we ought to have f

dinner first."

|

Corona made no answer, but looked i

steadily at the speaker, a peculiar, fiery

glare in her eyes. The expression of her

face was such as to frighten him, and to

stir the sympathy of the bystanders.

"Go'n' ter stop and eat when a man's

a-dyin' ? " asked one of them in disgust.

" Well, I'll be dog gone ! " audibly mut

tered another.

"Well, I'll go and git ready right off,"

acquiesced the doctor, reluctantly turning

away.

The girl wondered what such a man could

be made of, as she saw him moving slowly

about, making his preparations. She almost

feared that she would shriek out in her ex

asperation and pain. He was not made of

stone, as she half believed, bat of heavy,

solid flesh, iron nerves, and phlegmatic feel

ings. What if a man had been shot and

was lying bleeding to death, could the

doctor be expected to excite himself and

rush around till his fat person was bathed

in a profuse perspiration ? People must

die, and if need be hearts must break, and

194 Corona of the Nantahalas.
meanwhile-- if denied the privilege of wait ing for his dinner -- the doctor must at least take time to catch his breath.
Corona was repeatedly urged to alight and refresh herself, but, after drawing rein in front of the doctor's house, she refused to do aught but sit on her horse and wait for him. She saw him moving deliberately about his house for some minutes before he sent a half-grown lad to saddle his horse, and she told herself bitterly that he was in exorable -- he ought to be tortured !
At last he joined her, picking his teeth, and they took the road. Then the girl led him a fearful nice upward through those mountain wilds, and the plump doctor cursed his hard luck. He wastoo^proud to allow himself to be left far behind, and at manv a risky turn in the path he swore beneath his breath. But when, about the middle of the afternoon, they arrived at the farm-honse, though severely jaded, he showed interest in the case, rolled up his sleeves, and went to work with a will.
Corona sprang to the ground and ran in ahead of him. Mrs. McLeod met her at the door, and answered the agonized appeal in her eyes, by saying: " He 'pears to be 'bout

!
Corona of the Xantahalas. \ 195
the same, though hit looks to me like he's drunk enough water to kill him. Gid didn't git home till you was half way, I reckon. He said you ought to 'a' waited for him to fetch the doctor."
Corona said nothing iii answer, and after the doctor had gone into Darnell's room, taking her uncle and Dan with him, she sat down by her aunt on the porch, looked long with dry eyes toward Parnassus, and at length sobbed-convulsively.
The backwoods physician was not much of a surgeon, and knew little of anatomy, but he got the ball out successfully, and performed such other offices as seemed im perative. He said the wound was not necessarily dangerous, but was very serious and needed careful watching. The bullet had passed close to the femur, narrowly grazing the femoral artery and actually cutting two or more of its branches or ramifications, and had deeply embedded itself in the abductor muscles. The doctor made several subsequent visits ; for it was more than three weeks before Darnell could stand on his feet, and two months elapsed before he entirely lost his limp.
After his first visit the doctor stayed over

196 Corona of tJie Xantahalas
night, and as Darnell was resting quietly next morning, he returned home, at a rate of speed much more leisurely and satisfac tory than that forced on him the day before. Gideon McLeod accompanied him, with the intention of procuring the arrest of Jonathan Scruggs, whose name Darnell had faintly articulated on the previous day in response to the questions of his host.
Early in the evening of the same day the mountaineer returned with the unexpected news that Scruggs had been arrested the afternoon before -- not many hours after the shooting--and carried off to jail on proof of his being engaged in illicit distilling.
" When they git through with him for that, we'll settle with him for sneakin'round and shootin' from the bushes at an honest man," said Gideon McLeod, with emphasis.
Corona was too much a child of nature to hide her feelings when nothing demanded such concealment. She hesitated only until Darnell was resting tranquilly and not likely to be harmed by excitement. On the morning after her uncle's return from Wolf Creek she went into Darnell's room alone, and kneeling beside the bed, took the hand which he extended.

Corona of the Nantahalas. 197
" I was hoping you would come to me,"
he said. " Do you still love me, Edward ?" she
asked abruptly. " I shall always love you, Corona. I am
not one of those who change." "And you wish to marry me ?"' " One question involves the other. I
could not love you without wishing to marry you." He turned his head on the pillow and looked up at her intently, in quiring: " Why do you ask me this ? "
" Don't you understand, Edward ? '' she said, with a low laugh, a great new light in her eyes, and her face a flame of blushes. " I ask because -- I love you !' % Her head was suddenly caught fast between his hands and her face drawn down close upon his, so that their lips rested together.
"I know now that it has been so a long time," she told him, when at last he let her go, " but it was not until I found you lying on the ground -- shot--and thought you dead that--that----"
"That reconciles me to my wound," he interrupted with a laugh. " The would-be assassin little knows that he is my greatest benefactor."

198 Corona of the Xantahalas.
-. By the time the invalid was fully restore.! the summer was quite gone, and the neces sity of returning to Xew York in order to fulfil his engagements presented itself to him. He preferred to marry at Lonely Cove rather than later on somewhere else, and as any other arrangement would have wounded the McLeods, this way was determined on by the lovers.
"It almost breaks my heart to think of leaving them," said Corona as the time drew near.
" We can come here every summer if you wish," Darnell promised: "and they will not feel that they are giving you up en tirely. As for Dan, if his father agrees, we can take him to Xew York and put him in a school where he will learn to read and write, and a whole new world will open to him."
A license was procured at Wolf Creek for the marriage of Edward Darnell and Corona Casimiro. and the loth of September was the day chosen. The fat, lazy little doctor, being invited to accompany the minister, again submitted to the rough and dangerous ride up from the lower valley in order to eat a piece of Mrs. McLeod's cake and

Corona of t/tc Xantahalas. 199
witness the marriage of the girl for whom he felt a mixture of admiration and fear.
The devotees of fashion would have been shocked to see a beautiful girl, arrayed in a laurel wreath and a Greek robe of white wool, stand up to marry a young man wearing an outing shirt and a Norfolk jacket'; but the two people most concerned cured little for fashion or other such ex ternal matters, and thought only of their arrival at the threshold of a great, enduring happiness.

Napoleon, Lover and Husband
BY FREDERIC MASSON

Translated from the I4th French Edition Bv T. M. HCHVELL

FIVE PHOTOGRAVURE PLATES, 520 PAGES, 5VQ, CLOTH, GILT TOP, $2.00

* * * * Frederic Masson has undertaken to reveal the lover's

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the incredulous interest of the Parisians, when, as the head of

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conjugal letters to the absent Josephine.

'

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A r. ':'. ::r,'.\'iti ar.y 'thcr. by an auth.r ur.'.ike ar.y other: A r. v-! :h<i: ha* r. ecu 1 va!rr.t :n the literature f this cer.f.r 1. a. :: >:. -\ r.xh. ir<-::<: the pc>i::;;isr.i w::n whiih it cper.s and :':. ;-.i-'-, - vc;:'- wh: h ; c! <e<. mu>: :a'.e rar.k a:r.'>ns; the witt:- -' an : ::. <: h'.rr. -<,u> ver '.vr:::er.: a r.' vel ! ph:! *.-phy. of pr .; re><. :' rea'.-.-.y. r\ .;:rar.:tv: a r. ve! ( ti; = he.i't 3rd i,f :':.hcaJ: a r.''.'e. ;\h:..". .3 .e>s a 'v:rk f art t::ar. a '^',r.< ol ^er.:us.
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fav--r:te bi'.^k than, ry ac^r. x'.d.^~.r.z that in nnishin^ the !a?t chapter r.e fee! a. .:" ar. . 1 i fru-r.d -,>-ere ^ r:e J It :* thi> feelir.; which '.ve have in <.i"sir..; the <.'i.ver , f ' My L"r.i.!e Benjamin.'

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