during
the remainder of the summer to the attitude toward her which he now
maintained in thought and action. The season was drawing to a close,
and she had enjoyed the latter part of it beyond her fondest hopes and
expectations. She made a few congenial acquaintances at the hotel, and
with them never wearied in exploring the paths that converged at the
great caravansary, and in visiting the various outlooks from which
the same wide landscapes presented ever-changing aspects. Chief among
these friends was a middle-aged artist, who was deeply imbued with the
genius of the mountains, and who had no little skill in catching and
idealizing the lovely effects he saw. He proved her best guide, for he
had long haunted the region, and the majority of the paths were due to
his taste and explorations. In such congenial tasks he acted as agent
for the sagacious and liberal owner of the vast property, who was so
wise that in his dealings with nature he employed one that loved and
understood her. To Madge the artist showed his favorite nooks and
haunts, where the wild beauty of the hills dwelt like a living
presence, and the scenery not yet painted which, from certain
standpoints, almost composed itself on the canvas. Thus he taught
her to see the region somewhat as he did, and to find in the general
beauty definite, natural pictures that were like flowers in the
wilderness. She greatly enjoyed watching with him the wonderful
moonlight effects on the vast shaggy sides and summit of High Peak,
that reared its almost untrodden solitudes opposite the hotel. This
mountain was the favorite haunt of fantastic clouds. Sometimes in the
form of detached mists they would pass up rapidly like white spectres
from the vast chasm of the Kaaterskill. Again a heavy mass would
settle on the whole length of the mountain, the outlines of which
would be lost, and the whole take the semblance of one vast height
crowned with the moon's radiance. Nothing fascinated Madge more than
to observe how the artist caught the essential elements of beauty in
the changing cloud scenery and reproduced the effects on a few
inches of canvas, and in her better appreciation of similar scenery
thereafter, she saw how true it is that art may be the interpreter of
nature.

The fine music and varied entertainments at the house served also to
beguile her time. On one occasion the young people were arranging a
series of tableaux, and she was asked to personate Jephtha's daugh