good to be lost."

Accordingly they hurried down the steep path that joined the road near
where the ladies were still waiting, at a point full three hundred feet
below.

Approaching, with hats in hand, George Gaylord said: "Allow me, Miss
Fenwick, to introduce to you my friend and college chum, Fillmore Flagg:
for a peculiar purpose of his own he wishes to regain possession of that
flighty paper which, fortunately for him, the prank playing wind carried
to your feet but a moment ago."

With a slight inclination of her queenly head, she turned with a
dazzling smile to meet the inquiring glance of Fillmore Flagg. In a
clear musical voice, full of thrilling cadence and power, she said: "Mr.
Flagg, if you are particularly interested in this paper, I am very sure
I am quite happy to meet you, and take pleasure in returning it to you
now; I trust that we may have the opportunity of becoming better
acquainted before you leave these lovely mountains." Turning to her
companion she continued: "Permit me, gentlemen, to introduce my friend
and companion, Mrs. Bainbridge; Mr. George Gaylord, who is just entering
the ministry, and his college friend, Mr. Fillmore Flagg."

Mrs. Bainbridge responded with a pleasant smile. She was a tall, well
formed, well preserved woman of forty; full of a quiet dignity, with an
air of refinement that fitted her like a garment. Her heavy dark hair,
coiled high on her shapely head, was just slightly silvered with gray
and seemed to be a fitting foil to her large melancholy black eyes--eyes
that from their slumbering depths seemed to impress the beholder with
suggestions of some mysterious power, gleaming messages, like beacon
flashes, from her inner life. With her becoming dress of rich, dark
cloth, gloves and parasol to match, she looked the cultured lady to
perfection.

Turning her steps up the mountain, Fern Fenwick said: "Gentlemen, as it
is near the hour for supper, we had best return to the hotel at once. I
think too, by this time the mail from the station must have arrived."
Fillmore Flagg was at her side in an instant, choosing the side opposite
the parasol, which gave him a clear view of her charming profile. George
Gaylord and Mrs. Bainbridge followed a little more slowly. The
conversation soon became animated.

While they are thus occupied let us try to get a more complete picture
of Miss Fern Fenwick. Her round, exquisitely proportioned figure was of
medium height, straight as an ar