"Trespassers will be Prosecuted."

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13691, 5 September 1908, Page 1 (Supplement)

"Trespassers will be Prosecuted."

(Br Kate Seaton.)

*|;Fudge, man I You don't mean to tell Sue that you intend to prosecute the owner of those dainty articles?" The" speaker laughed incredulously, pointing down at a pair of tiny brown shoes which lay in the long grass at his feet— a> brown silk stocking tucked cosily into each shoe. I do! Fm determined to stop this tresspassing through my private gramas to the shore!" responded Gordon Fairfax, determinedly. He stooped and picked up the uncffendSng shoes which had so artlessly betrayed their fair owner. His friend glanced at them a moment; then, seized with a sudden suspicion, he raised his field-glasses and swept the little blue bay below. A young gid, with holland dress held carefully up from, the dancing wave> — revealing filmy, white, fluttering skir<6 beneath, was paddling along the water's edge, serenely unconscious of the two figures upon the wooded slope above. **Ab, the little mad-cap!" ;.>.*• Did you speak!" "No—that is—what are you going to do- with those!" . "Going to wait for the owner and! — ._ prosecute." He tucked the tiny shots under his arm. "I see you don't believe I wSir hotly." Again that inscrutable smile upon his friend's fact. "No, I don't believe you will!" **l pledge you the—the —the—'Airlie,' if 1 don't- r "What? Your dearest earthly posseswon? This is serious t" " Y«- My yacht if I don't prose««*e'r*

"Done! I'll hold you to it!" said bis friend, laughingly. ''Well, so long, old chap! Let her dawn as easily as you can ! I must be returning now, cr Fm going to be late for lunch." The two young men had reached the top of - the slope, and ae his "friend-left him. Gordon Fairfax lit a cigar and sat down upon a small garden seat to await the coming of the tiresome trespasser. He had not -long to wait, however, for soon he espied a girl's straw hat moving through the trees Beneath him. Suddenly it stopped and he craned bis neck for a better view but was still unable to see her face. , The girl stood looking round with a puzzled air, her bine eyes anxiously scanning the grassy slope, till they alighted upon a similar tree beyond, and not far from where the young man sat waiting in grim silence, his bead bent low behind * newspaper. With a relieved anile the girl recoriV nienced %fae secern? unconscious of the near presence of the enemy. The trea was reached at last, but no familiar brown •noes lay beneath it. She turned and gazed* helplessly round, and as she did so suddenly espied a pair of masculine lege, and a newspaper surmounted by a mans panama! "Oar

She sat down "suddenlv, and drew the little pink feet beneath her dress. •The'paper wa» lowered a few inches, but not enough to reveal his face. She gave a- little cough. He gave a grim smile, but no further sign. > How stupid I She could not call "Man!" and " Mister f* didn't sound any better. A. rougish smile came dimpling.found the •Mollis; A happy inspiration. '"Ahem! Gardner f* The sweet voice rang out imperiouslv. • flDown fell the paper, and ho half •prang to his feet. \ "You;" gasped the girl, a fine mixture of acorn and contempt in the pretty voice. - -;-.}«>»nv/_-- ■«-•,»'.»*■ ■. •, • r—• v • - -j'■ yflut an awkirard situation! She, did ber best to look dignified. :-•■< "Did" you wish to speak with the gardener. Miss Merrick r <* l—-that b—l have lest a pair of shoes, and I thought—" "Are these your lost property—" He drew oat the little brown shoes from behind him. J"! Thanks!'* holding out her sand. -He coolly placed them on the seat •faun and leaned back. don't you bring them to me!" '"Ttott can come for them. You will ooßptless find-it more convenient to put them on here, on the seat." -He bad her at his mercy now, as once ue had had bim. Tears of mortification made deep blue pools of the girls sweet eyes. She could •fllwve stamped one of 'her little feet if only—they had net been bare. "Yon arc—you are—l hate you!" she cried out»- incoherentlv. ** Id that anything "fresh •** Be ruse calmly, and walked a few yards away. A Bcrroos glance at the broad back, a twinkling of little pink feet, and she had reached the seat.. A few more seconds and she stood confronting him with floo : cheeks and stormy *yes. Then she turned, and would have swept past him in silence. But he barred her path. i;** Excuse met JSorry to detain you, be**- You see that notice-board ?"

"Ye*" " Hart yon read it?" "I hare," calmly. "Did yen erer know Gordon Fairfax to break his word *" "Never! Not even when—" she stopped, confusedly. **! rowed a solemn row that thia morning* trespasser should be prosecot"ls this yonr propertr, then!" -It w." * She looked ab the strong, band-some f*« before her—the nttftiilc moutli. now firmly compressed, and allowing no aigna *<( relenting, and a fear crept into the proud young heart. "-Gordon. You—you can'e mean it! Yoa—prustcute me," the gasped. " I mu»t keep my row, and—what will the fashionable world say. I wonder, when aocther newspaper notice read*— 'The Honourable Cicelr Merrick, between whom and Jteaab Sluobs, the multimillionaire, a marriagt h*s been arranged, «u—'"

"That wa* false!" abe broke in hot It. "* Ab !.' A change swept over the young auu»'» face. "Then you are not engaged lo him!" ." , "I am net—yet. But, (Jordon, you would do* be 90 cruel aa you satd! You •re only joking Jo frighten me?" ** Am I the kind of man to hold a phdg ed word as a joke!" The atartltd look came back to the *weet face. "There w onir one way out without my word being broken. As my affianced vile you would net be considered a tr«*Kpuscr here, but would hare a right thrown th*«t grounds." "Row dare you suggest such a thing!~ "Well! You know thp alternative. l'roaecaion and exposure, tr —protnis.; t» be but wife.** " \ou"re a brute !"* "So you informed me before, on an other occasion." "And you km»w you were." . "1 know 1 w»."' " What • You acknowledge it V " t acknowledge it." " , And yon are now." " And I am now." **l hat* you:" The little fool w,.* atamped now. ** Jio, yoa don't." " I tell yon. 1 " "Cicely, darling, all » fair in loto and war. Come, you triumphal before—let me be th*? conqueror thk time." He held out hu» hands, pleadingly".

"But"—with a last effort to keep up her dignity—"you know you were in the wrong before!" 44 Yes, dear, quite in the wrong f * humbly., "And—and you know that you are in 1 the wrong now, and also taking a mean advantage of my helplessness?" "Yes, dear." "Then —then I think you need not prosecute f' When Society—or as many of its members as took the trouble to wade through the long .list of presents appended to the -account of the marriage of Gordon Fairfax with the Honourable Cicely Merrick—noted 36 one of the gifts, the yacht, 'Airlie' from Lord Hugh Faulkner, cousin of the bride, the said society smiled a superior smile and shrugged its aristocratic shoulders, exclaiming: "What mistakes these newspapers do make! The yacht 'Airlie' belonged' to Gordon Fairfax!"