The Mountain Girl

Payne Erskine

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• Publié par: viwyir
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 34
• Langue: English

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The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mountain Girl, by Payne Erskine This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Mountain Girl Author: Payne Erskine Illustrator: J. Duncan Gleason Release Date: May 19, 2010 [EBook #32429] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MOUNTAIN GIRL *** Produced by David Garcia, Martin Pettit and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Pg i] THE MOUNTAIN GIRL [Pg ii] [Pg iii] [Pg iv] COPYRIGHT, 1911, 1912, BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY . All rights reserved. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. In which David Thryng arrives at Carew's Crossing II. In which David Thryng experiences the Hospitality of the Mountain People III. In which Aunt Sally takes her Departure and meets Frale IV. David spends his First Day at his Cabin, and Frale makes his Confession V. In which Cassandra goes to David with her Trouble, and gives Frale her Promise VI. In which David aids Frale to make his Escape VII. In which Frale goes down to Farington in his own Way VIII. In which David Thryng makes a Discovery IX. In which David accompanies Cassandra on an Errand of Mercy X. In which Cassandra and David visit the Home of Decatur Irwin PAGE 1 10 25 35 47 59 68 76 86 94 [Pg v] XI. XII. XIII. XIV. XV. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. XX. XXI. XXII. XXIII. XXIV. XXV. XXVI. XXVII. XXVIII. XXIX. XXX. XXXI. XXXII. In which Spring comes to the Mountains, and Cassandra tells David of her Father In which Cassandra hears the Voices, and David leases a Farm In which David discovers Cassandra's Trouble In which David visits the Bishop, and Frale sees his Enemy In which Jerry Carew gives David his Views on Future Punishment, and Little Hoyle pays him a Visit and is made Happy In which Frale returns and listens to the Complaints of Decatur Irwin's Wife In which David Thryng meets an Enemy In which David Thryng Awakes In which David sends Hoke Belew on a Commission, and Cassandra makes a Confession In which the Bishop and his Wife pass an Eventful Day at the Fall Place In which the Summer Passes In which David takes little Hoyle to Canada In which Doctor Hoyle speaks his Mind In which David Thryng has News from England In which David Thryng visits his Mother In which David Thryng adjusts his Life to New Conditions In which the Old Doctor and Little Hoyle come back to the Mountains In which Frale returns to the Mountains In which Cassandra visits David Thryng's Ancestors In which Cassandra goes to Queensderry and takes a Drive in a Pony Carriage In which David and his Mother do not Agree In which Cassandra brings the Heir of Daneshead Castle back to her Hilltop, and the Shadow Lifts 103 111 120 131 144 152 164 172 180 189 198 207 212 218 224 234 244 253 265 276 288 300 [Pg vi] ILLUSTRATIONS "We will go home to my home just like this, together." FRONTISPIECE. See Page 311. "Casabianca, was it?" said Thryng, smiling. Page 17. "I take it back—back from God—the promise I gave you there by the fall." Page 171. Cassandra stood silent, quivering like one of her own mountain creatures brought to bay. Page 286. THE MOUNTAIN GIRL CHAPTER I IN WHICH DAVID THRYNG ARRIVES AT CAREW'S CROSSING The snow had ceased falling. No wind stirred among the trees that covered the hillsides, and every shrub, every leaf and twig, still bore its feathery, white load. Slowly the train labored upward, with two engines to take it the steepest part of the climb from the valley below. David Thryng gazed out into the quiet, white wilderness and was glad. He hoped Carew's Crossing was not beyond all this, where the ragged edge of civilization, out of which the toiling train had so lately lifted them, would begin again. He glanced from time to time at the young woman near the door who sat as the bishop had left her, one slight hand grasping the handle of her basket, and with an expression on her face as placid and fraught with mystery as the scene without. The train began to crawl more heavily, and, looking down, Thryng saw that they were crossing a trestle over a deep gorge before skirting the mountain on the other side. Suddenly it occurred to him that he might be carried beyond his station. He stopped the smiling young brakeman who was passing with his flag. "Let me know when we come to Carew's Crossing, will you?" "Next stop, suh. Are you foh there, suh?" "Yes. How soon?" "Half an houh mo', suh. I'll be back d'rectly and help you off, suh. It's a flag station. We don't stop there in [Pg 1] winter 'thout we're called to, suh. Hotel's closed now." "Hotel? Is there a hotel?" Thryng's voice betokened dismay. "Yes, suh. It's a right gay little place in summah, suh." He passed on, and Thryng gathered his scattered effects. Ill and weary, he was glad to find his long journey so nearly at an end. On either side of the track, as far as eye could see, was a snow-whitened wilderness, seemingly untouched by the hand of man, and he felt as if he had been carried back two hundred years. The only hint that these fastnesses had been invaded by human beings was an occasional rough, deeply red wagon road, winding off among the hills. The long trestle crossed, the engines labored slowly upward for a time, then, turning a sharp curve, began to descend, tearing along the narrow track with a speed that caused the coaches to rock and sway; and thus they reached Carew's Crossing, dropping down to it like a rushing torrent. Immediately Thryng found himself deposited in the melting snow some distance from the station platform, and at the same instant, above the noise of the retreating train, he heard a cry: "Oh, suh, help him, help him! It's poor little Hoyle!" The girl whom he had watched, and about whom he had been wondering, flashed by him and caught at the bridle of a fractious colt, that was rearing and plunging near the corner of the station. "Poor little Hoyle! Help him, suh, help him!" she cried, clinging desperately, while the frantic animal swung her off her feet, close to the flying heels of the kicking mule at his side. Under the heavy vehicle to which the ill-assorted animals