第52章 BOOK III:THE HEART OF MAN(5)

Struck by the inviting aspect of a narrow and little used road opening from the highway shortly above the house where his interests were just then centred,he strolled into the heart of the spring woods till he came to a depression where a surprise awaited him,in the shape of a peculiar structure rising from its midst where it just fitted,or so nearly fitted that one could hardly walk about it without brushing the surrounding tree trunks.Of an oval shape,with its door facing the approach,it nestled there,a wonder to the eye and the occasion of considerable speculation to his inquiring mind.It had not been long built,as was shown very plainly by the fresh appearance of the unpainted boards of which it was constructed;and while it boasted of a door,as I've already said,there were no evidences visible of any other break in the smooth,neatly finished walls.A wooden ellipse with a roof but no windows;such it appeared and such it proved to be.A mystery to Sweetwater's eyes,and like all mysteries,interesting.For what purpose had it been built and why this isolation?It was too flimsy for a reservoir and too expensive for the wild freak of a crank.

A nearer view increased his curiosity,In the projection of the roof over the curving sides he found fresh food for inquiry.As he examined it in the walk he made around the whole structure,he came to a place where something like a hinge became visible and further on another.The roof was not simply a roof;it was also a lid capable of being raised for the air and light which the lack of windows necessitated.This was an odd discovery indeed,giving to the uncanny structure the appearance of a huge box,the cover of which could be raised or lowered at pleasure.And again he asked himself for what it could be intended?What enterprise,even of the great Works,could demand a secrecy so absolute that such pains as these should be taken to shut out all possibility of a prying eye.

Nothing in his experience supplied him with an answer.

He was still looking up at these hinges,with glance which took in at the same time the nearness and extreme height of the trees by which this sylvan mystery was surrounded,when a sound from the road on the opposite side of the hollow brought his conjectures to a standstill and sent him hurrying on to the nearest point from which that road became visible.

A team was approaching.He could hear the heavy tread of horses working their laborious way through trees whose obstructing branches swished before and behind them.They were bringing in a load for this shed,whose uses he would consequently soon understand.

Grateful for his good luck -for his was a curiosity which could not stand defeat -he took a few steps into the wood,and from the vantage point of a concealing cluster of bushes,fixed his eyes upon the spot where the road opened into the hollow.

Something blue moved there,and in another moment,to his great amazement,there stepped into view the spirited form of Doris Scott,who if he had given the matter a thought he would have supposed to be sitting just then by the bedside of her patient,a half mile back on the road.

She was dressed for the woods in a blue skirt and jacket and moved like a leader in front of a heavily laden wagon now coming to a standstill before the closely shut shed -if such we may call it.

"I have a key,"so she called out to the driver who had paused for orders."When I swing the doors wide,drive straight in."Sweetwater took a look at the wagon.It was piled high with large wooden boxes on more than one of which he could see scrawled the words:0.Brotherson,Derby,Pa.

This explained her presence,but the boxes told nothing.They were of all sizes and shapes,and some of them so large that the assistance of another man was needed to handle them.Sweetwater was about to offer his services when a second man appeared from somewhere in the rear,and the detective's attention being thus released from the load out of which he could make nothing,he allowed it to concentrate upon the young girl who had it in charge and who,for many reasons,was the one person of supreme importance to him.

She had swung open the two wide doors,and now stood waiting for horse and wagon to enter.With locks flying free -she wore no bonnet -she presented a picture of ever increasing interest to Sweetwater.Truly she was a very beautiful girl,buoyant,healthy and sweet;as unlike as possible his preconceived notions of Miss Challoner's humble little protegee.Her brown hair of a rich chestnut hue,was in itself a wonder.On no head,even in the great city he had just left,had he seen such abundance,held in such modest restraint.Nature had been partial to this little working girl and given her the chevelure of a queen.

But this was nothing.No one saw this aureole when once the eye had rested on her features and caught the full nobility of their expression and the lurking sweetness underlying her every look.

She herself made the charm and whether placed high or placed low,must ever attract the eye and afterwards lure the heart,by an individuality which hardly needed perfect features in which to express itself.

Young yet,but gifted,as girls of her class often are,with the nicest instincts and purest aspirations,she showed the elevation of her thoughts both in her glance and the poise with which she awaited events.Sweetwater watched her with admiration as she superintended the unloading of the wagon and the disposal of the various boxes on the floor within;but as nothing she said during the process was calculated to afford the least enlightenment in regard to their contents,he presently wearied of his inaction and turned back towards the highway,comforting himself with the reflection that in a few short hours he would have her to himself when nothing but a blunder on his part should hinder him from sounding her young mind and getting such answers to his questions as the affair in which he was so deeply interested,demanded.