THE COTTAGE BY THE HILL
The little village of Kenalham was situated in the south of Hants and
lay at the bottom of some picturesquely grouped hills.
No river watered the little town, but a broad stream wound through the
neighbouring medows giving a rich green shade to the grass on its banks;
the high green hills stood out clear and tall against the blue sky, and
the ruins of an old castle on the top of one of the heights gave a
strange weird appearance. To add to the strangeness of this little
scene, at the bottom of the very hill on which the ruins stood was a
villa of the modern kind nestling amidst a woody dell of beach trees.
This was no other than the residence of Mr. John Winston and his
daughter Helen, and it went by the name of "Beach Dale."
It was a charming little house and had the preveleage of possessing a
beautiful view both back and front. The front looked out across miles of
woodland scenery with no sign of human inhabetance any where safe a
single cottage which stood out like a white speck among the greenness
which surrounded it.
The back looked out on the lovely blue hills, and far away in the
distant loomed the white cliffs of Portsmouth.
Having now given the reader a correct idea of the surroundings of "Beach
Dale" I will endevour to describe Helen Winston.
At the time my story opens, our heroine was a charming young lady of
nineteen years. She had an abundance of dark brown, almost black hair,
curling gracefully over her forehead. Her beautiful brown eyes were
headed by well marked eye brows of a lovely black; her complexion was
like that of a blush rose and her pretty little nose and mouth added to
the charm of her features.
Here character I will leave to be found out and only say that she was
passionately fond of her father and devoted all her life solely to him.
Trouble and care had made Mr. Winston look old before his time. He was
only 54, yet his hair and beard were completely grey. He had a kind
quiet face and blue eyes, he had a rather wide mouth with a nervous
twitch at each corner. He fully returned his daughter's love and
considering he had taught her entirely himself she was comparatively
cleaver girl.