Newspapers / Jackson County Journal (Sylva, … / Feb. 9, 1923, edition 1 / Page 6
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The Joy of 1 ? ? \ Copyright IBM by Sidney Gowin* iving 3jr ? Sidney Go wing Illustrations by ELLSWORTH YOUNG THE AWFUL MESS OF AIMEE AND BILLY .1 ' - ? Alexanders eyes became keener. He looked a little contemptuous. "Are you afraid f he said. "Do you not see that you must face the consequences of this foolish thing you have done f Once the truth is told, you have nothing to fear from the police." "The police!" said Aimee scornfully. "I'm not afraid ?/ the police. I'm not much afraid of Aunt Erythea. It isn't that at all. It's ? the other thing." - , V <> * ' "What other thing?" ' ->< ? Aimee looked at him with grooving embarrassment. "Oh!" she said at last, desperately, "have I got to put it in so many words f My staying at Ivy cottage! Didn't you understand what I told you f I was there ? two nights." Mr. Lambe, to her surprise, did not look forbidding or censor ous. Instead, he looked a little puzzled. And in that moment Aimet conceived a liking for Alexander. "Now that I have seen you, and heard your story," he said, "I attach no importance to that incident, whatever." > "Ah," said Aimee sadly, "but other people will, you see." Alexander suddenly flushed crimson, and he avoided Aimee' s eye. But his facc grew peculiarly grim. "I have only this to say. That man ? that Spencer ? who dared to expose you to such a situation, is the culprit I wish to see. He deserves ? " Aimee' s heel smote the floor. "Not a word against Billy ! It's he who saved me, right from the beginning. He begged me to let him own up. But he has kept , my secret, at his own risk, because I wanted it kept. He is a gentle man !" ? ? ? * ? ? * "Billy," said Aimee, "this is my Cousin Alexander. And he's ? he knows all about it. It seems this is our finish, Billy." The two men turned and faced each other. There you Iuti it in ? nutshell ? the awful men that Aimee and Billy have got into. For Aimee ia a bishop's daughter and a nice girl ? they don't make 'em nicer. And Cousin Alexander is a young churchman ? and churchmen are obliged to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And Aimee ia masquerading aa a servant maid, and ia mixed up in a burglary and ia gallivanting around with an unknown American, Billy Spencer, who haa a new kind of motorcycle to aell. Incidentally, Billy ia as nice as they make 'em, too. It's an English story, but it's bright aa a new American dollar. And entertaining! and thrilling I Sidney Gowing is the author. He's ? comparatively new man, but be'a already made an international reputation. He certainly haa written a good atory here, which deaefves ita name? "The Joy of Living." CHAPTER I -1 Sentenced. J "I can't go, dad." said' Aimee des perately, "and I won't!" [ "My answer, my dear Almee," said Lord Scroope firmly yet benignantly, "Is that you must go, and you shall!" "A month of Aunt Erythea," said 'Aimee In stifled tones, "would kill me. !Why are these things always piled on {to me? Tm fed up!" ! The Very Iter. Viscount Scroope, archdeacon and Incumbent of the liv ing of Scroope Mnprna, gazed dreamily over his daughter's head without ap pearing to hem- her. A sunbeam fil tered through the diamond panes. Illumining his silver hair and finely cut features. It was as though the sun beam said: "Behold a saint; here Is one who hears and speaks no evil." A saint Lord Scroope undoubtedly was; calm, benign and immovable as granite. "My dear child."* he said gently, "let as admit the cold light of reason. Tou can have no genuine abjection to your Aunt Krythea, for you have never set eyes on her since you were three years old. Jervaulx abbey Is a well appointed and strictly ordered house. It la an atmosphere which will cor rect, I hope, the influence of that de plorable school from which we have removed you. You must go. Aunt Erytbea desires that you shall go. And that, as you will realize when you make her acquaintance. Is final." The Hon. Aimee Scroope's vividly lovely face became still more muti nous and desperate. "And do not suppose that you will lack youthful society," added Lord Scroope, smiling. "Your cousin, Al exander Lambe, is at Jervaulx. A little older than yourself, doubtless, but an excellent companion for you. A young man wholly devoted to good work, and with unexceptionable con nections, he will doubtless attain that eminence which his aunt would wish for him." Aimee looked at her father with In tense suspicion. Then she turned to the photograph of a young man In a clerical collar; the face was pleasant but somewhat serious, with large, frank, round eyes. The face that Aimee made at It was hideous. "Go and tell your maid to pack, dear child," said Lord Scroope gently, patting her head. Almee was twenty years of age, and stood five feet six, but her father contrived to have the air of patting somebody about three feet high. ) Aim** said something Inarticulate, and made a bee-line for a rose-pink boudafr where Lady Scroope, blonde, petite aad wholly charming, was but toning . her gloves. Amid pink sur roundings, Lady Scroope looked little oldar than her daughter. i "Mommy," said Almee forcibly, !**you'll have to throw me a rope. I guve simply got to be rescued from this awful visit!" She expounded with extreme rapidity and terror her views on Jervaulx, Lady Erythea Lambe, and Alexander. Lady Scroope twinkled, and was so exasperating as to laugh. She put her hands affectionately on her daugh ter's shoulders. ' "Sorry, Almee," she said ; "there is, as you would say, nothing doing. Tou will have to go. I' can't have your dear father worried any more. I don't think," she added pensively, "there's any cause for real alarm about Alex ander Lambe." "It's all very well for you," mourned Aimee, "but?" "I'm really sorry, dear. I am going to the Milne-Temples and elsewhere :for a few weeks, but when I come back I will make It up to you. These are the little crosses you have to bear." She kissed her daughter, and hur ried down to the car. The car whirled her away, - and Lord Scroope followed it with dream ily adoring eyes. Aimee, who had watched the pair with a sort of ex asperated affection, turned into the morning room. "What on earth," she murmured, "Is one to do with people like that?" She encountered her guest and cousin, Georginn Berners, twenty three, plump and placid, dressed In a style that suggested enforced econ omy. *11188 Berners was looking wist ful. "Why, Georgie," said Aimee, encir cling her ample waist, "have you the hump, too? Let's be miserable to gether-" "It has been lovely here at Scroope," sighed Georgina, "and you are such a dear. I've nothing to go back to but Uncle Joseph, who doesn't think about anything but biology, and scarcely remembers I exist ? though he is quite kind, of course. It will be awful after this." "I've never met your Uncle Joseph," said Aimee, "but I'm certain he's nothing to my Aunt Erythea and Jer vaulx." She broke into a frenzied and vivid word-picture of all that awaited her. "A place something between a ca thedral and a barrack, and a fearful sort of Roman matron with a nose like the duke of Wellington's ? I've never seen aunt's nose, but It's cer tainly like that ? and to be drilled Into flirting decorously with an owl-faced curate who, some day, they say, will probably be a bishop?" Georgina was Intensely shocked. "Almee, you really are extraordi nary I Many people would be too glad to be in your shoes. A long visit to a charming old place ? Jervaulx, they say, is even more old-world than Scroope ? everything orderly, romantic, peaceful?" "Moldy!" interrupted Almee. "And luxurious. Lady Erythea, everyone says. Is a splendid manager. And your cousin? ? mica, Moalble young man. I've seen his photograph. His face ? " "It's the face." said Aimee fiercely, "of a cold boiled codfish I Pre seen It ? I've seen It I It made me feel as If my shoes were fall of water I" ? "Almee!" said Georglna plaintively. "You appal me!" "Good thing! Then you know how I feel!" retorted Almee pertly. "The whole thing appals me. These curates ! I'm fed up with them! Alexander is the limit!" Almee paused for breath. "He's a frump!" she said, with ex traordinary vehemence. "He is good !" Insisted Georglna. "That Is a good man's face, If ever I saw one. And," added Georglna, with a rapt expression on her plump fea tures, "he will fall in love with you, Almee. I'm sure of it! And wber that happens ? " > "Oh, you make me sick!" said the frenzied Aimee. "It's a disease with you ! Sentiment revolts me. This maundering about love ? " "Aimee," said Georgina almost tear fully, "your very name means 'Be loved'!" "Oh, rats!" said Almee furiously, and fled from the room. CHAPTER II ; Escape. In the deepest depression, Almee wandered down the park avenue towards the high road. She passed through the lodge gates and turned the corner of the road. There Almee halted, and considered the perversity of Fate. And close be side her barked a sharp explosion, j with a flash of yellow flame and a ! whiff of pungent smoke. And a clear voice exclaimed : \ "H? 1!" "Just what I was thinking !" said Almee. A young man, who was tinkering a motorcycle, whence came the explo sion, looked up startled, and removed his cap. "Oh! I'm sorry!" he said. "I didn't know there was anyone around." They looked at each other, and both laughed. It was Impossible to look at the stranger and fail to laugh. Not in derision, but Joyously, spontaneous ly, as one laughs when the breeze heels the boat, or when a puppy dog falls head over tail. When the motorcyclist grinned, his teeth were so white that they gave the effect of a flash. His fair and rather tousled hair caught the sun. His head lookecf as 1{ it might be rammed through a door, without dam aging anything except the door-panel. He was big built, and about twenty five, but his bright blue eyes might have belonged to a boy of sixteen. He wore dusty blue overalls. "That's better!" he said approving ly, as Almee laughed again. "You were looking as if you felt pretty low." "I was. Everybody has been ap palling! Talking sentiment till I feel sticky all over." The stranger's face fell. "Gee! That'tf too bad! Sc-'Iment. eh?" He made a gesture as If ward '"^jkppi^a They Looked at Each Other and Both Laughed. lng off Invisible assailants. "Senti ment Is poison Ivy 1 It gives me that tired feeling. Madam, accept my sym pathy." In the space of a moment they felt as though they had known each otter for years. ^ uDo yon live anywhere about here?" said Almee. "I seem to have seen ? " "Here? About seven thousand miles west-by?south of here!" said the stranger, laughing. "Cobalt, Arapa hoe county. Citizen of the world answer to the name of 'Billy.' And , rm here la England," he added, lay* lag a loving hand on the tank ?of the motorcycle ? "to sell this." "Weird-looking thing!" said Almee, with Interest, for the cycle's engine was of a remarkable shape. "Yours?" "Mine!" said the stranger Joyously. "Alone I did It I hold the patent It's a Sanakatowzer? the Flying Sphfnxl" "Ripping name. Can it fly?" "Can it fly? It devours space like the sunbeams lick up the mists of the mornin'! And no more noise than a baby's whisper. I "Around the world In thirty winks When once astride the Flymc Sphinx! "It's got Slnbad's Clarpet an' the Seven-league Boots guessing." He threw a leg over the saddle. "Like a spin up the road? Jump up behind!" Almee Immediately perched herself on the carrier. There was a whirl wind charm about the stranger that carried her away. The next moment the Flying Sphinx did the same. The wind whistled past Almee's ears. To keep her seat she was obliged to grab Billy suddenly round the waist. "Don't mind if I hold you?" she gasped. "Shucks !" said Billy impatiently. "I don't care how you hold me, s'long's you don't hit the grit!" - They breasted the crest of the rise. "Hang tight now !" he cried. "Well let her out !" ^ The Sphinx went forward with the whirr of a shell. She peeled the road way behind her like a j running tape. Almee felt the roar of the wind rise to a scream. Billy leaned lightly for ward towards the handle-bars, cool, effortleB*, efficient. Aimee was only conscious of being whirled gloriously through space, when the Sphinx, after a two-mile loop, slid back to the spot whence she had started. Almee sprang from the car rier. "Oh, thank you !" the gasped. "That was too good to b? truel" The cyclist, without' dismounting, looked at her glowing fhce and frank eyes. "I wish there were more like you," he said, laughing. "Tell 'em ? who ever they are ? to can the sentiment. S'long, an' good luck to you!" He raised his cap, and next moment the Sphinx whirred him away in a cloud of golden dust. Aimee followed 'him with her eyes till he was round the bend, then she turned back Into the park. It seemed* to her that the sunlight had became lejs vivid and the sky paler. > Very slowly, Almee made her way back to the portals of Scroope Towers, where the heavy family car, laden with luggage, stood waiting. Georglna was on the steps, abundantly wrapped up. and Lord Scroope stood beside her. j "Grundle," be said to the chauffeur, "you will drop Miss Berners at the station and take Miss Aimee on to Jervaulx, returning here direct" I The chauffeur, who was a middle aged man with a singularly wooden expression, seemed to be making a mental effort. He saluted, staring straight before him. "Goodby, Georgina! Bless 70a, my child; bless youl Drive on, Grundle. What are you waiting for?" The car meandered out of Scroope park and turned northward along the main road. Georglna was In low spir its. Almee throughout had been seeth ing with an enormously increased sense of mutiny, and, as they n eared the station, she exploded. "I can't stand It, Georgiel" "I wish I were yon 1" said Georgina mournfully. < j . "Eh?" "I wish I were Almee Scroope, and on my way to Jerraulx abbey. That's aH." T ' Almee started slightly. An extraor dinary impish expression came Into her eyes. Georgina, who knew the sign of old, looked at her nervously. "You are!" said Almee, in a voice of unlooked-for decision. "What on earth do you mean?" Almee gripped her by the arm, and replied, In a low voice that bubbled with excitement. "My dear, fat cousin, your ' full name, as I remember, is Georgina Amy Bcroope Berners! Lop off the superfluous head and tail, and there you are ? Amy Scroope. Near enough for anyone. Tou are going to Jerraulx Instead of me! Aunt Erythea has never seen tne, nor has Alexander Lambe. And neither of them know you from Adam ? I mean Eve! YouH suit them down to the ground i" Georgina looked at her with dawn ing terror.. ? "It Is a gorgeous arrangement!" ex claimed Almee, tightening her grip on her cousin's arm. "And nothing eas ier. Uncle Joseph wilj never miss you? leave me to fix that up. Grundle will deliver you at Jervaulx ; he's a perfect super-Idiot, and has probably forgotten which of us Is to go there, If we didn't tell him. He never talks, either. As for me, I shall go to Sea bridge, or on a walking tour? or any thing I choose!" .."Almee, arnyou mad?" "It Is one of the sanest moments of my lifer retorted Almee; and, lean lag over the back, she tore the tag laMs off h^r luggage ud Oeorglna'a, and scattered tbem on the road. "You can take my things with you I" "If you think for a foment I'd have anything to do with such a business?" A fiendish expression came over Al mee's features. She gripped her cous in's arms again. "If you don't," she hissed, "111 tell everybody about you and Aloyslus Blennerhasset getting lost at the ruri deeanal picnic!" At this monstrous accusation, Geor gia blushed scarlet The mildest pec cadillo In a blameless life, the memory of the Incident In question always filled her with alarm; Almee had held it over her head before. "I won't listen to another word!" she gasped. , "You needn't. It Is the time for deeds!" Almee seized a small square box from among the luggage and 'thumped the chauffeur on the balk. "Grundle, stop here! I have only a bag, ni walk up to the station ap proach. Take Miss Berners on to Jer vaulx. And hurry ? she is behind time already !" A faintly bewildered expression passed over the chauffeur's face, as though he were trying to arrange his Georglna Faltered. ideas. He cobbed his ear for a mo ment, then saluted and let In the clntch. Georglna, who had risen with the Intention of escaping from the car. lost her balance and collapsed in a slightly undignified manner on the seat She struggled up and turned a flushed face towards her cousin. "Stop! Stop I" she cried, in an ag onized voice. "Aimee ? " "Good-by, dear!" said Aimee, wav lng ber handkerchief. "Don't get lost with Alexander P The car bore ths speechles* and ges ticulating Georglna ont of sight round the bend. Aimee sat down on her box. burled ber face In her hands, and dis solved Into such unfeeling laughtei that a pair of thrushes and a chaffinch fled from the hedge in indignation and alarm. ??????? Onward through the green lanes and oyer the county border the car carried a limp and nerveless Geor glna. Consternation had given away to numb despair. "What shall I dof she thought. "What am I to say to Lady Erythea? There'll be a fearful row!" Georglna racked her brains for a way out of tha difficulty. There seemed to be none. She lay back ex hausted. And so perverse is even the purest of human minds that a faint suggestion crept into Georglna's? a little whisper, as it were, in that blameless ear? that it would be pe culiarly delightful If she could flll the role that Aimee had mapped out for her. Georglna started, and thrust the Idea from her with horrified self reproach. Again she sought for an explanation? a true one ? which would save Aimee's face. By the time she had considered and rejected half a dozen, finally deciding on one that she thought might do, the car had cov ered the thirty miles and was thread ing through the park road of Jer vaulx. Georglna stumbled out of the car at the main entrance and faced a gaunt and majestic lady In gray silk who came down the steps. "And so, my dear Aimee," said Lady Erythea, In a large and Inform ative voice, "you arrive at last Wel come !" Georglna faltered. Everything abe had intended to say was driven out of her head. Aimee had been pro phetic? Aunt Erythea was very %ke the duke of Wellington. "Lady Erythea!" gasped Georglna, as two men-servants came to woload the luggage. "There Is ? there la a mistake! May I ? " "The modern tendency of the young to enunciate Indistinctly," said Lady Erythea, producing an ear-trumpet, "always annoys me. Say what you have to say clearly." Georglna had not realized tint Lady Erythea was extremely deaf. "There Is something I have to ex iplaln," she bawled hoarsely Into tha ear-trumpet. "P-please, can I see you alone?" ? "Ah !** said Lady Erythea vaguely, ''i am pleased that you look forwiird so much to your visit. No, you need not fear being alone. Here Is your cousin," she added, as a young nan in clerical collar came out upon the steps. "Alexander, your cousin, Almee." Georglna turned a pale and timid face to the stranger. The Rev. au4 Hon. Alexander Lambe bowed. Alexander was large and well, though somewhat loosely, built. Al mee's epithet, "owl-faced," was hard ly fair. Certainly bis clean-shaven face was a little serious, and his eyes large and round, but very kindly. "Welcome to Jervaulx, Cousin Al mee," he said. A sudden Interest and sympathy quickened in the large eyes as t lef rested on Georgina's face. And the panic-stricken girl's fear died within her. Mr. Alexander Lamb* looked so cool and protective and de> pendable. "Escorf your coualn to the, morning room, Alexander, " said Lady Erythea authoritatively, "and offer her re freshment after her drive." They walked in together. And a* they walked their backs seemed to suggest, in. some subtle manner, that an understanding, a mutual sympathy, had dawned between tbem. Backa can be very expressive sometimes. Lady Erythea regarded them with a look of commanding approval. She followed them majestically up tha steps. "This," proclaimed Lady Erythea'a erect and overwhelming back, "Is aa I ordained It from the beginning?" j CHAPTER III Re-Enter Billy. Almee' tramped along the broad highway, whistling. At Scroope, trmch more at Jervaulx, one was not al lowed to whistle. Ever and anon sha stopped whistling to langh. Almee had dropped the square box Into a quarry pit an hour before and continued on her way unburdened. The Idea of finding lodgings at Sea bridge appealed to her. She had funds enough. A month's pocket money was In her purse, and Lady Scroope had been liberal on her do* parture. "What a row there'll be," chuckled Almee. "If Georgle doesn't play up I I don't care. I gave them my ulti matum. They can't hang me 1'rs been very patient with them all. One must make a Stand sometime or other. Who does my life belong to," demand ed Almee. never a purist In gram mar, "If not to me?** A faint sound was borne upon tho breeze, a noise that attoued Itself cu rloUKly to Aimee's thoughts. It whs like the buzz of a homing bee. She looked up, and saw a motorcycle speeding along the road with a smear of following dust behind it like the tall of a comet Almee recognized the Flying Sphinx, and became aware of a laughing face looking up at hers, and a set of very white teeth. "Why, It's Billy P she cried spon? taneously. "Hello, old chip!" cried the cyd!st. Billy was bare-headed, his fair hair sticking up at the crown In a little tuft that blew about In the wlad. "Where were you making for?" ht said. "The ynemployment bureau!" re torted Almee flippantly. Billy's face expressed concern. "I suppose you're guying me. Toil don't mean you've loBt your Job?" "Job?" Aimee bubbled with amuse ment. "Well, I had a Job all ready for me this morning. But it's washed out. I've lost It- And now I'm adrift." Billy was perplexed. He had been wholly unable to place Almee. He wondered If she were a governess. A question was oo his lips, but he checked himself for fear of giving of fense. "Lost It?" he exclaimed. "I gue*i It's Just as well! You look a heap happier! What Job d'you think of chasin'?" "I? I don't know." Billy looked at her eagerly. A sud den flash came Into his eyes, as on* who conceives a superb Idea. "Will a duck swim I" cried Almee. "Of oourse I'll come." (TO BE CONTINUED.) Radio. "What's the matter now?" yelled hli wife. "I'm trying to pick op a blinking bed-time story. The kids ain't later* estod la crop reports."
Jackson County Journal (Sylva, N.C.)
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Feb. 9, 1923, edition 1
6
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