Newspapers / The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / March 19, 1925, edition 1 / Page 3
Part of The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
-i»- '• •' ^ » . ?v: ^ .-■- . '-■ -"'I----- ■■'•'> "■■■" '• rV ■/-r.-MTSi;','. t-.'■-; • ■.- • ■-^■-^■■' / ■ ': '■ '■#' '■W ?--'•=!■■: H(^: w II' .1^' ./'% L^-- ■ ;■;> ■ VERITY STNOPSI& — Incapacitated, mentaMx. by shock, as a result of experiences during the World war, Renshaw makes «. proposi tion to David Campbell, wealthy, -elderly man of leisure, that for a year he assume responsibility for him (Renshaw)—practically “buy" him. Ddctor Stanley, life long friend Of Campbell’s, in dorses the proposition, which Campbell, with some natural misgivings, accepts. The ar rangement is that the young man becomes an inmate of the Camp bell household, with the nominal duty of secretary. CHAPTER I—Continued The voice and manner of the visitor were as unresponsive as before. . "When do you want to begin?” “Now—this minute.” “Ob! Then you came prepared to stay?” “Yes. sir.” , “Very well." Campbell held out his hand. “Now. if you have no deet)- rooted objections to tea, we will drink some,” he added as he slowly settled back Into the big chair. “And I, for one, am ready for it! Buying a man. If you will permit me to say so, is rather an exhausting business." He rang the bell as he spoke, and the complacept personality of the ser vant who had admitted Renshaw promptly injected Itself into the room. I “Jenks,” said his master, “bring tea, and tell Miss Campbell when it Is here. And by the way. Jenks—" He stopped the man on his way to the door, and tamed to Renshaw. “Did you bring any luggage?" . "A bag. It Is in the halw* Campbell spoke to the butler: “Take it up to the nortlf room. Mr. Renshaw, who is my new secretary. will use that room—Jinleas.-after has tried it, be prefers another.” .tenks left the room. He had not spoken, and he did not glance at Ren shaw ; but to the young man every line of his erect figure Conveyed an august disapproval. In a few minutes he was hack In stately association with a tea- wagon, which he rolled up to the fire. Simultaneously the door from the hall reopened and a git%came in. She was young, not much more than tweuty-two, he decided, at a glance, and very lovely." Het hair and her eyes were darker, than his own. but’ soft and holding an unexpected ex pression of melancholy. Yet evety line of her face and figure showed piTfte and spirit, and she walked with the gait of a young empress. She came directly to the side of the old man, kissed the' top of his head with pre cision.' and turned her unsmiling eyes on the visitor as he was presented. * “yerit.v. my dear.” Campbell was saying, “this is Mr. Renshaw. who. is going to look after my correspondence, and see that I get to bed at ten. and rule me generally with a rod of iron. But I warn you, Renshaw, that my granddaughter will hardly tolerate an other tyrant In the house. To order me about is her pet privilege.” Renshaw, bowing silently before the girl, met for an Instant the direct re gard of her proud eyes, and in that instant realized that she did not like him. He acefepted the discovery with Indifference. The liking or disliking of others was unimportant. But, as he took the cup of tea she poured for him, tie unexpectedly met the “^aze of an other pair of eyes—and the expression of these he could not so casually dis miss from his mind. They were the ‘eyes of Jenks, the butler, and they H held a message that was as clear as It was unpleasant—a message of Intense and open antagonism. While Campbell chatted with his granddaughter, tossing an occasional sentence to his new property. John Renshaw stared Into the tea he was absently stirring. In his nonnal past many human beings liked him and a few had disliked him. But as far as he knew none had repudiated him at the first encounter so warmly and so obviously as Miss Verity Campbell and her butler had Just done. Why had they repudiated him? chapter II Along Comes Verity. “Mr. Renshaw!" Tea was over and Jenks, again Im- ^rturbable, had trundled away the teawagon as tenderly as if it held the family’s heir. As it was going, Camp bell straggled out of his deep chair and, standing with fiis straight old ' back to the fire, addressed his new property with suave directness. Ren shaw shied like a frightened horse, and none of the three pairs of eyes watch ing him missed tlie movement. Camp bell experienced a sense of revolt, shot through with Irritation against his old friend and physician. "Confound it, how can this fellow be of any use to me. when he’s nervous as a cat?” he refiected. “It’s going to be an infernal nuisance to have to con sider him If he were a high-strung prima. donna.” But. even as the thought went through his mind, the new secretary had recovered his poise and was on his feejt. obviously ready for instruc tions. “Probably you would like to go up lo your room now,” Campbell went on. in the suave voice that wfi» so much yonhger than his years, “to unpack and rest after your Journey. • will shew you the way. We dbib;^ By Elizabeth jofdan (@ by Ttw Cxntn^ Co.) followed the butler, who bad stopped at the sound of his name. When the door closed upon the two, Campbell drew a long breath of re lief. “My dear,” be fervently ejaculated, ‘T am beginning to think it will be al most worth Vliile to have that fellow around for the sake of the frequent rapture of getting rid of him.” Verity’s black eyebrows rose a trifie. “Why did you engage him, if you didn’t want him?” she asked. “Stanley wished him on me. The whole episode is an amazing piece of folly, and I *am afraid I don’t show up in it any better than Stanley and Renshaw,” her grandfather confessed, with growing Irrltgtlon. He described his interview with Renshaw, while Verity’s expression. Incredulous at first, changed to one of deepening In terest and perplexity. “You don’t imagine there Is some thing back of It?” she slowly suggest ed. “An effort to get Into the house and-^” “No, no I” her grandfather testily In- ternipted. “The last two years of the man’s time are fully accounted for. He has been in sanatoriums, poor chap. Besides. Stanley knows all about him.” “I wonder what happened to him?” Verity spoke almost under her breath, her Imagination circling among vari ous dark possibilities of which she bad heard and read. The old man shook his head. “I haven’t an Idea. What. I want to know is, what’s going to happen to me under this absurd arrangement? 1 can’t Imagine why I let myself lU for It. For a second or two 1 thought I saw a way of making him useful, but I don’t believe it will work out—” He broke off. “1 suppose the fellow has some magnetism.” he ended “Not a particle.” Verity spoke wltlT conviction. “In fact, it’s the other way around. There’s something almost re pellent in him, something a little— oh, what is the word? Well, some- tlilng unhuman. He Is nnusually handsome, of course; tliere’s even a certajUi nobility about his head and face. And yet, he’s like a ghdst. Yes,, that’s what 1 am trying to get at," she added, with quiet satisfaction. “He looks at us as the dead might look if they came back-^as -if he had passed through existences and experiences we could never understand and could not even dream of." ' ^‘Sfo doubt heipipj,” the old tp^ en coded. “He aifec^ me like a 'human draft.: But wO nyust not let our imaginations run away with ua he is too depressing, we will get rid of him; I’ll Ship him off and make him useful somewhere else. He’s got to do what I tell him and go where I send him.” "And now "let’s forget the fel low and go on with that book you were reading.” Upstairs, In the chamber to which Campbell had sent him, Renshaw was doing some thinking of his own. His first impression was that it was oddly remote from other rooms. Only one ad ditional door opened from the nar|^)w corridor he had traversed. The second reflection, as Jenks turned a knob and stood back to let film enter his new quarters, was that the room was very large and extremely comfortable. Jenks touched an electric button and the shadowy room flashed Into soft light which brought out the details of a mahogany bed in a far comer, facing the door, a hlgh-boy, a low-boy, and a large built-in wardrobe. The room’s north wall contained two windows, and through two additional windows, very wide and with built-in cushioned seats, he could look out on the front grounds of Tawno Ker and follow the maple- lined avenue leading to the highway. He was to have plenty of light and air, he reflected with content. He went to a north window and, glancing out, found this first Impres sion* changing. There w’ould be air, without doubt. But numerous oaks and maples crowded close to the house. —so close. Indeed, that an athlete such as Renshaw had once bqpn could leap from a window into the wide-spread ing branches of at least one venera ble tree. The trees were rather un expectedly thick In front, too, he dis-. covered, and he was surprisingly far from the ground. He would b( almost among the tree-tops If he leaned far out of the windows on the front side of his room. Je'fiks threw open the door of a sec ond room in which could be seen the outline of a shower apparatus and the nickel and porcelain fittings of a bath tub. “The bathroom Is very small, sir," the man apologetically explained, "and there’s no window In It. It was made two years ago, out of a big closet. But you will be quite comfort able. And you will always find extra linen in the closet Just outside your door, in the corridor. That closet is the mate fo this one." Renshaw returned to the bedroom and its blazing fire. Be found that Jenks had lifted the heavy traveling- case to a small trunk-stand and w’as unfastening the straps. ■ 'Til attend to that, tbanks,” be said with a grature of dtemissal. "Very well, sir." Jenks turned to go. "Shall I come back at half-past seven and help you dress?” "No, thanks; I’ll get along.’’ Jenks besltateil “Bxeose me, sir. but Mr. Campbell I shall^be.very i^ad to do anythiag I can, sir.” "That’s all right, but Fm. not tleman guest. Fm here to atay, Afid I prefer to look OUT for hiyselfi v $o 1 won’t trouble you.” RenshaW spoke pleasantly, but,.he was' feeling puzzledJ Standing 'bj! the fireplace with his elbow' on the: man tel and his detached gthace drifting rast the man’s face, be wondered. OTthout much Interest, why the mea- tnre was so suddenly frimidiy. - An hour ago he had been furiously resent ful of the newcomer’s presence. Now be seemed all eagerness and Jefer- ence. “Are you planning to have break fast up here, rir?” he respectfully, to- quired. “Good Lord, no !’* Renshaw spoke with sudden inita- tlon. Why the devil was the ftelloar, so persistent? Was It merely b^Rhh^o realized that the open betrayal of his antagonism had been unwise? - (liir was it—the tho'ugbt stood stolidly at'tlie entrance of the secretary’s mlUd until he finally permitted the unwelcbme visitor to enter—was it because-Jiffliks knew that this newcomer was so ii>' femally dependent on others that even at this moment every instinct La him was calling for assistance? “What’s your name?" "Jenks, sir.” “Well, Jenks, there's exactly one thing you can do.” - “Yes, sir.” The man’s toM was eager, : '..v “Get out, please, and be quicic about It!" * Jenks got out. His surface dl^t; was unimpaired, but the door cbised oh his exit with a temperamental ^saap. Left alone, Renshaw dropped^ Into the easy-chUir before the exubmiwtly blazing fire, and rested his head against its padded back with a sigh of exhaustion. He was tired—tiind to the soul; but from the darkness of that soul^ the hermit-thrush of bopq hem out a sdiitair note. He bad put through the Plan. He had won that little contest of wills with JemE8;';and had given no outward sign of the ef fort it cost him. Now he would Vest. Of cojuse he ought to he un^cklng, bathini;, dressing for dinner. Would do all those things later. His present duty was to relax—to let the at mosphere of the old house slpk Into him. How absurd he' had been to Imagine things about v Jenks- and .M9ig^>^mp- bell! Jenks was merely n siMl|^';:1|erv- ant. impersonally, resenting'new comer, and alftody^ cpntrl^ Jiis ridstake «id •As to the girl, "that iPveiy irifl the Jet-black hair and thp proud perfect mouth, she was afraid that he, Renshaw, was going to be a nuisance. The human beings in Tawno Kee,' thrown together as closely as they were—the solitude of the place sud denly impressed him; surely it Waa miles from any neighbor!—those '4)U* mans must form a elose corporario^- It was not to be wondered at that l^ey . should resent an Intrusion Jik^ hiW' ^ A small log, blazing on the andirons, parted and dropped with a rattle and a shower of sparks. Renshaw did not hear it. The door opened an-inch, and some one peered at him through the crack. He did not hear tile sonh'd-tt made as it opened and closed. He was In a condition of well-being, nhw- found and vastly comforting—at peace, relaxed, and at last drifting out on the blessed sea of sleep. He-was awakened by the sound of n gong, mellow but extremely penetrat ing, obviously B dinner or dresshig gong designed to be beard througbont the big house. He sat up with a spec tacular start and planced at the clock on the mantel above him. It was half^ past seven. He had slept nninterrupt: edly for more than an hour, an experi ence still novel enough to be gratify ing. He had only thirty minutes In which to unpack, bathe and dress for dinner. As he cast a'last glance In the mirror before be went down stairs he was mildly 'Surprised by the agreeable normality of the being who looked back at him. The Mlow seemed at least reconciled to life. Evidently money does not In- * toroet the hero. Will he find anything in his job that will attract him? ' (TO BE CONTINUED.) Hmeented Ineumation Jake Simpson’s middle girl, BMw the one tbaFs been brought up in tho city, came down to Oak HdUer th* other Sunday to look over her Upj^ Bb Simpson’s farm and It seems Eb got real het up over her vistt and bundled her right off to tblra agin. Bb ain’t talkin’ none, but somdbo* the story got out anyhow. It seems Bb was sbowin’ BIslo tbo- farm critters and sech when they cotm on Eb’s yaller cat and ber litter of kit- t^. “Oh, Uncle Bb, tboBe kittens are all different colors " says Blsle. Bb draws himself up as straight as be can, him havin' the rheumatism, and almost chokes on his chaw of tobaccer. "Well, young lady,” he says. “Don’t you try to cast no reflections. FIl aaf this rnncii. Ms and me’ve tried to ;firlng our cats up rigbt"-^Pitt4»argb Cbronlcle'Telegraph. ktlanblli Another SUfe of Smectit = But oftener nothing' -Boatan - '' '• “ODD NOiSESr SYNOPSIS. — Incapacitated, mentally, by shock, aa a result of experiences during tho 'World war, Renshaw makes a proposi tion to David Campbell, wealthy, elderly man of leisure, that for a year he assume responsibility for him (Renshaw)—practically “buy" him. Doctor Stanley, life long friend of Campbell's, In dorses the proposition, which Campbell, with some natural misgivings, accepts. The ar rangement Is that the young man becomes an Inmate of the Camp bell household, with the nominal duty of secretary. Renshaw meets Verity, Campbell's granddaugh ter, and gets the Impression that she does not like him. Jenks, the butler, Renshaw also feels, Is distinctly hostile. Neverthe less, Renshaw went down to din ner feeling quite normal, for him. CHAPTER II—Continued Another reflection followed the first, and was far less agreeable. He won dered if Campbell had told his grand daughter the peculiar relation in which he, Renshaw, had entered the family. That be should give this detail a thought was surprising. That he should have the poment’s concern that now followed It was nothing short of amazing. He was actually hoping that the girl did not know, that old Camp bell bad not told her! The reflection, though vivid In Its little instant of life, perished almost as soon as it was bom. What differ ence did it make what the girl or any one else knew or thought? He turned off the lights, opened his door and strode out Into the hall. Again, as in the corridor down stairs, he caught around a corner the flatter of a disappearing bit of white stuff—a natural enough phenomenon In any house, he reflected, and inter- -tMHy because of the impreaatim ’ of flight it conveyed. His attention to the Incident was fleeting. Evidently Campbell’s servants were a curious lot, and the arrival of a stranger In this Isolated house was to them an event out of all proportion to its importance. I He entered the living room at ex actly one minute before eight, and as he opened the door felt behind him the figure of Jenks, coming to announce dinner. Campbell and his grand- I daughter were already In the room, the latter before a grand piano, which Benshaw, in bis abstraction, had not observed during his first visit. The girl had been playing or singing, he assumed, though he bad heard no mu sic. Now, seated sidewise on the piano-dtool, she was absently turning the sheets on the music rack and lend ing an ear to the monologue of an old lady who sat with Campbell before the fireplace. Her resemblance to him placed her as the old man’s sister, but she had entered the world ten or twelve years later. Like Verity, she was In full evening dress.. She wore a superb diamond-and-pearl collar; and half a dozen diamond, sapphire and emerald rings r^ntlessly called atten tion to the .^nlarged Joints of her fin gers. Her white hair was as elabo rately waved and puffed as If she were going to a ball. As Renshaw went to ward her he heard the conclusion of her monologue, delivered on a high- pitched, plaintive key and without the slightest pause: “Of course you will belittle the mat ter Davy as you always do but I’ve told you before and I tell you again that your habit of leaving so many de tails to the sen'ants will eventually drive us out of house and home as to ,the way they act some of them didn’t get in till after twelve last night though where they could have been Is more than I know unless James drove them to town In the service car which Verity has expressly forbidden him to do without permission but they never pay any attention to what one orders anyway so what is the use of giving them orders—” Old David Campbell raised a thin hand. "One moment, Kitty,” he said good- humoredly. “Let me present my new secretary, Mr. Renshayv. Renshaw, this lady is my sister, Mrs. Pardee, and she’s got more troubles than any one you ever met before. She’ll tell them an to you, too; you may be sure of that." He chuckled over his own Joke, while Renshaw bowed over the wrin kled hand that lay In his own. The voice of Jenks placidly repeated the announcement of dinner, and Da- ’ Tid Campbell offered his arm to his Bister. Renshaw hesitated. IVas he expected formally to escort Miss Campbell? Or would she resent such an assumption on his part? She was as prond as the devil, that girl—every Hne «t her and every glance ot, her -eyea proved that Also, she was reaUy 'imaalBi^ FaeUng very unsure hHiairit i>e ^readied her and for- m COFttOOrtT BYTHt ONTURY CXX they walked the length of the long room and, crossing the hall, entered the dining room on Its opposite side. Like the living room, it was large and beautiful. There was spacious ness In all the rooms of the old house, and a beauty of famishing for which the somewhat confused architecture of the exterior had" not prepared one. Four high-backed and carved Floren tine chairs waited for their occupants at the round table, whose tall orange candles, aided by the firelight, gave the big room Its sole Illumination. Renshaw began to feel very much as If he were In a dream. In the mood In which he had approacheijCampbell that afternoon he would ^have agreed to clean out furnaces and work around the grounds. As It was, he stood committed to any task be was offered, however menial. Yet here he was, an intimate part of a charming group, seated at the ri^t of old Mrs. Pardee, and with the beauty of Verity Campbell opposite him on which to feed ills eyes. He acknowledged the beauty, but let his eyes drift past It. It was there, but it had no message for him. Once, looking across the table, he suddenly met Verity’s eyes and for an Instant held them. There was a mo mentary dancing light In tliem—like a flicker of sunshine on tlie surface of a dark pool. Also, the comers of her month quivered In a half smile, which passed even as It came. Mercifully he was spared overhearing the comment Verity made to her grandfather a little later under cover of the continued bab ble of Mrs. Pardee. “I think your bondman Is going to cheer us up.” she murmured. “Cheer us! That young monument to gloom!” The old man shook his head. “I’m afraid he’s going to get horribly on our nerves.” He experienced anew the sensation that this acqnisltloQ of his bad already too frequently supplied, thoa{^ their •RB, on rika ■ ■' ■■ Together They Walked the Length of the Long Room. association was so brief—an emotion of mingled admiration and resentmenL unusual and unsettling. To banish It he turned to Verity. “Is Madame Hvoeslef having one of her sick headaches?" “Yes, poor dear.” Renshaw pricked up his ears. There was still another member of the fam ily, then, or a gnest. Whoever she was. Miss Campbell liked ber. The modulations of the girl’s voice on the three words She bad spoken made that quite clear, \ When dinner was ove^ Campbell led the way back to the living room, with 4^me lingering hint of resentment in the stiff lines of his shoulders, and almost curtly commanded Verity ta sing. Renshaw heard the command with his nearest mental approach to re lief. But, at least. It would eliminate the necessity rf a general conversa tion. He dropped into a dialr in a comer near the piano, and. thoogfa he was aware of the unwisdom of his course, let himself sink Into the black abyss that always awaited his un guarded moments. After all. had be done right to come here? Hadn't he. Instead, added the capstone to the towering structure of his misery? For he had offered him self. and now It was too late to retreat. He was boughL and committed to God alone knew what enterprise—for both Stanley and Campbell had hinted that his new life, If he Mitered upon IL might hold more Htan the rovttee pea- slbiiltles. He palled hlmsetf up in a andden ascent to the priwiatt. happortlas past bia: aad aa HsUa. It seemed to tlfk bin OB It to anotber woslA.# Ili of lore and pasrion aafflaaaQt.-1 girl was sbigtag—and the gfrKlNil lag was unlike any be ball tifair# fore. What she was slagiBf Yailr Russian folksong, whoso eeeemp ment was like swiftly flowtaffWlias When she had finished, David 0b belt was asleep; hut the plalatWo w of Mrs. Pardee broke the awawat stillness: “I do wl.sh Verity that yolFd Ui some cheerful songs such aa at girls sing gay and bright yao ict from the musical comediea thaiO ■ be cheerful music in the worid flak we never hear any—” Renshaw rose abruptly and want the piano. “Thank you very much," ha a “And—good-nlght.’t For an Instant her deep eyea ! bis, their expression as remote aa own. “Good-nlgbt, Mr. Renshaw,” Mie j casually. Renshaw crossed back to the ■ old lady by the fire. “I’m slipping off to my rooaejf explained. “If Mr. Campbell iba want me—” “He won’t he’ll sleep till ten- then James will come in and take to bed how he can sleep so nmdl his age I don’t know I my^f i average five hours a nl^t last M I lay awake from twelve to flve till how I happened to hear those aervi come In—” In some way RenMiaw stemmed verbal tide and made his escape, he approached the door of bis rooa opened and two persons came m Jenks and a woman. The woman immaculate In a white gown, w cap. and white apron, bat riis,. not the trim honsemaid of e dreams. She was past middle age Inclined to stoutness, and the exp Sion of her plain face was rather d “This Is Annie. Mr, the dUB maid. We’ve be«i airing yoer r and putting In fresh linen—’* Jenks spoke so quickly that 1 Shaw, who In his abstrac have passed the pair almost noticing them, looked at them '* closer attention. It then occuiet him that the enterprise of cludk tlie linen In his room hardly caBefl the efforts of two servants, bat he not dwell on the thoughL Alsow-A was contributing her modest alHU the verbal report. “Yon will always find extra te on the shrif of this closeL air."' said primly. “I leave the extra ply for the floor there, beeSnae tbl no place in the bathroom hot ttk rack.” “And—and - excuse ms^ atr. there’s another thing." Jenks was speaking agaia. Annie, with fitting hnmltltj|. presence of hor superltn’. tkap little to one side. “Might 1 speak frankly, afarT* j was almost humble. “Df coarse." Renshaw waited | his detached air. The man wef Ups. “There’s—there’s some queer going on in the old boose, sir. Bl hear odd noises during the nlghf best to pay no attratlon to theta Renshaw frowned. "Odd nolsaa repeated. “What kind of noises “That’s all I can say, sir. And exceeding my duty, sir. In SSybigf much. But it’s well meant" Renshaw nodded, his half-fkame terest relaxing under a memom certain sentences in his Intettiapr Campbell to which he had attf no great importance at the tllne. “All right Jenks. Thank 70s said, and passed on. Aa ha door he glanced back, and Annie were standing when It left them, staring after Mm. Q in the act, they started down ridor and parted at Its rad, JeSkk scending the staircase^ ths woSM) appearing around a dlstaat er The flatter of her Skirt as 1 stirred Renshaw’s memory, twice before today he hsd final whisk of that skirt. He entered his room, atUI frovniing. Everything It was all reassnrlnitiy yet—what the deuce was Jenks* manner that got aa inatlon and made one importance of the slmpiest He nndressed slowly, bat I going to bed he slipped a gown and, after tnralng sat down In the chair There, clasping hla head, he leaned back hlmselL The simple he did not qnlte dare to. Under the snrfSce at fort and uonuallty tlmi house, something hsd beslh'4 something intangible. Of imagtnatioh was playteg him. At the back of Ms I thought of a mystery at Stanley and CampbMl kill which, of course, hsd to^ warning Just received IM sssra. hyilosr Both ; Renshaw beauty, but no measage teat? Mas: I (TO BS DnyHgkt Ft Flooded City (Pa.) caal called Jack Mb view winaMne yaara, At (tea the (Nap
The News-Journal (Raeford, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 19, 1925, edition 1
3
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75