North Carolina Newspapers

Z ERMNIE P lTION$ LAUREN 1 VJUJ STOUT 8YN0P8I8. V. John Valiant a rich society favorite. suddenly discovers that the Valiant cor poratlon, which his father founded and which vii the principal source of his wealth, has failed, lie voluntarily turns ever hit private fortune to. the receiver for the corporation. His entire remaining poaaesnlons constat of an old motor car. a whits bull do and Damory court, a neg lected estate in Virginia. On the way to Damory court he meets Shirley Dand rldce, an auburn-haired beauty, and de cides that he Is going to like Virginia Im mensely. Shirley's mother, Mrs. Dand ridge. and Major Brlatow exchange rem lniacencea during which it Is revealed that the major. Valiant's father, and a man named Basson were rivals for the hand of Mra Dandridae In her youth. Season and Valiant fought a duel on her account In which the former was killed. Valiant finds Pamory court overgrown with weeds and creepers and the bulld Inga In a very much neglected condition. He decides to rehabilitate the place and make the land produce a living for him. Valiant eavet Shirley from the bite of a snake, which bites him. Knowing the deadllness of the bite. Shirley sucks the g olson from the wound and saves his life, hlrley tells her mother of the Incident and the latter Is. strangely moved at bearing that a Valiant Is again living at Damory court. Valiant learns for the first time that his father left Virginia on account of a duel in which Doctor SoQthall and Major Bristow acted as his father's seconds. CHAPTER XVIII Continued. "You are cold," he said. "Isn't that town too thin for, this- night air?" "No, I often walk here till quite late. Listen I" The bird gong had broken forth again, to be answered this lime by a rival's in a distant thicket "My nightingale is in good voice." "I never heard a nightingale before I came to Virginia. I wonder why It sings only at night" "What an odd Idea! Why. it sing In the daytime, too." "Really? But I TOppose It escapes notice in the general chorus. Is it a large bird V "No; smaller than a thrush. Only a little bigger than a robin. Its nest Is over there in that hedge a tiny loose cup of dried oak-'leaves, lined with hair, and the eggs are olive color.' How pretty the hedge looks now, all tangled with firefly sparks!" "Doesn't It! Uncle Jefferson calls them 'lightning-bugs.' " "The name is much more pic turesque. But all the darky sayings are. Do you find him ' and Aunt Daphne useful?" "He has been a godsend," he said fervently; "and her cooking haa taught me to treat her with passion ate respect He's teaching me now about flowers it's surprising how many kinds he knows. He's a walking herbarium." "Come and see mine," "she said. "Roses are our specialty we have to live up to the Rosewood name. But beyond the arbors, are beds and beds of other flowers. See by this big tree are speed-well and' delphinium. The tree is a black-walnut It's a that When you want something that costs a lot of money you go and look at it and wonder which you want most, that particular luxury or the tree. I know a girl who had two In hpr Turd nnlr a llttf Mvita han and she went to Europe on them. But so far I've always voted for the tree. How does your garden come on?" "Famously. Uncle Jefferson hat shanghaied a half-dozen negro gar deners from where I can't imaglne- and he's having the time of his life hectoring over them. He refers to the upper and lower terraces as 'up-and- down-stairs.' I've got seeds, but it will be a long time before they flower." "Oh, would you like some slips?" she cried. "Or, better still, I can "No,, no!" be protested. "There was nothing splendid about It It was only pride. You see the corporation was my father's great Idea the thing h created and put his soul Into and it was foundering. I know that would have hurt him. One thing I've wanted to say to you, ever since the day we talked together about the duel. I want to say that whatever lay. behind it my father's whole life was darkened by that event Now that I can put two and two together, 'I know that it wag the cause of his sadness." Ah, I can believe that" she re plied. T think he had only two interests myself and the corporation. So you see why I'd rather save that and be a beggar the rest of my, natural life. But I'm not a beggaf Damory Court alone is worth I know it now a hun dred' times what I left" "You are so utterly different from what I Imagined you!" "I could never have Imagined you," he said, "never." "I must be terribly outre." "You are so many women in one. When I listened to your, harp playing I could hardly believe It was the same you I saw galloping across the fields that morning. Now you are a different woman from both of those." As she looked at him, her Hps curled corner-wise, her foot slipped on the sheer edge of the turf. She swayed toward him and he caught her, feel ing for a sharp instant the adorable nearness of her body. It ridged all his skin with a creeping delight She re covered her footing with an exclama tion, and turned back somewhat ab ruptly to the porch where she seated herself on the step, drawing her filmy skirt aside to make a place for him. There was a moment of siler.ee which he broke. "That exquisite serenade you were playing! You know the words, of course. "They are more lovely, if possible. than the score. Do you care for poetry?" "Ive always loved It," he said. Tve been reading some lately a little old- fashioned book I found at Damory Court If 'Lucile. 'Do you know It?" 'Yes. It'tfiny mother's favorite." He drew it from his pocket. "See, I've got it here. It's marked, too." He opened it, to close it Instantly not, however, before she had put out her hand and laid If palm down, on the page. "That rose! Oh. let me have it!" 1 "Never!" he protested. "Look here. When I put It between the leaves, I did so at random. I didn't see till now that 1 had opened It at a marked passage." , "Let us read it," she said. He leaned and held the leaf to the light from the doorway and the two heads bent together over the text A sound fell behind them and both turned. A slight figure, in a soft gray gown with old lace at the throat; stooa in the doorway behind them. John Valiant sprang to his feet "Ah. Shirley, I thought I heard voices. Is that you. Chilly?" "It's not Mr. Lusk, mother," said Shirley. "It's our new neighbor, Mr. Valiant." As he bent over the frail hand, mar- muring the conventional words that presentations are believed to require. Mrs. Dandrldge sank into a deep cushioned chair. "Won't you sit down?" she said. He noticed that sae did not look directly at him, and that her face was as pallid as her hair. "Thank you," said John Valiant, 'aad resumed his place on the lower step. Shirley, who had again seated hr- selfr suddenly laughed, and pointed to the book which lay between them. "Imagine what we are doings dearest! We were reading Lucile together." She saw the other wince, and the deep dark eyes lifted, as if under com pulsion, from the book-cover to Vali ant's face. He was startled by Shir ley's cry and the sudden limp uncon scious settling-back into the cushions of the fragile form, 'i effort to recall Jt Only the Intense blue of her eyes, the tawny sweep of her hair these and the touch of her, the consciousness of her warm and vivid fragrance, remained to wrap all his senses in a mist woven of gold and fire. ' Shirley, meanwhile, had sat some time beside her mother's bed. leaning from a white chintz-covered chair, her anxiety only partially allayed by reas surances, now and then stooping to lay her young cheek against the delicate arm in Its Jacy sleeve, or to pass her hand lovingly up and down Its outline. noting with a recurrent passion of ten derness the transparency of the skin with its violet vetoing and the 'shad ows beneath the closed eyes. Emma- ine. mo vine on soft worsted-shod, feet about the dim room, at length had! whispered, v - "You go tub bald, honey. I stay with Mis' Judith till she go tun sleep." "Yes, go, Shirley," said her mother. 8hlrley, Who Had Again Seated Her self, Suddenly Laughed, and Point ed to the Book. give you the roses already rooted v m e - aa cnaries and Marechal, Nell and Cloth of Gold and cabbage and ram biers. We have geraniums and rucnsias, too, and the coral hnnv. suckle. That's different from the wild one, you know." "You are too good! If you would only advise me where to set them! But I dare say you think me presum ing." She turned her full face to him " 'Presuming!' You're punishing me now for the dreadful way I talked to you about Damory Court before I knew who you were. Oh. it was n. rmrdonable! ' And after the anion iM thing you bad done I read about It mat ud wrew wta our money. I gaecai" CHAPTER XIX. Night A quicker breeze was stirflne as John Valiant went back alone the Red Road. He had waited In the garden at Rosewood till Shirley, aided by Emmaline and with Ranston's anxious face hoverine in the background, hav ing performed those gentle offices which a woman's falntine SDell re quires, had come to reassure him and to say good night . . . As he threw- off his coat in the bedroom he had chosen for his own he felt the hard corner of the "Lucile' in the pocket, and drawing it out; laid it on the table by the bedside. He seemed to feel again the tinele of his cheek where a curling strand of ner coppery hair had sprung against wnen ner .head had bent beside t his own to. read the marked lines.'; When he had undressed he sat 'an hour in the candle-blaze, a dressing gown thrown over his shoulders: striv ing ; vainly to recreate that evening can, to remember her every word and look and movement. For a breath her face would flush suddenly before mm, uKe a uve thing; then U would mysteriously fade and eludt him though he clenched his hands on the arms of his chair in the fiaroa ntaJ Tried the Numbers Carefully, First Right, Then Left: 1728 04 0, The Heavy Door Opened. Haven't I any privileges at all? Can't I even faint when I feel like it without calling out the flre-brlgad? You'll pamper me to death and heaven knows I don't need It" "You won't let me telephone for Doc tor Southalir "Certainly not!" "And you are sure It was nothing but the roses? "Why, what else should it be?" said her mother almost peevishly. "I must really have the arbors thinned out On heavy nights it's positively overpower ing. Go along now, and we'll talk about It tomorrow. I can ring! if I want anything." In her room Shirley undressed thoughtfully. There was between her and her mother a fine tenuous bond of sympathy and feeling as rare, per haps, as it was lovely. She could not remember when the other had not been a seml-lnvalld, and her Earliest childhood recollections were punctu ated with the tap of the little cane. Tonight's, sudden indisposition had shocked and disturbed her; to faint at a rush of perfume seemed to sug gest a growing weakness that was alarming. Tomorrow, she told herself. she would send Ranston with a wagon load of the roses to the hospital at Charlottesville. . She slipped on a pink shell-shaded dressing-gown of slinky silk with a riot of azaleas scattered In the weave, and then, dragging her chair before the open window, drew aside the light curtain and began to brush her hair. All at once her gaze fell upon the floor, and she shrank backward from a twisting thread-like thing whose bright saffron-yellow glowed sharply against the dark carpet She saw in an in stant, however, that it was nothing more dangerous - than a fragment of love-vine from the garden, which had clung to her skirt She picked up the tiny mass of tendrils and with a slow smile tossed It over her right shoulder through the window. "If it takes root," she said aloud, "my sweet heart loves me." She leaned from the sill to peer down Into the misty gar den, but could not follow its fall. ' Long ago her visitor would have reached Damory Court She had a vision of him wandering, candle in hand, through r, the empty echoing rooms, looking at the voiceless por traits on the walls, thinking perhaps of his father, of the fatal duel of which he , had never known. She liked the way he had spoken of his father! As she leaned, out of the stillness there came to her ear a mellow sound. It .was the bell of the courthouse In the village. ? She counted the strokes falling clearly or faintly as the slug gish breeze ebbed or swelled. It was eleven. - Vr v . She drew back, dropped the curtain to shut out the wan glimmer. and In the darkness crept Into the . soft bed as if Into a hiding-place, j t . , A warm sun and an air mildly mel low. A faint gold-shadowed mist over the valley and a soft, lilac haze blend ing the rounded, outlines of the hills. Through the, shrubbery at Damory Court a cardinal darted like a crim son ? shuttle, to rock Impudently from a fleering limb, and here - and there on, the bluish-Ivory sky, motionless as a pasted wafer, hung a haw; from , tim on of thasa wavarjand slanted swiftly down, to" climb once more in a huge spiral to its high tower of sky. Perhaps it wondered, as its tele scopic eye looked down. That had oeen its choicest covert, that dlsher eled tangle where the birds held per petual carnival, the weasel lurked In the underbrush and the rabbit lined his windfall. Now the wlldness was gone. A pergola, glistening white, now upheld the runaway vines, making a slckle-Ilke path from the .upper ter race to the lake. In the barn loft the pigeons still quarrelled over their new cotes of fresh pine, and under a clump of locust trees at a little distance from the house, , a half-dozen dolls' cabins on stilts stood waiting the honey -storage of the black and gold bees. There were new denizens, also. These had . arrived in a dozen zinc tanks and willow hampers, to the amaze of a sleepy express clerk, at the railroad station: two swans now sailed majestically over the lily-ponds of the lake, along its gravel rim and a pair of bronze-colored ducks waddled and preened, and Its placid surface rippled and broke to the sluggish backs of goldfish and the flirting fins of red Japanese carp. The house itself wore another air. Its look of unkemptnees had largely vanished The soft gray tone of age remained, but the bleakness and f or lornness were gone; there was about all now a warmth and genial bearing that hinted at mellowed beauty, fire light and cheerful voices within. . Valiant heaved a long sigh of satis faction as he stood in the sunlight gaz ing at the results of his labors.' He was not now the flippant boulevardier to whom money was the sine qua non of existence. He had learned a sover eign lesson one gained not through the push and fight of crowds, but in the simple peace of a countryside, un- vexed by the clamor of gold and the complex problems of a competitive ex istence that he had inherited a need of activity, ot achievement that he had been born to do. -Chum," he said, to the dog rolling on his bacjc In the grass, "what do you think of it all. anyway?" He reached down, seized a hind leg and whirling him around like a teetotum, sent him flying Into , the bushes, whence Chum launched again upon him, like a catapult He caught the white shoulders and held him vise-like. "Juit about right eh? But wait till we get those ramblers!" "And to think," he continued, whim sically releasing him, "that I might have gone on. one of the little-neck-clam crowd I've always trained with, at the same old pace, till the Vermouth-cocktail-Palm-Beach career got a double Nelson on me and the umpire counted me out At this moment I wouldn't swap this old house and land, and the sunshine and that 'gyarden and Unc Jefferson and Aunt Daph and the chickens and the, birds and all the rest of it for a mile of Mil lionaires Row." He went into the house and to the library. The breeze through the wide flung bow-window was fluttering the papers on the desk and the map on the wall was flapping sidewise. He went to straighten it, and then saw what he had not noticed before that It covered something that had been let Into the plaster. He swung It aside and made an exclamation. He was looking at a square, uncom promising wall-safe, with a round fig ured disk of white metal on Its face. He knelt before it and tried Its knob. After a moment it turned easily. But the resolute steel der would not open, though he tried every combination that came into his mind. "No use," he said disgustedly. "One must 'have the right numberrt" Then he lifted iU frotf ml frame and found it!" he said with a short laugh. ' T V t A. 14. 1 11 .VI. uern x uo, a uuuLrupi, wnu &u wis j outflt-rclear to the Very finger-bowls handed to me on a silver tray, and I'm mad as scat because I 'can't open the first locked thing I find!"" He ran upstairs aad donned a rough corduroy jacket and high leather leg gings. "We're goin; to climb the hill today. Chum," he announced, "and so mere moccasins need apply." In the lower hall, however, he sud denly stopped stock-still. "The slip of paper that was In the china dog!" he exclaimed. "What a chump I am not to have thought of It!" He found it in its pigeonhole and. kneeling down before the safe, tried the numbers carefully, first right then left: 17 28 94 0. The heavy door opened. "I was right!" he exulted "It's the plate." He drew It out piece by piece. Each -was bagged In dark-red Canton flannel. He broke the tape of one bag and exposed a great silver pitcher, tarnished purple-blue like a raven's wing then a tea-service. Each piece, large and small, was marked with the greyhound rampant and the motto "And to think," he said, "that my great-great-grandfather buried yoa with his own hands under the stables when Tarleton's raiders swept the val ley before the surrender at Yorktown! Only wait till Aunt Daphne gets yon polished up. and on the sideboard! You're the one thing the place has needed!" With the dog for comrade he tra versed the garden snd plunged across the valley below, humming as he wesS. The place was f athless and over grown with paw-pavi bushes and sassa fras. Great trees stood so thickly in places as to make a twilight and the sunnier spots were masses of plai laurel, polson-lvy, flaming purple rhw dodendron and wins-red tendrils of ij terbraided briers. This was the for est land of whose possibilities he had thought In the heart of the woods he came upon a great limb that had been wrenched off by storm. The broken wood was of a deep rich brown, shadirg to black. He broke off his song, snap ped a twig and smelled it Its sharp acrid odor was unmistakable. He sud denly remembered the walnut tree at Rosewood and what. Shirley had said: "I know a girl who , had two In her yard, and she went to Europe on them." He looked about him; as far as he could see the trees reared, hardy and perfect untouched for a generation. He selected one of medium size 'and pulling a creeper, measured its cir cumference and gaging this measure with his eye, made a penciled calcula tion on the back of an envelope. "Great Scott!" he said jubilantly to the dog; "that would cut enough to' wainscot the Damory Court library and build twenty sideboards!" (TO BE CONTINUED.) , So is a'-,-.-.-,. - ' you a!-." t-J . ;. o: 1 i: Pi ' , . VP! 1 V fc l a) ch. U) GOT THE RIGHT EXPRESSION Experiment Was Palnfut to Tragedian, but He Could Not Hesitate When , Art Called Him. 4 "Thanks," said the tragedian, set ting down his glass and absent-mindedly pocketing my change, which lay upon the bar between us. "Many, thanks for your good opinion. I al ways study from . Nature from Na-' ture, sir. In my acting you see re flected Nature herself." j. ' ; - "Try this cigar," said an admirer, of Nature.) reverently. "Now, .where, did you study that expression of Intense surprise that you assumed In the sec ond act?" "From Nature, sir; from Nature. To secure that expression I asked an in mate personal friend to' lend me five pounds. He refused. This caused me no surprise I tried . several more. Finally, I struck one who was willing to oblige me, and, as he handed "me the money, I studied In the glass the expression of my own face. . I' saw there surprise, but It was .not what I wanted. It was alloyed with suspic ion that the sovereigns might be- bad. I was in despair." ' : "" , , Well?' said the other,: breathlessly. "Then an idea struck me. Z I re solved upon a desperate course. "I re turned the five pounds to my friend the next day, and on his astounded countenance' I saw the expression I was in search of. Yes, thank you, small whisky as beors." London TH Bits. Korean Marriages. , , Marriages between widows aa4 bachelors are very much in, favor is Korea because not nearly so - muck money is required from the bridegroom as in the case of his marriage with a young girl. The impecunious bride groom is scorned by the parents of th girl and he is also unable to pay foi the elaborate wedding ceremonies which must take pll tea. All of this hf escapes by running off with a widow It happens In Korea, as in other conn tries, that ; the : impecunious bacheloi Is often more deslrabfe from every point of view but a mercenary ont than - the well to do member of th4 community. - Consequently, the widow has ft way of attaching a handsom young husband to herself that nilgV well be envied by the yount girl " v- ,. y.-yyj'; Not There for Experiment. . Edith and Flora were passing the summer vacation In the country.: -you - know' said Edith, "thai young farmer tried to hiss me. He told methat he had never tissed any girl before." "What did you teU. hlmf askec Flora.: : rwhy' reiJled BUitL "I told him 1 was no agritsulturti ecpariBCst ct Uon.M Harpers Batrv Pan;.- 14. ? .a oiid church, v.-hich icterized bv coad, the -.v vidua! Chris-la valk of purity walk of the fa cnaractenzed v 6 CJ should 1 '"I, t tie J n. vv Q n n c- rf-k 1 .- -. - ' - LUC v. ,s Boa saw! 0 main epistle nav b, sr " first, the chr.H ganism whi:h God ainnt 1 organization such as Ga the world see. lXJOKing now church as set forttM notice three for haracterized by ? trios nf mi).. 1 there are those spe-iflc rlnnesf' iijQiuiiiu iae unity of the church: thev nes3, meekness, long-suffering ut3utiuut;, ana love. The lowly man h one always clamoring for hiB rigd requires to yield those rights teJ welfare of otoers: he is, kd words, the man of hun.ble and r, spirit. Where this spirit is fetf any church, unky prevails; is i sence means friction. . The meek man is the mat thinks as little of his personals as the humble man does of loss sonal merits; he gladly gives pla others and is willing to take &'j est room. How many seeds ole and roots of bitterness wculi k stroyed if this mind were in z Self-importance and love of olcti a craving for applause and Icq places, mars the unity and pas the church. The long-suffering man is he not harsh or censorious or tape in his dealings with those ilai weaker than himself and whohan yet reached his attainment & forbearing with the weakness faults of others and does not ce love or Interest himself in W & bor, even though he has tm weaknesses. J There Is next presented toot, fundamental unities on whlcal U.U.IS.J Ul IUC v,uuv" one body, one spirit, oneiope; Lord, one faith, one baptism; over all. through all, in al The church is one body. the teaching of Scripture. At tie j of his conversion every belief baptized by the holy spirrt Wj body of Jesus Christ Onesp;, holy spirit, permeates all tt Indeed, only spiritww?j long'tothe real church w" bnrtv of Jesus Christ. There. hope of our calling, that is , JJ witf, PhHstwho is theoneoOT Inspiration of pur hope; on? to realize, likeness to Uj nrize 10 win, . t&b we not going to the looking for the same J ness of aim of believer S and fellowship a " .hurrh is in reww -v. timoi in church unity is really a ct J may be many denomina body; many stars, auu - ing from another m-rJ sky; many.ra- uniform and co fl ing radiant us own uiuiw.." - but on j great army; many gJ many creeao, u cents, but on many ways of doing motive. ,,nseen Here then is a tru which binds togetner - the Lord jesuv u;;yfft say that an ouW A tion is impossible say that? We wou M the handwriting of the j to such a conclusion. , Shall we deem irnP .' prise which secular "JTeBl Gatn, puuno" - deroi a unity Jeer&rf$ w nnd the brotherau . tfH '7 a have SUCce- 0 stronger force ::Z7 nt common n the church o f may come. If t uS t& A it, but meanwh le ' of one thing, f , rjt , r-hrst IS ftB"r jesu v"' - , hiig f" " r" has by one spiru. -palling-