Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1897-06-12
DARTHULY.
By WILLIAM PERRY BROWN.
copyright. 1897. by the Author.1
CHAPTER Nv.

span the arid places between the few
real oases Of our lives! Those scant,
brief periods of fulfillment, wheD heart
and soul revel in the joy of earthly fru-
ition, come to many like drops Of wa
ter upon a tongue parched by an un-
quenchable thirst. Yet it is the self de-
mails of our lives that chiefly render our
place in the world endurable to others.
The sun did not cease to shine because
of Jim Cheeks affliction. As soon as he
realized that the earth remained un-
changed the isolation of his own change
inspired him to work and toll on and
give no sign.
So the seasons came and went, and as
his little girl grew his heart expanded.
She had been called Darthuly Ann.
Jim quietly dropped the former name,
and in time little Ann Cheek became
known all round Hiawassee gap as list
the sweetest and purtiest young un in
the settlement. She had roguish brown
eyes and brown hair, with an added
tinge of gold, as though the last faint
flush of dying sunset had found refuge
there.
The clink, clink of the blacksmith's
hammer rose over the roar Of the river
winter and summer. People crossing the
ferry at night saw the light of his cabin
fire, far up the obscure mountain wall,
flashing downupon them like che twinkle
of an inaccessible star. The inscrutable
frown Of the cliffs lowered over them,
clad, as of old, in the ever alternating
garb Of the seasons.
The child developed like the unfold.
ing of double rose, and Jim found the
many quirks and oddities Of the juvenile
mind never failing source of wonder
Though his understanding was limited,
his faith in the feminine capacity for
surprise was unbounded. Little AIMS
brisk, vivacious prattle and cunningly
unique ways became to him the most
deliciously incomprehensibl muddle in
the world.
At 10 years of age she had assumed
such charge of his ungainly person and
simple habits that, in his own mind, he
hardly knew where his own obedience
began or her playfully precocious au-
thority ended. There was such har-
monious reversal of their mental rela
tions toward each other that Jim often
averred that 'ef that thar young un
didn't shoe the bosses and pint the
plows hit weren't bekase she couldn't
or dassn't."
The vulgar associations connected
with the stillhouse shrank from. her ap-
proach as the foul exhalations Of
dungeon yield to the pure influx Of the
outer air. AS years advanced Jim him
self became charter Of their evil influ-
ence, feeling instinctively the unsullied
guardianship Of his child lowering
around him. {.
In summer time, when he went to the
railroad towns or to the great hotel at
White Cliff with butter, eggs and gar
den truck, she always accompanied him.
A sultry day in August found them at
the latter place.
Having disposed Of their produce,
Jim was talking to group of sports
men who desired guide to some hunt
ing grounds in the Tellico mountains
when a waiter called him to one side
and said that lady guest Of the hotel
wished to see him.
"Whar's little Ann?" quoth Jim, not
seeing his child around.
''She's with the lady, sah," said the
waiter LAS door at the far end Of
this long piazza. Bettah hurry, sab.
Lady pow'ful anxshus to see you"
wants ter see me bad, does she?'
muttered Jim, slouohing along toward
the door in question. "'Tain't often
that these yer big folks gifts in that way
about Jim Cheek. I am erbleeged ter
think she'll find she's barkin up the
wrong tree after ALL"
The door stood open. Jim cleared his
throat, pulled off his ragged hat and en-
tered the room, saying:
eyer I be, ma am. What kin do fer
ye''-
He paused, open mouthed, for seated
ON a sofa in the richly furnished room
was fashionably dressed lady with her
arms around Ann-his little Amin an
attitude of uEdisguised emotion and
endearment, to which the child submit
ted with evident wonder and reluctance.
She now broke loose from the woman
and ran to Jim, exclaimipg:
"Pap! Oh, pap! She called me in, and
she says she knows we uns. She says
she's my nanny. But jest know she
amt, for I amt got nary nanny, have
I, pap?"
The lady rose hurriedly. In her man.
ner embarrassment and wistful eager
ness strongly contended. Her dark,
splendid, mature beauty shone out from
the quiet elegance Of her attire like
ruby above its golden setting. Jewels
sparkled on her fingers and her dress
was of Partisan origin. From beneath
hat that was a trophy of the milliner's
art rich tresses of wavy black hair es-
capped in that charmingly disordered
profusion which is now the type Of the
highest art.
Jim dropped his hat and stood, the
embodiment Of awkward stupefaction,
with little Ann clinging to his legs and
looking round at the strange lady, who,
quickly recovering herself, passed be-
hind them and closed the door. Jim