Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-09-20
CHAPTER XVII.

II was the middle of May. Down in the
earth the strong heart of reawakened ma
ture throbbed with a pulsating force that
sent new life forth on its errand of reju-
venation. The apple trees had peeped out
with pink eyes, and seeing the summer
maiden stalking through the land. had
thrown off their timid coyness and shaken
loose a drapery of white, all rose-tinted and
green-shaded, that turned their broad-acred
homes into fairy ball rooms. And for mu-
sic, the bees and the birds and shrill fife
playing frogs volunteered out of sheer joy
BUSINESS of life.
Tiny shavings Of green wax, the gentle
spring grass, lay strewn about the ball
room floor and glistened in the warm light
that was of one high-hung chandelier, the
sun.
But all the newborn awakening. all tie
sweet strength of soul and life that was
born to the waiting land on the wings of
soft winds, brought not the hoped-for al
lotment to John Porter.
At Ringwood they had waited for the
sCringtime That would work the cure that
the doctors skill had failed of. man of
outdoors It was the house caging that was
killing him, keeping him back.
These things were said, but DR.. Rathbone
only shook his wise old head, with Its world
of good sense and answered 1T Is none of
these things. The trouble is in his mind; he
is fretting. A sensitive man, well in body,
may be brought to illness by anticipated
disaster. That could not have been the
case with John Porter, well; but John Por-
. ter i'll is quite a different matter It's as
have said before, give him hope; win him
races"
So Allis was really glad at the near ap-
proach of the time of her trial The day
was coming fast, soon, and she was to go
forth with her little band of horses, as a
man almost in everything. TO strive for the
fulfllment of that which had been put upon
her.
The nearness of the not-to-be-shirked re-
sponsibility drove into her veins an I'M
looked-for exhilaration of strength. She had
thought that she would look with dread
upon the going away from Ringwood; that
a feeling much akin to stage fright would
quite unnerve her at the very last. The
riding at home, the horse lore and the al
most constant companionshlp with her
father, always among horses and horsemen,
though 1t appeared somewhat dreadful to
the village folks. had been nothing TO
her. Now that she needed strength for. the
newer, stranger endeavor, ii came to her
even as the blossoms came to the swaying
apple trees, great and small.
What wouldn't she do, she asked herself
many times, to bring strengthening
peace to her fathers troubled mind? Even
Mrs. Porter, tmplacably bitter against
racing, must condone what was so evidentIv
Allis study, If it tended to their happiness !:
| the mother had softened somewhat in the
austerity OF her opposition.
Evening after evening they had discussed
| the gloomy outlook, with. always from Al
| lis side, glimmer of hopeful light The
| girls patient resolve had worn down the
mothers pessimistic dread of enchanted
| evil.
You know. Allis." she had said, "how I
| look upon this thoroughly unchristian pur-
| suit. Nothing can justify 1t, from q true
| woman's point Of view. absolutely nothing.
| not even poverty. I would willingly suffer
| the loss of all We possess-that 1t Is so little
| Is due to this dreadful immoral horse
acip hut 7
| mains II your father were well and willing
| to start afresh in some occupation betting
| his noble character. I would help him to
| endure every hardship, even deprivation,
without a murmur."
but. mother" interrupted Allis. Its I'M
possible now-I think It always was, for, as
you know, father knew nothing OF other
dishonest in racing and he always enjoyed
II because Of his love for horses. But with
all that. mother, II he had been In posi-