Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-29
WRITTEN FOR THE STAR By HoNoRE WILLIS
Copyright. 1905. by Ruby Douslas.)

singly, then took the girls cold fingers
in hers and led her to the seat by the
| fountain.
"Yo' jes' tell Marse stuarts old man.
my all about it. What for you two quar-
rel SO. 1es' befo' the weddin' day."
| So out came the whole wretched little
story, with the old woman's gnarled hand
patting the cold that lay her knee.
| When Priscilla had finished, Nanny Lucy
shook her head.
Il do know nothin' about right er wrong
jes know tibet Marse Stuart WIZ the
berry last one of the berry best Louisiana
family, an he tes' couldn't help, bein'
git him back agn, honey. You've done
| busted his heart
For many moments Priscilla listened to
the red bird. What message he sang to
| her listening ears who can tell? Perhaps
| in that short time Priscilla was taught
a little of natures philosophy, which is an
| understanding of all the vagaries of inheri-
| lance. AT any rate, she turned to the old
| darby.
Nanny" she said, will you go with
me to find him? 1 don't care what people
| here say or think. VIII you go with me
| to find Mr.. Stuart?"
The old womans face wrinkled with re-
said. ''''"'
| Nanny Lucy came to their journeys end.
Priscilla had wanted to. start west. He
has always wanted to join Billy Ray in the
| geological survey in Arizona she said.
That is where he has gone"
But Nanny Lucy shifted disdainfully.
He done may a started there but he'll
neber git there. Wen find him in old
Louisiana. honey. Neber wuz one O. his
| blood could keep away from there
But he doesn't know that he was born
| there protested Priscilla; feebly, however,
for the queer old darkey who had nursed
! Stuart's forbears, spoke with pre-knowl-
| edge that was almost uncanny.
| So, hating and hesitating, the two pur-
sued devious course on the ramshackle
fhar fnyr arII nt1iSi ThaNr
caught no trace of him, but led by the blind
| faith of Nanny Lucy they snailed hour
| after hour through the sad southern for
| ests through tobacco and cotton fields and
miles of canebrake.
AS day succeeded day. Priscilla's loyal
| little heart relented more and more until
each hour became an agony of remorse
and she painted with Impotence at every
| delay. Even mammy's tales of Stuarts
| family, at last failed to interest her and
she fell to questioning fellow passengers,
to find each one interested but unading.
| Early one morning, while the train stopped
for breakfast at lonely little station that
was scarcely distinguishable from the
| acres of sugar cane that surrounded it,
| Priscilla made her usual inquiries of the
station master. The old man pleased.
well now, do you know, just such a
young chap as you describe stopped here
day before yesterday. Had a set of geo.
Arizona by way of Galveston"
| Priscilla's tired, lovely face flushed with
| eagerness. "And where did he go from
| here?'
But the station master shook his head.
| He must have walked over to the east
! station. because I didn't see him leave. He
| seemed so much interested in the south
| before the war that l sent him up to the
| old IAaviSSe place.
He looked and talked like southerner,
but when 1 hold him he seemed quite
| angry He reminds me of old Gabriel
| Lavisse, who died when l was child
Old mammy's hands shook, while the
whites of her eyes showed. kin yo' git
to the old Lavisse place from this hyar
| hyer thirty years ago."
Yes said the station ao master IT,; three re-,
| you reach the woods, then
II told you SO, honey, told yo',' whis-
pered the old woman. Come on"
Wondering and trembling, too Priscilla,
| followed Nanny Lucy through the dust
| of the winding southern road; on past acre
| after acre of sugar cane, with distant
| glmpses of moss-hung cotton woods, and
| Nanny Lucy muttering excitedly to her
self. The three miles seemed very long.
but Priscilla had no thought of wavering.
| The tempest of Impotence that had
stormed within her for days was now at
it's height. and with the old woman's hand
in hers she fastened on through the sand
until every muscle of her slender body
ached in protest The country through
| which they went was lonely. Tumbled
| down fences, here and there deserted
negro shack-all the saddest of all sad
| landmarks a country which war had left
in ruins, a country once rich and cult
| waited. Priscilas throat ached with a
| sense of disaster past and impending.
| Then the ruins of an old gateway with a
splendid grass-grown avenue leading up
to a wide, deserted portico. The old
| nanny was crying now.
| "All dead and gone" she grooming,
all dead and gone, and Marse Stuart with
| his heart broke! But Use a-comin' to you.
honey, ole Nanny Lucy's a-comin to
| you"
Under the spell of the old darky's ex-
element Priscilla painted up the steps to
the broken porch and in through the fine
old sagging DOORS They hurried through
| wide, deep hall, half dusk. and up the
| dusty staircase, nanny moving with the
certainty of familiarity. In through an
| open bed room door, and there on the
-moth-eaten carpet lay Stuart, feverish and
| babbling of Priscilla. The girl stood pale
and awe-struck in the doorway, but Nanny
| Lucy ran to the lad with cry of: oh
you pore lamb" that brought a sob to