The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1907-05-09

| ed little shade to the church comers,
who were working homeward In pro-
cessional little groups and clumps,
none walking fast, though none with
| the appearance Of great leisure. since
neither rate of progress wo3ld have
been esteemed befitting the day. The
growth Of Canaan. steady, though new
ar startling. had left almost all Of the
churches downtown, and Main street
between them and the residence sec
ton So today the intermittent pro-
,ession stretched along the new cement
sidewalks from a little below the
square to upper Main street, where
naples lined the thoroughfare and the
mansions Of the affluent stood among
pleasant lawns and strawberries.
1t was late. for this had been a COM
munion Sunday. and those far in ad-
vance, who had already reached the
pretty and shady part Of the street,
were members Of the churches where
services had been shortest, though few
IN the long parade looked as If they
had been attending anything very
short, and many heads Of families were
crisp in their replies to the theological
inquiries of their offspring. The men
impaired largely gloom to the itin-
Grant concourse, most Of them wearing
hot. long black coats and having wilt
ed their collars. the ladies relieving
this gloom somewhat by the lighter
tints Of their garments. the spick and
span little girls relieving it greatly by
their white dresses and their faces, the
latter bright with the hope Of Sunday
Ice cream, while the boys, experiencing
some solace in that they were finally
OUT where person could at least
scratch himself If he had to, yet op-
pr.ssed by the decorous necessities Of
th- day. marched along, furtively
planning behind imperturbably secre-
tive countenances various means for
the later dispersal Of an odious monot-
ony.
Usually the conversation Of this long
string of the homeward bound was
not too frivolous or worldly. Nay; it
properly inclined to discussion Of the
sermon.
1t was serious and seemly Sunday
parade, the propriety Of whose beha-
vior was today almost disintegrated
when the lady Of the bridge walked up
the street in the shadow Of lacy law
'ender parasol carried by josef Lou
den. The congregation Of the church
across the square-that to which Joe's
stepaunt had been late-was just de-
bouching, almost in mass. upon Main
street when these two went by. 1t is
not quite the truth to say that all eX-
cept the children came to a dead halt.
but it is not very far from it. The air
was thick with subdued eXclamations
and whisperings.
Here is no mystery. Joe was prob /
ably the only person Of respectable
derivation in Canaan who had not
known for weeks that Ariel Tabor was
on her way home. And the news that
she had arrived the night before had
to church, entering church, in church
(even SOD and coming out Of church.
An account of her house in the Ave
nue. Henri Martin and Of her portrait
in the Salon-a mysterious business to
many and not lacking in grandeur for
that-had occupied two columns In
the Tocsin on day some months be-
fore when Joe had found himself In
imicauy headlined on the first page
and had dropped the paper without
reading further. Ariers name had
been in the mouth of Canaan for
long overwhelmingly for Joe, how
ever, not in the mouth Of that Canaan
which held converse with him.
Joe had not known her. The wom-
en- recognized her infallibly at first
glance, even those who had quite for
gotten her. And the women told their
men; hence the un-Sunday-like de-
meanor of the procession, for few
towns hold it more unseemly to stand
and stare at passersby, especially on
the Sabbath. But Ariel Tabor return
ed-and walking with-with Joe Lou
den!
Ariel flushed little when she per-
ceived the extent Of their conspicuous
ness, but it was not the blush that Joe
remembered had Redeemed the tanned
skin Of old, for her BROWNIES had
gone long ago. though it had not left
her merely pink and white. This was
4 delicate rosiness rising from her
cheeks to her temples, as the earliest
dawn rises. If there had been many
words left in Joe he would have called
It n divine blush. 1t fascinated him,
and il anything could have deepened
the glamour about her it would have
been this blush. He did not under
stand It, but when he saw It he stum-
bled.
Those who gaped and stared were
for him only blurs in the background.
Truly, he saw "men as trees walk
ing" and when it became necessary to
step out to the curb in passing some
clump Of people it was to him as If
Ariel and be, enchantedly alone, were