Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-04-03
The Fighting
~ bly,.
n0A ROBERT w.
~X4WAASSe CHAMBERS.
copvri0ht b Curtis Publishing Company.
Copyright Robert w. Chambers
By -.
ROBERT w.
CHAMBERS.
Copyright 1905, by the Curtis Publishing Company
Conyripht 1906, by Robert W. Chambers.


stratum of rose tinted smoke hanging
parallel to the horizons plane. The
westeripg sun struck sparks from her
bright work.
They had turned their backs to the
tandem. The grooms looked after
them, standing motionless at the
horses heads.
'Mr. Siward, this Is too fine to miss"
she said. II will walk as far as the
headland with you. Please smoke If
you care to-"
The breeze blown conversation be-
came fragmentary, veering as capri
ciously as the purple wind flaws that
spread across the shoals. But always
| to her question or comment she found
| in his response the charm Of freshness,
Of quick intelligence or Of humorous
and idle perversity which stimulates
| without demanding.
Once, glancing back at the house
| where the T cart and horses stood, she
said that she had better return, or per-
haps she only thought she said it, for
| he made no response that time, and
few moments later they reached the
headland, and the Atlantic lay below,
| flowing azure from horizon to horizon
under a universe Of depthless blue.
And for long while neither spoke.
With her the spell endured until con-
science began to stir. Then she awoke,
uneasy, as always, under the shadow Of
restraint or pressure until her eyes
fell on him and fingered.
A subtle change had come into his
face. It's leanness struck her for the
ment from his surroundings, somber
oblivion to everything and to her.
How curiously had his face altered!
How shadowy it had grown, effacing
the charm of youth in it!
The slight amusement with which
she had become conscious Of her own
personal exclusion grew to an interest
tinged with curiosity.
The interest continued, but when bis
silence became irksOme to her she said
| 6O very lIdnAiy. uDcShl CS GO, otiii
clouded, met hers unsmiling.
81 was thinking Of men knew-for
example, man who through genera
tons has inherited every impulse and
desire that he should not harbor; a
| man with intellect enough to be aware
of it, with decency enough to desire
| decency. What chance has he with
| the storms which have been brewing
for him even before he opened his eyes
on earth? Is that square deal?'
The troubled concentration of her
face was reflected now In his own.
The wind came whipping and Ticking
at them from league wide tossing
wastes. The steady thunder Of the
sea accented the silence.
Turning to the sea, he had become
engrossed in his own thoughts again,
! and again she was first curious, then
impatient, at the ease with which he
excluded her. She remembered, too,
that the cart was waiting; that she
had scarcely time now to make the
| train.
She stood irresolute, inert disin-
clined to bestir herself. An Unborn
aptitude for drifting, which threatened
to become talent for indecision, had
always alternated in her with sudden
impulsive conclusions and when her
pride was involved in decisions which
sometimes scarcely withstOod the anal
ysis Of reason.
Physically healthy, mentally una
Weakened, sentimentally incredulouS,
totally ignorant Of any master passion
and conventionally drilled, her beauty
and sweet temper had carried her cas-
lily on the frothy crest of her first sea-
son over the eligible and ineligible
alike, leaving her at Lenox a rather
tired and breathless girl In loce with
pleasure and the world which treated
her so well.
The death of her mother abroad had
| made little impression upon her, her
| uncle, Major Belwether, having cared
| for her since her fathers death, when
| she was ten years old. SO. although
| the scandal of her mothers self exile
had been in a measure cOndoned by
| tardy marriage to the man for whom
she had left everything, her daughter
had grown up ignorant of any partic-
| ular feeling for q mother she could
scarcely remember.
However, she wore black and went
| nowhere for the second winter, during
! which time she learned a great deal
| concerning the unconventional procliv-
+; tiles of the women Of her race and
family. enough to impress her so seri-
ously that on an exaggerated impulse
she had come to one of her character
istic decisions.
That decision was to break the I'M
savory record at the first justifiable
opportunity, and the opportunity came
In the shape of Quarrier-as though
wedlock were actually the sanctuary
which an alarmed nation pretends 1t
to be!
Now. approaching the threshold OF n
third and last season and having put
away her almost meaningless mourn
ing. there had stolen into her sense of
security something irksome In the
promise she had made to give Quarter
a definite answer before winter.
Perhaps it had been the lack OF In
terest in the people at Shotover. per-
haps mental review of her ancestors
capricious records, perhaps charac-
teristic impulse that had directed a
telegram to Quarter after midnight
confab with Grace Ferrall.
However Ii may have been, she ha0