Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1910-03-10
I3Se
COLONIES
LADY
BY CURRAN RICHARD
CREENLEY

ing. Jack watched 1t grow nearer
| with wistful eyes So much hung
upon what ne would have to tell. She
dropped the tweed coat, we'll past the
mending, that lay across her knee.
and ran down the avenue to meet
him. the sunrays glinting the red of
her curls as they sifted through the
beechen boughs.
Ruy Bias curveted through the gate
as the girl caught at his bride Tell
me, daddy"
The colonel dropped the bride on
Ruy Bias neck. mo use, Jack, no
use! It's the same old story! Thomp-
son doesn't want to be bothered with
the loan any longer. They have orders
to close it out"
She followed him up the avenue,
The brightness was gone from the sun
shine, the tender bloom from the
young bluegrass; and the old house,
its warm red bricks mellow with time,
took on human nearness, an appeal
that hurt with the keenness of a blow,
for soon it would be theirs no longer.
Down in the pasture, blind old Danna
nickered at the sound of Ruy Bias
footballs Old Danna would have but
short time to live: bullet through
her shapely head would end it all for
her. Old horseflesh must go the way
of other useless things.
Further down, where the creek
wound away into the shadows,
CLEANED the chestnut sorrel coat of
Guilderoy, the last of the Wandlow
stud. STRAIGHTFORWARD, deep-chested,
mighty in flank. the colt gave promise
of barking back to old Diomed's rec
ord. The small ears, needle-pointed,
lay close to the delicate head, and the
restless eyes showed the wicked CLEAN
of white that was the hall mark Of his
begetting. He was paving uneasily,
for out of range of the colonel and
Jacqueline in the avenue, a woman
rode swiftly around the bride path,
pausing at the pasture bars. Her eyes
followed the colt as he approached her
horse with bristling name; then went
to the colonel and Jacqueline just
coming into sight, Jacqueline talking,
but the colonel silent with down-bent
head. leading Ruy Bias.
HE has told her and she knows
that r. means ruin. She has known
it would come soon or late. yet she is
as unapproachable as shabby prin-
cess. And she will guard him, guard
him with those calm eyes that seem
to read me into nowhere-where be-
long" She laughed, sad little laugh
that held no note of bitterness. Il
would give half own-all of it even
to have been always just that" The
gauntleted hands dropped as her eyes
went over the reach of pasture and
rolling river, coming back to the old
house; then, with an impatient move
ment, she gathered her reins and rode
down to where the path Joined the
main road.
Mrs. Irrelevant Van Haag had
dropped down upon the reserves of
the old county scarcely twelvemonth
before, taking possession OF the Gothic
castle that had been two-year ex-
element in its building. Who she was.
no one knew; but that she had plenty
of money, end was a wholly attractive
person, meme could deny. Yet, the old
county hesitated, and the lady of Hill
crest found it slow going that first
winter.
few bold spirits called but the old
families were slow to follow, and even
after the lonG living room at Hi.crest
became the center of gayety for that
formal neighborhood, Col Wandlow
and his daughter held aloof Therein
lay the crux of the whole matter. for
Theresc Van Haag cared little for the
county or its pproval as weighed
against that certain approval.
One .lod of the colonels wh..o head
was he desired accolade, and Jacoue-
line--that slim maiden in her shabby
muslin-was more delightful than
Lefty elroy in her latest Importation.
She could never quite shut out from
the present the memory of the days
whel the colonel from up there on
the hill rode down the white nike
careless and debonair, past the toll
keepers cottage where a barofooted
Shhh "aitVu at TIC bdI IOf MS smile.
Lean years. that had slipped into the
limbo of forgotten things. since the
tolikeeper died and the child had
drifted up from the unknown into the
glare OF the fotolights in far off
Gotham
Then young Van Haag had been AZ
the crest of his fevered life. and some
how, in some rare CLEAN of human
sense, he married her That story was
forgotten, too. Ten years are ten cen.
turtles in Gotham town, provided the
weight that holds down the record he
sufficiently gilded. The old county had
never heard the name Van Haag. and
IL had forgotten old Jim Anderson and
his child; so Mrs. Trezevant Van Haag
came nome.
The colonel was feeling the strain
OF the last ~ months. It had aged
him vIsibly. Therese noted It. vet the
grave courtesy with which he met her
chilled all advances. Her heart went
out TO the pretty child with the care.
worn young face. grave where the
1impleS should have noshod ond ,hn