The Elbert County tribune., 1910-03-18
CHAPTER I.-contlnued.

mot IL / endow all the chairs in the
university, You've not only got to
come. but you're going to be there
the day they arrive"
Thomas Ardmore of New York and
Ardsley struck his heavy stick--he
always carried heavy stick-smartly
on the cement platform in the stress
of his feeling. He was much shorter
than Griswold. to whom he was deep
ly attached-for whom he had. indeed,
the frank admiration of small boy
for big brother. He sometimes
wondered how fully Griswold entered
into the projects of adventure which
he. In his supreme idleness. planned
and proposed; but he himself had
never been quite ready to mount
horse or shake out sail. and what
Griswold had said about indecision
rankled in his heart. He was sorry
now that he had told of this new en-
terprise to which he had pledged him
self. but he grew lenient toward Girls
wold's lack of sympathy as he re-
flected that the quest of winking
girl was rather beneath the dignity
of gentleman wedded not merely to
the law, but to the austere teaching
profession as well. In his heart he
forgave Griswold. but he was all the
more resolved to address himself stub
bornly to his pursuit of the deity of
the car Alexandra, for only by finding
her could he establish himself in Girls
wold's eyes as a man of action,
capable Of carrying through scheme
requiring cleverness and tact.
Ardmore was almost painfully rich,
but the usual diversions of the wealthy
did not appeal to him. and, having ex-
hausted foreign travel, he spent much
time on his estate in the North Caro-
lima hills. where he could ride all
day on his own land. and where he
read prodigiously In huge library
that he had assembled with special
reference to works on piracy a sub
5ect that had attracted him from early
youth.
n was this hobby that had sealed
ais friendship with Griswold. who had
relinquished the practice of law, after
a brilliant start in his native city of
Richmond. to accept the associate pro-
fessorship of admiralty In the law de-
partment of the University of Vir-
ginia. Marine law had particular
fascination for Griswold from it's es-
sentially romantic character. AS
law student he had read all the de-
cisions in admiralty that the libraries
Afforded, and. though faithfully serv-
Ing the university. he still occasional
ly accepted retainers in admiralty
cases Of unusual Importance. His lec-
lures were constantly attended by
students in other departments of the
university for sheer pleasure in Girls
wold's racy and entertaining exposi-
tion of the laws touching the libeling
of schooners and the recovery of
jettisoned cargoes. Henry Maine
Griswold was tall, slender and dark,
and he lowered recklessly, as he
might have put it, on the brink of
thirty. He stroked his thin brown
mustache habitually, as though to hide
the smile that played about his hui
morous mouth-a smile that lay even
more obscurely in his fine brown eyes.
He did violence to the academic tradi-
tions by dressing with metropolitan
care, gray being his prevailing note,
thoubh hiS bcdflb NtutuTeu upon DOlO
color schemes that interested his stu
dents almost as much as his lectures
The darkest fact of his life-and one
shared with none-was his expert
ments in verse. From his undergrad
uate days he had written occasionally
little song. quite for his own pleas
ure In versifying. and to little sheaf
Of these things in manuscript he still
added a few verses now and then.
Don't worry. Ardy.' he was saying
to his friend as "all aboard" was
called. "and don't be reckless When
you get through looking for the wink
ing eye. come up to Charlottesville
and Wen plan THE True Life of
Capt. Kidd that is some day going
to make us famous"
"Ill wire you later replied Ard
more. clinging to his friends hand a
moment after the train began to move
Griswold leaned out OF the vestibule
to wave a last farewell to Ardmore
and something very kind and gentle
and good to see shone In the law
yer's eyes. He went into the car
smiling. for he called Ardmore his
best friend, and he was amused by his
last words. which were always Ard