Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-06-30
CHAPTER XIII.
The Forbidden Land.

ALL.
The Forbidden Land.
AS Stuart dressed for the dinner he
thought of Harriet with a pang. He
had promised her to try to keep out
of danger. But could she know or un-
derstand the struggle through which
he was passing! He wondered vague
ly why he had seen so little of her
lately. She had become more and
more absorbed in her music and her
manner had grown shy and embar-
rassed. Yet, whenever he had resent
ed it and stopped to lounge and chat
and draw her out, she was always her
| old sweet self.
The doctor, too, had avoided him of
late and he noticed that his clothes
had begun to look shabby. He hur-
ried down stairs, determined to see him
a moment before leaving.
He caught him hurrying from the
house and laid his hand affectionately
on his arm.
These are tough times, doctor, and
if you need any help you must let me
know"
The older mans voice trembled as
he replied:
Thank you, my boy, that's a very
unusual speech to hear these days. 1t
renews my faith in the world
You're not in trouble?"
The doctor lifted his head gently.
MY troubles are so much lighter
than those of the people l know,
can't think of them. So many Of my
friends and patients have given up in
this panic. So many have died for
the lack of bread. I'll let you know
II I'm in trouble myself"
He paused and pressed Stuart's
hand.
I'm glad you asked me. The sun
will shine brighter today. I must hur-
ry."
With a swing Of his stalwart form
and a generous wave of his hand he
was gone.
When Stuart reached the Drive he
alighted and walked slowly toward the
there before. He had always avoided
the spot. He smiled now at the child
ishness Of his attitude toward Nan.
1t seemed incredible that a sane man
should taboo one of the most beauti-
full spots in the city, merely because
woman lived i'm the neighborhOod who
once professed her love to him.
He paused i'm front of the block on
which the millionaire's house stood,
amazed at the perfection of its detail,
and above all amazed at the impress
sion of homelike comfort and friendly
hospitality which it gave. He had eX-
pected an imposing front, whose effects
would impress and stun. He had not
conceived the possibility of such a
huge palace, set so commandingly in
the centre of a block amid trees and
shrubbery and iron picket fence, that
it would suggest comfort and happi-
ness. Yet the impression was unmis-
taxable. The friendly lights seemed
to reprove him for long and foolish
absence.
The full moon had just risen and
flooded the Drive and park and river
with silvery mystery. He studied the
effects of the building with wonder and
admiration. Evidently Bivens had
given his architects q free hand and
| they had wrought q poem in marble.
The fact was they had an easy task to
persuade him. He had never boasted
his culture or taste or ancestry. He
knew and keenly felt the humility of
his early origin and his one terror
when he became rich was that he might
| be crude and ridiculous before others.
When he found that his architects were
men of genius he submitted to their
| guidance without q word.
| So fascinated was Stuart with the
| beauty and perfection of the great
| house he walked around the block be-
| fore entering, viewing it from every
angle-always to find some new line
shimmerng in the moonlight that held
his eye and charmed his fancy.
What a strange thing, this medieval
| palace. standing in stately beauty IN
the midst of the hdeous, ugly unifor-
mity of the most modern, unromantic
and materialistic city of the world!
What was it's meaning?
And the tall iron fence with the
bristling spikes to keep out the mob,
and that queer underground entrance
on the side These feudal minarets.
battlements and frowning black iron
pixies, were they symbolic of revival
of the feudal spirit of the Middle Ages?
Or were they merely the day-dreams
| of an artist with no social meaning be-
yond the vagaries of his fancy?
Had a new master of the world real
| IL been born? And had he begun to
| build his castles to stun and over-awe
the rabbles that pass his door? Or was
this strange being as yet neither fish
nor fowl, neither beast nor human.
merely a fungous growth i'm the diseas-
ed tissue of the modern world? Who
could tell? Surely his like had never
been seen i'm the history of man-this
modern money maniac, this strange
L
creature of iron muscles, always hur-
| rying, daring, scheming, plotting, with
never a moments relaxation, day or
night, eating or drinking, working or
sleeping, in his office or in his home,
| going or coming i'm his yacht with
wireless tower. his private car with
telegraph office, his secretary always
by his side, a telephone always at his
bed, with no time to live, no time to
love, with only time to fight and Kill
| and pile the spoils of war on high!
The old baron who lived beneath
those graceful minarcts and walked
behind these pixies felt his high res
! possibilities. He was the champion of