Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1912-12-16

siton and rank isn't a girl and she real
ly can't ride with the lads of my sta.
BILE"
So Lady Diana, in the warm rebellion
Of youth, at the first trammeling appear
ance of that convention which ultimately
molds us all until we lose our little dis
tinguishing essence and become as so
many peas, was irritated by this abrupt
separation from the things of her child
hood.
In PeeVlsh Mood.
Hence this finely strung. perhaps ord-
narily too emotonless, young English
woman took the highest and toughest of
the obstacles in her course as she fol
lowed in the wake of the Beverley hounds
For the hounds were not the fea tures of
a hunt, but merely out on one of their
exercising expeditions, when to keep
their scent in" they We're permitted to
range for trails under the guidance of
whips.
One of the obstacles which Lady Diana
took that morning was a stone fence that
separated the lands of Falconhurst from
the property of the Earl of Brancaster in
the midst of which stood the old stone
tower Ricvers. As her hunter cleared
well with all tours the fencing and for
a moment trespassed upon the lands of
one regarded by the simple folk of York
shire as the wicked earl" the girl looked
toward the rocky heights accumulated by
the feudal tower, continuing to the eye
the long ascent of stone upward.
To her mood of the moment, while Ric-
vers appeared less barren and more the
abode of a human being, still there was
the sinister atmosphere of a place of i'll
omen, which was not decreased by an
open window and the movement of a
hanging at one of the easements in the
more modern part of the structure.
Even with the evidences of a home life
about the tower-whch there were not
the place would have worn it's air of sui
len tragedy, it's seeming appearance of a
center radiating unwhoesome forces.
The Fathers Plan.
Then as she cantered along over a
level expanse skirtng the eminence upon
which Ricvers stood, and cast a glance
inward occasionally Lady Diana thought
of what her grandfather had told her
when she was a child. 1t was shortly
after the death in. the service of her
father. and the death of his comrade,
Robert. the Earl of Brancaster, in the
same Indian enga cement, Her father and
Brancaster, sire of the present Brancas
ter. had planned that the little Lady
Diana and the young Hubert should unite
the fortunes and lands of the two almost
princely houses. But her father had been
killed and his father, too.
The young earl, without the depressing
authority of a parent had begun life as
a boy with too much money and no sense
of responsibility His mother had died
soon after he was born He had not
been a bad natured lad. but as a little
! boy he had been precocious What under
proper training, would have been clean
clear, pure sportsmanship as thorough as
| that of Lady Diana herself, became il
| him a mere gaming spirit He gambeC
! with nice observance Of etiquette and Of
honor but stir he dehed chance AS a
result he got into the hands Of the money
| lenders and what wasn't entailed was
! mortga ged
There were women, too, in this younr
mans life, but Of these Lady Diana knew
nothing. But though they came and went
they never seemed to have penetrated t
the core of the young Hubert to infec
him with the virus Of diseased magma.
! ton The boy seemed asleep and too
good natured to put his house in order
| His friends predicted that if he ever real
| ~ aroused himself he would rid himse
of them effectively, Clearly and finally
The Excited jockeys.
Diminishing the supposedly dissoIute
young belted earl from her thoughts, Lad,
Diana came to the last fence which sep
arsted her from the glen in which tn,
| Falconsuhrst kennels and stables stood
! From the level plateau Immediately abov,
the glen there loated down to her tn,
shouts of the lads on the backs of IN,
prides of the marquis stables Beverle,
had held the for the moment jockeys il
stern repression, but the stimulating air
the vast tonic of nervous horsehesh be
meath their knees and the thrill of ma
motion could not keep the lads entirel.
silent
The fine fire OF it all kindled Lady hi
ana In the light of her girlhood expert
ences only such sounds as came to he
from the Downs were needed to Great
pictures of the scenes above her Sh
know it, She loved it, She wanted to b.
again part of IT,
In revolt at the things that she diml
sensed as governors Of her whole afte
life. Lady Diana set her mount at m
suffly rallied fence before her As tn
pack. seeming the food waiting in tn
kennels swept through the fence. Lad
Diana went over IT,
In midair she saw picture, vividly an
anXiously Under the royal oak sat a