The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-08-14
CHAPTER XIII.
The Root of All Evil.


awakened smart. The numb ache OF
a sorrow was always with her, but her
consciousness of it was dulled in the
diversion of every days occupations
Bringing 1t to the surface this way
gave 1t new vitality, and when the
conversation was over and the visitor
gone 1t refused to subside into its old
place.
She went slowly up stairs, hearing
the low murmur Of voices from the
sitting-room where Cornelia and Jack
Duffy were still secluded Even the
thought Of that satisfactorily-buddin
romance did not cheer her as il had
done earlier in the day. AS she had
told Cannon, she was not the woman
she had been. Old age was coming on
her and with 1t softening Of her iron
nature. She wanted her son. her Ben
jamin, dearly beloved with all the
forces Of her maturity as his father
had been with all the glow of her
youth.
In her own room she threw aside
the lace curtains, and looking out on
the spl6ndor Of the afternoon, deter
mined to seek cheer in the open air.
Like all Californians she had q be-
lief in the healing beneficence Of air
and sunlight. AS the sun had soothed
Berry OF her sense Of care so now it
wooed her enemy also to seek solece
in its balm. She rang for the serv-
ant and ordered the carriage. A few
minutes later, clad in rich enshrouding
black, she slowly made her way down
stairs and out to the sidewalk where
the victoria, glittering in the trim
perfection of it's appointments and
drawn by pair Of well-matched chest
nuts, stood at the curb.
The man on the box touched his
hat with respectful greeting and the
Chinese butler, who had accompanied
her down the steps, arranged the rug
over her knees and stepped back with
the friendly 'good-by," which is the
politeness Of his race. They respected,
feared and liked her. Every domestic
who had ever worked in Della Ryan's
service from the first hired girl" of
her early Shasta days to the staff that
now knew the rigors of her dominion.
had found her just and generous If
exacting mistress. She had never been
unfair, she had never been unkind.
She was one of themselves and she
knew how to manage them, how to
make them understand that she was
master, and that no drones were per-
mitted in her hive; how to make them
feel that she had a heart that sympa-
thiZed with them, not as creatures Of
an alien class remotely removed from
her own, but as fellow beings, having
the same passions, griefs and hopes as
herself
AS the carriage rolled forward she
settled back against the cushioned
seat and let her eyes roam over the
prospect. 1t was the heart of the aft
ernoon, still untouched by chill, not a
breath stirring. Passing up the long
drive which leads to the park, the dust
raised by wheels hung rudy in the
air. The long shadows Of trees striped
the roadway in an irregular black pat
tern, picked out with spatterings of
sunshine. like a spilled, gold liquid.
Belts of fragrance, the breaths of
towering shrubs, extended from bushy
coppices. and sometimes the keen.
acrid odor of the eucalyptus rose on
the air. From this lane Of entrance
the park spread fan-like into a still,
gracious pleasance. The rich, golden
light slept on level stretches Of turf
and thick mound-shaped groups of
trees. The throb Of music-the thin,
ethereal music OF out-of-doors-
swelled and sank; the voices of chill.
dren rose clear and fine from compli.
Gated distances, and once the raucous
cry of a peacock split the quietness,
seeming to break through the pictorial
serenity Of the lovely, dreamy scene.
Mrs. Ryan sat without movement,
her face set in sphinx-like profundity
of expression. People in passing car. |
riages bowed to her but she did not
see them and their salutes went unre. |
turned. Her vision was bent back on
scenes of her past so far removed
from what made up the present. so
different and remote from her life to.
day, that it did not seem as if the
same perspective could include two
such extremes.
She was thinking this as the car.
riage swept into the wider reach of |
the drive near the band stand. Though
the music was still throbbing on the
air, people were already leaving. Mrs.
Ryan let her uninterested glance touch
the hated heads of the women and
then move forward to the man who
headed l. l.
hand pretty, fair-haired child. who
leaning out from his restraining grasp
walked a little before him, looking
back laughfngly into HIS face. Mrs.
Ryan's eyes, alighting on his back, be
came suddenly charged with a fierce
1xity Of attention. The carriage over.
lauled him and before he looked up
she leaned forward and saw his profile,
he brow marked by a frown, the
'hild's gay prattle causing no respon.
i've smile to break the brooding gray.
ty that held his features.
AS he felt the vibration of the wheel
It his shoulder he started aside and
ooked up. When he recognized his
mother his face Redeemed, and. with
quick smile, he lifted his hat. Her
eturning salute was serious. almost
ragically somber. Then the victoria
wept on, and he and the child, neither
or a moment speaking, looked after
he bonneted head that scared away !
efore them with a level, forward VI
ration, like a floating bird, the little
arasol held stiffiy erect on its jointed
andle.
|