Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-30

on his face. Midway OF this squirt ne
looked at her to say: did you ever
know a more beautiful countryside?
See how the pink-and-yellow OF those
grain fields fades into the purple OF
the hills. Very few painters have
ever captured tint like that. It's
like raspberries crushed in curdled
milk"
I've quite lost my heart to 1t all
she said, her voice jolting with the
speed of their course. cts perfect
pastoral so different from our
terrific city pace. . OF course it
must be trife dull at times -. see-
ing the same people always :. and
without the theater and the opera and
the whirl about one-but the kind
Of life one reads about .. in the
novels Of the South you know
suppose one doesn't realize that it &C.
tually exists until one comes to
Southern place like this. And the
negro servants. How odd it must be
to have white-headed old darby in a
-buttoned swallow-tail for but
Ter! So picturesque! At Fudge
Chalmers, have feeling all the time
that I'm walking through a stage re-
hearsal.''
The car slackened speed as 1t slid
by a white-washed cabin at whose en-.
trance sat dusky gray-bearded fig
ure. Valiant pointed. do you see
him." he asked.
~ see very ordinary old colored
man sitting on the doorstep" Kathar
inc replied.
That's Mad Anthony, our local
Mother Shipton. He's prophet and
soothsayer. Uncle Jefferson-that's
my Observation-Disclosures that he fore.
told my coming to Damory Court. If
we had more time you could have
your fortune told"
How thrilling!" she commented
with half humorous irony.
He pointed to a great white house
set in a grove Of trees. THAT is
Beechwood," he told her, the Beverley
homestead. Young Beverley was the
knight Of the Silver Cross. A fine old
place, isn't 1t? It was burned by the
Indians during the French and Indian
War. My Observation-Disclosures
-" He broke of. But then, those old
things won't interest you
"They interest you a great deal,
don't they" she asked
YES" he admitted, they do. Yes
see, my ancestors are such new &C,
quaintances, I find them absorbing.
You know when lived in New York
.
Last month";
He laughed a little-not quite the
laugh she had known in the past. Yes
but I can hardly believe it: I seem to
have been here half a lifetime. TO
think that month ago | was a
double-dyed New Yorker"
cts been a strange experience for
you. Don't you feel rather Jekyl-and-
Hydish?'
That's a terrible compound" he
laughed. as he swept the car round
curve, skilfully evading humping
wagon-load of farm-hands. 'In which
capacity am Mr.. Hyde, by the way?'
She smiled at him round the edge
of her blown veil. Figures of speech
aren't to be analysed. You are DR..
Jekyl in New York, anyway. You
read what the papers said? No? It's
just as we'll; it would have been likely
to turn your head
"Could anything be as likely to, do
that as-this?" With a glance he in
ulChLcu her pI6SSllCc Dcbluc IT'LL.
She made him hooking bow. "Be
careful" she warned. speeches like
that smack of disloyalty to your
queen. What pretty girl she is!
congratulate you on your prowess. /
must add my congratulations on your
taste"
He returned her bow Of moment
since.
1T was all a most unique thing"
she went on" And tonight at your ball
I shall witness the coronation. can
hardly walt to see Damory Court. Do
you know, in all these years I never
suspected what versatile genius you
were? It's too wonderful how you
have stepped into this life-into the
peoples thoughts and feelings-as you
have. When you come back to New
York"
He looked at her, oddly she thought.
"Why should I go back?"
"Why? Because it's your natural
habitat. Isn't it,"
"That's the word,' he said smiling.
"1t was my habitat. This is my
home"
She was silent moment in sheer
surprise She had thought Of this
Southern essay as a quickly passing
incident, colorful chapter whose
page might any day be turned. But 1t
was impossible to mistake his mean
ing. Clearly, he was deeply infatua-
ted whit this Arcadian experience and
had no thought at present but to con-
tinue 1t Indefinitely.
But 1t would pass! He was New
Yorker, after ALL. And what more
charming than to have an old place
in such a countryside-a position
ready made at ones hand, to step into
for a month or two when ennui made
the old haunts tasteless? It was worth
some cultivation. One must anchor
somewhere Virginia was not so far
from the center; splendid estates OF
dotted even the Carolinas.
Here one might be in hand-touch with
everything. And 1t was no small thing
to hold one Of the oldest and proudest
names in a section like this. One
could always have town-house too
there was Washington, and there was
They were passing the entrance Of
a cherry-bordered lane, and without
taking his hands from the gear, he