Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-08-07

| the slender yellOWeu SHdlt VI q 80 =
| tain in whose shallow cup ropiu
was taking its rain-water pain. Inc
pooI was dry. the tiles that hasi
| formed its floor were pried apart
with weeds: ribald wild grape-Vlnes
ran amuck hither and thither; ana
over all was drenching-sWeet sceh'
of trailing honeysuckle.
Threading his way among the uanh
underground of the desolate Wlluei
ness. following the sound OF running
water. he came suddenly TO Ittla
| lake fed from unseen pipes, tnle
spread its lily-padded surface cooIif
and ihvitingly under clump. OF ems
Beside it stood a spring-house WIZ WIZ
sadly sagging roof. win ueaA
branch he probed the waters oepth.
''Ten feet and a pebble bottom, ne
said. The lakes overflow poured III
a. musical cascade down between
fern covered rocks, to join, far below,
the stream he had seen from inc
gateway. Beyond this the ground
rose again to a hill, densely foresle'.
and fanked by, runnelled slopes OF
poverty-strieken broom sedge as
star and scar as the bad lands OF an
alkali desert. AS he gazed, pro
dubbed into a wild song from tn9
grapevine tangled behind him, ana
almost at his feet a rabbit scuouet,
blithelv out of the weeds and darted
back.
"Minel" he said alond with a rue
full pride. "And for general run
downness. it's up to the ADVERTISE
ment." He looked musingly at the
piteous wreck and ruin, his gaze
sweeping down across the barei
fields and unkempt forest. "Mine!
he repeated. "All that, | suppose
for it has the same eartnarks of neg,
lect. Between thosa cultivated
stretches it looks like a wedge OF
Sahara gone astray." His gaze
returned to the house. ct
what a place it must have been
in it's time" 1t had not sprung into
being at the whim of any man; IT
had grown mellowly and deliberate
ly. expressing the multiform life ana
culture of a stock. Generation AFTER
generation, fatheg and son, had lived
there and loved it. and, ministerlnS
to all. it had given to each of Itself
The wild weird beauty was injecting
him and the pathos of the desolation
caught at his heart. He went slowly
back to where his conductor sat on
the lichened horseback.
yves heah." called Uncle jefferson
cheerfully. "Whut we gwineter do
mex sub? Reckn All bettah go oVah
ter Miss Dandridge's place fer er
crow-bah. Lawd!" he added, 'ef he
ain got de key! Whut yo' think OBJ
dat now?"
John Valiant was looking closely
at the big key; for there We're
words which he had not noted pc
fore, engraved in the massive fiange:
Friends all hours" He smiled. The
sentiment sent a warm current OF
pleasure to his finger-tips. Here was
the very text of hospitality!
A Lilliputian spiderweb was
stretched over the pre-empted key
hole, and he fetched grass-stem
and poked out its tiny gray-striped
denizen before he inserted the key
in the rusted lock. He turned it with
a curious sense of timidity. All the
strength of his fingers was necessary
before the massive door swung open
and the leveling sun sent it's late red
rays into the gloomy interior.
He stood in spacious hall. his
nostrils filled with a curious but not
unpleasant aromatic odor with which
the place was strongly impregnated.
The hall ran the full length of the
building, and in it's centre a wide,
balustraded double staircase led to
upper darkness. The floor, where his
footprints had disturbed the even
gray film of dust, was of fine close
parquetry and had been generously
strewn everywhere with a mica like
powder. He stopped and took up a
pinch in his fingers, noting that 1t
gave forth the curious spicy scent.
Dim paintings in furnished frames
hung on the walls. From a niche on
the break of the stairway looked
down the round face of a tall Dutch
clock, and on one side protruded a
huge bullying something draped with
a yellowed linen sheet. From it's
shape he guessed this to be an elk 8
head. Dust, undsturbed, lay thickly
on everythingy-gh ostly floating cob
webs crawled across his face, and a
bat fitted out of a fireplace and van
ished squeaking over his head. With
Uncle Jefferson's help he opened the
rear doors and windows, knocked up
the rusted belts of the shutters and
flung them wide
But for the dust and cobwebs and
the strange odor, mingled with the
faint musty smell that pervades a
sunless interior, the former owner of
the house might have deserted it a
week ago. On a wall-rack lay two
walking sticks and a gold-mounted
hunting-crop, and on, a great carved
chest below it had been flung an
opened book bound in fooled. leather.
John Valiant picked this up curious
ly. 1t was Lucille. He noted that
here and there passages were marked
with penciled lines-some light and
femininely delicate, some heavier, as
though two had been reading. it to-
gether, noting their individual pref
erences.
He laid 1t back musinglv and open
ing a door, entered the large room
1t disclosed. This had been the din
ing room. The walls were white, in
alternate panels with small oval mir
rors whose dust-covered surfaces
looked like ground steel At one
end stood a crystal-knobbed ma
hogany sideboard, holding glass
candlesticks in the shape of Ionic
columns-above it quaint por-
trait of a lady in hoops and love
ourls-and at the other end was a
huge fireplace with rush-red fre-dogs
and furnished brass fender. All these.
with the round centipede table and
the Chippendale chairs set in order
AGAINST the walls xyara diy,,t,,a5 o,,.l