Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-25
CHAPTER Xxx Continued.

dnO ONSAJ INV llcihb Puh'iiAsS h'i ~ VIVA
now plunging again, never giving up,
And she told herself that the son was
the same sort. That hard set of the
jaw, those firm lips, would know no
finching He might suffer, but be
would be strong. Subconsciously her
mind was also swiftly contrasting him
with Chilly Lusk; the same spare 1.-the
frame but set Off by light skin, brown
hair and hazel eyes; the two faces
alike sharply and clearly chiseled
but this one purged of the lazy scorn
the stately, and reckless indulgence
Half unconsciously she spoke heI
thought aloud: "You look like your
father, do you not?"
Yes he replied, there's a strong
likeness. I have a photograph which
I'll show you sometime. But how did
you know"
Perhaps l only guessed" she said
in some confusion. To cover this she
stopped by the pebbly marge and held
out her hand to the bronze ducks that
pushed and gobbled about her fingers.
What have you named them?' she
asked
Nothing. You christen them
Every we'll The light one shall be
Peezletree and the dark one Pilgarl1c
I got the names from John Jasper-he
was Virginia's famous negro preacher.
I once heard him hold forth when he
read from one of the Psalms-the one
about the harp and the plsaltery-and
he called it peezletree.'
Speaking of ducks" said the major
tweaking his gray imperial, reminds
me of Judge Chalmers white mallard
He had a pair that were so much In
love they did nothing but loaf around
honey-cafuddling with their wings over
each others backs. 1t was a lesson
in domesticity for the community
sab. Well, the drake got shot for a
wild one, and if you'll believe 1t. the
poor little duck was that inconsolable
1t would have brought tears to your
eyes. The whole Chalmers family
were affected"
Shirley had put one hand over her
mouth to repress a smile. Major,
Maori" she murmured reprovingly.
But his guilty glance avoided her.
Eyes. sab, nothing would console
her. So at last Chalmers got another
drake. the handsom est he could find,
and trotted him out. to please her.
What do you reckon that little white
duck did? She looked at the judge
once reproachfully and then waddled
down to black n1uck-bed and lay
down in 1t. She came out with as
fine a suit of mourning as you ever
saw. And believe 1t or not, sab, but
she wouldn't go in the water for ten
days."
Valiant's laugh rang out over the
lake-to be answered by a sudden
sharp screach from the terrace, where
the peacock strutted, q blaze OF spang'
led purple and gold. They turned 70
see Aunt Daphne issue from the k1tch-
en-, twig-broom in hand.
''Heah!" she exclaimed. What TO
yo' kyahin' ON like er will gyraf wen
we got comp'ny, yo' trif1in' OF fan-tail,
yo'! Git outen heah!" She waved
her weapon and the bird, with a rauc'
Gus shrek Of defiance, retired in ruf-
fed disorder. The master OF Damory
Court looked at Shirley. What shall
we name him."
"I'd call him Fre-Cracker II he
goes off like that she said. And
Fire Cracker the bird was christened
forthwith.
"And now" said Shirley, "let's set
out the ramblers"
The major had brought rough plan,
sketched from memory, of the old ar,
rangement Of the formal garden. I'll
Just 20 over the lines of the beds with
Unc' Jefferson. he proposed. while
you two potter over these roses So
Valiant and Shirley walked back up
the slope beenath the pergola together
The sun was westering fast, and long
lilac cloud-trails lay over the terraces
But the bumbling bees were still busy
in the honeysuckle and hawking drag
on-flies shot hither and thither A
robin was fitting on the rim of the
fountain and it looked at them with
head turned sidewise, with a low
sweet pipe that mingled with the
tricl1ling laugh Of the falling water.
With Ranston, putting and blowing
like a black porpoise over his creak'
ing go-cart, they planted the ramblers
crimson and pink and WHITEHALL
ant much of the time on his knees, his
hands plunging deep into the black
spongy earth, and Shirley with broad
hat flung on the grass, her fingers
separating the clinging thread-like
roots and her small arched foot tanln-
ing down the soil about them. Her
hair-the color Of wet raw wood in ~"
sunlight-was very near the bro
head and sometimes their fn@C
touched over the work. Once, as tt
stood I'd flushed with the exercise.
great black and oran &c butterfly, dazed
with the sun-glow alighted on Valiant's
rolled-up sleeve. He held his arm
perfectly still AMI blew gently on the
waverine pinions TIL it swan amay.
When a rodbird firted by, to his de-
light she whistled its call so perfectly
that it wheeled in mid-fight and tilted
inuuiringlv back toward them.
AS they descended the terrace again
to the pergola. he said. "There's only
ono thinr lacking at Damory Court
sundial.'
'7hen you Ravens found it?' she
,ried delightedly. Come and let me
how you"
She led the way through the maze
Of beds at one side till they reached a
hedge laced thickly with Virginia
creeper. He parted this leafy screen,
bending back the springing fronds