Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-12-06
large room on the ground-foor that

vaguely and tenderly faded, with tall
plate mirror set over a marble-top.
ped console at either side. In one cor.
ner stood a grand piano Of Circassian
walnut with keys Of tinted mother-of-
pearl and slender music-rack inlaid
with morning.glories In the same ma
terial. From the center Of the ceiling,
above an oval table, depended great
chandelier hung with glass prisms. He
rev his handkerchief across the
table; beneath the disfiguring dust it
showed highly polished surface in
laid with different colored woods, in
an intricate, Italian-like landscape.
The legs Of the consoles were bowed,
delicately carved, and of gold-leaf.
The chairs and sofas were covered
with dusty slip-covers Of muslin. He
lifted one of these. The furnished
gold furniture was Louis XIV the up
holstery of yellow brocade with a pat
tern Of pink roses. Two Japanese
hawthorn vases sat on teakwood
stands and corner held glass cabi-
net containing collection of small
worries and faience.
His appreciative eye kindled.
what a room!" he muttered. mot
a Earring note anywhere! That's an
old Grove and Christopher piano. I'll
get plenty Of music out Of that! You
don't see such chandeliers outside Of
palaces any more except In the old
French chateaus. 1t holds a hundred
candles if it holds one! | never knew
before all there was in that phrase
the candle-lit fifties.' I can imagine
what 1t looked like, with the men in
white stocks and Powered waist
coats and the women In their crino-
lines and red-heeled slippers. bowling
to the minute under that candle-light!
I'll bet the girls bred in this neigh
borhood won't take much to the
|turkey-trot and the bunny-hug!"
He went thoughtfully back to the
great hall, where sat the big chest on
which lay the volume Of Lucille. He
pushed down the antique wrought
iron hasp and threw up the lid. 1t was
filled to the brim with textures: heavy
portieres of rose-damask. table-covers
of faded soft-toned tapestry, window
hangings Of dull green-all with to-
bacco-leaves laid between the folds
and sifted thickly over with the
sparkling white powder. At the bot
tom, rolled in tarry-smelling paper. he
d
er-rugs.
"Phew." he whistled. IT certainly
ought to be grateful to that law firm
that inspected the place. Think OF
the things lying here all these years!
And that powder everywhere! It's
done the work, too, for there's not
sign of moth. If I'm not careful. I'll
stumble over the family plate it
seems to be about the only thing
wanting"
The mantlepiece, beneath the
shrouded elk's head, was of gray
marble in which a crest was deeply
carved He went close and examined
it. "a sable greyhound, rampant, on
a field argent" he said. That's my
own crest, I suppose" There touched
him again the same eery sensation OF
acquaintance that had possessed him
with his first sight of the house-front.
Somehow it's familiar" he muttered;
where have seen it before?'
CHAPTER XIV
Sanctuary.
He thought a moment, then went
quickly into the library and began to
ransack the trunk. At length he
found a small box containing keep
sakes of various kinds He poured
the medley on to the table-an uncut
moonstone, an amethyst-topped pencil
that one Of his tutors had given him
as a boy, a tigers claw, compass
and what-not. Among them was
mans seal-ring with crest cut in
Icornelian. He looked at 1t closely. 1t
was the same device.
J,l,z T. e Pofh Tn
when or how it had come into his pos
session he could never remember. 1t
had lain among these keepsakes so
many years that he had almost for
gotten it's existence. He had never
worn a ring, but now, as he went back
to the hall, he slipped it on his finger.
The motto below the crest was worn
away, but it showed clear in the mar
BILE of the hall-mantle: I clinge.
! His eyes turned from the carven
words and strayed to the pleasant
sunny foliage outside. An arrogant
boast, perhaps, yet in the event well
Justified Valiants had held that self.
same slope when the encrcling~forests
| had rung with war-whoop and blazed
with torture-fire. They had held on
through revolution and civil war. Good
and bad, abiding and lawless, every
generation had cleaved stubbornly to
l. it's acres. clinge. His father had
clung through absence that seemed to
have been almost exile, and now he,
the last Valiant, was come to make
! good the boast.
| His gaze wavered. The tail Of his
eye had caught through the window
squirt of something dashing and vivid,
| that grazed the corner Of a far-off
field. He craned his neck, but it had
passed the line Of his vision. The
next moment, however, there came
trailing on the satiny stiffness the
Ihigh-keyed ululation of horn, and an
instant later a long-draWn hallo-o-o!
mixed with a pattering chorus of yelps
He went close, and leaning from the
sill. shaded his eyes with his hand.
The noise swelled and rounded in
volume; 1t was nearing rapidly. AS
he looked, the hunt dashed into full
view between the tree-boles--a gallop-
ing melee of khaki and scarlet, swarm
ing across the fresh green of wheat
field behind a spotted swirl Of hounds.
/ r. mounted a rise diDped mOmentarily