The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1914-06-20
The DkUGH*CER,of
DAVID KERR ste
BY Harry M,.5 1ootle
Illustrations X HHy 1Al7=es %

terror anu Bet u6T u6aEI 10 O0atlNS
high with sudden fear. But not this.
o God! Not this"
She repeated the pathetic words of
Little Ella.
There's enough of US drops in Bel
mont to fill a pretty big bucket'-oh.
1t can't be my father! 1t can't be my
father!-He has a daughter-It's all
horrid mistake. There must be an
other David Kerr. I'm sure"
Gloria sprang from her chair and
seized the sleeping woman roughly by
he arm.
more Of David Kerr
She shook Little Ella into a con-
scious state and repeated the question.
(Which David Kerr is it,"
There's only one know Of" an
swered Ella. He's got real estate
office on Fifth street"
What"
The net of circumstances was be-
ing drawn tighter and tighter about
one man, and that man her father
Are you sure he's the man, girl?"
Gloria asked the question in as sub
dued a manner as possible. Suddenly
she had become afraid. She did not
wish to arouse suspicion.
Sure, he's the man." 1t tried ones
patience to be reused from sleep. and
then to meet with contradiction was
enough to make one petulant To set
tie the question SO that she could go
back to sleep, little Ella added:
Look on my bureau and you'll see
a program of the Dave Kerr DENNY
cratic club ball"
Gloria walked over to the bureau
with it's tumble of odds and ends. and
began to turn over the things me-
chemically.
mo, not that. Look behind that
photygraft That's it. That's his pic
ture on the front"
Gloria gave one look. The picture
was that of her father.
For time Little Ella chartered
drowsily, but Gloria did not hear. She
was Frustrated by a grief that numbed
her every faculty. The foundation Of
her faith had been swept away.
What she beheld seemed to burn It.
self into her brain. On the cover OF
the program were the words: Annual
Ball. David Kerr Democratic Club"
and the picture of her father. 1t was
the truth; her father was the boss of
Belmont. SO different was her posi-
ton from that pinnacle on which she
had thought herself to be that the
whole world would have to 60 through
| a revolutionary orientation. There was
nothing in her life which would not
i have to be adjusted anew because OF
| this revelation.
As she turned the pages Of the pro-
gram, pages filled with liquor and sa-
loon advertisements, her thoughts
were all of herself. Resentment and
anger there we're. directed toward her
father, but now In the first moments
when she saw herself as Belmont saw
her humiliation conquered all other
emotions. Her first thought of Joe
Wright was that he had kept the truth
from her She could not grow more
1
was out of the question because she
was completely crushed, but she saw
as in book that had been written and
laid away as finished, the sacrifice
he had made for her, the supreme re-
nunciation he had made because he
would not denounce her father before
her
The thought of how different her
Homecoming had been from what she
had planned made her laugh hysteric-
ally. Then when she recalled the few
staunch friends she had made she
clutched wildly at the hope that after
all 1t was untrue. ..
TITS lie, every word of it, lie his
enemies invent. What big man but
has about him envious wasps that
prick and sting? Judge Gilbert, Mr..
Kendall, Doctor Hayes, they'll all say
that he-Joe Wright! What of him?
What will he say?"
She put this man that had loved her
in one balance and the other men III
the other. He outweighed them all.
and the momentary hope was gone.
She could see 1t all now. As the baf-
fling attitude Of Belmont revealed it.
self to her bit by bit she buried her
face in her arms and sobbed.
"And l was SO proud. oh, so proud"
moaned the daughter of David Kerr.
Joe! Joe! You did love mel sent
him away, and I never understood.
| Me-, T cau aoo n oil Tho aOcial a1iphtS
the cold disdain could not under
stand-the whispers that died away
before they reached my ears-all. all.
all because I was David Kerr's daugh-
| fer David Kerr the boss of Belmont"