The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1914-04-29

On the sOpping lawn she glanced
up at her mothers window Since the
night Of the ball her own panging self
consciousness had overlaid the fine
and sensitive association between
them. She had been full of horrible
feeling that her face must betray her
and the cause of her loss Of spirits
be guessed.
Her mother, had, in fact, been
troubled by this, but was far from
guessing the truth. A somewhat long
indisposition had followed her first
sight Of Valiant, and she had not
witnessed the tournament. She had
hung upon Shirley's description of it,
however, with an excited interest that
the other was later to translate in
the light Of her own discov cry. If the
thought had fitted to her that fate
might hold something deeper than
friendship in Shirley's acquaintance
with Valiant, it had been of the
vaguest. His choice of her as Queen
of Beauty had seemed a natural hom-
age to that swift and unflinching act
of hers which had saved his life.
There was in her mind a more OBJ
vious explanation Of Shirley's altered
demeanor. Perhaps it's Chilly Lusk,"
she had said to herself. "Have they
had a foolish quarrel, wonder? All,
we'll, in her own time she will tell
me-"
There was some relief to Shirley's
overcharged feelings in the very dis
comfort Of the drenched weather: the
sucking pull of the wet clay on her
boots and the flirt of the drops ON her
cheeks and hair. She thrust her dog
skin gloves into her pocket and held
her arms Outstretched to let the wind
blow through her fingers. The mois-
ture clung in damp wreaths to her
hair and rolled in great drops down
her coat as she went.
The widest, most secluded walks
had always drawn her most and she
instinctively chose one Of these today.
1t was the road whereon squatted Mad
Anthony's whitewashed cabin. "Dah's
er man gwine look in dem eyes, honey,
en- gwine make 'em cry en- cry" She
had forgotten the incident of that day.
when he had read her fortune. but
now the quavering prophecy came
back to her with shivering sense OF
reality. "Fo' dah's fah en- she ain
afeah'd, er dah's watah en- she ain
afeah'd. Et's de thing whut eat de
ha'at outen de breas'-dat whut she
afeah'd off," If it were only fire and
water that threatened her!
She struck her hands together with
an inarticulate cry. She remembered
the laugh in Valiant's eyes as they had
planted the roses, the characteristic
gesture with which he tossed the wav-
ing hair from his forehead-how she
, had named the ducks and the pea
cock and chosen the spots for his
flowers; and she smiled for such mem
ores, even in the stabbing knowledge
that these dear trivial things could
mean nothing to her in the future
She tried to realize that he was gone
from her life, that he was the one
man on earth whom to marry would
be to strike to the heart her love
and loyalty to her mother and she
said this over and over to herself in
varying phrases:
"You can't! No matter how much
you love him, you can't! His father
deliberately ruined your mothers life
Ayour OWN mother! It's bad enough
to love him-you can't help that. But
you can help marrying him. You
would hate yourself. You can never
kiss him again, or feel his arms around
you. You can't touch his hand. You
mustn't even see him. Not if it breaks
your heart-as your mothers heart
was broken!"
She had turned into an unbeaten
way that ambled from the road
through track of tall oaks and pines,
scarce more than bridle-path, wind
ing aimlessly through bracken-strewn
depths SO dense that even the wild
roses had not found them. In her
childish hurts she had always fed to
the companionship Of the trees. She
had known them every one-the black
gum and pale dogwood and gnarled
hickory, the prickly-balled button
WOOD" the lowly mulberry and the
majestic red oak and walnut. They
had seemed friendly and plying coun-
selors, standing about her with arms
intertwined. Now, with the rain weep.
ing in soughing gusts through them,
they offered her no comfort. She sud.
denly threw herself face down on the
soaked moss.
"Oh, God" she cried. T love him
SO! And l had only that one evening.
1t doesn't seem just. If could only
have him, and suffer some other way!
He's suffering, too, and it isn't our
fault! We neither OF us harmed any,
one! He isn't responsible for what
his father Qid-Why he hardly Iynou