The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1914-10-06

Jessamlne anniversary.
"Reck'n she flop all tn feddahs outer
her wings. Gimme that o. tin crown
i like ter lam 1t out tn winder!
Come on, now; we go upstairs soft
SOS not ter 'sturb Mis- Judith
In the silvery-blue bedroom, she
deity unfastened the hooks of the
heavy satin gown and coaxed her mis-
tress to lie on the sofa while she un-
pinned the masses of waving hair till
they lay in a rich surge over the
cushion. Then she brought a brush
and crouching down beside her, began
with long gentle strokes to smooth out
the silken threads, talking to her the
while in soft grooming monotone.
Under these ministrations Shirley
lay languid and speeches., her eyes
closed. The fear that had stricken
ner heart by turns seemed a cold hand
pressing upon it's beating and an algid
vapor rising stealthily over it. But
her hands were hot and her eyelids
burned. Finally she reused herself.
Thank you, Emmaline," she said
in tired voice, good night now; I'm
going to sleep, and you must go to
bed, too"
But alone in the warm wan dark,
Shirley lay staring open-eyed at the
ceiling. Slowly the terror was selling
upon her, the dread, noiseless and in
tangible, folding her in the shadow OF
its numbing wings. Was her mother
the one over whom that old duel had
been fought? She remembered the
that duel-of the death of Sassoon-
the anniversary her mother kept?
She sat up in bed. trembling. Then
she rose, and opening the door with
caution, crept down the stair, sliding
her hot hand before her along the
cool polished banister. AS she passed
through the lower hall, hound on the
| porch, seeming her, stirred, thumped
his tail on the flooring, and whined.
| Cropping her way to the dining-room,
| she lighted candle and passed
through a corridor into low-ceiling-
ed chamber employed as general re-
ceptacle-a glorified garrett, as Mrs.
cambridge dubbed 1t.
It showed a strange assemblage! A
row of chests, stored with winter
clothing, gave forth clean pungent
| smell of cedar, and at one side stood
an antique spinet and worn set OF
horsehair furniture.
Shirley had turned her miserable
! eyes on a bookshelf along one wall.
4 rfofn h0d
! her fathers, and among them stood
| a row of tones taller than their fell
| lows-the bound numbers of county
| newspaper, beginning before the war.
! The back of each was stamped with
the year. She was deciphering these
/ faded imprints. Thirty years ago,
she whispered; yes, here 1t is."
She set down the candle and
| dragged out one of the huge leather
backs. Staggering under the weight,
she rested it's edge on the table and
| began feverishly to turn the pages, her
eye on the date line. She stopped
presently with a quick breath-she
had reached May 18th. The year was
that of the duel: the date was the day
| following the jessamine anniversary.
Fearfully her eye overran the columns,
Then suddenly she put her open
hand on the page as though to blot
out the words, every trace OF color
stricken from cheek and brow. But
the line seemed to glow up through
the very flesh: Died. May 14th; Ed
ward Sassoon, in his twenty-sixth
year"
The book slipped to the floor with a
! crash that echoed through the room.
1t was true, then! 1t was Sassoon's
death that her mother molrned. The
man in whose arms she had stood
such little while ago by the old dial
of Damory Court was the son Of the
man who had killed him!
"Oh, God" she whispered, lust
when / was so happy! Oh. mother.
mother! You loved him, and your
heart broke when he died 1t was
Valiant who broke tt-Va1iant-Vak
liant His father!"