Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-03-06


who came to a sudden demoralized
stop in the embarrassing foreground.
Ralph" Numbered the doctor.
Didn't | tell you to go back to that
kitchen?"
Yes. sub" responded the imp. But
yo' didn' tell me ter stay dar!"
IF | see you out here again." roared
the doctor, I'll tie your ears back
and grease you-and SWALLOW
you'll" At which grisly threat, the
apparition, with a shriIl shrek, turned
and ran desperately for the corner OF
the house.
II hear" said the doctor, resuming,
that the young man who came to fix
the place up has hired Uncle Jeffer-
son and his wife to help him. Who's
responsible for that interesting infor-
mation?"
hickey Snyder" said Mrs. Mason.
She's got a spy-glass rugged up in
a sugar-tree at Miss Matte Sues
and she saw them p~ottering around
there this morning"
Little limb!" exclaimed Mrs. Gift
ford. with emphasis. She's as cheeky
as a town-hog. l can't imagine what
Shirley cambridge was thinking of
when she brought that low-born child
out of her sphere"
Something like a growl came from
the doctor as he struck open the
screen-door. "'Limb!' I'll bet ten
dollars she's an angel in a cedar
k.1o - a abt,,nh faf- annnnornd with
some better-born young ones l know
of who are only fit to live when
they've got the scarlet-fever and who
ought to be in the r~eformatory long
CO.. And as for Shirley cambridge,
it's my opinion she and her mother
and a few others like her have got
about the only drops of the milk or
human kindness in this whole aban-
doned community"
Dreadful mani" said Mrs. Clifford,
soto voce, as the door banged vicious
ly. ITO think of his being born a
Southall! Sometimes l can't believe
it,"
Mrs. Mason shook her head and
smiled. "Ah, but that isn't the real
Doctor Southall," she said. That's
only his she'll"
I've heard that he has another
SIDE" responded the other with
guarded grimness, "but If he has, /
wish he'd manage to show it some
times"
Mrs. Mason took off her glasses and
wiped them carefully. Il saw it when
my husband died." she said softly.
THAT was before you came. They
were old friends, you know. He was
sick almost a year, and the doctor
used to carry him out here on the
porch every day in his arms, like a
child. And then, when the typhus
came that summer among the negroes,
he u~uarantined himself with them-the
only white man there-and treated
and nursed them and buried the dead
with his own hands, tall 1t was
stamped out. That's the real Doctor
Southall."
The rockers vibrated in silence for a
moment. Then Mrs. Clifford said: Il
never knew before that he had any.
thing to do with that duel. Was he
one of Valiant's seconds?"
YES" said Mrs. Mason; "and the
major was the other. l was a little
girl when it happened. / a barely
remember it, but it made a big sensa-
ton"
And over a love-affair!" exclaimed
Mrs. Clifford in the tone of n to
whom omanc was daily bread.
81 suppose it was"
For a time the conversation Ian
guished. Then Mrs. Clifford asked sud
denly: Who do you suppose h
could have been?-the girl behind that
old Valiant affair.""
Mrs. Mason shook her head. mo
one knows for certain-unless, of
course, the major or the doctor, and
wouldn't question either of them for
worlds. You see, people had stopped
gossiping about it before l was out of
school. There's Major Bristow at the
gate now. And the doctors just COM
ing out again."
The major wore a suit of white
linen, with a broad-brimmed straw
hat, and a pink was in his button
-@t
hole, but to the observing, his step
might have seemed to lack an accus-
toned j%auntiness. AS he came up the
path the doctor opened his office.
How do you feel this morning, Ma
jor."
"Feel?' rumbled the major; the
way any gentleman ought to feel this
time of the morning. sab. Like hell,
sab"
The doctor bent his gaze on the
hilarious blossom In the others lapel.
IF | were you, Bristow," he said
scathingly, 81 reckon I'd quit galivant-
ing around to bridge-fghts with per-
fumery on my handkerchief every
evening. It's the devil of an example
to the young"
The rocking-chairs behind the