Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-01
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tinge of color but nevertheless he
thought she dropped. "You are tired"
he said, "shant we sit 1t out?''
"Oh, do you mind?" she responded
gratefully. ut has been fairly strenu-
GUS day, hasn't it,"
He guided her to a corridor, where
branches Of rhododendron screened an
alcove Of settees and seductive cush-
ions. Here. her WEAKNESS seemed put
to rout. There was no dropping Of
fringed lids, no disconcerting silences;
she chartered with ease and piquancy.
Its like fairy tale" she said at
length dreamily,-"this wonderful life.
To step into it from New York is like
coming out of dollhouse into the
spring out-of-doors! 1t makes our city
existence seem so sordidly artificial.
You have chosen right"
81 know it. And yet two months
|ago a life hundred miles from the
|avenue would have seemed a sad and
sandy Sahara. I know better now
81 have been listening to paeans all
the evening"" she said. And you de-
serve them It's fine big thing you
are attempting-the restoring OF this
old estate And I know you have even
bigger plans, too"
He nodded, suddenly serious and
thoughtful There's lot I'd like to
do. It's not only the house and
grounds. There are other things.
For instance, back on the mountain
on my own land-is a settlement they
call Hells -Half-Acre. Probably 1t has
we'll earned the name. It's wretched
collection of novels and surly men and
drabs of women and unkempt children,
the poorest Of poor-whites. Not one
of them can read or write, and they
live like animals. If I'm ever able,
mean to put Misunderstanding school
up there. And then"
He ended with a half laugh. sud-
denly conscious that he was talking in
a language she would scarcely under
stand-in fact, in a tongue new to him.
self. But there was no smile on her
lips and her extraordinary eyes--cool
gray, shot through with emerald
were looking into his with frankness
and sympathy he would not have
guessed lay beneath her glacial
placidity.
To Katharine, indeed, it mad title
difference what philanthropic ia the
man she had chosen might affect as re-
garded his tenantry. Ambitions like
these had immortal flavor that did
not displease her. And the Fargo
millions would bear much harmless
hammering. A change, subtle and in
communicable, passed over her
II shall think of you,' she sighed.
"as working on in this splendid pro-
gram. For it is splendid. But New
York will miss you,John."
"Ah, no. I've no decisions on that
score. dare say I'm almost forgotten
there already. Here have a place"
Her head, leaned back against the
cushion. turned toward him, the pale
orchids trembling on her bosom--she
was so near that he could feel her
breath on his cheek. A new waltz had
begun to sigh it's languorous measures.
"Place?" she queried. ''Do you think
you had no place there? Is it possible
that you do not understand that your
going has left-a void?"
He looked at her suddenly, and her
eyes fell. No sophisticated blushing this,
thought though it was by such effective
employment of her charms that her
wonderful body and plant mind had
been drilled and fashioned from her
babyhood Katharine at the moment
was as near the luxury Of real en-
barrassment as she had ever been In
her life
Before he answered. however, the
big form of Major Bristow appeared,
looking about him.
TT has-left a void" she said, her
eyes still downcast her voice just low
enough, for me-"
The major bounced upon them at
this juncture, feelingly accusing John
of the nefarious design of robbing the
assembage of its bright and particular
star. When katharine put her hand In
her cavaliers arm. her eyes were
dewy under their long shading lashes
and her fine lips ever so little tremul-
Gus. 1t had been her best available
moment. and she had used 1t.
AS she moved away, her faint color
slightly heightened. she was glad OF
the interruption. It was better as it
was When John Valiant came to her
again.
But to him, as he stood watching
her move lightly from him, there vas
vouchsafed illumination. It came to
him suddenly that that placidity and
hauteur which he had so admired in
the old days were no mask for fires
within. The exquisite husk was the
real Katharine Hers was the lowell
ness Of some tall white lily cut in
marble, splendid but chill And with
the thought, between him and her
there swept through the shimmering
candle-lighted air breath of wet rose
fragrance like an impalable cloud,
and set in the midst of it a misty star
tinted gown sprayed with lilies-of-the-
valley, and above it a girls face clear
and vivid, her deep shadow-blue eyes
fixed on his.
The music Of two-step was Ian
gushing when, little later, Valiant
and Shirley strolled down between the
garden box-hedges, cypress-shaped and
lifting spire-like toward a sky which
bent, silent canopy of mauve and
purplish blue. The moon drowsed be-
tween the trees like great yellow
moth, and the shadows of the branches
lay on the ground like sharp blush
etchings on light green paper Be-
hind them Namory Court Law a nest