The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1914-06-09
CHAPTER XXX.
In the Rain.

CHAPTER AN.
In the Rain.
Shirley stood looking out at the
rain. 1t was falling II. no steady
downpour which held forth promise
of ending, but with gentle constancy
that gave the hills look Of sudden
discomfort and made disconsolate
miry pools by the roadside. The
clouds were not too thick, however, to
let through a dismal gray brightness
that shone on the foliage and touched
with glistening lines of high-light the
draggled tufts of the soaked blue
grass. Now and then, across the drip
ping fields, fraying skeins of mist wan
dered, to lie curdled in the flooded
hoIIows. where, here and there, cattle
stood lowing at intervals in mourn
full key.
The indoors had become impossible
to her. She was sick of tryins to
read, sick of the endless pacings and
purposeless invention of needless
tasks. She wanted movement, the
cobwebby mist about her knees, the
wet rain in her face She ran upstairs
and came down clad in a close scarlet
jersey, with leather CATERS and a soft
hat.
Emmaline saw her thus accoutered
with disapproval "Lawdy-mercy,
chile!" she urged; you amt goin'
out? It's rainin' cats en- dawgs!"
I'm neither sugar nor salt, Emma
line" responded Shirley hstlessly,
dragging on her rain-coat, "and the
walk will do me good"
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 frst
sight of Valiant, and she had not
witnessed the tournament. She had
hung upon Shirley's description of it
however, with an excited interest thai
the other was later to translate in
the light of her own discovery. If the
thought had fitted to her that fate
might hold something deeper thar
friendship in Shirley's acquaintance
with Valiant, it had been of the
vaguest. His choice of her az Queer
of Beauty had seemed a natural HON
age to that swift and un1inching act
of hers which had saved his life
There was in her mind a more oh
vious explanation of Shirley's altered
demeanor. perhaps it's Chilly Lusk,
she had said to herself. Have the!
had a foolish quarrel, wonder? All
well, in her own time she will tel
me-"
There was some relief to Shirley
overcharged feelings in the very dis
comfort of the drenched weather: tn
sucking pull of the wet clay ON he
boots and the f1irt of the drops on he
cheeks and hair. She thrust her dog
skin gloves into her pocket and he'll
her arms outstretched to let the win
blow through her fingers, The moie
ture chung in damp wreaths to he
hair and rolled in great drops dow
her coat as she went
The widest, most secluded walk
had always drawn her most and sh
instinctively chose one of these today
1t was the road wherein squatted Ma
Anthony's whitewashed cabin. "Dah
er man gwine look in dem eyes, hone!
en- gwine make 'em cry en- cry" Sh
had forgotten the incident of that da.
when he had read her fortune, br
now the quavering prophecy cam
back to her with shivering sense {
reality 20 dah's fab en- she ali
afeah'd, en- dah's watah en- she ali
afeah'd. Els de thing whut eat q
ha'at outen de breas'-dat whut 81
afeah'd Oft" If it were only fire an
water that threatened her!
She struck her hands together wit
an inarticulate cry. She remembers
the laugh in Valiant's eyes as they hs
planted the roses, the characterize
gesture with which be tossed the wa
ing hair from his forehead-how 81
had named the ducks and the pc
cock and chosen the spots for b
| flowers; and she smiled for such mel
cries, even in the stabbing knowledi
that these dear trivial things cou
/ mean nothing to her in the futuI
She tried to realize that he was gol
, from her life, that he was the o.
man on earth whom to marry wou
J be to strike to the heart her 10
= and loyalty to her mother, and s.
/. said this over and over to herself
D varying phrases:
4 you can't! No matter how mu
), you love him, you can't! His faith
D deliberately ruined your mothers Il
r your own mother! It's bad enou
to love him-you can't help that 3
g you can help marrying him. Y
d would hate yourself. You can new
t kiss him again, or feel his arms srou
e you. You can't touch his hand Y
n mustn't even see him. Not if it brea
k your heart-as your mothers he;
was broken!"
e She had turned into an unbeat
l. way that ambled from the re
e through track of tall oaks and pin
3. scarce more than bridle-path, Wi
l. ing aimlessly through bracken-stre
g depths so dense that even the WI
A roses had not found them. In
k childish hurts she had always fed
s. the companionship of the trees. s
k had known them every one-the bla
g gum and pale dogwood and gnar
II hickory, the prickly-ba1led butt
Ie wood" the lowly mulberry and