Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-03

fore she composed herself. She rose
heavily, as white as a narcissus flow
err, winding back her hair from her
quivering face, and struggling to re-
press the fearless sobS that still
caught strangely at her breath. The
gray infiltrating light seemed gaunt
and cruel, and the thin cheeping of
waking sparrows on the lawn came to
her with haunting intolerable note
Of pain.
Noiselessly as she had descended,
she crept again up the stair. As she
passed her mothers door, she paused
a moment, and laying her arms out
grain of the wood.
CHAPTER XII
The Awakening. ....
The sun had passed the meridian
next day when Valiant awoke, from
sleep as deep as Abou ben Adhem's.
yet one crowded with flying tiptoe
dreams. Inchoate and Of such flimsy
material that the first Whit of reality
dissipated them like smoke, these
nevertheless left behind them a fra
GRANGE, sensation of golden sweet
ness and delight. The one great fact
Of Shirley's love had lain at the core
of all these honied images, and his.
mind was full Of it as his eyes openedj
wide all at once, to the new day.
He looked at his watch and rolled
from the bed with a laugh. past
twelve!" he exclaimed. Good heav-
ems! What about all the work had
laid out for today?"
He went down the stair in his bath
robe. The walls were still wreath
hung, but the rooms had been despoil-
ed of their roses; only dozen vases
of blooms still unwithered remained
of the greater glory; and in the yellow
parlor-a great heap of shriveled pet
ais broken ivy and dewy-blue cedar
berries, sprinkled with wisps of feath-
ers and sequinned beads-lay the shat
tered remainders Of last nights
gaiety.
Presently he was splashing in the
lake, shooting under his curved hand
unerring jets of water at Chum, who
danced about the rim barking, now
venturing to wet valorous paw, now
scrambling up the bank to escape the
watery javelins
1t was another perfect day, though
far on the mountainous horizon
blue-back density promised otherwise
for the morrow. The sun lay golden.
soft over the huddled hills Birds
darted hither and thither, self-import-
ant bumble-bees doomed from vine to
vine and the shady lake-corners fash
ed with dragon-flies. The stately
white swans turned their arching
necks interrogatively toward the
splashing, and the brown ducks,
Peezletree and Pilgarlic, quacked and
gobbled softly to each other among
the lily-pads.
Valiant came up the terraces with
his blood bounding to a new rapture.
Crossing the garden, he ran quickly
to the little close which held the sun
dial and pulled single great passion
flower. He. stood a moment holding
it to his face, his nostrils catching it's
faint elusive perfume. Only last night
under the moon, he had stood there
with Shirley in his arms. A gush Of
the unbelievable sweetness Of that mo-
ment poured over him. His face
softened.
Standing with his sandaled feet
deep in the white blossoms, the sun
on his damp hair and the loose robe
clinging to his moist limbs. he gave
himself to sudden day-dream. A
wonderful waking dream of Joy over
flooding years of ambitionless ease;
of the Damory Court that should be in
days to come.
Summer would pass to autumn, with
maple-foliage falling in golden rain,
and fawn-brown fields scattered with
with the wine-red
beauty of October, it's purple pageant
Of crimsoning woods, it's opal haze Of
Indian summer, and scent of burning
leaves. Frost would lay it's spectral
stain over the old house like star-dew,
and the scent Of cider would linger
under the apple-trees. In his minds
eye he could see Uncle Jefferson bent
with the weight Of hickory-logs for
the eager chimney-piece, deep as the
easement of a fortrss. Snow-sandal-
ed winter would lay it's samite on the
dark blue ramparts of the mountains,
and droop the naked boughs Of the
mock-orange bushes, dishevel the
evergreens like rough-and-tumble
schoolboys, and cover the frosted ruts
Of the Red Road. But in Damory
Court would be cheerful warmth and
friendly noises, with loved woman
standing before the cracking fire.
place whose noticed IT c1inge" was
for him written in her fringed and
gentian eyes. SO he stood dreaming
a dream in the open sunlight, of fu-
ture that should never end, Of work
and plan, of comradeship and under
standing, Of cheer and tenderness and
clasping harftls and clinging lips-of
womans arms held out in that same
adorable gesture Of the tourney field,
to little children's uncertain footsteps
across that polished floor.
When he came from the little close
there was a new mystery In the sun
shine, fresh and joyous meaning in
the intense blue overarching of the
impondrable sky. Every bird-note held
its own love-secret. A wood-thrush
sang it from silver birch beside the
summer-house, and bob-white whist
led it in the little valley beyond. Even
the long triphammer of far-away
woodpecker beat a radiant tattoo.
He paused to greet the flaming pea
cocL that sont- ont oIIrd1in o. Scraoch