The Irish standard., 1914-04-04


as her observant eye recognized; but
1t ran staunch and true. The powerful
hands that gripped the steering-wheel
were brown with sun and wind, and
the handsome face above it had a look
Of keenness and energy she had never
surprised before. They passed many
vehicles and there were few whose 90
cupauts did not greet him. In fact.
as he presently remarked, it was q
saving Of energy to keep his hat of:
and he tossed the Panama into the
rear seat. On the rim of the village
q group raised a cheer to which he
nodded laughingly. and further on q
little old lady on timid vine-colored
porch beside church. waved q black
mttted hand to him with sweet old
time gesture. Katharine noted that he
bowed to her with extra care.
That's Miss Matte Sue Mabry." no
said, "the quaintest. dearest thing you
ever saw. She taught my father his
letters"
Where the Red Road stretched level
before them, he threw the throttle
open for q long rush through the
thymy-scented air. The light, late
afternoon breeze drew by them. sweep
ing back Katharine's graceful sinuous
veil and spraying them with odors Of
clover and sunny fruit. They passed
orchard clumps bending with young
apples. boundless aisles Of green,
young-tasseled corn anc shadowy
groves that smelled of fern and sassa-
fras. opening out into more sunlighted
vistas overarched by the intense pene-
trable Of the June sky.
John Valiant had never seemed to
her 30 wholly good TO see, with his
waving hair ruifling in their fight and
the westering sun shining redly on his
face. Midway of this squirt he looked
at her to say: did you ever know a
more beautiful countryside? See how
tho pink.and-yellow of those grain
fields fades into the purple of the hills.
Very few painters have ever captured
a tint like that. It's like raspberries
crushed in curdled milk"
1--WE quite lost my heart to it ALL"
she said. her voice jolting with the
speed of their course. Its q perfect
pastoral 20 different from
our terrific city pace. OF
course it must be trifle dull at times
zee seeing the same people al
ways and without the thea
ter and the opera and the whirl about
one-but the kind Of life
one reads about in the nov.
els of the South. you know .
I suppose one doesn't realize that It
actually exists until one comes to q
Southern place like this. And the
negro servants! How odd it must be
to have white-haired old darby In o
brass-buttoned swallow.tail for a but
Ter! So picturesque! At Judge Chal-
mers' have feeling all the time that
I'm walking through q stage 70
hearsal."
The car slackened speed as 1t slid
by o white-washed cabin at whose en-
trance sat q dusky gray-bearded fig
ure. Valiant pointed. DO you see
him" he asked.
Il see very ordinary old colored
man sitting on the doorstep" Kaths-
rine replied.
That's Mad Anthony, our local
Mother shipton. He's a prophet and
soothsayer. Uncle Jefferson-that's
my body.servant-insists that he fore
told my coming to Damory Court. If
We had more time you could have
your fortune told"
How thrilling!" she commented
with halfhumorous irony.
He pointed to a great white house
set in a grove Of trees. 'That ID
Beechwood," he told her, ''the Beverly
homestead. Young Beverley was the
knight of the Silver Cross. A fine old
place, isn't 1t? It was burned by the
Indians during the French and Indian
War. My great-great-great-gra
er -" He broke of. But then, those
old things won't interest you"
"They interest you q great deal,
don't they?" she asked.
eyes," he admitted, they do. You
see, my ancestors are such new &C.
quaintances, I find them absorbing.
You know when lived in New
York"
Last month";
He laughed little-not quite the
laugh she had known in the past.
Eyes. but can hardly believe it:
seem to have been here half a lifetime.
To think that month ago was a
double-dyed New Yorker"
TITS been a strange experience for
you. When you come back to New
York"
He looked at her, oddly she thought.
'Why should go back?"
"Why? Because it's your natural
habitat. Inst it,"
THAT'S the word" he said smiling.
1T was my habitat. This is my home"
She was silent q moment In sheer
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