Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-02-26
CHAPTER xv-(continued).

5CtlIdi SGll. I1c piCitlChtu Will tHS -
of his set along the river; the High
street young people wandered in and
out of his mothers home at Informal
sumnler dances, and played ennis on
the lawns. and ate ice cream OF eve
nings, and flirted on the yeranda mucn
as they had done when he was 10.
Nothing was changed. only he was now
a man at a mans work. Much IKE ms
father, people said. From his Office
window Harlan could see the luage
drive in town behind old Dutch. tie him
to the rail and walk slowly under the
naples to the court house steps. speak
ing gently to every one, bowling with
old time courtesy to the women, pat
ting the dogs-a fine. upright. beloved
figure of a man. That was what ne
should come to be. doubtless. a sturdy.
~unfearing. clear minded American of
the best people.
And once as he watched the court
room windows with the June sweetness
straying in. he thought of that eve
ming when John Lindstrom's hoarse
n d~espairing voice cursed his father
and the law. He felt that even now
the hurt of it was on his his fathers
mind. A hurt growing with what the
town was slowly coming to think OF
Lindstrom. He had defied society. cut
himself off. a religious fanatic. in his
patch of corn land in the pocket. Only
ieiSt WGSh, IL SilOlSuI u liiS
pied arm. the gaunt quarry worker had
come upon the surveyors on his land
running the line for the diversion dam
and forbade them further entry. Har-
Ian remembered hat he had heard
Marryat, the good natured sheriff, tel
ling his father that he would have to
drive out and have a little friendly talk
with John. The somber quarryman
was a 'bit OFF, maybe. Taken his chill
dren out of school. forbade them to mix
with the town boys and all that. The
judge had not answered. Harlan knew
In his hear there was a. grief n an
outrage he would not reveal. People
had whispered that John had become
an outlaw from the day Judge Van
Hart put the faint Of the Jail on him.
Then to Harlan's mind the thought
OF Lindstrom brought the memory Of
another summer-the long quiet eve
nings when he had met Aurelie in the
hills. 1t seemed that he must have been
desperately sorry for her to love her
so. That was it-her pathos and her
| grace n prettiness and all the magic
| of the summer. Now he heard her dis
cussed about the verandas by the nice
| girls he knew-her notoriety, the laugh
able idea of her going on the stage!
And backed financially by the McFet-
ridge boys! 1t seemed to Harlan, as
the nice girls talked of 1T in the ham
mocks and over their ices. that all that
was cheap, unworthy. grotesque. utter
Iy apart from all he had known. had
come to gather about Aurelie.
"Imagine!" said Elise Dickinson in a
! group about his mothers porch one eve
ming. "a travelling man who came in
papa's store yesterday told him that
Aurelie Lindstrom was being billed in
a stock company as the 100000 prize
beauty-and was wearing diamonds! I
don't uppos they are real!"
= NE-. 10 w. - + r. .-- 49, - rr-.
lan,s face. She was thankful that none
of the younger set had ever known Of
her sons summer ~infatuation. Now
Harlan's firm lips closed as colby. his
square Jaw set as hard as his moth
er's had done the night Aurelie was
unruffled. "As real, my DEAR she
murmured. "as her beauty prize. AS
an advertisement for the newspaper
h vas undoubtedly n success. how
ever. But the diamonds-are those
men who used to run the livery stable
still her managers!?"
Ever SO carelessly! But Harlan's
Jaw set more doggedly. She had stung
the last refuge of his pride. The Nc
Fetrtdge boys-and Aurelie!
And the story of those diamonds wan
dered ove the town and grew and
grew. First a mere brooch. then a neck
lace-after that q tiara! Playter, the
druggist. told Wiley Curran Of Hen
McFetridge clothing Aurelie in dia-
monds out of the exploitation of his
doubtful oil speculations, and Wiley
called him a liar. The. News lost an
other advertising contract right there
Wiley told Aunt Abby about it that
night at upper. She looked %curiously
at his drawn face. Wiley. I don't be-
And good girls don't sell their virtue
Wiley-they give it away. maybe. be-
cause they love. And Aurelie doesn't
| love Hen McFetridge-the twins just
amuse her. Her letter shows that"
And tho old lady waddled to the sew
ing circle that night to hear what she
could hear. to defend what might be
defended. There was need. Aurelie
was the towns daughter of scarlet lonE
before half the missionary boxes were
filed that e and the Shakespeare
club was lone with, its critical study
Of Desdemona's story. Aunt Abby was
unable to counteract the Shakespear'
club dfgressions. for the Shakespear,
club was composed almost wholly O
High street ladies'. And Shakespeart
club gossip. though covert and vel
bred. was as deadly. The Rome Shake
speare club held ITSELF Saloof. The Earl
Vile Woman's club was busy with civi,
programs. Every time the Rom,
Shakespearian ladies had a paper OF
81 Twelfth Night or Lear. the Earlvill
women had q protest to the city coun
ell about street lighting or the saloon
Mercury-Journal said: 's'The Woman
club was the livest booster In tn
burg
The Rome women never boosted any
bOdySexcept Shakespeare or Rusktn. Q
the intellectual DEVELOPMENT Of ElrOp,
or the court OF Louis XIV.
There were two persons u Rome WI