Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-04-30
CHAPTER XIX.
Niuht.

CHAPTER XIX.
Night.
A quicker breeze was stirring as
John Valiant went back along the Red
Road. He had waited in the garden
1t Rosewood till Shirley, aided by
Emmaline and with Ranston's anxious
face lowering in the background. hav-
ing performed those gentle Offices
which a woman's fainting spell re-
quires, had come to reassure him and
to say good nigkG ";
AS he threw OF his coat In the
bedroom he had chosen for his own,
be felt the hard corner OF the Lucille"
"a the pocket, and drawing IT. out, laid
1t on the table by the bedside, Ee
seemed to feel again the tingle OF
his cheek where. a curling strand Of
her coppery hair had sprung against it
when her head had bent beside his
own to read the marked lines.
When he had undressed he sat an
hour in the candle blaze, a dressing
gown thrown over his shoulders, striv-
ing vainly to recreate that evening
call, to remember her every word and
look and movement. For a breath
her face would flush suddenly before
him, like a live thing; then it would
mysteriously fade and elude him,
though he clenched his hands on the
arms of his chair in the fierce mental
effort to recall it. Only the intense
blue of her eyes, the tawny sweep Of
her hair-these and the touch Of her,
the consciousness of her warm and
vivid fragrance, remained to wrap all
his senses In a mist woven of gold
and fire.
= 80 . = =
Shirley, meanwhile, had sat some
time beside her mothers bed, leaning
from a white c~hintz-covered chair, her
anxiety only partially allayed by reas
surances, now and then STOPPING to lay
her young cheek against the delicate
arm in it's lacy sleeve or to pass hel
hand lovingly up and down its outline
noting with a recurrent passion of ten
derness the transparency OF the Skin
with it's violet veining and the shad
ows beneath the closed eyes. Emma
line, moving on soft w~orsted-shod fee
about the dim. room, at length hat
whispered. a't a''
"You go tub bald, honey. | stay
with Mis- Judith till she go tub Sleep
Eyes, go, Shirley" said her mother
Haven't l any privileges at all? Can
| even faint when | feel like 1t, withou'
calling out the fre-brigade? You'll
pamper me to death and heaven knows
| don't need it."
you won't let me telephone for Doc
tor Southall?" su
Certainly mott"
and you are sure it was nothing
but the roses?"
why, what else should it be-" sal,
her mother almost peevishly. Il mus
really have the arbors thinned out. Of
heavy nights it's positively overpower
ing. Go along now, and We'll tall
about it tomorrow, l can ring if
want anything"
In her room Shirley undresseI
thoughtfully. There was between he
and her mother a fine tenuous bon,
of sympathy and feeling as rare, pei
haps, as it was lovely. She could no
remember when the other had nc
been a semi-invalid, and her earlies
childhood recolIections were punctl
ated with the tap Of the little cane
Tonight's sudden indisposition ha
shocked and disturbed her; to fair
at a rush of perfume seemed to SUI
gest a growing weakness that wa
alarming. Tomorrow, she told hersel
she would send Ranston with a Wagon
load of the roses to the hospital
Charlottesville.
She slipped on a pink shell-shade
dressing-gown Of slinky silk with
riot Of azaleas scattered in the weav'
and then, dragging her chair befor
the open window, drew aside the ligl
curtain and began to brush her hal
All at once her gaze fell upon tn
floor, and she shrank backward from
twisting thread-like thing whose brigl
saffron-yellow glowed sharply again
the dark carpet. She saw in an l
slant, however, that it was nothiI
more dangerous than a fragment
! love-vine from the garden, which he
chung to her skirt. She picked l
t the tiny mass Of tendrils and with
slow smile tossed 1t " her rig
| shoulder through the window. IF
takes root" she said aloud, my swee
: heart loves me-" She leaned from Il
} sill to peer down into the misty ga
!. den, but could not follow its fall.
Long ago her visitor would ha'
reached Damory Court. She had
9 vision of him wandering, candle
hand, through the empty echoil
rooms. looking at the voiceless pc
traits on the walls, thinking perha
Of his father, Of the fatal duel Of viii,
s he had never known. She liked Il
way he had spoken Of his father!