The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1914-08-11

He Leaned Slightly Toward Her, One
Hand on the Diais Time-Notched
Rim.
we got comply, yo' triffn' Oh fan
tail. 20! Git outen heah!" She
waved her weapon and the bird, with
raucous shrek of defiance, retired
| in ruffled disorder. The master OF
Damory Court looked at Shirley
What shall we name him"
| I'D call him Fire-Cracker If he
goes off like that she said And Fire
| Cracker the bird was christened forth
1 with.
"And now" said Shirley. lets set
out the ramblers."
| The major had brought rough plan,
sketched from memory, of the old ar
rangement of the formal garden. "T'll
J just go over the lines Of the beds with
| Unc' Jefferson" he proposed, while
! you two potter over these roses" So
,7 rhi~'o, ~,~''-cS hack IN
the slope beneath the pergola to.
'gether
With Ranston, putting and blowing
1 like black porpoise over his creak.
ing go-cart, they planted the ramblers
crimson and pink and white-Va
liant much of the time on his knees
his hands plunging deep into the black
spongy earth, and Shirley with broad
hat flung on the grass. her fingers
separating the clinging thread-like
roots and her small arched foot lamp.
ing down the soil about them. Her
hafr-the color of wet raw wood In
the sunlight-was very near the brown
| head and sometimes their fingers
touched over the work. Once, as they
stood up, flushed with the exercise, a
great black and orange butterfly,
dazed with the sun-glow, alighted on
Valiant's rolled-up sleeve. He held his
arm perfectly still and blew gently
on the wavering pinions till it swan
/ away. When a redbird flirted by, to
his delight she whistled it's call so
| perfectly that it wheeled in mid-fight
and tilted inquiringly back toward
! them.
AS they descended the terrace again
| to the pergola, he said, There's only
one thing lacking at Damory Court
| q sun-dial."
Then you haven't found it," she
| cried delightedly. Come and let me
show you"
| She led the way through the maze
Of beds at one side till they reached
3 hedge laced thickly with Virginia
! creeper. He parted this leafy screen,
| bending back the springing fronds
that thrust against the flimsy muslin
| Of her gown and threatened to spear
the pink-rOsed hat that cast an ador-
able warm tint over her creamy face,
thinking that never had the old place
seen such a picture as she made
framed in the deep green.
| Some such thought was In the ma
! jor's mind, too, as he came slowly up
the terrace below. He paused, to take
of his hat and wipe his brow.
With the place all fixed up this
way" he sighed to himself, II could
| believe it was only last week that
| Beauty Valiant and Southall and
were boys, loafing around this gyar-
den. And to think that now It's Va
liant's son and Judith's daughter!
Why, 1t seems like yesterday that Shir-
ley there was only knee-high to q
| grssshopper-and I used to tell her
| her hair was that color because she
ran through hell bareheaded. I'm
| about thousand years old, reckon!"
Meanwhile the two figures abovs
| had pushed through the tangle into
q circular sunny space where stood a
short round pillar Of red onyx. 1t was
/ gray polished stone in which its metal
| tongue was socketed. Round the outer
| edge of the disk ran an inscription
In archaic lettering. Valiant pulled
| away the clustering ivy leaves and
read: II count no hours but the hap
| py ones"
IF that had only been true!" he
said.
| TT Is true. See how the vines hid
| the sun from it. It ceased to mark
/ the time after the Court was de-
serted"
'Pu put moonfowers at its base and
where you are standing, Madonna
! lilies. The outer part of the circle
| shall have bridal-wreath and white
! lrises, and they shall shade out into
| pastel colors-mauves and grays and
! aeliotropes. On, shall love this spot!
perhaps sometime the best of all. !"
(Which do you love the most now?"
| He leaned slightly toward her, one
| hand on the dials time-notched rim.
| Don't you known he said in a lower
voice. Gould any other spot mean to
me what that acre under the hemlocks
! means?"
| Her face was turned from him, her
fingers pulling at the drifting vine, and
splinter of sunlight tangled in her
hair like lace OF 1reflies.
Il could never forget It," he con-
| tinued. THE thing that spoiled my
fathers life happened there, yet there
We two first talked, and there yor-"
'Don't!" she said. facing him.
DON'T"
"Ah, let me speak! l want to tell
vou that shall carry the memory OF