The Irish standard., 1914-03-14
y fault But for me Il would

VA V'SA Az AAAO AOS0 AoN oASA0Ay AOok
its feeling. There was q strange weak.
ness In his limbs.
Moments Of half-consciousness. OF
consciousness jumbled with strange
imaginings, followed. At times he felt
the pressure upon the wounded foot.
was sensible of the suction Of the
young mouth striving desperately to
draw the poison from the wound.
From time to time he was conscious
Of white desperate face haloed with
hair that was q mist Of woven spar.
kles. At times he thought himself
q recumbent stone statue in q wood,
and her q great tall golden-headed
flower lying broken at his feet. Again
he was granite boulder and she q
vine with yellow leaves winding and
clinging about him. Then q blank
q sense of movement and of troubloua
disturbance, of insistent voices that
called to him and inQuisitive hands
that plucked at him. and then voices
growing distant again, and hands fall.
ing away, and at last-silence.
Inky clouds were gathering over
the sunlight when Shirley came from
Damory Court, along the narrow wood.
path under the hemlocks, and the way
was striped with blue-black shadows
and filled with signing noises. She
walked warily. hating often at some
leafy rustic to catch q quick breath
of dread. Az she approached the tree
roots where the cape jessamines lay
she had to force her feet forward by
sheer effort Of will. At a little dis.
lance from them she broke a stick and
with it managed to drag the bunch to
her, turning her eyes with a shivel
from the trampled spot near by. She
picked up the flowers, and treadine
with caution, retraced her steps to the
wider path.
She stepped into the Red Road al
length In the teeth of q thunderstorm
which had arisen almost without warn.
ing to break with the passionate in:
tensity Of electric storms in the South
There was no shelter, but even had
there been, she would not have sought
1t. The turbulence of nature around
her matched. In q way, her over.
strained feeling, and she welcomed
the fierce bulge of the wind in the
up-blowing whorls of her hair and the
drenching wetness of the rain. She
tried to fix her miAd on near things,
the bending grasses, the scurrying red
runnels and tapping shrubbery, but
her thoughts wilfully escaped the
tether, turning again and again to the
events of the last two hours. She pic.
tured Unc' Jefferson's eyes rolling up
in ridiculous alarm, his winnowine
arm flashing his indignant mule in his
fight for the doctor.
At the mental picture she choked
with hysterical laughter. then cringed
suddenly against the sopping bark
She saw again the Doctors gaze LII
from his first examination of the tiny
punctures to send a swift penetrant
glance at her, before he bent his great
body to carry the unconscious man to
the house. Again q fit Of shudderine
swept over her. Then, all at once,
tears came, strangling sobs that bent
and swayed her. It was the discharge
Of the Leyden jar, the loosing Of the
tense bow.string and II brought re.
lief. After time size grew quieter.
He would get we'll! Tie thought
that perhaps she had saved his life
gave her q thrill that ran over her
whole body. And until yesterday she
had never seen him! She kneeled in
the blurred half-light, pushing her wet
hair back from her forehead and smil.
ing up In the rain that still fell fast.
IN few moments she rose ana went on.
At the gate Of the Rosewood lane
stood . mailbox On q cedar Fist and
she paused to flsh out q draxxled Rich
mont newspaper. As she thrust It un
der her arm her eye caught word Of
headline. With flush she tore Il
from its soggy wrapper, the wetted
noer parting In her eager fingers, and
resting her foot on the lower rail o,
the gate. spread 1t open on her knee.
She stood stock.still until she had
read the whole. It was the story Of
John Valiant's sacrifice Of his private
fortune to save the ruin of the in.
volved corporation.
Its effect upon her was q shock. She
felt her throat swell as she read: then
she was chilled by the memory of
what she had said to him: what
has be ever done except play polo and
furnish spicy paragraphs for the 30.
ctety columns?"
What beast l was!" she said. ad.
dressing the wet hedge. "Ie had just
done that splendid thing. 1t was be.
cause Of that that he was little better
than beggar, and I said those hor.
rible things!" Again she bent her
eyes. rereading the sentences: "Took
his detractors by surprise .
had Just sustained a grilling at the
hands Of the states examiner which
might we'll have dried at their fount
the springs Of sympathy"
She crushed up the paper in her
hand and rested her forehead on the
vet rail. Idiotically rich-a vandal-
. useless. ptrse-proud flaneur. She
had called him all that! She could
still see the paleness of his look as
she had said it.
Shirley, overexcited as she still was.
Ielt the sobs returning. These, how.
ever, did not last long and in q mo.
ment she found herself smiling AGAIN.
Though she had hurt him, she had