The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1914-08-19
CHAPTER Xxx.
In the Rain.

In the Rain.
Shirley stood looking out at the
rain. 1t was falling in no steadv
idownpour which held forth promise
of ending, but with a gentle constance
that gave the hills look of sudden
idiscomfort and made disconsolato %
miry pools by the roadside. Tho
clouds were not too thick, however tn
let through dismal gray brightnoss
that shone on the foliage and touched
with glietening lines of higb.lipht tba
,draggled tufts Of the soaked bIuo.
grass. NOW and then, across the drip
ping fields, fraying skeins Of mist wan.
;dered, 10 lie curdled in the flooded
Ihollows where, here and there cattle
stood lowing at intervals in q mourn.
ful key.
The indoors had become impossible
to her. She was sick of trying to
read, sick Of the endless pacngs and
purposeiess invention Of needless
tasks. She wanted movement, the
cobwebby mist about her knees, the
wet rain In her face. She ran upstairs
and came down clad In q close scarlet
Jersey, with leather CATERS and soft
hat
Emmaline saw her thus accoutered
WIN dlsapproval. "Lawdy mercy,
chile" she urged; you amt goin'
out7 It's rainin' cats, en- dawgs!"
I'm neither sugar nor salt, Emma
line" responded Shirley listlessly,
dragging on her rain-coat, and the
walk will do me good"
On the sopping lawn she glanced
up at her mothers window. Since the
night Of the ball her own panging self
consciousness had overlaid tho fine
and sensitive association between
them. She had been full Of horrible
feeling that her face must betray her
and the cause Of her loss of spirits
be guessed.
Her mother, had, In fact, been
troubled by this. but was far from
guessing the truth. A somewhat long
l1ndisposition had followed her first
sight of Valiant, and she had not
witnessed the tournament She had
hung upon Shirley's description of it,
however. with an excited interest that
the other was later to translate in
THE light of her own discovery. If the
|thought had fitted to her that fate
might hold something deeper than
friendship in Shirley's acquaintance
with Valiant, it had been Of the
lVaguest. His choice OF her as Queen
lof Beauty had seemed natural hon.
lage to that swift and unninching act
bf hers which had saved his life.
There was In her mind q more OBJ.
OP hirlo
Idemeanor. Perhaps it's Chilly Lusk,"
she had said to herself. Have they
had foolish quarrel, wonder? All,
well, in her own time she will tell
me-"
There was some relief to Shirley's
Eovercharged feelings in the very dis
comfort of the drenched weather: the
sucking pull Of the wet clay on her
boots and the flirt of the drops on her
Icheeks and hair She thrust her dog
skin gloves into her pocket and held
>her arms outstretched to let the wind
blow through her fingers. The moie-
tnre clung in damp wreaths to her
hair and rolled in great drops down
her coat as she went.
The widest, most secluded walks
had always drawn her most and she
hnstinctively chose one Of these today.
1T was the road whereon squatted Mad
.Anthony's whitewashed cabin "Dah's
;ar man gwine look in dem eyes, honey,
'en gwine make 'em cry en- cry" She
had forgotten the incident Of that day,
when he had read her fortune, but
now the quavering prophecy came
back to her with a shivering sense OF
realty. go dahs flah en- she ain
'afeah'd en- dah's watah en- she ain
afeah'd. Et's de thing whut eat de
'ha'at outen de breas'-dat whut she
!afeah'd of" If 1t were only fire and
water that threatened her!
She struck her hands together with
an inarticulate cry. She remembered
the laugh in Valiant's eyes as they had
planted the roses, the characteristic
gesture with which he tossed the wav-
ing hair from his forchead-how she
had named the ducks and the pea
cock and chosen the spots for his
flowers; and she smiled for such mem
tories, even in the stabbing knowledge
that these dear trivial things could
mean nothing to her in the future
She tried to realize that he was gone
from her life, that he was the one
man on earth whom to marry would
be to strike to the heart her love
and loyalty to her mother, and she
said this over and over to herself in
varying phrases:
you can't! No matter how much
you love him, you can't! His father
deliberately ruined your mothers life
your own mother! It's bad enough