Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1914-05-28

clinging about him Then a blank
a sense of movement and Of troublous
| 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 Iast-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 filed with signing noises. She
walked warily, hating often at some
| leafy rustic to catch a quick breath
Of dread. AS 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 stick and
| with it managed to drag the bunch to
| her, turning her eyes with a shiver
from the trampled spot near by. She
picked up the flowers, and treading
with caution, retraced her steps to the
wider path
She stepped into the Red Road at
| length in the teeth of 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
| it. The turbulence of nature around
her matched, in 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 mind 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 winnowing
arm flashing his indignant mule in his
| flight 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 lift
/ 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 a fit of shuddering
swept over her. Then, all at once.
tears came, strangling sobs that bent
! and swayed her. 1t was the discharge
| of the Leyden jar, the Il Using of the
| tense bow-string and it brought re-
| lief After a time ste grew quieter.
! He would get we'll! The thought
! that perhaps she had saved his life
| gave her 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 and went on.
! At the gate Of the Rosewood lane
stood a mail-box on a cedar post and
| she paused to fish out draggled Rich
mond newspaper. As she thrust it I'M
! der her arm her eye caught a word of
headline. With flush she tore it
from its soggy wrapper, the wetted
fiber parting in her eager fingers, and
resting her foot on the lower rail of
the gate, spread it open on her knee.
She stood stock-still until she had
read the whole. 1t 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 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 he ever done except play polo and
furnish spicy paragraphs for the So
ciety columns?"
What beast was!" she said, adj
dressing the wet hedge. HE had just
done that splendid thing 1t was be-