Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-05-28

the thought, between him and her
there swept through the s~himmering
candle-lighted air a breath Of wet rose
fragrance like an impalpable cloud,
and set in the midst of it a misty star
tinted gown sprayed with lilies-of-the-
valley, and above 1t a girls face clear
and vivid, her deep shadow-blue eyes
fixed on his.
The music of a two-step was Ian
gushing when. a little later, Valiant
and Shirley strolled down between
the garden box-hedges, cypress-shaped
and lifting ~spire-like toward a sky
which bent, a silent canopy of mauve
and purplish blue. Behind them
Damory court lay a nest Of woven
music and laughter The long white
muslined porch shimmered goldenly,
and beside it under the lanterns dal-
lied a fiirtatious couple or two, ghost
like in the shadows.
Come" he said. Let me take you
to see the sun-dial now"
The tangle had been cut away and
a narrow gravel-path led through the
pruned creepers. She made an excla-
nation Of delight. The ~onyx-pillar
stood in an oasis of white-moonflow-
ers, white dahlias, ~mignonette and mar
cissus; bars Of late lilies-of-the-val-
ley beyond these, bordered with Arum-
lilies, white clematis, iris and bridal
wreath, shading out into tender paler
hues that ringed the spotless purity
like dawning passion.
white for happiness" he quoted.
"You said that when you brought me
here-the day we planted the ram
blers. Do you remember what l
said? That some day, perhaps, l should
love this spot the best of all at Damory
court" He was silent a moment, trac-
ing with his finger the motto on the
dials rim. when l was very little"
he went on-"hardly more than three
years old, / think-my father and /
had a play, in which we lived in a
great mansion like this. 1t was called
Wishing House, and it was in the mid
die Of the Never-Never Land-a sort
of beautiful fairy country in which
everything happened right. | know
now that the Never-Never Land was
Virginia, and that Wishing House was
Damory court. No wonder my father
loved it! No wonder his memory turn
ed back to 1t always! I've wanted to
make it as it was when he lived here.
And l want the old dial to count happy
hours for me.
Something had crept into his tone
that struck her with a strange sweet
terror and tumult of mind. The hand
that clutched her skirts about her
knees had begun to tremble and she
caught the other hand to her cheek
in a vague hesitant gesture. The moon
flowers seemed to be great round eyes
staring up at her.
Shirley" he said, and now his
voice vas shaken with longing-"will
you make my happiness for MOI"
She was standing perfectly still
against the sun dial, both hands. laced
together, against her breast, her eyes
on his with a strange startled look.
Over the hush Of the garden now, like
the very soul of the passionate night,
throbbed the haunting barcarole of
Tales Of Hoffmann:"
Might of stars and night Of love-"
an i~narticulate echo of his longing. He
took a step toward her, and she turn
ed like one in sudden terror seeking
a way of escape. But he caught her
close in his arms.
Il love you!" he said. Hear it now
in my brides garden that I've made
for you! I love you, I love you!"
For n instant she struggled. Then,
slowly, her eyes turned tt his, the
sweet lips trembling, and something
dawning deep in the dewy blue that
turned all his leaping blood to quick
silver. my darling!" he breathed,
and their lips met.
In that delirious moment both had
the sense of divine completion that
comes only with love returned. For
him there was but the woman in his
arms, the one woman created for him
since the foundation of the world. 1t
was Kismet. For this he had come to
Virginia. For this fate had turned
and twisted a thousand ways. Through
the riot of his senses. like a silver
I blaze, ran the legend Of the calendar:
Every man carries his fate upon q
riband about his neck" For her, some
thing seemed to pass from her soul
with that kiss, some deep i%rrevocable
thing, shy but fiercely strong, that had
sprung to him at that h~p-contact as
steel to magnet. The foliage about
them flared up in green light and the
ground under her feet rose and fell
like deep sea-waves. d
She lifted her face to him. 1t was
deathly pale, but the light that burned
on 1t was lit from the whitest altar
fires Of southern girlhood, "Six weeks
ago." she whispered, you had never
seer mel"
tn oNn EDAMKl IAl