The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1914-09-23
CHAPTER xxxIV,
When the Clock Struck.
H|o7W GaES 81 Gooo3 -nIit,sfII ca

ian proverb kept running through her |
mind. When she had pushed the gold |
harp into it's corner she threw herself !
upon broad sofa in feathcry drift /
of chntz cushions and dropped her |
forehead in her laced fingers. A gilt
framed mirror hung on the opposite !
wall, out OF which her sorrowful brood !
ing eyes looked with an expression OF
dumb and weary suffering.
Her confused thoughts raced hither
and thithcr. What would be the end?
Would Valiant forget after time?
Would he marry Miss Fargo, per-
haps? The thought caused her a stab
of anguish. Yet she herself could not
marry him. The barrier was impas-
sable!
She was still lying listlessly among
the cushions when 4 step sounded on
the porch and she heard Chilly Lusk's
voice in the hall. With heavy hands
Shirley put into place her disheveled
hair and rose TO meet him.
I'm awfully selfish to come to.
night" he said aWkwardly; mo doubt
YOU are tired out"
She disclaimcd tho wearincss that
dragged upon her spirits like lcadcn
weights, and made him welcome with
her usual cordiality. She was, in fact
relieved at his coming. at Damory
court, the night OF the ball, when she
had come from the garden with her
lips thrilling from Nalant's kiss, she
had suddenly met his look 1t had
seemed to hold startled realization
that she had remembered with a re-
morselul compunction. Since that
night he had not been at Rosewood.
Ranston had lighted pine,knot in
tho fireplace. and the walls were shud,
| dering with crimson shadows. Her
hand was shielding her eyes, and as
she strove to fill the gaps in their
| somewhat spaSmodic conversation
with the trivial impersonal things that
belonged to their old intimacy, the
tiny flickering flames seemed to be
darting unfriendly fingers plucking at
her secret. Leaning from her nest Of
cushions she thrust the poker into
the glowing resinous mass till sparFa
whizzcd up the chimneys black NAV
in torrent.
How they fly" ,shc said "Rickey
Snyder calls it raising a blizzard in
'Hades. used TO think they few up
ITO the sky and bacame the ittlcst
stars. What a pity we have to grow
up and learn so much! I'd rather
have kept on believing that when the
red leaves in the woods whirlcd about
in a circle the fairies were dancing,
and that it was the gnomcs who put
the cockle-burs in the hounds ears"
gradually becoming shrinkingly CON
scious of his constrained and STUN
bling manner. She had, however. but
half defined his crrand when he came
to .it:all in burst.
j Il. can't get to it somehow, >Shir-
4 ley" The said with sudden desperation
"but there it Is. I've ,cdme ito ask you
to marry me. Don't stop me-" he
went 'on hurriedly. lifting his hand:
Whatever you say, / must tell you
| TIVE been trying to for months and
months!" Now that he had started,
| it came with boyish vehamence that
! both chilled and thrilled her Even
In her own desolation. and shrinking
almost unbearably from the avowal,
the hope and brightness in his voice
touched her with pity. 1t seemed to
her that life was strange tumble OF
unacceptable and ncomprehonslble
pain And all the while, in the young
voice vibrant with feeling. her uring-
ing ear was catching imagined echoes
of that other voice, gravcr and moro
sclfcon tanned, hut shaken by the safne
passion, in that iteration Of L lore
you! | love you!"
| His answer came to him finally in
her silence, and he released her banda
which he had caught in his own. They
| dropped, limp and unresponsve. in
Aer lap. Shirley" he said brokcnly,
"maybc you can't care for me--yct.
But If you will marry me, I'LL be
content with SO little, till-you do"
Sac shook her head, her hair max
Ing dim flashes in the freight mo,
Chilly" sho said "It makes me
wretched to give you pain. but / must
II must! Love isn't like that. 1t
doesn't come afterward. know.
could never give you What you want.
You would end by despising me, as
I--should dcspise myself"
II won't give up" he said incoher.
emily. II can't give up. Not so long
as know there's nobody else At the
ball thought thought perhaps you
cared for Valiant--but since he told
me"
He stopped suddenly for she was
looking at him from an ashen face.
lie told me there was no reason why
should not try my luck" he said DIFF
fcultly. ~ asked him."