The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1914-05-12

The major had brought rough plan,
sketched from memory. of the old ar
rangement OF the formal garden. TN
just go over the lines of the beds with
Unc' Jefferson" he proposed. while
you two potter over these roses" So
Valiant and Shirley walked back up
the slope beneath the. pergola to-
gether.
With Ranston, putting and blowing
like black porpoise over his creak-
ing go-cart, they planted the ramblers
crimson and pink and white--Va
liant much of the time on his knees,
his hands plunging deep into the black
spongy earth, and Shirley with broad
hat fung on the grass. her fingers
separating the clinging thread-like
roots and her small arched foot lamp
ing down the soil about them Her
hair-the color of wet raw wood in
the sunlight-was very near the brown
head and sometimes their fingers
touched over the work. Once, as they
stood up, flushed with the exercise. a
great black and orange butterfly.
dazed with the sun-glow, alighted on
Valiant's rolled-up sleeve. He held his
arm perfectly still and blew gently
on the wavering pinions till it swan
away. When redbird firted by. to
his delight she whistled its call 80
perfectly that it wheeled in mid-fight
and tilted inquiringly back toward
them.
AS they descended the terrace again
to the pergola, he said, There's only
one thing lacking at Damory Court
sun-dial-"
"Then you haven't found IT." she
cried delightedly. Come and let me
show you
She led the way through the maze
of beds at one side till they reached
hedge laced thickly with Virginia
creeper. He parted this leafy screen.
bending back the springing fronds
that thrust against the flimsy muslin
of her gown and threatened to spear
the pink-rosed hat that cast an ador-
able warm tint over her creamy face,
thinking that never had the old place
seen such a picture as she made
framed in the deep green
Some such thought was in the ma
jor's mind, too, as he came slowly up
the terrace below. He paused, to take
off his hat and wipe his brow.
with the place all fixed up this
way" he sighed to himself, Il could
believe it was only last week that
Beauty Valiant and Southall and l
were boys, loafing around this gyar-
den. And to think that Row it's Va
liant's son and Judith's daughter!
Why, it seems like yesterday that Shir-
ley there was only knee-high to a
grasshopper-and / used to tell her
her hair was that color because she
ran through hell bareheaded. I'm
about a thousand years old, reckon!"
Meanwhile the two figures above
had pushed through the tangle into
a circular sunny space where stood a
short round pillar of red onyx. It was
a sun-dial, its vine-clad disk cut of
gray polished stone in which its metal
tongue was socketed. Round the outer
| edge of the disk ran an inscription
in. archaic lettering. Valiant pulled
away the clustering Ivy leaves and
read: 81 count no hours but the hap
by ones"
eff that had only been true!" he
said.
ct is true. See how the vines hid
the sun from it. 1t ceased to mark
the time after the Court was de
serted"
"FIl put mooniowers at its base and
where you are standing, Madonna
lilies. The outer part of the circle
shall have bridal-wreath and white
irises, and they shall shade out into
| pastel colors-mauves and grays and
heliotropes. Oh, shall love this spot!
perhaps sometime the best of all.
(Which do you love the most now?'
He leaned slightly toward her, one
hand on the diaPs time-notched rim
Don't you know% he said in lower
voice. Gould any other spot mean tt
me what that acre under the hemlocks
means?"
Her face was turned from him, hel
fingers pulling at the drifting vine, anG
a splinter of sunlight tangled in hel
hair like a lace Of fireflies.
Il could never forget it," he con
tinued THE thing that spoiled my
fathers life happened there, yet there
we two first talked, and there you"
DON'T" she said, facing him
''Don't!"
'Ah, let me speak! 1 want to tel
you that shall carry the memory o
that afternoon, and of your brave kind
ness, always, always! If l were never
to see you again in this life, shoul(
always treasure it. If died of thirs
in some Sahara, it would be the las
thing l should remember-your fact
would be the last thing / should see
If +"
In the silence there was the SOUND
of slow football on the gravel walk
and at the same moment he saw ;
magical change. Shirley drew back
The soft gentian blue of her eyei
darkened The lips that an instan
before had been tremulous, parted il
low delicious laugh. She swept hin
a deep curtsey.
/ 81 am beholden to you, SIR" she
said gaily, "for most knightly com
pliment. There's the major. Come
and let us show him where we've
DIantad the ramhlers -