The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1914-04-08
CHAPTER XIV.
Katharine Decides.


mede with John Valiant in the dun
colored motor. She sat in the drivers
seat beside him. while the bulldog ca
pered, ecstatically barking. from side
to side of the rear cushions. Her
father had declined the honor remark
Ing that he considered a professional
chauffeur a SUFFICIENT risk Of his valua-
BILE life and that the Chalmers grays
were good enough for him-a decision
which did not wholly displease Katha-
rine.
The car was not the smart Pan.
hard in which she had 30 often spun
down the avenue or along the she'll
roads of the north shore. 1t lacked
those fin-de-siecle appurtenances which
marked the ne plus ultra Of Its kind,
as her observant eye recognized; but
It ran staunch and true The powerful
hands that gripped the steering-wheel
were brown with sun and wind. and
the handsome face above 1t had a look
surprised before. They passed many
vehicles and there we're few whose 90
cupants did not greet him. In fact.
as he presently remarked. 1t was .
saving of energy to keep his hat on;
and he tossed the Panama into the
rear seat On the rim of the village
group raised q cheer to which he
nodded laughingly. and further on .
little old lady on a timid vine-colored
porch beside . church. waved q hlaok
mIrred hand TO him with q sweet old
time gesture Katharine noted that he
bowed to her with extra care.
That's Miss Matte Sue Mabry." be
said. the Quaintest. dearest thing you
ever saw. She taught my father his
letter."
Where the Red Road stretched level
before them. he threw the throttle
open for . long rush through ths
thymy-scsnted air. The light. late
afternoon breeze drew by them. sweep
ing back Katharine's graceful sinuous
veil and spraying them with odors Of
clover and sunny fruit. They passed
orchard clumps bending with young
apples. boundless aisles Of green.
corn and shAdowy
groves that smelled OF fern and sassa-
fras. opening out into more sunlighted
vistas overArohed by the intense pene-
trable Of the June sky.
John Valiant had never seemed 70
her 20 wholly good to see. with his
waving hair runiling in their flight and
the westering sun shining redly on his
face. Midway Of this squirt he looked
at her to say: Did you ever know .
more beautiful countryside? See how
the pink-And-yellow of those grain
fields fades into the purple of the hills.
Very few painters have ever captured
a tint like that. It's Hike raspberriss
crushed In curdled milk"
I've quite lost my heart to 1t ALL"
she said. her voice joltins with the
speed of their course. IT'S . perfect
pastoral 20 different from
our terrific city pace. OF
course It must be Q trifie dull at times
seeing the same people a.
ways and without the Thea
ter and the opera and the whirl about
one-but the kind Of life
one reads about In the now
els of the South. you know
suppose one doesn't realize that II
actually exists until one comes to .
Southern place like this And the
negro servantsl How odd It must be
to have a whitehaired old darby In .
brass-buttoned swallow-tail for but.
Ter! 30 picturesque! At Judge Chal
mars' have q feeling all the time that
I'm walking through . stage ~
heafsal"
The car slacksned speed - It slid
by q white-vashed cabin at whose en-
trance sat . dusky gray-bearded ng-
ure Valiant pointed. do you 80
himf" he asked.
Il see a very ordinary Old colored
man sitting on the doorstep" Katha-
rine replied.
That's Mad Anthony. our local
Mother shipton. He's q prophet and
soothsayer. Uncle JefRerson-that's
my bodyservant-insists that he fore
told my coming to Damory Court II
we had more time you could have
your fortune told srl. e.
How thrillins!" abe commented
with half-humorous irony.
He pointed to a great white house
set in a grove OF tresA That d
Beeohwood." he told her. the Beverly
homestead. Young Beverley was the
knight of the Silver Cross. A fne Old
place. isn't itf II was burned by the
Indians during the French and Indian
War Ny great-great-greatgra
er -" He broke Oh. But then. thoss