Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-13

ing welled up through her own de-
lection. STOPPING, she looked at it
closely. She started as she did SO,
FOR the face on the little disk Of ivory
was that of John Valiant.
An instant she stared unbelfeyingly.
Then recollection Of the resemblance
OF which Valiant had told her rushed
to her, and she realized that it must
De the picture Of his father. The fact
shocked and COMPOUNDED her. Why
snould her mother carry in secret the
immature OF the man who had killed
Shlrleys breath stopped. She felt
her face tinging and curious weak
ness came on her limbs Why indeed,
uniess-and the thought was like a
WHO prayer in her mind-she had
! been mistaken in her surmise ?
thoughts came thronging in panic
haste: the fourteenth Of May and the
cape jessamines-these might point no
less to Valiant than to Sassoon, But
her mothers fainting at the sight of
the son-the eager interest she had
dlsplayed In Shirley's accounts of him,
from the episode Of the rose and the
bulldog to the tournament ball, seemed
no" TO stand out in new light, throb-
ping and roseate. Could it be? Had
she been stumbling along a blind trail,
lnlsled by the cunning dove.tailing of
circumstance? Her heart was beat
ing stlfi1ngly. If she should be mis-
taken now! She dashed her hand
across her eyes as though to compel
tnelr clearness, and looked again.
1T was Beauty Valiant's face that
lay in the locket, and that could mean
but one thing: 1t was he, not Sassoon,
whom her mother loved!
The lamplfght seemed to grow and
spread 10 an unbearable radiance.
SHIRLEY thought she cried out with a
sudden sweet wildness, but she had
not moved Or uttered sound. The
Illumination was all about her. like a
splendid cloud The impossible had
happened. The miracle for which she
had Historically prayed had been
wrought.
When she blew out the light, the
shining still remained. That glowing
knowledge, like a vitalizing and physi-
cal presence, passed with her through
the hall to her own room. As she
stood in the elfish light Of her one
candle. the poignancy Of her JOY was
as sharp as her past pain. Later was
to come the wonder how that tragedy
had bent Beauty Valiant's life to exile
and her mothers to unfulf1lment, and
In time she was to know these things,
too. Butnow the one great knowledge
blotted out all else. She need starve
her fancy no longer! The hours with
her lover might again sweep across
her memory undenied. She felt his
arms, his kisses, heard his whispers
against her cheek and smeled the
perfume OF Madonna lilies.
She drew the curtain and opened
the window noiselessly to the night
Only a. few hours ago she had been
singing to her harp in what wretched-
ness! She laughed softly to herself.
The quiet night was full of his voice:
II love you! want nothing but you!"
How her pitiful error had tortured and
wrung them both! But tomorrow he,
too, would know that all was we'll.
A clear sound chimed across the
distance-the bell of the courthouse
clock, striking midnight One. =.
Two. -. How often lately it had
rung discordantly across her mood;
now it seemed CLAIMANT watcher,
tolling joy. Three! -. Four! -.
Five! .. . Perhaps he was sleeping,
listening. too. Was he in the old Ii.
hrary, thinking Of her? Six! ..
Seven! :. Eight! Nine. If
she could only send her message to
him on the bells! TEN . . It swelled
more loudly now. more deliberate.
Eleven, j.. Another day was almost
Tuyn to
the morning the whisper across
her thought. 1t was morning now.
Thirteen!
She caught sharp breath. Her ear
had not deceived her-the vibration
still palpitated on the air like heart
of sound. It had struck thirteen! A
little eery touch crept along her nerves
and a cool dampness broke on her
skin, for she seemed to hear, quaver-
ing through the wondering silence, the
voice Of Mad Anthony, as it had
quavered to her ear on the doorstep
of the negro cabin, with the we'll
sweep throwing it's long curved shadow
across the group of laughing faces:
"Ah sees yo' gwine ter him. All
heahs de co'ot-house clock a-strikin'
IN Qe nlSHL-en 20 SWlne. Ion
wait, don wait. III mistis. err de
trouble-cloud gwlne kyah him erway
f'om yo'. . When de clock strike
de clock strike
She dropped the Powered curtain
and drew back. A weird fancy had be-
gun to press on her brain. Had not
Mad Anthony foretold truly what had
gone before? What II there were
some cryptic meaning in this, too? To
go to him, at midnight. by lonely
country roadside, a girl? Incredible!
Yet her mind had opened to vague
growing fear that was swiftly mount
ng to thriving anxiety. That innate
secretly cherished while
derided. which is the heritage of the
Southern-born bred from centuries of
contact with mystical race, had her
in it's grip. Yet all the while her
sober actual common-sense was cry.
ing out upon her--and crying in vain
Unknown appetences that had lain
darkling in her blood, come down to
her from long generations, were sud-
denly compelling her. The curtain