The Delta independent., 1915-08-13
CHAPTER XIV.

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pair OF saddlebags. 1'ney nad long
lain there forgotten. but they held the
rusty clothes in which he had left
Misery. He threw them over his arm
and dropped them at Adrienne's feet,
as he handed her the studio keys.
Will you please have George look
after my things, and make the neces-
sary excuses to my sitters? He'll find
a list of posing appointments in che
desk"
The girl nodded.
What are those?" she asked, gaz.
ing at the great leather pockets as at
some relic unearthed from Pompeiian
excavations.
"Saddlebags, Drennie," he said,
''and in them are homespun and jeans.
One can't lead his 'fiuttered folk and
wild in cutaway coat"
Shortly they were at the station.
and the man, standing at the side OF
the machine, took her hand.
Its not good-by, you know" he
said, smiling. Just auf Wiedersehen."
| She nodded and smiled too, but as
she smiled she shivered, and turned
the car slowly. There was no need
to hurry now.
Samson had caught the fastest west
bound express on the schedule. In
thirty-six hours he would be at Hixon.
There were many things which his
brain must attack and digest in these
hours. He must arrange his plan of
action to its minutest detail, because
he would have as little time for reflec-
ton, once he had reached his own
country, as wildcat flung into a pack
of hounds.
From the railroad station to his
home he must make his way-most
probably fight his way-through thirty
miles of hostile territory, where all
the trails were watched. And yet, for
the time, all that seemed too remotely
unreal to hold his thoughts. He vas
seeing the coolly waving curtains of
fiowered chintz that stirred in the win
dows of his room at the Lescott
house and the crimson ramblers that
nodded against the sky. He was hear
ing a knock on the door, and seeing,
as 1t opened, the figure Of Adrienne
Lescott and the look that had been In
her eyes.
He took out Sally's letter, and read
it once more. He read 1t mechanically
and as a piece of news that had
brought evil tidings. Then. suddenly,
another aspect of 1t struck him-an as
pect to which the shock of its recep-
ton had until this tardy moment
blinded him. The letter YVES perfectly
grammatical and penned in hand OF
copybook roundness and evenness.
The address, the body of the missive
and the signature were all in one CHI
rography. She would not have intrust-
ed the writing of this letter to anyone
else.
Sally had learned to write.
Moreover, at the end were the
words. with love-" 1t was all plain
now. Sally had never repudiated him.
She was declaring herself true to her
mission and her love. All that heart
break through which he had gone had
been due to his own misconception,
and in that misconception he had
drawn into himself and had stopped
writing to her. Even his occasional
letters had for two years ceased to
brighten her heart-strangling isola-
tion-and she was still waiting.
She had sent no word Of appeal until
the moment had come of which she
had promised to inform him. Sally,
abandoned and alone. had been fight
ing her way up-that she might stand
on his level.
Good God!" groaned the man, in alb
jectly bitter self-contempt. His hand
went involuntarily to his cropped head,
and dropped with gesture OF self
doubling. He looked down at his tan
shoes and silk SOCKS. He rolled back
his shirtsleeve and contemplated the
forearm that had once been as brown
and tough as leather. 1t was now the
arm of city man, except for the burn
ing Of one outdoor week. He was
returning at the eleventh hour
stripped of the faith OF his kinsmen,
halfetripped of his faith In himself.
II he were to realize the constructive
dreams OF which he had last night SO
confidently prattled to Adrienne, he
must lead his people from under the
blighting shadow OF the feud.
Yet, II he was to lead them at all.
he must first regain their shaken con-
ddence, and to do that he must go, at
their head, through this mire Of war
to vindication. Only fighting South
could hope to be heard In behalf of
peace. His eventual regeneration be-
longed to some tomorrow. Today held
the need of such work as that Of the
first Samson-to slay.
He must reappear before his kins-
men as much as possible the boy who
had left them-not the fcp with new
tangled affectations. His eyes fell