Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-03-30
CHAPTER XIV.

fished out a buried and dust-covereo
pair of saddlebags. They had long
lain there forgotten, but they held the
RUSTY clothes in which he had lert
Misery. He threw them over MS arm
and dropped them at Adriennes feet'
as he handed her the studio Keys
"Win you please have George look
after NV things, and make the neces-
sarv excuses to my sitters? He'll nho
a list of posing appointments IN the
desk
The girl nodded.
what are those?" she asked, gaz-
ing at the great leather pockets as at
soroe relic unearthed from Pompeaian
excavations.
"Saddlebags, Drennie," he said, ana
in them are homespun jeans. one
can't lead his 'fiuttered folk and wiio
in a cutaway coat"
Shortly they were at the station,
and the man. standing at the size VI
the machine, took her hand
ITS not good-by. you know ne
said, smiling. Just auf Wiedersheh'
She nodded and smiled too, put as
sbe smiled she shivered, and turned
the car slowly. There was no neeo 70
hurry now.
Samson had caught the fastest west
bound express on the schedule. LII
thirty-six hours he would be at Hixon'
There were many things which mis-
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 refec-
ton. once he had reached his own
country. as a wildcat flung into pack
Of hounds.
From the railroad station to MS
home he must make his way-most
probably fight his way-through tnlrty
miles of hostile territory, where al
the trails were watched. And yet' ror
the time. all that seemed too remoteiy
unreal to hold his thoughts. He was
seeing the cody waving curtains OF
lowered chintz that stirred in the Win
dows Of his room at the Lescolt
house and the crimson ramblers tha'
nodded against the sky. He was near
ing a knock on the door, and SEEING
as 1t opened, the figure OF Adrienne
I,escott and the look that had been IN
= her eyes.
He took out Sallys letter, and reao
il once more He read 1t mechanically
and as a piece Of news that had
brought evil tidings. Then, suddenly
another aspect Of it struck him-ah
aspect to which the shock of its recep-
ton had until this tardy moment
blinded him. The letter was perfect
dramatically and penned in hand OF
COOKBOOK roundness and evenness'
The address, the body Of the m1ssiVe
and the signature were all in one cnl-
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 hao
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 10
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 sne
had promised to inform him. Sally
abandoned and alone, had been fight
ing her way up-that she might stand
on his level
Good Cod" groaned the man, In
abject bitter self-contempt. His hand
went involuntarily to his cropped head
and dropped with a gesture OF self
doubling. He looked down at his tan
shoes and silk socks. He rolled back
his shirtsleeves and contemplated the
forearm that had once been as brown
and tough as leather. 1t was now the
arm Of a city man, except for the burn
ing Of one outdoor week. He was
returning at the eleventh hour
stripped Of his faith in kinsmen,
half-stripped 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 shadows Of the feud.
Yet. If he was to lead them at all
he must first regain their shaken con-
fidence, 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 re-appear before his kins-
men as much as possible the boy VINO
had left them-not the fop with new
tangled affections. His eyes fell
upon the saddlebags upon the floor OF
the Pullman and he smiled satirically
He would like to step from the train
at Hixon and walk brazenly through
the town in those old clothes, chal-
lenging every hostile glance. II they
shot him down on the streets, as they
certainly would do. it would end his
questioning and his anguish of dilem-
ma. He would welcome that. but II
would. after all. be shirking the issue
He must get out of Hixon and into
his own country urrecognized. The
clan boy of four years ago was the
somewhat filled-ou man now. The one
concession that he had made to Paris
life was the wearing of closely
cropped mustache. That he still wore
had worn it chiefly because he liked
to hear Adrienne's humorous denuncia-
ton of it, He knew that. in his pres
ent guise and dress, he had an excel
lent chance of walking through the
streets Of HixOn as stranger. And
after leaving HiXon; there was mis-