The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1915-10-21

part.
Only uwo nvlng people KNOW shall rest
lightly with the dead when Esther is
mistress by marriage, If not by right.
Of Stanley hall.
Her message for DR.. Lee is written
one. 1t reads:
have come back after eighteen years
I have had my revenge, but / love the
girl. What shall be done with her?
HAGAR HARDING.
Esther only learns from the kindly
lips of the doctor and the tremulous
ones of ker supposed mother that a
new life has opened for her; that she
must take her place in the society Of
the countryside as the adopted daugh-
ter of DR.. Lee, as long arranged. This
IS all she knows: this IS all she is told,
as with her belongings she bids q
weeping adieu to the stern but kindly
gypsy woman she has known Gs moth
er all her conscious years. And she
rides away as the doctors daughter
from the gypsy camp. With Esther
the doctor takes the diamond from the
sky, demanded Of Hagar as part Of Es-
ther's inheritance.
Hardly has the doctors carriage de-
man, is given command to strike camp.
In an instant all Is hustle and confu-
sion. Within an hour Hagar and her
tribe are on their way.
In three months, though the proud
women Of the neighborhood look
askance, Esther is the belle Of the
countryside. The vine clad porch Of
the doctors old house sees nightly
gathered there the young sparks OF
Fairfax.
Then comes q night in June, and In
the moonlight are four young men, all
paying court to the happy Esther.
Chief among them are the Stanley
cousins, Arthur and Blair. Some slight
attention to his cousin, Blair, rouses
Arthur to q temper Of Jealousy. Pret-
tily rebuked by Esther, Arthur leaves
In huff. Then Esther vents her CO.
quettish displessure upon the till then
triumphant Blair, and he, now angry
also, arises and departs. leaving the
field to two swains.
In his study that overloOks the gar
dens at the side the old doctor Is gaz-
ing wonderingly In the light OF the
study lamp at the great diamond.
Sulkily straying by the house, in his
jealousy and anger, Blair Stanley sees
the light cleaning from the study.
Curious and not overnice In his curios-
ity, he peers through the window. He
starts back, clinching his hands. He
remembers now the oft whispered sus-
picions of his mother: "Dr. Lee was
alone with Colonel Stanley when he
died. Who else but he has taken and
hidden away the Stanley heirloom?
The obsession of the desire for this
priceless Stanley heirloom has been
born and bred in Blair Stanley. He
hies away, but that night, when the
swains have long departed and the
good doctor and the fair Esther have
long retired to slumber, Blair Stanley
returns prepared to break In and bear
away the diamond from the sky.
In the library at Stanley hall the
young heir Of Stanley muses. and
dreams in softened mood Of Esther.
His guitar lies near him, and he picks
it up and gently strums it. In his
minds eye he sees himself serenadins
sweet Esther Lee, as she IS now called,
and begging her gentle pardon In the
moonlight should she come to her win
dow to listen. The romantic idea suits
his mood He takes the guitar and
hastens again to the doctors house.
Blair Stanley has clambered through
the study window, closed it and drawn
the shade. He has softly lit the doc
tors study lamp and rifed the drawer
Of the old secretary and the cash box
it holds. He has seized the diamond
from the sky and clasped it in agitat-
ed ecstacy upon his bosom. Then upon