Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1915-03-10

49,. 4t{P4Hg5
Shirley, Who Had Again Seated Her
self, Suddenly Laughed, and Point
ed to the Book.
effort to recall it. Only the intense
blue of her eyes, the tawny sweep of
her hair-these and the touch of her,
the consciousness of her warm and
vivid fragrance, remained to wrap all
his senses in a mist woven of gold
and fire.
Shirley, meanwhile, had sat some
time beside her mothers bed, leaning
from white chintz-covered chair, her
anxiety only partially allayed by reas-
surances, now and then STOPPING to lay
her young cheek against the delicate
arm in it's lacy sleeve or to pass her
hand lovingly up and down it's outline,
noting with recurrent passion of ten
derness the transparency of the skin
with it's violet veining and the shad
ows beneath the closed eyes. Emma
line. moving on soft worsted-shod feet
about the dim room, at length had
whispered.
You go tub bald, honey. I stay
with Mis- Judith till she go tub Sleep"
YES, CO. Shirley" said her mother.
Haven't | any privileges at all? Can't
even faint when feel like it, without
calling out the fire-brigade? You'll
pampe1 me to death and heaven knows
| don't need it,
You won't let me telephone for Doc
tor Southall?"
Certainly not!
And you are sure it was nothing
but the roses?"
why, what else should it be?" said
her mother almost peevishly. Il must
really have the arbors thinned out. On
heavy nights it's positively overpower-
ing. Go along now, and Wen talk
about it tomorrow. l can ring if
want anything"
In her room Shirley undressed
thoughtfully There was between her
and her mother fine tenuOus bond
Of sympathy and feeling as rare, per
haps as it was lovely She could not
remember when the other had not
been a semi-invalid, and her earliest
childhood recollections were punctu-
ated with the tap of the little cane.
Tonight's sudden indisposition had
shocked and disturbed her; to faint
at a rush of perfume seemed to sug-
gest a growing weakness that was
alarming. Tomorrow, she told herself,
she would send Ranston with a wagon
load of the roses to the hospital at
, Charlottesville.
She slipped on pink shell-shaded
dressing-gown of slinky silk with a
riot Of azaleas scattered in the weave,
and then, dragging her c'air before
the open window, drew aside the light
curtain and began to brush her hair.
All at once her gaze fell upon the
floor, and she shrank backward from a
twisting thread-like thing whose bright
saffrOn-yellow glowed sharply against
the dark carpet. She saw in an in
stant however, that it was nothing
more dangerous than a fragment of
love-vine from the garden, which had
SAAS W hSA ohAA A0hO PASAAON ~
the tiny mass of tendrils and with a
slow smile tossed it over her right
shoulder through the window. eff it
| takes root" she said aloud, my sweet
heart loves me-" She leaned from the
sill to peer down into the misty gar
den. but could not follow it's fall.
Long ago her visitor would have
reached Damory Court. She had a
vision of him wandering, candle in
hand, through the empty echoing
rooms, looking at the voiceless por-
traits on the walls, thinking perhaps
of his father, of the fatal duel of which
he had never known. She liked the
way he had spoken of his father!
AS she leaned, out of the stiffness
there came to her ear mellow sound.
1t was the bell of the courthouse in
the village. She counted the strokes
falling clearly or family as the slug
gish breeze ebbed or swelled. 1t was
eleven.
She drew back, dropped the curtain
to shut out the wan glimmer, and IN
the darkness crept into the soft bed
as If into hiding-place.
.
] A warm sun and an air mildly mel