Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-10-31

| MS bAAOoSAAIo ILL ON51l Ill6 SlA y C0I
which followed. He was twenty then
and Lorna fourteen, and already join
Ridd knew that he loved her, thai
fate had decreed it SO and that al
the world was naught when weighed
against this girl.
To be found in Doone valley spell
| ed death for any man, but thought
of Lorna light and white, nimble
| smooth and elegant" filled John with
yearning and lured him to the haZ-
| ard. Again and again he sought the
| aid in the primrose bower above the
cascade and then one afternoon In
the splendor Of an April sunset John
once more threw down gauntlet
which love ever casts at danger.
To Lorna's tremulous, You are mad
to come; they will kill you if they
find you here" John smiled and
thought her fairer than the prim-
roses amid which she stood. She
lived in constant fear, she confessed
for the gigantic and passionate Car
yer Doone openly paid her homage
and glowered with jealous eyes at
any man who burst cast a glance
at her.
81 care naught for him or his jea1-
ousy," cried John Ridd. II have
loved you long, as child, as comelv
girl, and now as full grown maiden
[ love you more than tongue can
tell or heart can hold in silence"
Lorna raised her glorious eyes and,
flinging her arms about his neck,
cried, with her heart on his, Oar
ling, I shall never be my own again.
am yours forever and forever" But
before he went she was in tears,
How dare I dream of love? Some
thing in my heart tells me it can
never be-"
That fear of his be1oved's spurred
John to penetrate into Glen Doone
one night at the risk of his
life. Once guard leveled
his gun at him but went off cring-
ing at the thought that after all so
huge a form could be only that Of
Carver Doone.
1t was real danger which
threatened Lorna, for old Sir Ensor
Doone, head of the robber crew, lay
dying and he alone had been her
protector agains the DrutaI Carver.
For John to play a desperate game
, and carry Lorna off would but in
cite the Doones to wreak revenge
upon the countryside with fire and
sword. At times he swore to smoke
out this nest of rascals, but the
timid farmers, overawed by their
savagery, would promise to support.
Meanwhile an unparalleled win
ter had set in. Day after day the
snow fell steadily and, blown by
the wind, almost smothered the low
eaved cottages. Desperate for some
word of Lorna, John made his way
on snow shoes into the very heart
of Glen Doone, unobserved in that
feathery fog. John found Lorna S
hamlet, stifled her EXPLANATIONS of
surprise with kisses, and felt his
heart swell with anger on learning
that she and her maid, GWenny Car
fax, were kept in confinement and
deprived of food by order of Carver
Doone until Lorna should consent to
be his wife. Not for naught was
John Ridd a giant-and in love.
Throwing dissertation to the winds he
carried Lorna and Twenty away
upon his sledge that very night to
the warm refuge of his mothers
friends.
The Doones, though so openly set
at defiance, bided their time. With
spring the roads were open and one
moonlight night, with an arrogance
worthy of Carver, they attacked
Flowers Barrows in force. John
Ridd, nothing daunted, defended
his fireside and loved ones with
spirit, meeting the attackers square,
ly with a handful Of men ana put
ting them to speedy flight A muir
derous attack by ne Doones was
bad business enough, but to Johns
honest soul a worse trouble follow
ed.
His Lorna was discovered to be
His Lorna was discovered to be
no true Doone, but the niece Of the
great Lord Dugal, kidnapped as a
child. To London and the protec-
ton of her noble uncle she was
summoned, her heart as we'll as her
lovers torn by the separation. The
thought that he might never again
behold his Lorna plunged him into
misery.
After ALL" he asked himself
"who am 1 but a simple farmer,
who dares lift his eyes to the niece
of an earl?"
But this was no time for repining,
for the ill-starred rebellion of Mon
mouth famed out, catching John
Ridd, innocent though he was, in its
tails. But all came to happy issue
when John, summoned to London,
frustrated the intended murder of
Lord Dugal, captured the attackers,
and turned them over for punish
ment to the terrible Lord Jeffreys.
Events moved swiftly; his exploit
1,iT no mi h for
by King James, and when the Earl
of Dugal died soon after, a we'll
directed bride secured Jeffreys' per-
mission to let Lorna, his ward in
chancery, wed the redoubtable Sir
John Rid.
Back to Exmoor and Flowers Bar
hows went John Ridd, knight, to
lead the farmers of the country
side, who, Infatuated by a new out
rage committed by the Doones, took
the law into their own hands and
swept the robber stronghold clean
with fire and sword. Only the schem-
ing old counselor" and his son, the
brutal Carver, escaped a bloody
death.
Now at last the great day dawned
for John and Lorna and they made
their way to the little country
church to be wed while all the neigh
boring farmers came to applaud the
event. Scarcely were the sacred
words of the service pronounced
when a shot rang through the church
and Iona, her dark eyes dropping.
her wedding gown stained with
blood, sank into her husbands arms
John Ridd rever forgot the agony
of that moment, and yet he seemed