The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1919-10-08
HE DAILY
SHORT STORY
8On Catamount Road.


n UDREY listened anxiously. Sure
~ ~ there came the unaccustomed
tlrob Of motor somewhere
Hong the hill road. Didn't they know,
she thought, that no cars ever used 1t,
mat Il zigzagged along the edge OF the
faYine with a sheer drop Of two hun
( ared and eighty feet to the bottom OF
che river? She rose, the tin pint pals
filled with huckleberries dangling
from rope around her waist, and
pushed back her hair to shade her
syes.
4say!D she called as loudly as she
could. Say! Look out for the road!
She held her breath for an answer,
Z but the hum Of the motor drowned her
voice, and as the low gray roadster
swept around the bend, 1t hit a broken
place 1.-THE road, and was gone crash
ing down into the tree tops before she
could make sound.
so adventure and excitement became
unexpected guests in Catamount VAL
ley, and for weeks there lay in the
Pendleton cabin q woman with wide,
somber, dark eyes and silent lips, who
CROPPED her way back from the shad-
'ows almost regretfully.
The chauffeur and two men had
been taken up to the hospital at Kings
ley Audrey heard that one Of them
died. Mrs. Stewart had not seemed
interested when she told her this, nor
had she even asked which one. Au-
drey hoped privately 1t wasn't the
yonng one with the curly blonde hair
and little short cropped mustache in
the army uniform. There had been
only two boys to go out from the val
ley to wear khaki, and she felt an add
ed interest In this youngster who
seemed to have escaped the perils OF
war to become acquainted with death
in Catamount ravine.
Then one day, when she was helping
\ Mrs. Stewart to slip into a negligee
and. try to sit up awhile, she turned
over a folded leather case In her
smaller suit case. 1t opened and she
saw a photograph OF the same face,
only younger, and this time its owner
wore yachting clothes. Mrs. Stew
art glanced at her as she bent over
1t absorbedly.
ffWas he the one?" she asked in q
hushed' tone, and her fingers twisted
the knotted fringe OF the white cover
why, / don't know" Audrey an
swered eagerly 81 liked him best. The
old man swore terribly when they were
carrying him, and this one never said
a thing and they had to get him up
with ropes"
Mrs. Stewart shuddered, She tried
to put from her the reality OF that last
drive that was to have ended in final
ity so different to the one that over
took them all. Ivan had been very ST.
lent. She had told him when they LETT
Kingsley that she would give him his
answer before they had reached their
destination. And Dick had sat with
her in the back, talking and laughing
all the way on the last stretch, never
dreaming how in his Joy of youth he
was turning her from the thought Of
marrying simply for money and the
rest from eternal worry. They had
passed mountain shacks along the way,
and she had looked at them with Curl
Gus eyes. Could women be happy in
such places with only love?
1t was the fourth week when he
came, the young one, as Audrey al
ways called him to herself. 1t had
been the chauffeur who had died, he
told them. Mr.. Dadinoff was doing
well, in fact, intended moving to New
York on Monday and sailing the fol-
lowing week. Mrs. Stewart never
even colored at his news, and Audrey
wondered which one she cared for.
Then followed weeks Of enchant-
ment. Mrs. Stewart had insisted on
making the journey back to the city for
special treatment, she said, and while
she was gone Dick Granger stayed at
the cabin, Her father liked him. 1t
reused him to have some one to talk
to, and Dick liked to go over his col
lections with him and help him. 1t
was such an old story to Audrey she
never realized what strange life they
led up on the side of Shamokin noun
tain, she and the old, scholarly natural.
ist.
"It's Just always been this way" she
told Dick. ~ was born right here, and
my mother died here love it ALL
and I've been away to school twice, but
i always long to come back. It's SO
free, don't you know? Why your car
was the first that has ever come over
our road. Everybody knew how dan
gerous 1t was. It's lucky you're alive"
isn't it?" Dick smiled down at her,
standing six feet two in his lieutenant
,uniform. do you know, wish could
always stay here now. l haven't any
real home. My people were New York
ers, but my mothers married again,
and I'm rather the odd gosing. used
to wish when we were coming back
ythat l had some one who was waiting
Ffor me over here"
VI WASN'T" Audrey checked herself.
Possibly Mrs. Stewart would not like
to have her use her name. But Dick
caught the inference and shook his
head.
She's never thought OF me twice
seriously. Radinoff can give her every
thing she wants in life. They're COINS
To BIO married IN Paris"
They arss" Audrey leaned forward
in RmRzement. why, ! thought OF
course she was coming back here"
why's"
For YOU" she said briefly, quite as
II he had been some part Of Mrs, Stew
arts lugsage which she left behind.
What on earth did you stay here so
+ -. 4.