Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1920-02-17
On
Catamount Road
By IZOLA FORESTER
Copyright, 1913. By tho Mcclure Nsws
paper 6yndicate.)


there came the unaccustomed throb o.
a motor somewhere along the hill road
Didn't they know. she thought. that nc
cars ever used 1t, that II zigzagged
along the edge Of the ravine with q
sheer drop Of two hundred and eighty
feet to the bottom Of the river? She
rose, the tin pint pals filed with
huckleberries dangling from a rope
around her waist, and pushed back
her hair to shade her eyes.
"Say" she called as loudly as she
could. "Sayl Look out for the road r.
She held her breath for an answer
but the hum of the motor drowned her
voice, and as the low gray roadster
swept around the bend, II hit broken
place in 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 a woman with wide,
somber, dark eyes and silent lips, who
groped her way back from the shadows
almost regretfully.
The chauffeur and two men had been
taken up to the hospital at Kingsley.
Audrey heard that one Of them died.
Mrs. Stewart had not seemed interest
ed when she told her this, nor had she
even asked which one. Audrey hoped
privately it wasn't the young one with
the curly blond hair and little short
cropped mustache in the army uniform.
There had been only two boys to go out
from the valley to wear khaki, and she
felt an added interest in this young
Ster 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 folded leather case In her small
Ter suitcase. 1t opened and she saw a
photograph of the same face, only,
younger, and this time it's owner wore
yachting clothes. Mrs. Stewart glanced
at her as she bent over it absorbedly.
"Was he the one?" she asked In
hushed tone, and her fingers twisted
the knotted fringe Of the white cover
lid.
"Why, l don't know" Audrey an
swered eagerly. ~ liked him best. The
old man swore terribly when they were
carrying him, and this one never said
thing and they had to get him up
with ropes"
Mrs. Stewart snuddered. 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
silent. She had told him when they
left Kingsley that she would give him
his answer before they reached their
destination. And Dick had sat with
her in the back, talking and laughing
oil the way on the last stretch. never
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 always
called him to herself. 1t had been the
chauffeur who had died, he told them.
Mr.. Radinoff was doing well, in fact
intended returning to New York on
Monday and sailing the following week.
Mrs. Stewart never even colored at his
news, and Audrey wondered which one
she cared for.
Then followed weeks Of epchant-
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 60 over
his collections 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
she and the old scholarly
Its just always been this way" she
told Dick. II was born right here, and
my mother died here. love 1t all, and
I've been away to school twice, but
l 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 it2" Dick smiled down at her
standing six feet two in his lieutenant
uniform. do you know, wish l. could
always stay here now. haven't any
real home. My people were New York
ers, but my mothers married again,
md I'm rather the odd gosling. used
to wish when we were coming back
that had some one who was waiting
or me over here"
Wasn't" Audrey checked herself.
Possibly Mrs. Stewart would not like
10 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 going
to be married In Paris"
"They are?' Audrey leaned forward
In amazement. "Why, thought Of
course she was coming back here"
"WhyT'
"For you" she said briefly, quite as
If he had been some part Of Mrs. Stew
'rt's luggage which she left behind.
"what on earth did you stay here no
long for II you didn't expect her backf"
II like 1t here" Dick told her firmly
Maybe when leave the army I'll take
a slice Of the mountain, too, and 1--we
near your father. I'm sick Of noise
and turmoil and everything like that.
I want-wsll, just this"
He half closed his eyes and looked
down at the panorama outspread be-
low them. Hills breaking from the
morning haze, acreage Of green fields
In little titled squares down In the val
ley, with the river glittering like sill