Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1921-08-11
The Infatuation of
Dacey
By MuRIEL BLAIR
- 49,. ss.rsosss nnsS

/ AONCiI GunSGt 1CCACf VI ootAiC AeNt-%@-~
| picture. he saw a sheen Of gold red
hair. cheek the hue Of rose leaf
| and ey IS as tender as the softest
MOONLIGHT. 1t affected the henri like
enchanted music. The hushed dreams
of youth were awakened and his pulse
bounded at the alarm.
He sat now-he, Norman Dacey-
! young, itch In money but dissatisfied
of soul, telling the story of it all to his
closest friend, Elliott Hughes. AS he
spoke l Is .subdued tones reminded Of
poet t,ayerslng some sweet and ten
der lay for into his barren life had
come purpose-to find one woman
he had seen and to tell her that he
loved her.
1.-Two hlonths," he was saying, land
1t seems like two years 1t was just
! beyond the village that the team took
fright at passing automobile. was
thrown out. 1t was the cash from
deep cut that was the most serious.
was stunned. Then between that and
the hospital there was one supreme
m0inent. 1t was when l saw her,"
| "Yea have told that. Dacey," broke
In Hughes In tone Of slight raillery.
''She was lovely as an hOuri and all /
that"
"She was simply girl, an innocent,
beautiful GIRL" resented Dacey grave
ly. "A man stood at little distance,
probably relative. She had torn a
scarf from her throat and was TRYING
to staunch the blood from my wound
recall one look into those plying
soul-llke eyes. Then the blackness OF
death again.
And nothing Of the girl since?'
questioned Hughes.
Nothing" replied Dacey.
"Well, / am at least glad to see your
mind reused out of the torpor of your
habitual ennui, Hughes. If you can
take any interest in pursuing this ex-
travagant phantom, keep 1t up. Let
me see, thought believe YOU told
me that the accident was costly to you
In more ways than One?"
"You mean the trifie I lost?" OBJ
served Dacey.
You call five hundred dollars In
money trife" a
1.-THE money does not trouble me-,
replied Dacey carelessly. Il may have
lost 1t before the accident"
The friends separated, Hughes to go
home to his wife to smile over the
ridiculous infatuation Of Dacey,' the
: latter to still more determinedly seek
some trace of the mysterious unknown
/ whose bonny face was with him every
I where.
After that he spent days and then
: weeks In a constant effort to trace
down the being he could not dismiss
from his thoughts. And then one chill
clustering November night, as he sat
\ in the library of his lonely home, he
/ saw forlorn form appear before the
easement and falter there. He saw a
wan, agitated face and dripping,
storm-beaten garments. In an instant
he had drawn open the window, and
she, the lady of his dreams, tOttered
into the room and fell TO the nearest
chair, where she dropped like wilted
|
flower.
She raised her eyes at last to muir
mur his name, to draw from her bosom
= the pocketbook ne had lost.
"You are Mr.. Dacey," she faltered.
. "This is yours, ] must CO.
AL "No! MOI cried Dacey, blocking
n the way. Then he saw her reel with
!. terrified cry. The windows behind
Il Dacey opened and rough-loOking
i man intruded--the man he had seen
# once before with the girl.
n "Ah, have found you, have I, Clio
:. RAP Kissed the intruder. "You had
. that all of the time"
The speaker made dive for the
a pocketbook Dacey put out his strong
a arm.
4. "Do not harm him." pleaded the girl
!. piteously. HE has kept me a pris
\. oner, he has nearly starved me be-
a cause / would not give up the pocket
" book which wrenched from him. But
q he is my brother--and it was all his
W cruel lust for gold"
,e Take it and CO." said Dacey t.
ID the brother.
N With gloating cry Of joy the mar
. sped from the room, holding the GOV
e. 'eted money to his breast like a wilc
ID beast clasping. Its prey. Dacey re
sr closed the windows, pressed button
" in the wall and told the servant WHIT
E. answered to summon his widowed sis
ID ter.
" sit down, please spoke Dacey, a
sF wondering Leah Davelin entered tn
room. II have story to tell"
p How sweetly soft he told it! How
" the sympathetic tears came to his 10y
id ing sister, how the eyes Of the breath
.. less, marveling Gloria Burnley seemed
p to take 1t all in as II 1t were SEM
&; beautiful dream.
'p Abruptly Dacey left the room. en-
woman he loved in the friendly charg
" Of his sister. 1t was new Gloria
r revived, whom he met the next day
In the happy day, the day Of his life I'm
to memorisI that he asked her to becom
q hta wife se