Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1928-06-27
CHAPTER XXXII

Stella turned into the driveway
and ran the Ford a few lengths be-
yond the old-fashioned stone horse
block and hitching post. The drive
way was wider at this point, and
she could pull out AZ the side. leav-
ing room for other cars 70 pass. 10
was odd, perhaps, but hat was the
sort Of detail which appeared 10 be
filling her mind just then. IL seem
ed important TO be careful about not
blocking the drive. She walked de-
liberately back 70 the wide front
steps, carrying the small bat heavy
bag. AT the foot Of the steps she
even paused to look about at the
wide, close-clipped lawn and the
Towering shrubs and the great elms
and the naples and at the imposing
cluster Of tall blue spruce trees in a
corner of the lot, their branches
spreading symmetrically to the
ground where they chung like drap-
cries. BY clock-time the hour was
going on eight. but thanks TO the
little legal fiction known as day
light saving, the light IL late after
noon still held, and there was a
warm, coppery glow in the western
sky.
IA perfect evening"" thought Stella,
a. she mounted the steps and rang
the bell. And what a dear old place
Ackland is. really! Ham Pew was
right. We can't let these interlopers
ruin it,"
A white-haired domestic answered
the bell. Stella said, Good evening,
Emma. Is Mr.. Harmcr in ?" She re-
%membered Emma Horne from her
own earliest g%irlhood. Everybody
who belonged in Ackiand knew Emma.
She had to wait q few moments in
the long living room, sitting in one
of the modern, overstuffed chairs
that contrastcd almost comically with
the Sheraton table, the what-not of
the eighteen-forties loaded with sea
shells and china fi%gurines, the dim,
really fine old family portraits on
the walls and the bell-pull of faded
velvet hanging from n coil Of wire.
The present Joseph hadn't turned his
attention, as yet, a. so many Of his
neighbors had, to reconstructing the
Colonial atmosphere within his home.
Though, reflected Stella, why should
he? This interior hodge-podge was
not altogether inappropriate, when
you came to think il out. in the i'm
posing architectural hodge-podge that
housed IT,. Mrs. Harmer, Of course,
couldn't be pictured as undertaking
20 change anything. She was a visit
full, silent little woman, one Of the
cowed sort.
"A slow, heavy step sounded from
hte stairway out in the hall. Stella's
nerves frightened. But her head was
clear. She wasn't afraid Of Joe
Hammer. Even il she failed, II ali
she 50 desperately hoped to accom-
plish should 20 wrong T.. and he
might prove too strong for her /.
she didn't have TO live here III the
town he so adroitly ruled. No mat
ter how deep, how bitter, her per
sonal sense of loss, she could always
turn a determined, il dismal face,
toward New York. The Stella Bagot.
slender and pretty and still quite
young, who rose at that sound from
the stairway and stood rather tenseIv
lingering the cover Of a magazine on
the Sheraton table, was By no means
merely the daughter of the kindly
but insignificant Pearce Bagot out "A
what was left of the old Bagot prop-
erty by the state road. She was. in
truth, a trained young editorial per
son from New York. She represented
a successful and vigorous publishing
concern. She knew interesting and
independent and eve famous people
She was familiar with all the vari-
Gus currents Of thought regarding the
social problems Of the day. And bv
the way of inner driving power She
was stirred by a love SO deep and "a
confused that she hadn't vet, her
self, been able even TO think consecu-
lively about it. All she knew was
that b had confessed il aloud 10
the man she didn't love; and that IN
making that unexpected admission
she had brought much that she had
thought Of as her world tumbIinp
about her ears. She was. to a IA
greater extent than she consciousIv
knew, set 10 act crispiy and strongly.
To fight. She might easily turn
primitive, even savage Joe Har-
mer. though a shrewd man. was
hardly to be blamed for d failure ~
recognize all this. After all. in his
eyes, she stood there as just Pearce
Bagot's daughter. who had drifted
out Of the life az the town.
he greeted her with a handclasp