The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1934-06-07
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| SLaodtb -
Madeline's home to recuperate,
pretending to be the other girl.
She is ashamed of this deception
but keeps it up, even when Bill
Siidal, Madeline's cousin. asks
her to marry him. Amos Siddal,
Madeline's grandfather who owns
the farm, is blind. Mrs. Planter,
housekeepcr discharged by Dom
ma, is. her enemy.
! Donna and Bill are married.
Meanwhile Madeline has married
Con David, circus animal train
err, and takes part in the animal
act.
Amos Siddal has a stroke.
| In New Orleans Madeline goes
into the cage with the Bengal
tiger and is killed. Con is dis
charged and, unable to get work,
decides to go to the Siddal farm.
From the nearby town he sends
a note to Donna and she agrees
to meet him the next afternoon.
Mrs. Planter learns of this and
/ "TilcS OH dhohy iuouS iShtSi ~
Bill.
Donna tells Bill she is going 10
q neighbor's and sets out to keep
the appointment with Con.
NOW COON WITH THE STORY
CHAPTER X-XXV1I
I Nothing could have fired Con
David's desire to see Donna quite
so much as her reluctance to
meet him. After he had learned
from Madeline that Donna had
not been married to Bill Siddal
at the time Of his own marriage
to Madeline, Con had convinced
himself that, in spite of her re-
pulses. Donna had really been in
love with him. He assured him
self that if he had remained sin
gle Donna would have become his
wife.
Madeline had been right when
she had said that Donna's great
attraction for Con was due-to the
fact that she had refused his at
tentions so frequently. The ele-
ment in the small boy that makes
him want what is forbidden was
strong in Con. While his princi-
pal reason for coming to Lebanon
was to secure the property that
would have been his wife's by in
heritance, there was still a hope
that the only woman who had
ever caused his heart to beat
more quickly would find him
more attractive now and more
desirable than in the days past
1t did not occur to him that
Donna might fear him. What she
had said over the telephone flat
tered his vanity. If she was
afraid to meet him it must be
true that her husband was ieal-
Gus of him. If Siddal was ieal-
Gus. he must know something
about Con and he could have
learned of him by only one
means - through Donna. That
meant she had not forgotten him.
- Perhaps Donna was afraid to
trust herself with Con because he
r.lght arouse an affection she
was trying to crush. This thought
pleased him greatly. As he shaw
ed and dressed meticulouslv for
the meeting he visioned Donna
in the days when he had first
known her. Small, 1.-THE and ex-
Quisitely beautiful, he had
thought her. The arrogant way
in which she carried her head
with its aureole of flaming curls,
the perfect symmetry of her
body, her daring in the ring, and
her. utter indifference to the ad-
miration of men had all attract
ed him.
| Though the two girls, Donna
and Madeline, had looked much
alike, there had been a distinc
ton about Donna that always
made her partner appear drab
and colorless when the two were
together. From the very begin
ming Con had doubted the state
ment that the girls were sisters,
though no one else in the troupe
nau Seelleu W w So
| 1t did not seem credible to
Con, who had spent almost his
entire life under the "big top"
that members of the same family
should not only show. such differ
ent traits of character but that
one should be an accomplished
aerialist,I skilled in every trick of
! her profession. while the other,
though not without ability, was
obviously new to the circus.
Vividly' he recalled the day
when the two girls had joined the
show. Renfroe's headquarters
were in Virginia and until the
season before Con had housed his
animals with Renfroe's. The show
man had been disappointed by
two European performers who
had failed to keep an engage
ment, and had answered an ad-
vertisement in a theatrical publ.
cation. Photographs accompanied
the letter of application, and Rem
froe had shown them to Con.
They're good-lookers, aren't
lthey?" Renfroe had said. "The
Gabriel sisters. l remember there
used to be a Val Gabriel in your
line, Con. Maybe you knew him:
l think he was killed by a lion"
Eyes. He was a headliner. Wife
was a trapeze performer"
"Wonder if these girls are his
kids, Seems to me | heard ne