University of South Carolina Libraries
VOLUME XXIX. LAUL1INs, +4foh t1 CAiWOIN.', WII)NESDAY, M \RCH 25, 1914. UMBER 35 ALIANTS di/~IALLIE TI1 ILLU3STRAT[D - I TVPrR/MT Nw2 BY OD0-Muni. - ' SYNOPSIS. CHAPTERl I--John Vnliant, a rich se ciety favorite, nutitlenly ,uincovers that the Valiant corporation., which his fatheor founded and witch wan the prhacipatl sourco of his wealth, has failed, CHAPTER II-Ifo voluntarily turns over his private fortune to the receiver for the corporation. CHAPTER III.-Ills entire remaining ssessions consist of an old motor car. a whted bull dog and Dntory court, a aneglectecI estate in Virginia. CHAPTER IV-He learns that this es tate came into the family iby royal grant and has beon in the possession of the IValiants ever since. CHAPTER V-On the way to Damory court he meets Shirley Dandridge, an au burn-haired beauty, and decides that he. is going to like Virginia imnmetsely. CHAPTER VI-An old negro tells Shir ley's fortune and predicts great trouble for her on account of a man. CHAPTER VII-Uncle Jefferson, an old negro, takes Valiant to Damdry court. CHAPTER VIII-Shirley's mother, Mrs. ,Dandridge, and Major Bristow exchange teminiscences during which it is revealed that the major, Valiant's father, and a man named Sassoon, were rivals for the and of Mrs. Dandridge in her youth. assoon and Valiant fought a duel on her ecount in which the former was killed. CHAPTER IX. Damory Court. "Dar's Dam'ry Co'ot smack-dal ahaid, suh." John Valiant looked up. Facing them at an elbow of the broad road, was an old gateway of time-nicked 'stone, clasping an irone gate that was quaint and heavy and red with rust. Hie put out his hand. "Wait a moment," he said in a low voice, and as the creaking conveyance stopped, lie turned and looked about him. Facing the entrance the land. fell away sharply to a miniature valley through which rambled a willow-bor dered brook, in whose shallows short horned cows stood lazily. Bleyond, whither wound the Red Road, he could see at drowsy village, with a spire and a cupolaed court-house; and farther yet a yellow gorge with a wisp of white smoke curling above it marked the .course of a crawling far-away railway. "Et's er moughty fine ol' place, sub, mid dat big revenue ob trees," said Uncle Jefferson. "But' Al reck'n et ain' got none ob de modern conniv ances." As Valiant jumped down he was possessed by an odd sensation of old acquaintance-aad if he had seen those tall white columns before-an illu- I sory half-vision- into some shadowy, fourth-dimensional landscape that be longed to his subconscious self, or that, glimpsed in some immaterial dreem-picture, had left a faint-etched memory. Then, on a sudden, the vista vibrated and widened, the white col uzhns expanded and shot up into the clouds, and from every bush seemed ,to peer a friendly black savage with woolly white hair! "Wishing-House!" he whispered. The hidden country which his father's thoughts, sadly recurrinp, had painted to the little child that once he .was, 'in the guise "of an endless wonder tale! His eyes misted ever, and It seemed to him that moment that his father was very near. Leaving the negro to unload his be longings, he traversed an overgrown path %d messed gravel, between box rows frowvsled like the manes of lions gone mad and smothered in an ac cumulation of matted roots and debris of rotting foliage, and presently, the bulldog at his heels, found himsel'f in the rear of the house. "Mine!" he said aloud with a rueful pride, "And for general run-down ness, It's up td* the advertisement." Hie l8ged musingly at the piteous wreck and ruin, his gaze sweeping down across the bared fields and un -kempt forest, "Mine!" he repeated. p "All that, I suppose, for it haS the same earmarks of neglect. Between those cultivated stretches it looks like a wedge of Sahara gone astray." is gaze returned to the house. "Yet what a place it must havie been in its time!" ie~ went slowly back to where his con ducter" sat on the lichened horse 'block, "We's- heah," called Uncle Jefferson cheerfully. "Whut we gwinter do nex', suh? Reck'n Ah better go ovah ter Miss Dandridgo's place for or 'crowbah. I,,awd!" he added, "of he~ ain' got do key! Whut ye' think ob' dat now ?" John Valiant was looking closely at, the lyig key; for there were words,' which ho had not noted before en-' graved in the massive flange. "Friends1 all hours." He smiled. The sentiment pent a warm cnrrent of ,nlaaure to 1oPOT W EEM.R) .AURLN $TOUT his flng r-tips. Tiere was the very text of hospitality! A Lilliputian spider-web wan stretched over the preempted keyhole, and ho fetched a grass-stem and poked out its tiny gray-striped denizen be fore-he inserted the key in the rusted lock, lie turned it with a curious gense of COt+,(11y. All the strength of his lingers was necessary before the massive door swung open and the lev eling sun sent its late red rays into the gloomy interior. He stood in a spacious hall, his nos trils filled with a curious but not un pleasant aromatic odor with which the place was strongly impregnated. The hall ran the full length of the build ing, and in its center a wide, balus traded double staircase led to upper darkness. The floor, where his foot prints had disturbed the even gray film of. dust, was of fine close par quetry and had been generously strewn everywhere with a mica-like powder. He stooped and took up a pinch in his fingers, noting that it gave forth the curious spicy scent. Dim paintings in tarnished frames hung on the walls. From a niche on the break of the stairway looked down the face of a tall Dutch clock, and on one side protruded a huge bulging something draped with a yellowed linen sheet. From its shape he guessed this to be an elk's head. Dust, undisturbed, lay thickly on everything, ghostly floating cobwebs crawled across his face, and a bat flitted out of a fireplace and vanished squeak ing over his head. With Uncle Jef ferson's help he opened the rear doors and windows, knocked up the rusted belts of the shutters and flung them wide. But for the dust and cobwebs and the strange odor, mingled with the faint musty smell that pervades a sun He inserted the Key in the Rusted Lock. less interior, the former owner of the house might have deserted it a week ago. On a wall-rack lay two walking sticks and a gold-mounted hunting crop, and on a great carved chest below it bad been flung an opened book bound in tooled leather. John Valiant picked this up curiously, It was "Lucile." Ho noted that here and ther-e passages were marked with penciled lines-some light and femi ninely delicate, some heavier, as though two had been readilng it to. gether, noting their individual prefer. ences. He laid it back musingly, and open ing a door, entered the large room it disclosed. This had been the dining. room. At one end stood a crystal knobbed mahogany sideboard, holding glass candlesticks in the shape of Ionic columns-above it a quaint per. trait of a lady in hoops and love curls-and at the other end was a huge fireplace with rust-red fire-dogs and tarnished brass fender. All these, ,with the round centipede table and the Chippendale chairs act in order against the walls, were dimmed and grayedi with a thick powdering of dust. The next room that he entered was big and wide, a place of dark colors, nobly smutched of time, It had been at once library and living-room. A great leather settee was drawn near the desk and beside this stood a read. ing-stand with a, small china dog and a squat bronze lamp upon it, In con trast to' the orderly dining-room there was about this chamber a sense of untouched disorder-a desk-drawer jerked half-opnn a vellowed news. paper torn across and flung into a cor ner, books tossed on desk and lounge, and in the fireplace a little heap of whitened ashes in which charred frag ments told of letters and papers burned in haste. Suddenly ho lifted his eyes. Above the desk hung a life-size portrait of a man, in the high soft stock and vel vet collar of half a century before. The right eye, strangely, had been cut from the canvas. lie stood straight and tall, ono hand holding an eager hound in leash. hi.; foice proud and florid, his single, cold. steel-blue eye staring down through its dusty curtain with at certain malicious ai-roganlce, and his lips set in a sardonic curve that sceied about to :ncer. It was for an instant as if the pictured figure confronted the young mean who stood there, mutely challenging his entrance into that tomb-like and secret-keeping quiet; and he gazed back as fixedly, repelled by the craft of the face, yet subtly attracted. "I wonder who you were," he said. "You were cruel. Perhaps you were wicked. But you were strong, too." He returned to the outer hall to find that the negro had carried in his trunk, and he bado him place it, with the portmanteau, in the room he had just left. Dusk was falling. "Uncle Jefterson," said Valiant ab ruptly, "have you a family?" "No, suh. Jes' me en mah o1' 'ooman." - "Can she cook?" "Cook!" The genial titter again captured his dusky escort. "When she got de fixens, Ah reck'n she do beaten'es cook in his heah county." "How would you both like to live here with me for a while? She could cook and you could take care of me." Uncle Jefferson's eyes seemed to turn inward with mingled surprise and introspection. He shifted from one foot to the other, swallowed difficultly several times, and said, "Ah ain' neb bah seed yo' befo', suh." "Well, I haven't seen you either, have I?" ' "Dat's de trufe, sub, 'deed et ist Hyuh, hyuh! Whut Ah means ter say is dat do ol' 'ooman kain' cook no fancy didoes like what dey eats up Norf. She kin jes' cook do Ferginey style." "That sou/..-s good to me," quoth Valiant. "I'll risk it. Now as to wages-" "Al alin' specticulous as ter do wages," said Uncle Jefferson. "Alt knows er gemian when Alt sees one." "Then it's a bargain," responded Va liant with alacrity. "Can you come at once?" "Yas, suh, me en T)aph gwineter come oval fus' thing in do mawnin'. Whut yo'-all gwineter do fo' yo' sup pah?" "I'll get along," Valiant assured him cheerfully. "Here is five dollars. You can buy some food and' things to cook with, and bring them with you. Do you think there's a stove in the kitchen?" "Ah reck'n," replied Uncle Jefferson. "Dn ef dar ain' Daph kin cook or Chris'mus dinnah wid fo' stones en er tin skillet. Yas, suh!" He trudged away Into the shadows, but presently as the new master of Damory Court stood in the gloomy hall, he heard the shambling step again behind him. "Ali done neglect uated ter ax yo' name, suh. Ah did, fo' er fac'." "My name is Valiant. John Va liant." Uncle Jefferson's eyes turned up ward and rolled out of orbit. "Mah Lawdi" he ejaculated soundlessly. And with his wide lips still franmed about the last word, he backed out of the doorway and disappeared. Alone in the ebbing twilight, John Valiant found his htamper, spread a napkin on the broad stone steps and took out a glass, a spoon and part of a loaf of bread. The thermos flask was filled with milk. It was not a splendid banquet, yet he ate it with a great content as thte bulldog at. hia feet gnawed his share of the crust. He broke his broad into the milk as he had not done since he was a child, and ate the luscious pulp with a keen relish bred of the long outdoor day. It was almost dark when the meal was done 'and, depleted hamper in hand, he reentered the empty echoig house. He went into the library, lighted the great brass lamp from the motor and began to rummage. The drawers of the dining-room sideboard yielded nothing; on a shelf of the but ler's pantry, htowever, was a tin box which proved to be half full of wax candles, perfectly preserved. "The very thing!" he said triumph antly, Carrying them back, he fixed several in the glass-candlesticks and set them, lighted, all about the somber room till the soft glowv flooded Its every corner. "There," he saidl, "that is as It should be. No big bla tant searcht-light htere! And no glare of modlern electricity would suit that oldl weinscoting, either." lHe drag-ed the leather settee to the porch and( by the lin.ttu of the motor lamp duaced it thtoroug~hly, antd wheel ing it back, set it under the portrait whtich htad so attracted him, He washed hr. glnas fronm whichkh hadn Fdined iina flalei- k t the cupi o1 the garden fountain, put into it the rose: from -his hat and set it on the read ing-stand. The small china dog caught. his eyo and he picked it up casually. Tho head came off in his hands. It had been a bon-bon box and was empty save for a narrow strip of yellowed paper, on which were' writ ten some meaningless figures: 17-28 94.0. Ile pondered this a moment, then thrust it into one of the empty pigeonholes of the desk. On tho lat ter stood an old-fashioned leaf-caleu dar; the date it exposed was May 14th. Curiously enough the same dato would recur tomorrow. 'T'he page bore a quotation: "Every mai carries his fate on a riband about his neck." The lino had beenu (qoted in his father's letter. May 1.Ith-how much that date and that motto may have meant for him! HIe rose to push the shutter wider and it the movement his elbow sent a He Shuddered as He Stooped to Pick Up the Weapon. shallow case of morocco leather that had lain on the desk crashing to the floor. It opened and a heavy metallic object rolled almost to his feet. He saw at a glance that it was an old fashioned rusted dueling-pistol.. The box had originally held two pistols. He shuddered s he stooped to pick up the weapon, and with the crawling repugnance mingled a pang ing anger and humiliat fo.. From his very babyhood it had always been so --that unconquerable aversion to the touch of firearm. 'T'here had been mo ments in his youth when this unrea soning shrinking had filled him with a blind fury, had' driven hini to strange self-tests of courage, lie had never been able to overcome it. Analyza tion had told him that his peculiar abhorrence was no mere outgrowth of this. It lay far deeper. He had rare ly, of recent years, met the test. Now, as he stood in these unaccustomed surroundings, with the cold touch of the metal the old shuddering held him, and the sweat broke in beads on his forehead. Setting his teeth hard, he crossed the room, slipped the box with its pistol between the vol umes of the bookcase, and returned to his seat. The bulldog, aroused from a nap, thrust a warm muzzle between his knees. "It's uncanny, Chum!" he said, as his hand caressed the velvety head. "Why should the touch of that fool thing chill my spine and make my flesh tiptoe over my bones? Why should I- hate a pistol? Do you sup pose I was shot in one of my previous existences?" ~For a long while he sat there, his pipe dead, his. eyes on the moon lighted out-of-doers. The eery feel ing that had gripped him had gone as quickly as it had come. At last he rose, stretching himself with a great boyish yawn, put out all save one of the candles and taking a bath-robe, sandals and a huge fuzzy towel from thc, steamer-trunk, stripped leisurely, lie donned the bath-robe and sandals and went out through the window to the garden and down to where lay the little lake ruffling silverly under the moon. On its brink he stopped, and tossing back his head, tried to imi tate one of the bird-calls but was un successful. With a rueful laugh ho threw off the bath-robe and stood an Instant glistening, poised in the moon light like a marble faun, before he dove, straight down out of sight, Five minutes later he pulled him self up over the edge, his flesh tin gling with the chill of the water, and threwv the robe about his cool white shoulders. Then he thrulst his feet into his sandals and sped quickly back, H~e rubbed himself to a glow, and blowing out the remaining can dIle, stretched himself luxur-iously be tween the wvarnm blankets on the couch. The dog sniffed inquiringly at his hand, then leaped up and snug gledl down close to his feet. John Valiant's thoughts had fled a thousandi miles awvay, to the tall girl who all his life had seemed to stand out from his world, aloof and uunsur passed-Kathariue Fargo. lie tried to icture lher', a perfect ehatelaino, grace ful and gracious as a tall, white, splon did lily, in this dead house that seemed still to throb with living pas- hickapoo Worm iller Expels Worins. sions. But the picture subtly eluded The enuse of your child's ills----tho him and he stirred uneasily under the fetid, oft'ensi'e breath- the starting up blanket. with terror :.ncd grin ling of teeth while After a time his hands stretched out u'l. - - the :;;1110(\" iun e ioll---tii) to tho reading-stand and drew the rk . 1 - m -pI r . glass with its vivid blossom nearer, indientio s of wor- . M i'; i -> \\'m-m till, In his nostrils, its musky odor Kilh'r is what oir < hIib l ne'ds: it ex mingled with the dew-wet, scent of it, Is lhe worna-. :i l' :ine 1.f thI ehil >l the honeysiickle fro m the garden. At n! i::lthy e tld r I'l;- 1 , t !n- t mova la:t is eyes closed. "Every nman car- ): ct. h apVh :nli n wnsI , -W: ties ;is fate * * + on a rih.and :t of \1 "rt hi I r , >.:, r . la t o e171e t atlleh 1t :n1 it, ti, sr; -n :ht.tt his neck,' lit- niut.ered dro *w.i , ' t ii'i 11 -1 ly= ;! : , r ' .'i anld thenl, "'hose:3 3'L tl t u :' illmfen lietl 1. t-:'e.ii" -'t roses * " '' r. . i f. iar 'it l. u a box I . And so ho fell asleep. 1 ' ;, tie apii 1 in m .1b <l. ('o. ('onin Next \\ ek.; , A.i Prof t ' iTch j'.:(ll'i-' ien *' I . (- (""';'rm: t 11- . . ( * w.:-s Ikn iow 'n to a In t o,- - yi. h"." 1nua" ( 1i..) 1" . (-" 4. 1 t 3111.1il ys h'u intt-if 1i . )'tt:ttien.) it o. i.ui:horit ii('n t I " f r 1) I '. the state of Conne111cticutt. 1!. l-s h t ct " i.: c1 (l'. .,!ot her in t r1' -t iui nlilJC I 1 of t raow I-U il' i .l t it i t \vhl. 1 :It Is uii cadc onplis .t - y ;t thu 1)' i). I, 11:1(u per. c - i. g 1t i1 c 1>).. 'ti' i pito 1:1. i l ure . ''ll 11ma h~o of int::r1 st to yti to) know o 11o h.lr1d te nc"; , ilot otir I li- iin py a rat i on. I , 11. V I III fi it ful the zo il t 1,10 1). d. i'rae rIp.tioa lh l d bten of Ineal- Sn t h u ,' o ) 1 1t (,onto it o. c 1 'ule vatiec to it 1 was cove re Ia $e Itsh a t 1).1) it oats e yo 1i'al With eezrnart frondg end( to foot when01 als i u ).1.I o ,csut~fy 1 hweian using yotur reinedies. I coull frtne li Rot no relief, allthotuhi 1 triedl a 11h0u- \o ofr ti is ulsz o~l citnd ineanls, I applied but two bot- o h uttne !.. nesi tp ties of" the! Prescription' IL e"uro was- it th a nei o.t;yu n tI effece1 i, a vAry short time, in less cent. Laurens Drug Co., Laurens, S. C. Why not NM.de -to Your-Order Painit? Mix your paint to sun; - surface anI weather co tmitions :'nd tint it so it blend.; well s' t!Ic! 2 :c~ers r in of ega Ur he use. Atlantic White Lead (flte usa.bo 1u D..r Prrde 'esritin also nit:" 1out(': 11. 1. D o p e p c ly or i tede skins We' ofe to fis fl sz btl t c. , i cot y t Lauren D'rug Co1 ' ...:".,. Laurns,1. C. Why no 1t adeto.Yu - rd rP it Atlatidahit o ws'7. V S S ? *somemme . * X * S EF * In~ * 0nMf * NOT ONLY IS OUR JE WE LRY"RIGHT'', BUT OUR:PRJCES0 * ARE ALSO RIGHT. WE HAVE BUILT UP OUR BUSINESS. BY NVR ABUSING THlE CONFIDENCE OF OUR CUSTOMIERS * AND BY CA RR YING THlE STOCK. * OUR JEWELS APE OF PUREST RAY AND OUI2 SE TTiNGS0 * ACCORDING TO THlE FASHIONS 01F THlE DA Y.0 * WHEN YOU DEAL WITH US WE SHALL NOT ABUSE * YOUR CONFIDENCE. * FLEMING BROTHERS' * Laurens, S. C. *@?00e @ @0@..,,