Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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,LL1J3TRATrD ~'iL 4r-mPvr * A D "ao -mmsiuW C SYNOPSIS. CHAPTERT I-John Valiant, a rich so eiety favorite, suddenly discovers that the Vaiarnt corporation, which his father rounded and which was the prkiolpal source of his wealth. has failed. CHAPTER II-He voluntarily turns over his private fortune to the receiver (or the corporation. CHAPTER III-His entire remaining poesessions conzist of an old miotor car, % white bull dog and Damory court. a seglected estate in Virginia. CHAPT'rR iV-iie learns that this es rato carno into the family Upy royal grant - d has been in the possession of the valiants ever since. CHAPTI- V-On the way to Danory .ourt he nwets Sliirle'y DanidrhI:e, an a.u 'urn-haired beauty, and decides that ho 1i going to like Virginia innacosely. CIIA'rigR VI-An old negro tells Shlr Iy's fortune and predicts great trouble z'or her on account of a man. CHAP"'l:R VI--Uncle Jefferson, an old negro. tckes Valiant to Danory court. CHAr'TIR VIT--Shirley's mother. Mrs. t)anl Ilt'e- andI Mior Btlrh;tow exchaino retniniseneem duriny whleh it it revrveleti that the nut1jor. V'alli:nt's father, and a 'nan nanrel Sayonn. were rivri's for th1e and of Mrs. Ijandridge In her youth. 'assoon and Valliant fought a duel on bor vaccount in which the former was killed. CHAPTl'ER IX-Valtant finds Damory eourt overgrown with weeds and creep 'rs and the btillidings in a very much "eglected conditioln. Uncle Jefferson and his wife, Aunt Daphne, are engaged as 3ervants. CHAPTER X--Valiant explores hip an -ostral home. He is surprised by a fox tunting party whlieh invades his estate. le recognizes Shirley at tho head of the .tarty. CHAP'l'Plt X[-Ile gives sanctuory to the cornered fox. (;ossivs discuss tih ad '.'ent of the new owner and recall the 'ragedy in which the elder Valiant took .HYAI'TlR XTI-Valiant decides to re iltato Damiory court and make the land prod'uce IL livling for hirn. CHAPTi'ER XIII-le meets Shirley. who I as been gathering Ilowers on the Valiant 'state, and reveals his identity to her. CHAPTER XIV-Valiant saves Shirley rom the bite of a snake, which hites hum. (inowing the deadliness of the bitn, Shir toy sucks the poison from the wound and oaves his life. CIAI"I'ER XV--Shirley tells her mother of the incident tinl tle lat10r is strangely ;moveti at hearing that a valiant is again living at Dainory couirt. CHAPTER XVI-%taliant learns some of the history of his family froim Doctor Southall anti Major 3ristow. CHAPTIFR XVII-Ile learns for the first tine that his father left Virginia oit n.ccunt of a duel in which Doctor South ill and Major Bristow acted as his fath cr's seconds. CHAPTER XVIII. Beyond the Box-Hedge. Am he greeted her, his gaze pAun, -il .Seep <nto hers. She had recoiled a t.ep, at:r-Iledl, to recognize 'lin aI ,nost i-': t:. tly. 1l4 noted the shrink. -ug ;1'r 1.1 usht it, due to a stal)bing --zenory of tiha I. fore:hoi.iorror. lls lbrvci *a&prds were pronai-e cunuili: "I'm an1 unconscionable trespasser," he said. "It must scorn awfully prow ly, but I didn't realize I was on pri vate property till I passed the hedge there." As her hand lay in his, a strange fancy stirred in him: in that wood meeting she had seemed something witch-like, the wilful spirit or the pas sionate spring herself, mixed of her aerial essences and jungle wilder nesses; in th is scented dimn-lit clo she was grave-eyed, subdued, a paler pen sive woman of under lialf-gulessedl sad nesses and haunting moods. With her answer, however, this gravity seemed to slip from her like a garment. She laughed lightly. "I love to prowl myself. I think sometimes I like the night better than the -(lay. I believe in one of my in carnations I must have been a pan ther." They both laughed. "I'm growing superstitious about floweirs," he said. "You know a rose flgulredl in our first meeting. Andl in our last-" She shrank momentarily. "The cape jessamines! I shall always think of that when I see thenm!" "Ahi, forgive me!" he begged. "itt when I remember what you dlid-fOr me! Oh, I know! But for- you, I lust have (lied." "But for me you wouldn't have been bitten. Bult dlon't let's talk of it." She shiveired sud~denly. "You are (co1(." ho said. "Isn't that gown too thin for this night ala'?' "No, I often walk hei'e till quite late. Listen!" The bird song had broken forth again, to be anstweredl this time by a rival's in a dlistant thicket. "My *ightingale is in good v'oicc." "I never heard a iiightingale before I came to Virginia. I wonder why it sings only at night." "What an odd idea! Why, it sings in the dlaytime, too." "Really? But I supp~lose it escapes notice in the gener-al chorus. Is it a large bird?'' "No; smaller than a thrush. Only a little bigger than a robin. Its nest is' over there in that hedge-a tiny loose cup of dIried oak-leaves, lined with hair, and the eggs are olive color. hlow pretty the hedge looks now, all tangledi with firefly sparks!" "Doesn't it! Uncle Jefferson calls them 'lightning-bugs.'" "The name is much more pie. *.uresque. But all the dai'ky sayings are. Do yoti find him and Aunt -Daphne ulsefull?" "He has been a godsend," hie said fervently; "and her cooking has uaught me to treat her wvith passilon ate respect. IIe's teaching me now abou't flowers-it's anui'p'ing how AUREN 5TOUT many kinds he knows. ~He's a walking herbarium." "Come and' leo mine," Si satid. "Roses are our specialty-we have to live up to the Rosewood name. But beyond the arbors, are beds and beds of other flowers. See-by this big tree are speed-well and delphinium. The tree Is a black-walnut. It's a dreadful thing to have one as big as that. Whon you want something that costs a lot of money you go and look at it and wonder which you want most, that particular luxury or the tree. I know a girl who had two in her yard only a little bigger than this, and she went to EIurope on thetm. But so far I've always voted for the tree. -low does your garden come on?" "Fatmously. Uniclo Jefferson has shanghaied a half-dozen niegro gar deners--froma where I can't imagine and he's having the timo of lyis life hectoring over theta. He r< fers to tlie ipper anld lower terraces as 'up-and down-stairs.' l've got seeds, but, it will ho a long time beforo they flower." "Oh, would you like solne slips?" she cried. "Or, better still, I canl give you the roses already rooted Alad Charles and Marechal Nell and Cloth of Gold and cabbage and ram blers. Wo have geranIums and fuchsias, too, and the coral honey suckle. That's different from the wild onie. you know." "You are too good! If you would only advise me where to set theta! Dut I dare say you think ne presum Ing." She turned her full face to hni. 'Presuming!' You're punishing tme now for the dreadful way I taflIed to you about Datmory Court-before I knew who you were. Oh, it was uln platrdonable! And after the splendid thing you had done-I read about it that same evening-with your money, I mean!" "No, no!" he protested. "There was nothing splendid about It. It was only pride. You see the corporation was my father's great idea-the thing ho created and put his soul into-and It was foundering. I know that would have hurt him. One thing I've wanted to say to you, ever since the (lay we talked together-about the duel. I want to say that whatever lay behind it, my father's whole life was darkened Dy that event. Now that I can put two and two together, I know that it was the cause of his sadness." "Ah, I can believe that," she re led. "I think he had only two interests myself and the corporation. So you see why I'd rather save that and be a beggar the rest of may natural life. Iit I'm not a beggar. Damory Court Pione is worth-i know it iiow-a hun. dred times what I left." "You are so utterly different from what I imagined you!" "I could never have imagined you," ;e said, "never." "I must be terribly outre." "You are so many women in one. When I listened to y-our harp playing I could hardly believ'e it was the same you I saw galloping across the fields that mtortuing. Now you are a dlif'erent womantt tfromf both of those.'' As she lookent at hitm. her lips curioed mener~t-wiseRf. lier foot sligi'od on1 the sheer edge of the turf. She swayed toward him and he caught her', feel ing for a. sharp instant the adorable nearness of her body. It ridy.ed all his skin with a creeping (elight, She re covere~i hr footing with an exclama tion, sv4 tutrned back somewhat ab ruptiy to L'fhe porch where abe seated hersant' o'. ?.he step, dirawitng her filmy skirt aside to make a place for hIm. T1here was a moment of silence which lie broke. .'tt ersluisite seretiade you1 were playing! You knowv the words, of cou rae." "They are more lovely, if possIble, than the score. Do y'ou care for poetry ?" "lye alwayse loved it," he saId. "I've been reading some lately-a little old fashioned book I found at D~amory Court It's 'lucile.' Do0 yout knowv it?" "Yes. It's my mother's favorite." Hie dIrew it from his pochket. "See, I've get it here. It's marked, toe." He opened it, to close it Instantly not, however, before she had put out her hand and laid It, pbalm down, on the page. "That rose! Oh, lot me have It!" "Never!" ho protested. "Look here. When I put it betwveeni the leaves, I did so at random. I didn't see tIll now that I had opened it at a marked passage." "Let us readl It," she said. ie leaned and held the leaf to the light from the dloor-way andl the two heads bent together over the text. A sound fell behInd them and both turned A slight figureo, in a soft gray gown wIth 01(1 lace at the throat, stood In the doorway behInd them. John Valiant sprang to his feet. "Ah, Shirley, I thought I heard voices. Is that you, Chilly?" "it's not Mr. Lusk, mother," said Shirley. "It's our newv neIghbor, Mr. Valiant." As lie bent over the fraIl hand, mur muring the conventional words that presentatiotns are believed to require, Mrs. Dandiridge sank into a deep cushloned chair. "Won't you sit (inwn?" she said, Tie notIcer1 that she did not look directly at him, and that her fe was as pallid as her hair. "Thank you," said John Valiant, and resumed his place on the lower step. Shirley, who had again seated her. self, suddenly laughed, and pointed to the book which lay between them. "Imagine what we are doing, dearest! We were reading 'Lucile' together." She saw the other wince, and the deep dark eyes lifted, as if under com. pulsion, from the book-cover to ValIl. ant's face. He was startled by Shir ley's cry and the sudden limp uncon scious settling-back into the cushions of the fragile form. CHAPTER XIX. Night. A quicker breeze was stirring as John Valiant went back along the Red Road. le had waited in the garden at Rosewood till Shirley, aided by Emmaline and with Ranston's anxious face hovering in the background, hav ing performed those gentle offices which a woman's fainting spell re quires, had come to reassure him and to say good night. As lie threw off his coat in the bedroom he had chosen for his own, he felt the hard corner of the "Lucile' in the pocket, and drawing it out, laid it on the table by the bedside. Ho seeied to feel again the tingle of his cheek where a curling strand of her coppery hall had sprung against it whenit her head had bent beside hils own to read the marked linc. When he had undressed lie sat an hour in the candle-bize, a dressing gown thrown over his shoulders, scriv ing vainly to recreate that evening call, to remember her every word and look and movement. For a breath her face would flush suddenly before hin, like a live thing; then it would mysteriously fade and elude him, though he clenched his hands on the arms of his chair in the fierce mental Shirley, Who Had Again Seated Her self, Suddenly Laughed, and Point. ed to the Book. effort to recall It. Only the intense blue of her eyes, the tawny sweep of her hair--these and the touch of her, the consciousness of her warm and vivid fragrance, remained to wrap all his senses in a mist woven of gold and fire. * 9 * * * * * * Shirley, meanwhile, had sat some time beside her zmother's bed, leaning fromn a white chintz-covered chair, het anxiety only partially allayed by reas suratices, now and then stooping to lay her young cheek{ against the delicate arm in its lacy sleeve or to pass her hand lovingly up) and down its outline, noting with a recurrent passion of ten dernmess the transparency of the skin with its violet veining and t.ho shad ows beneath the closedl eyes. Emma line, moving on soft wvorsted-shod feet about the dim room, at length had whispered "4You g-o tub bald, honey. I stay wIth Alis' Judith till she go tub sic-ep." "Yes, go, Shirley," said her mother. ,"Hlaven't I any privileges at all? Can't I even taint when I feel like it, without 'ialling ouit the fire-brigade? You'll pampei me to death and heaven knows I don't need It." "You won't let me telephone for Doc tor Southall?" "Certainly net! "And you are sure it was nothing ,but the roses?" "Why, what else should it be?" said her mother almost peevishly. "I must really have the arbors thinned out. On heavy nights it's positively overpowqr ing. Go along now, and we'll talk about it tomorriow. I can ring if I want anything." In her room Shirley undressed thoughtfully. There was between her and her mother a fine tenuous bond of sympathy and feeling as rare, per haps, as it was lovely. She could not remember when the other had not been a semi-invalid, and her earliest childhood recollections were punctu Ated with the tan of the little cane. Tonight's sudden Indisposition had shocked and disturbed her; to faint at a rush of perfume seemed to sug gest a growing weakness that was alar-ming. Tomorrow, she told herself, site wouild sendl Ranston wvith a wagon ioadi of the roses to the hospital at Char-lottesville. She slipped on a pink shell-shaded dressing-gown of slinky silk with a riot of azaleas scattered in the weave, tmnd thten, driagging her chair before the open windlow, (lrew asidle the light curtain and began to brush hter hair. All at once her gaze fell upon the floor-, and~ shte shtrank( back ward( trom a twisting thbread-like thing whose bright safi-on- yellow glowed sharply against the dlark car-pet. She saw in an in stant, however, that it was nothinig more dangerous than a fragment of love-vine from the gardeni, whtich had cluing to her skirt. She pilted up the tinty mass of tendrils anid withI a shoulder through the window. "If It, takes root," she said aloud, "mny sweet-, heart loves me." She leaned from the sill to peer down into the misty gar den, but could not follow its fall. Long ago her visitor would have reached Damory Court. She had a vision of him wandering, candle in hand, through the empty echoing rooms, looking at the voiceless por traits on the walls, thinking perhaps of his father, of the fatal duel of which he had never known. She liked the way he had spoken of his fatheri As she leaned, out of the stillness there came to her ear a mellow sound. It was the bell of the courthouse in: the village. She counted the strokes falling clearly or faintly as the slug gish breeze ebbed or swelled. It was eleven. She drew back, dropped the curtain to shut out the wan glimmer, and in the darkness crept into the soft bed as if into a hiding-place. * * * + * * * * A warm sun and an air mildly mel low. A faint gold-shadowed mist over the valley and a soft lilac haze blend ing the rounded outlines of the hills. Through the shrubbery at 'Damory Court a cardinal darted like a crimi son shuttle, to rock impudently from a fleering limb, and here and there on the bluish-ivory sky, motionless as a pasted wafer, hung a hawk; from time to time one of these wavered and silted swiftly down, to climb once more in a huge spiral to its high tower of sky. Perhaps it wondered, as its tele scopic eye looked down. That had been its choicest covert, that disliev eled tangle where the birds held per petual carnival, the weasel lurked in the underbrush and the rabbit lined his windfall. Now the wildness was gone. A pergola, glistening white, now upheld the runaway vines, making a sickle-like path from the upper ter race to the lake. In the barn loft the pigeons still quitarrelled over their new cotes of fresh pine, anti under a clump of locust trees at a little distance from the house, i iiailf-dozen dolis' cabins on stilts stood waiting the loney-stor age of the black and gold bees. There were new denizens, also. These had arrived in a dozen zinc tanks and willow hampers, to the amaze of a sleepy express clerk at the railroad station: two svans now sailed majestically over the lily-ponds of the lake, along its gravel rim anud a pair of bronze-colored 'lucks waddled and preened, and its placid surface rippled and broke to the sluggish backs of goldfish and the flirting fins of red Japanese carp. The house itself wore another air. Its look of unkemptness had largely vanished. The soft gray tone of age remained, but the bleakness and for. lornness were gone; there was about all now a warmth and genial bearing that hinted at mellowed beauty, fire light and cheerful voices within. Valiant heaved a long sigh of satis faction as he stood in the sunlight gaz ing at the results of his labors. He was not now the flippant boulevardier to whom money wias the sine qua non of existence. He had learned a sover eign lesson-one gained not through the push and fight of crowds, but in the simple peace of a countryside, un vexed by the clamor of gold and the complex problems of a competitive ex istence-that he had inherited a need of activity, of achievement that he had been born to do. "Chium," he said, to the dog rolling on his back in the gr-ass, "what do you think of it all, anyway?" He reached down, seized a hind leg and whirling him around like a teetotum, sent him flying into the bushes, whence Chum launched again upon him, likec a catapult. lie caught the white shoulders and held him vise-like. "Just .about right, eh? But wait till we get those ramblerai" (Coatinued Next Week.) ** * Wailts Mill1 School. * * Monath lnding Maiy 8th, 1911. * ** First (rade: Alice Kirby, S'wanmee Linder, I .ewis Mimis, Edwin Thomas, Willie Alilen. Gay P'atton, Roy Mlc D~owell, Kirk Ta~ylor. Roy Page, Clyde Kir-by, .Jay (Charike, Raymond O'dell, Thaid Price, Wil lie 1lazel, Olio ['rice, Idua Pr'iice, Mamie Gr-egory, Maud lirown lee, Gladys Lee, Iricee liazel. Second Grtade : Grace Oxnier, PeziarI 'Fitn in, Sadie Franamks, .\lariy Linder-, Sadie Hu aghes, lb-a Witlock. 'Third Griaide: (Cleara Al len Lotrie Ihishop. Nina hobo, Clyde Golightly, Miummett Jiessee, Andi-ella McKee, I ler man aFylot-, Gladys Tlumtalin. Eourath Grade: Winonia iilughes, Ruthb Ox net-, Charlie Puillecy. Fifth Gade: .iessic Mae Golightly, Lort-ld PaIge, Nannie Leeq Snoddy, Floydi 'Taylor. Sixth G-rde: Pauline Clark, Gert ti-utde Oxnter, Frank TFhomas. ivetnthi Grade: Maudlo Mae Jlessee. ('oughted for Threce Yeaiirs. "I em ai lover of your godsenid to humannit y eand science. Yoit me t di - ie, Dr)i. Ki ag's New I )iover-y, citred tmy coutgha of tha-ee years steaid intg,'' 5!'ya .lenn i i' 'iemmtintg, of New~ IDove'r, 3 t4 bbrn ndw' t yi i i r:t THE THRESHING SEASON IS NEAR! Call and let us demonstrate the celebrated Icer two cylinder engine. It has light weight per 11. P. and will burn any fuel that can be used in any combustible engine, such as gasoline, kerosene. Has throttling governor that feeds the fuel to suit the load and many other features, that wc will be glad to explain to you. Can furnish any size from 6 to 50 IH. P. Suitable for all kinds of work, for pumps and wood sawing oul (its. Also h1 andiole smaller size engines of other makes. For Sale By W. 1'. IlUDGE1NS, LAUR.ENS, S. C. 0 . WE CAN : "FIX IT" 0 ALL .RIGHT S o S 0 ei e0 * WE ARE FULLY EQUIPPED TO MATCH ANY LENSES. * BRING YOUR BROKEN GLASSES TO US. OR, IF YOUR * PRESENT GLASSES ARE NOT SA TISFACTORY, COME TO US * AND LET US TEST YOUR EYES AND FURNISH THE PROPER GLASSES. WE ARE EXPERTS IN THIS LINE AND WILL SER VE YOU HONES TL Y IN GOODS AND PRICES. * FLEMING BROTHERS Laurens, S. C. THE DAINTINESS AND CHARM OF YOUR KID AND SATIN SLIPPERS WE HAVE SPECIAL FACILITIES FOR CLEANING AND REFINISHING THEM Footer's Dye Works Always Safest and Best Cumberland, Md. zee~eeee~eeee**eee~seso+++++++++++p~ ..+~~~ ENGINEERING AND CONTRACTING Special Attention to Land Surveys McCRADY BROS.J& CH EVES Office in Tfhe B ~\k of $iaurens Building We are fully equipded, Joth by experience and in material equipment to rfheet every requirement. We would be glad to confer with anyone desiring the sub-division of lands or surveys for any pur poses. Letters andl telephone calls wvill be promptly attended to. McCrady Bros. & Cheves Lauren, S. C.