University of South Carolina Libraries
q7 IIALLIE LMr '-APTER XXVIL. The Ambush. Not long after, from the musicians' bower the sound of "Home, Sweet Home," drifted over the poignant rose scent, and presently the driveway re Bounded to rolling wheels and the voices of negro drivers, and the house entrance jostled with groups, muffled in loose carriage-wraps, silken cloaks and light overcoats, calling tired but laughing farewells. Katharine, on the step, found her self looking into Valiant's eyes. "How can I tell you how much I have en joyed it all?" she said. "I've stayed till the very last minute-which is oomething for one's fourth season! And now, goodby, for we are off tomor row for Hot Springs." 11er father had long ago betaken himself homeward, and the big three seated surrey-holding "six comf'tablo and nine fumiliah," in the phrase of Lige the coachman-had returned for the rest: Judge Chalmers, the two younger girls and Shirley. Katharine greeted the latter with a charming smile. What more natural than that she should find herself straightway on the rear seat with royalty? The two girls safely disposed in the middle, the judge climbed up beside the driver, who cracked his whip and they were off. The way was not long, and Katha rine had need of dispatch if that re vengeful weapon were to be used: which fate had put into her hands. She wasted little time. "It seems so strange," she said, "to find our host in such surroundings! I can scarcely believe him the same John Valiant I've danced with a hun dred times in New York. He's been hee sucb a short while and yet he couldn't possibly be more at home if he'd lived in Virginia always. And you all treat him as if he wiere quite one of yourselves." Shirley smiled enchantingly. "Why, yes," she said, "maybe it seems odd to outsiders. But, you see, with us a Val lant is always a Valiant. No matter wnere he has lived, he's the son or hiis father and the master of Damory -iurt." 'hat's the wonderful part of it. It's o English, somehow." it?" said Shii'loy. "I never ght of it. lut perhaps it seems We have the old houses and the names and think of them, no doubt, he same way." "What a sad life his father had!" ursued Katharine dreamily. "You :now all about the duel, of course?" Shirley shrank imperceptibly now. The subject touched Valiant so closely it seemed almost as if it belonged to him and to her alone-not a thing to be flippantly touched on. "Yes," she said somewhat slowly, "every one hero' knows of it." "No doubt it has been almost forgot ten," the other continued, "but John's cbmning must naturally have revamped the old story. WVhat wvas it about the quarrel? A love-affair?" *"It's so long ago," murmured Shir 1y. "I suppose some one could tell Sf they' w~ould." - "Major Itristow, perhaps," conjec tured Katharine thoughtfully. "lie was one of the seconds," admit ted Shirley unhappily. "Hut by com mon consent that side of it wasn't talked of at the time. Men in Vir ginia haveo old-fashioned ideas about women. . . "Ah, it's fine of them!" paeaned Katharine. "I can imagine the men Awho knew shout that dreadful affair, -in their southern chivalry, drawing a Srdon of silence about the name of that girl with her broken heart. For itf she loved one of the two, it must have been Sassoon-'-not Valiant, else 'he would have stayed. 11ow terrible ito see end's lover killed in such a way.1 . - It was quickly ended for him, 'but the poor woman was left to bear it 'all the years. I fancy she would never wholly get over it, never be able to forget him, though she tried." Shirley made sonme reply that was lost in the whirring wheels. The oth er's wordls seemedl almost an echo of what she herself had been thinking. "Maybe she married after a while. too. A woman must make a life for herself, you know. If she lives here, it will be sad for her, this opening of the old wound by -John's coming. . . And looking so like his father--" Katharine paused. T[here was a kind of exhilaration in this subtle baiting. Shirley stirred uneasily, and in the glimpsing light her face looked trou, 'bled. Katharine's voien had touched pathos, and in spite of her distaste of ~the subject, Shir'ley had been entering into the feeling of that supposititious ~woman. The judge, on the front seat, was .telling a low-toned story over' his 'shoulder for the delectation of Nancy and Betty, but Shirley was not listen ing. Her whole mind was full of what Katharine had been saying. She was picturing to herself thid woman, her 'secret hidden all these years, hearing of John Valiant's coming to Damory tourt, learning of this likeness, shrink ing from sight of it, dreading the pain ful memory it mtust thrust upon her. "Suppose"--Katharine's voice was dreamy-"that she and John met aud denly. withnnt warning What wnnu,1 AUREN 5TOUT iihe Zlo? Would sheOsay anything! Perhaps she would faint...." Shirley started violently. Her hands, as they drew her cloak uncertainly about her, tegan to tremble, as it with cold. Something fell from them to the bottom of the surrey. Through her chiffon veil Katharine noted this with a slow smile. It had been easier than she had thought. She said no more, and the carriage rolled on, to the accompaniment of giggles over the judge's peroration. As it neared the Rosewood lane she leaned toward Shirley. "You have dropped your fan," said sh8 "-and your gloves, too. . . . I might have reached them for you. Why, we are there already. How short the drive has seemed!" "Don't drive up the lane, Uge," said Shirley, and her voice seemed sharp and strange even to herself. "The wheels would wake mother." Katharine bade her goodby with care ful sweetness, as the judge bundled her down in his strong friendly arms. "No," she told him, "don't come with me1. It's not a bit necessary. Eim maline vIil be waiting for me." lie climbed into her vacant place as the girls called their good nights. "Ve'll all sleep late enough In the morning, I reckon," he said with a laugh, "but it's been a great success!" * * * * . * S S Emmaline was crouched in a chair in the hall, a rug thrown over her knees, in open-mouthed slumber. She started up at the touch of Shirley's hand, yawning widely. "I 'Clare to goodness," she muttered, "I was jes' fixin' t' go t' sleep!" "I-I'M so tired, Emmaline. Take the crown. Its heavy." The negro woman untangled the glittering points from the meshing hair with careful fingers. "Po' It'l chickydee-dee!" she said lovingly. The Year Was That of the Duel: the Date Was the Day Following the Jessamilne Anniversary. "RJeck'n she flop all th' feddlahs outer her wings. Gimme that 0' tini crown -I like ter lam' it out th' winder! Come on, nsow; we go upstairs soft so's not ter 'sturb Mie' Judith." In the silvery-blue bedroom, she deftly unfastened the hooks of the heavy satin gown and coaxedl her mis tress to lie on the sofa while she un inned the masses of waving hair till. they lay in a rich surge over the cushion. Then she brought a brush and crouching down beside her, began with long gentle strokes to smooth out the silken threads, talking to her the while In a soft croonin~g monotone. Under these ministrations Shirley lay hinguld and1( speechless, her eyes closed. The fear that had stricken her heart by turns seemed a cold hand pressing upon its beating and an algid vapor rising stealthily over it. But her hands were hot anmd her eyelids burned. inally she roused herself. "Thank you, Emmaline," she said in a tired voice, "good night now; r'm going to sleep, and you must go to bed, too." Hlut alone in the warm wan dark, Shirley lay staring open-eyed at the ceilIng. Slowly the terror was seizing uplon her, the dread, noiseless and In tangible, folding her in the shadow of its numubing wings. Was her mother the one over whom that old duel had been fought? She remembered the cape jessamnines. W~as the date of that duel-of the death of Sassoon the anniversary her mother kept? She sat up in bed, trembling. Then she rose, and opening the door with caution, crept dlown the stair, sliding her hot hand before her along the cool polIshed banister. As she passed through the lower hail, a hound on' the p~orch, scenting her, stirred, thumped his tail on the flooring, and whined. (Iroping her way to the dining-room, she lighted a candle and passed through a corridor into a low-ceiling ed chamber er'nploye'd as a general re.. eeptacle-a glorified garret, as Mrs. D~andridge dubbed it, It showed a strange assemblage! A row of chests, stored with winter clothing, gave forth a clean pungent smell of cedar, and at one side stood n antique spinet and a worn set of horschair furniture. Shirley had turned -her miserable ws na nbonnk-shelf alongo nealn1 The volumee 'it contained had bedfi her father's, and among them stood a row of tomes taller than their fel lows-the bound numbers of a county newspaper, beginning before the war. The back of each was stamped with the year. She was deciphering these faded imprints. "Thirty years ago," she whispered; "yes, here it Is." She set down the candle and dragged out one of the huge leather backs. Staggering under the weight, she rested Its edge on the table and began feverishly to turn the pages, her eye on the date line. She stopped presently with a quick breath-she had reached May 16th. The year was that of the duel: the date was the day following the jessamine anniversary. Fearfully her eye overran the columns. Then suddenly she put her open hand on the page as though to blot out the words, every trace of color stricken from cheek and brow. But the line seemed to glow up through the very flesh: "Died, May 14th; Ed ward Saesoon, in his twenty-sixth year." The book slipped to the floor with a crash that echoed through the room. It was true, then! It wvas Sassoon's death that her mother mourned. - The man in whose arms she had stood such a little while ago by the old dial of Damory Court was the son of the man who had killed him! "Oh, God," she whispered, "just when I was so happy! Oh, mother, mother! You loved him, and your heart broke when he died. It was Valiaiti who broke it-Valiant-Val iant. Ilis father!" She slipped down upon the bare floor and crouched Itr shuddering and agonized, her disheveled hair wet with tears. Was her love to be but the thing of an hour, a single clasp and then, forever, nothing? His fa ther's deed was not his fault. Yet how could she love a man whose every feature brought a pang to that mother she loved more than herself? So, over and over, the wheel of her thought turned in the same desolate groove, and over and over the parox ysms of grief and longing submerged her. Noiselessly as she had descended, she crept again up the stair. As she passed her mother's door, she paused a moment, and laying her arms out across it, pressed her lips to the dark grain of the wood. (Continued Next Week.) HUNDRED, BUT STILL WORKS' Mrs. Nannie Turner, the old lady here pictured, lives at one of the lodges of Cholmnondeley castle, Che ahire, Englandl, which has been her home for more than 50 years. Though she is more than a hundred years old, she retains ali her faculties and pos sesses a strength which is remattkable in one of her years. Besides attend ting to household duties, she makes it her business to go into the woods dlaily to gather fuel for the fire, Invigorating to the Pale and Sickly. The old Stanedard general strengthening tonic G~tovIE' TASTE lEs.s chill TONIC, drives ou( Malaria .enriches the blood .and builds upthle sys. tem. A true tonic. F'or nelults and children. 50c CORN From South America. We have just receiveda shipment of good sound yet low Corn from Argentenia, South America. When you need Food or Feed Stuff, "The Big Store" is the place to buy it. J. H. Sullivan Laurens. S. C. Choice l 10 acres of land. known as part of the Alartin R1iddle estate','bounded by lands of I,. .:N1.ddle and Mrs. 10lmina Owings. Price $10 per acre. 2 3-4 acres, known, as Duckett house and lot, bounded by T. 1). ILake atid road leading to Madde-n station; 1-2 mile of the eity limits of Laureis. Price $600. 20 acres of land, known as part of tle Martin Riddle estate, bounded by lands of 104. Nf. R1iddle and others. Price $30 per acre. 25 aeres of land known as H. R. Todd's home, bounded by lands of S. 11. Blurton, 1. Ii. Traynham and AMrs. Iosa liee Craddock. This is a beauti fill home at Narnie, station on C. & W. C. railroad, 5 miles fron Laurens. This home was built and improved in 1913. Price $2,750. Why not buy this today? 100 2-:3 aeres, known as the 1farris iiddle home, with eleven room dwell lag, fine barn and good outbuild'igs. Price $30 per neIre. 218 acres, more or less, known as 0. 1,. liiuter hiome. hounded by War rior er eek. M. If. ha tnter, IV. J. Flemu ing and others, witi six roomn dwell Ill-i and foli tenuant houises, well im I1rove(l. Price $9.100. 17S acres of land niear Ora, bound t(I by lands of -Toi Poole, William Ilryson ald otIer. witllth good im IOvem11e1tis, will be sold very, very low. .11 aci's, m3lore or3 less, kn11own as W. It *'ower's home, lbon)ded by T. 11. Taylor. It. 1'. Sithill an3(d others, five roomi cottaget, for $1,200. 11 1-2 neIes( , lmownt as M. 1. Blurns' lioi. boided by A. Lt. iurns, S. .3 Ditrs an( .mim Nabors. Priee $1 ,66u. 2.10 acres, more or less, known as the Mat Owhigs place, bounded by W. 11. Cheek, C. It. Martli and others. Dwelling and other outbuildings. This Is tle properly of Mrs. Jane Owings, who has a life-time estate an(] will be sold at let Interest at $1,500 eash. 5I 3-1 acres kn'own as P. nl. OweI's lome, bounded by Mrs. Jane Curry, N. D). Garrett and others. Six-room cot tage, barn and outbuildings and one tLnant house. Prl-ice $40 per acre. Terms 1-3 cash, remainder in one and two years. 53 acres, more or less, known as [olcomb place, bounded by Butler 3arrett, J. Rt. Holcomb and others, with four room dwelling and out mildings. Price $60. 1 3-4 acres, more or less, known as [,. It. Blakeley home, bounded by Y. C. liellams, J. J. Dendy and fronting Nhulrch street. Eight room cottage ind outbuilding, city water, with lights. Fine pasture. Price $2,500. The Land Man Whc 31 F (1) The Glenn 3 Road containing 236 (2) Creswell Fr toG Goodgions Factory (3) Second Kn< acres. P r ei (4 PemlaSI ( 5 Nathan Bar] ~7 Part of Cat 8 he Bill Ari (9 The Mitchel rens Road containing One concrete sto House and lot < Featherstone Place o: The A. J. Tayloi S. S. Boyd Place One house and lc Thad. Nelson hoi Four Hundred a Mars Place. Five Hundred aci as Henry Place. Two Hundred ac place, known as Mott Four Hundred ac known as Alsie Colen Mary C. Sullivar Two houses and One H-undred Acres ($2>500.0o) D~ollars, One Hundred and For One house and several One Hunlldredl Acres ut Dollars.. Fift y A cres near- City1 Fifty-two Acres in tow ($5,000.00) D~ollars, Have othler Farms, HoI Lauren R. A. COOPER, Prea Leal Estate 20 acres of land inside incorporate linit? ot city of Laurens, with six room cottage, three room house and outbuilding, for $2,500. Two store rooms, at Watts Mill,' fronting 50 feet and 50 feet deep. Price $k,550.. . 3-4 acre of land. bounded by Jeff Sexton, Will Blakeley, and others on Mock Street, in city of L.4urens; has six room dwelling, fcr the small sum of $900. 3-4 acre more or less, kn, vn as A. B. Burns home, in the city of Laurens; b -unded by Boyd Sexton, Geo.'Garrett and fronting on.North Harper street, with seven room dwelling, otitbuild ing and fine *ell of water. This home has -been recently built in fine loca tion and can be bought for $3,200, one third cash, balance in one and two years. I'p-to-date bakery at very reasona he pi'lce and terms made easy. See me early if you want this property. 1 3-4 acres of land known as the E,. W. Patton home at Watts Mill, with a beautiful cottage and a store-room. Price $2,700.00. Also three unimproved lots at the Watts Mill will be sold remarkably cheap. See me for price. 93 acres of land, known as part of the Mrs. Anne Cheek homestead, bounded by W. R. Cheek, Geo. Smith W .R. Henderson and other:. Han dwelling and outbuilding. Convenient to school and church. Price $35 per )cre. 169 acres, known as Mr. Albert B. Burns' home, bounded by Sam Burns, %lac Burns and Robert Fleming. This Is a nice pice of property. nicely lo ated and good Improvements. Cheap tt $45 per acre. . N. LEAI< > Divides The Earth 'OR SALE Place one mile of Gree acres. axnklin or Knob Place on: containing 78 acres. >b Place joining abovei ockley Tract containing isdale Tract containing.. utnam Home Place conti herine Putnam Place cor rnstrong Place containing il Place at Barksdale on ( 126 and 1-2 acres. re room at Barksdale Sta >f Anna C. West and I n West Main Street in ci r house and lot on East D on East Main Street. it in town of Gi-ay Couri use and lot on West Har Lcres five miles of Whi res one-half miles of Ma, res, bounded by lands of e Place. res, bounded by T. M. Sh ian Place. i house and lot on Sulliva lots on Laurel Street. three miles South of Laurenis ty'rsix Acrcs near Trinity Ridge S< lots between City of Laiurens and :ar Ora, Bramnlette Place, at Twent) imits at Fifty-five ($55.oo) Dollars n of Gray Court, good dwelling a uses and Lots for Sale. See us 3! S Trust Coi ident. .L .JS. MACE for Sale! 15 acres, more or less, known as the . L. McSwain home placo in Cross Hill, with a beautiful 8-room cottage. See me for prices. 1 1-4 acres with six-room dwelling, two 'barns, and other outbuildings at the Watts Mill. Price '$L,800.00. 88 acres, known as P. 0. Smith's home, bounded by S. 'A. Williams, Chesterfield Mcaniel -and others, Price $37.50 per acre, These are a few o fthe bargains that we have to offer you at the pres ent. If you want a home or want to dispose of a home call me up at Or y Court, S. C., Phone 19. 30 acres of land, more or less, known as part of the Mrs. Nan Knight homestead. Bounded by S. P. Ball, IMrs. Sallie Hughes, L. Z. Wilson and others. With dwelling and out-build ing. Price $50 per acre. 50 acres of land bounded by public highway running from Lauren's to Greenville, known as the DarksdA 'e land, just outside corporate limits of the cit./ of Laurens. Price $75.00 per acre. Also lot adjoining this lot, 62 acres, at $50.00 per acre. 117 1-2 aches bounded by lands of C. A. Babb, L. E. Mares 'and the Aber crombie estate. Has nice dwelling, good outbuilding, and farm lands in the highest state of' cultivation. Price $50.00 per acre. 67 acres of land just outside cor porate limits of Gray Court, in high state of cultivation. Has tenant house and is very near tho Cray Court-Ow ings Institute. This property is cheap at the price, $50.00 per acre. 140 1-2 acres known as the Reuben Martin homestead, situated on the highway from Lanford to Gray Court. This is one of the finest locations in the upper part, of thd county, close to schools, close to church and close to marhet. Price $45.00 per acre. 2 acres, more or less, known as S. T. Taylor's place, bounded by North Har per street, Watts Mills property; five room dwelling, storeroom 25x50 feet, with barn and fine well of water. Can be connected with water works. Elec tric liglts already installed. Price $3, 200. 63 acres of land, more or less, known as the-G. J. Lanford lands, bounded by the lands of J. 0. Garrett, H. P. Bur dette and others. Price $60.00 per acre. 54 1-2 acres, known as the Gilly F. Riddle home place, bounded by Charlie Benson, H1. P. Garrett and Little broth ers. Price $37.50 per acre. 40 1-3 acres, more or less, known as J. D. Graydon home, bounded by J. M. Armstrong, W. B. Abercrombie and athers with cottage and outbuildings. Price $45 per acre. to Suit Your Purse I m& nville and Laurens road from Barksdale tract containing 30 27 acres. 8 acres. ining 19 acres. ttaining 34 acres. 65 acres. ~reenville and Lau tion. nown as the C. C. ty of Lauren. 4ain Street. upton Street. tmire, known as the dden Station known T. M. Shaw home aw home-place and an Street. for Twe'nty'-five Hundred :hool at a Bargain. Wvatts Mill. pthree Hundred ($2,300-00) per Acre, nid barn at Five Thousand npany IEN. Sec. and Treas.