Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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VAt! NTh0 *IL3TKATD &-o L CHAPTER XXXI. 0 Evening of an Old Saor. Ralt-tattat-tat-tat I--Major Bristow's Ivory-headed camphor-wood stick thumped on the great door of Damory court. The sound had a tang of impa. tience, for he had used -.A6 knocker more than once without result. Now he strode to the end of the porch and raised his voice in a stentorian bellow that brought Uncle Jefferson shufliing .arouztd the path from the .hitehes with ..all, the whites of his eyes showing. "You dog-gone lazy rascal" thun. deed the major. "What do you mean, sab, by keeping a gentleman cooling his . eels On the doorstep like a tax sofleotor? Where's your mater?" 4 "iNo' de Lawd, Major, Ah ain' seen Mars' John sence dis mawnin'. Stabt ,est aftah breakfas' en he nevah showed up ergin et all. Yo' reek'n what de mattah, sub?" he added anx.i limuly. "'Peabs lak sumpin' preyin' oM be mind. Don' seem er bit hose't 'lately." "H-m-m" The major looked thought. Itl. "Isn't he well?" "No, sub. Ain' et no mor'n er hum. 'min-buld' 4se las' few days. JOS' hangs eroun' lonesome lak. Don' laugh no mo', don' sing no mo'. Ain' play de planny sence de day aftah de balL* Me en Daph moght'1y pestered 'bout him."1 "Pshaw!" said the major. "Touch of spring fever, I rackon. Aunt Daph feeds him too well. Give him less fried chicken and more ash-cake and buttermilk. Make him some juleps." The old negro shook his head. "Moghty neah use up all dat mint. bald Ah foun'." he said, "but ain' do !NO good. Majah Ah's sho' 'feahed 1Numpin' gwineter happeni."t "Nonsensel" the major sniffed. "What fool idea's got under your wool now? B1ee9- s"01)ag ..ad Anthony. r pas)4I'll bet a; doUar." Uncle Jefferson swallowed one or twIce with seeming difficulty and turned the gravel with his too, "D1at's 00,9 be said gloomily. "Ah done ae I 1de old man 4 Yuddah day 'bout et. I Ant'y, he knowl He see trouble or Komth' en trouble engwaie. Dat sanse I ight de hosmeho drop often de I letab. do', e die vey nawnia' or I Muhd don. By inter de house. Das' I ty bad hoodoo, or mighty bad 4 "bS0cksI" sid the major. "Yours ss loony as old Anthony, with your I ternal signS.' It your Mas' John's been out all day I reckon he'll tem ,.p 9rsng, ..'I Wait for him a I 1104f"I0ar In. but paused on 'a f~hIbaRo ''Ded' $6 say-.ah2- "I Itt mint Ws all gone, Uno' Jefeonh A 1 Mal" a . Uncle Jefereon's lips relaxed In g wid gria. "Ah .reck'a dab's er few stray skrigs ler, suh. Step in e ask h 17'ee'f et home. f loars' John see 'V bro', he be mought'ly hoped up. Ah a ;sahine mix ye' dat jplep in two 'He disappeared around the corner ' 6?ta porch and the major strode into I Ithe hali, throw his gray slouch hat ' . on the table, and sat down. 11 ,It was quiet and peaceful, that an- r 'eent hall. He fell to thinking of the t many times, of old, when he had sat there. The house was the same'again, t now. It had waked''fromi athirty- 0 years' slumber to a renewed prime, I Only he had lived on meanwhile and t now was old. He sighed. 5 How gay the place had been the E night of the ball, with the lights and a !roses and -music? He remembered v 'what the doctor had said about Val- d ~p# uend S|hirleS.-it hed lain ever 12 snein his mind, a painfutspecula- C tn. The recollection roused another ii ijught from w14eli he uhrank, 29 sirred uneasily. What eoun earth kept -n that old .1arky so lonetoyer that julep?' a IA slight noise made him turn his a head. But nothing moved. 9niy a I ~reag oi' thqwow Qri, h' hlui't and sottled back akain in hib lehaIr, t~ Y t was, in fact, a ataalthy? Edta he 'had heard. It 1% (tin the h1 library, where a haabby figure b crouched, listehAlet, in the corner be- s 'hind the thibestried screen-a man t evilly clatd, with a scarred cheek. b It had been with no good purpose v that Greet King had dogged the major t Ithese last few days. He hugged a hot hatred grown to white heat in six 'l lyears of prison labor within bleak fl 'walls at the clicking shoe-machine, or C 'with the chain-gang on blazing or r1 frosty turnpikes. Ho had slunk be- * .hind him that afternoon, creeping up the drive under cover of the bushes, and while the ether talked with Uncle Jefferson, had skirted the house andi entered from the farther side, through an open Firench window. Now as ho I peered from behind the screen, a I poker, snatched from the flreplaq, I was in his hand. His furtive gaze tel i ' upon a morocco-covered ease on a commode by his side, lie lifted Its -c lid and his eyes narrowed as ho saw< that it held a pistol. Hie set -down -I the poker noiselessly and took -the -t weapon, lie tilted it--it was rusted, but there were loads in the chamber. He crouched lower, with a whispered" curse: the amajor was coming into the : -library, buft 'riot alone-.,the old nigger was with 'kim i ...,Mpl -.5'son bo e _trayr 'Withaa AUMEN 5ToUT rrdsted ~goblet over -Whose urm peeped green leaves and which spread abroad in ambrosial odor, which the major sniffed approvingly as the other set the burden on the desk at his elbow. "Majah," said the latter solemnly, you reck'n Mars' John en Miss Shir oy -" "Good lord)" said the major, wheel ng to the small ormolu clock on the leak. "It's 'most four o'clock. Haven't rou any idea where he's gone?" "No, suh, less'n he's gwineter look )vah dem. walnut trees. Whut Ah's rwine ter say-yo' reck'n Mars''John )n Miss--" "Walnut trees? Is be going to sell hem ?" "Tree man come 'orm up norf' some whah ter me orbout et yistidday, Yas, iuh. Yo' reck'n Mars' John en-" "Nice pot of money tied up in that timber! He saw it right off. You're a lucky old rascal to have him for a master." "Ityuh, hyuhl" agreed Uncle Jeffer son. "Dam'ry, Co'ot or heap bettah San drivin' or ol' stage ter do deepo rer drummahs en lightnin'-rod agents. Ah hol' do pray do Good Man ter mek iars' John happy," he added soberly, "but Alh's .nought'ly 'sturbed In mah mind-mought'ly 'sturbedI" The hidden watcher waited motion. less. From where he stood he could ook. He waited till through the rear Prindow he saw the negro's bent figure lisappear into the kitchens. Then he soiselessly lifted himself upright, and resting the pistol on the screen-top, ook deliberate aim and pulled the rigger. The hammer clicked sharply on the worthless thirty-year-old cartridge, and he major sprang around with an ex lamation, am with an oath, the other lashed the screen aside and again mulled the trigger. "You Infernal murderer?" cried the najbr. It was all he said, for, as .he Iwung his chair up, the one-time bully >f Hell's-Half-Acre rushed in and itruck him a single sledge-hammer >low with the clubbed pistol. It fell til on the major's temple and the eavy iron crashed through. Grest King stood an lntant breath mg hard, then, without withdrawing ie eyes from the proetrate form, his and groped for the cold goblet and Iftng it to his lips, drained It to its ioga. "Therel" he said. "There's my itx-years' debt paid in full, ye lily-liv wed, fancy-weskited lieltiont Take hat from the mayor of the Dome?" There was a man's step on the Iravel and the suddea bark of a dog. he -pistol fell from his hand. He 'tabs ,Wtte-@ .the 'eorridor -nd iaped through the t'reneh window., s he dashed across the lawn, a tartlod cry came from the house be Ind him . K - .I No humaa eye had seen him, but he ad been observed for all that. Run our best now, Greet KingT Double ud turn how you will, there is a swift r Nemesils pursuing. It Is only a dog, nd not a big one at that, but it is of a thful breed that knows neither fear' rithout a bark or g'rowt, Chun wunchod himself on the fleeing qiiar-1 T, and in the shadow et the trees him seth met in the ragged trouses-lg. Kicking, boating with his hands at (e' dragging weight, the man dashed B. Not till they had reached the hem icks was that fierce grip broken, and ion it was with a tearing of flesh and new. Panting, snarling with rage and sin, the man seized a fallen branch nd stood at bay, striking out with ieious sweeping blows. But the bull og, the hair bristling up on his thick eck, his red-rimmed eyes fiery, cir led beyond reach ef the flail, crouch ag for another spring. M Agalp )ie istuuhed himself, and the an , dodging, lunder'ed full-face Into thorn-bush. The sharp spines laslied him (9rchead prnd the sBaat-lng food blfaded him, Bo that fiae ran with ut sehs6~ ot direction-straight upon it declivity of Lovers' Leap. He was toppling on its edge before e could stop, and then threw himself ackwasrd, clutching desperately at the lippery fern-covered rock, feeling his 3et dangling over nothing. He dug is flngers into the yielding soil and ith knee and elbow strove frenziedly a crawl to the path. But the white bulldog was upon him. he clamping teeth met in the striving ngers, and with a scream of pain reef King's hold let go and dog and ian we--.t dlown together. Ten minutes later a motor was hurl ng itself along the Red Road to thn 'illage. The doctor was in his office und no time was lost in the'return. E~n outo they passed Judge Chalmers htiving, and seeing -the 'lying haste, re turned his uiweatiiag'pAir and lashed hem aftor the ear. -So that 'when the 'major finally pened his eyes frem' the big leather ouch, he'lboked en the' faces of two of is 'dident friends. Recollection and nderetairding'seerned to come at once. the 'dodtbt's' habd closed over the ebito'oode'bn''the' settee. He did not nswer','but' hi.' chin was quivering tdbhe*aa wiulfitig fast. 1'l~ow' kng?"'stsked the major after' 2WMFasean hour. Bristow. Maybe not? ~" - -. The major winced and shut his eyes, I but when the doctor, reaching swiftly 4 for a phial on the table, turned again, I it was to 'ad that look once more on I him, now in yearning appeal. "South all," he said, "send for Judith. 1-1 must see her. There's time." The judge started up. "I'll bring her," he said, and his voice had all the I tenderness of a woman's. "My car- 4 riage is at the door and with those i horses she ought to be here in twenty minutes." He leaned over the couch. "Bristow," he said, "would you-would I you like me to send for the rector?" The major smiled, a little wistfully, ' and shook his head. He lay silent for I a while after the judge had gone out he seemed housing his strength-while I the ormolu clock on the desk ticked I ominously on, and the doctor busied I himself with the glasses beside him. 1 Presently he said huskily: "You've had a bad fall, Bristow. You were dizzy, I reckon." "Diszy!" echoed the major with I feeble asperity. "It was Greef King." I "Greef King! Good God!" "He was hiding behind the screen. He struck me with something. He swore at his trial he'd get me. I was -a fool not to have remembered his time was out." A look, wolf-like and grim, had sprung into the doctor's face. Hi. eyes searched the room, and be crossed the foor and picked up something from I the rug. He looked at it a moment, then thrust it hastily into his breast I pocket. "I-remember now. It was a pistol. I He snapped it, fyice, but it missed fire." " '' - "He can't hide where we'll not fnd him!" The doctor spoke with low but terrible energy. "Not that I care-myself," said the major difficultly. "But I reckon he'd better be settled with, or he'll-be kill- I Ing some one worth while one of these ( days." A big tear suddenly loosed itself from the doctor's evelid and rolled down his cheek, and he turned hastily I away. "There's no call to feel bad," said the major gruffly. "I've sort of been a thorn-in-the-flesh to you, Southall. We always rowed, somehow, and yet-" The doctor choked and cleared his throat t "I reckon," the major murmured with a faint smile, "you won't get quite so much fun out of Chalmers- t and the rest. They never did rise to C you' as I did." I A little later he asked for the restor ative. "Ten minutes gone," he said t then. "Chalmers ought to be at Rose- I wood by now . . . what a fool way ' to go-like this. But it wasn't-apo plezy, Southall, anyway." At the sound of wheels on the drive, Valiant went out quietly. Huddled in a corner of the hall were Uncle Jef ferson and Aunt Daphne, with Jere boam, the major's body-servant. Aunt Daphne, her apron thrown over her face was rocking to and fro silently, f and old Jersboam's head was bowed on his breast. Valiant went quickly to the rear of the ball. A painful em barrasement had eoe to him-a curl ous confusion mingling with a fastidi oub sense of: shrinking. -How ohoul he meet this woman who recoiled from the very sight of his face? In the swiftness of the tragic event he had forgotten this. From the background he saw Judge Chalmers lift down the frail form, and suddenly his heart leaped. There were two feminine fig ure.; Shirley was with her mother. The doctor stood just Inside the li brary door and Mrs. Danidridge went hastily towar'd him, her light cane tap ping through the stricken ellence. Jere b91u1 Uited his head and looked at her piteously. "Reck'n Mars' Monty cyan' see ole Jerry now," he quavered, "but yo'sall gib him mah love, Mis' Judith, and tell him-" His voice broke.. "Yes, yes, Jerry, I will." The doctor closed the door upon her and came to where Shirley waited. "Come, my dear." he said, and dropped his arm about her. "Let us go out to the garden." As they passed Valiant, she held out her hand to him. There was no word between them, but as his hand swal lowed hers, his heart said to her, "I love you, 1 love you! No matter what is between us, I shall always love you!" 1% Was wordless, a heart-whisper that only love itself could hear, and he could read no answer in the deep pools of her eyes, heavy now with un shed tears. But in some subtle way bla voiceless greeting comforted and lightened by a little the weight of dumb impotence that he had borne. in the library, lighteil n brightly by the sunlight, yet gravn with the hush of that solemn j~esence, the mnajor looked intu 'th'e t'ace of thV' woman for wheioe dotning he had \halted 'go ans. tously. ''It's all-- p. .1ludit h.'' ic 's Ild taintliy ''I've c'ome' t the j ini Ig oil ji t.' She looked at himn whit eiy. "M'niat' Monty'! " sh~e e'ried. "Dowt, nve V j thits way!' I aiwayll thlough't lb0 guessed what shte wout:( I.. uald. "Heaven knows you're needed more than ine, Judith. After all, I reckon when my time had to come I'd have chosen the quick way." His voice trailed out and he struggled for breath. "Jerry's in the hall, Monty. He asked me to give you his love." ,"Poor old nigger! He-used to tote me on hist back when I was a little shaver." There was a silence. "Don't kneel, Judith," he said at length. "You will be so tired." She rose obediently and drew up a chair. "Meaty," she faltered tremu 'lously, "shall I say a prayer? I've nev ,or prayed much-my prayers never seemed to get above the ceiling, some how. But I'll-try." 'He smiled wvanIy. '1 waui~n't want tny 'better than yours, TudMb. T1ii meems as if I'd been prayed over mortgh. I reckon God Almighty's like knybody else, and doesn't want to be ling-donged all the time." He seemed to have been gathering is resolution, and presently his hand umbled over his breast. "My wallet; give it to me." She drew it from the .ocket and the uncertain fingers took mt a key. "It opens a tin box in my .runk. There's-a letter in it for you." 1e paused a moment, panting: "Ju 1lth," he said, "I've got to tell you, but t's mighty hard. The letter . . . t's one Valiant gave me for you-that norning, after the duel. I never gave t to you." If she had been white before, she ;rew like marble now. Her slim fin ,ers clutched the little cane till it rat led against the chair, and the lace at ier throat shook with her breathing. 'Yes-Monty." lie lifted his hand with difficulty and )ut the key into hem. "The seal's still inbroken, Judith," he said, "but I've cept it these thirty years." She was holding the key in her iands, looking down upon it. There ras a strained half-tearful wonder in ker face. For an instant she seemed luite to have forgotten him in the ;rip of some swift and painful emo ion. "I loved you, Judith!" he stam nered in anguished appeal. "From he time we were boy and girl togeth >r, I loved you. You never cared for no-Sassoon and Valiant had the in ide track. You might have loved me; out I had no chance with either of hem. Then came the duel. There was nly Valiant then. I overheard his oromise to you that night, Judith. He iad broken that! If you cared more or him than for Sassoon, you :-aight iave forgiven him, and I should have ost you! I-didn't want you to call im' back, Judith! I wanted my hance! Aind so-I took it. That's he reason, dear. It's-it's a bad one, n't it!" A shiver went over her set face Ike a breath of wind over tall grass, nd &he seemed to come back from an nfinite distance to place and moment. letween the curtains a white butter Ly hovered an instant, and in the yard he heard the sound of some winged bing fluttering. The thought darted a her that it was the sound of her ,wn dead heart awaking. She looked ,t the key and all at once put a hand o her mouth as though to still words lamoring there. "Judith," he said tremulously, be ween short struggles for breath, "all hese years, after I found there was .o chance for me, I reckon I've rayed only one prayer. 'God, let it e Bassoon that she lovedi' And I've rayed that mighty near every day. he thought that maybe it was Valiant as haunted me like a ghost. Ye kever told-and I never dared ask yO, udith-" Her face was still averted, and when he did not speak he turned his head rom her on the pillow, with a breath Momei Great This is a mo are grappling with g with far reaching coi ion forced by circum the human ra ce. How simple, YOU, and especially of progress. A fina and fit yourself to c< broaden the horizon than by insuring you The Southe CARLOS "The Ins that was almost a moan. She starteQ, looking at him an Instant in piteous hesitation, then swiftly kissed the lit. tIe key and closed her hand tight upon it. Truth? She saw only the pillow and the graying face upon it! She threw herself on her knees by tO couch and laid her lips on the pallid forehead. "It-it was Sassoon, Monty," ehe said, and her voice broke on the first lie sheA:ad ever told. "Thank God!" he gasped. He strug gled to 1raise himself on his elbow, then suddenly the strength faded out and he settled back. Her cry brought the doctor, but this time the restorative seemed of no avail, and after at time he came and touched her shoulder. With a last long look at the ash-pale face on the 4 .ttpp shte followed him from the room. In the yellow parlor he put her into a chair. "No," ).e said. In answer to her look, "he won't rouse again." "I will wait," she told him, and hc left her, shutting the door with care ful softness. But the -alight figure with its silver hair, sitting there, was not alone. Ghosts were walking up and down. Not the misty wraiths John Valiant had at times imagined went Bitting along the empty corridos, but taoes very clear in the sunlight, that came and went with the memories so long woven over by the shuttle of time evoked now by the touch of a key that her hand still clenched tightly in Its palm. There welled over her in a tide those days of puzzle, the weeks of waiting silence, the slow inexorable months of heartache, the long years that had deepened the mystery of Beauty Vali ant's exile. In the first shock of the news that Bassoon had fallen by his hand, she had thought she could not forgive him that broken faith. She and his promise to her had not weighed in the balance against the idea of 'manly "honor!" But this bitterness had at length slipped away. "He will write," she had told herself, "and ex plain." But no word had come. Whis pers had fitted to her-the tale of Bassoon's intoxication-etinging barbs that clung to Beauty Valiant's name. That these should rest unanswered had filled her with resentment and anger. Slowly, but with deadly surety, had grown the belief that he no longer -cared. In the end there had been left her only pride-the pride that covers its wound and smiles. And she had hidden her wound with flowers. But in the deepest well of her heart her love for him had rested unchanged, clear and defined as 6 mos in amber, .wrapped in that mystery of silence. In the little haircloth trunk back in her room lay an old scrap-book. It held a few leaves torn from letters and many bewspaper elippings. From -tbese she had knows of his work, his marage, the great comnercial suc cess for which his name. had stood it of ~ns ment of great decisions. rim problems and reachiui isequences. To "do or < stances upon millions of how easy the decision your family, for a highe l conclusion, reached no >mmand rather than to of your hopes. Can y r life in the rn Life Insuranc ; R. MOSEI urance Man of 1 Ithe name that from the day of his go. ing, she had an seldom taken upon her lips. Some of them had dealt with his habits and idiosyncrasies, hints of an altered personality, and aloofness or loneliness (hat had set him apart and inade him, in a way, a stranger to those who should have known him best. Thus her mind had come to hold a double imago: The grave man these shadowed forth, and the man she had loved, whose youthful face was in the locket she wore always on her breast. It was this face that was printed on her heart, and when John Valiant had stood before her on the porch at Rosewood, it had seemed to have risen, instinct, from that old grave. lie had not kept silence! lie had written! It pealed through her brain like a muf1nd hell. But Beauty Vali ant was gone with her youth; in the room near by lay that old companion who would never speak to her again, the lifelong friend-who had really failed her thirty years ago! . . . and in a tin box a mile away lay a let. ter. . . . "He won't rouse again," the doctor .had said, but a littlelater,*s he and Valiant sat beside the couch, the major opened his eyes suddenly. "Shirley," he whispered. "Where's Shirley?" She was sitting on the porch just outside the open window, and when she entered, tears were on her face. The doctor drew back silently; but. when Valiant would have done so, the major called him nearer. "No," he panted; "I like to see you two together." His -voice was very weak and tired. As she leaned and touched his hand, he smiled - whimsically. - "It's' mighty curious," he said, "but I can't get it out of my head that its Beauty Vali ant and Judith that I'm really.,talking to. Foolish-isn't it?" But the idea seemed to master him, and presently he began to call Shirley by her moth er's name. At, idd youthfulness crept into his eyes; a subtle paradoxical boyishness. His cheek tinged with color. The deep lines about his mouth smoothed miraculously out. "Judith," he whispered, "-you sure you told me the truth a while ago, when you said-you said-" "Yes, yes," Shirley answered, put. ting her young arm under him, think ing only to soothe the anxiety that seemed vaguely to thread some vague hallucination. He smiled again. "It makes it easier," he said. He looked at Valiant, his mind WeNing. to slip 'farther and farther away. "Beauty," he gasped. "you didn't go away after all, did yout I dreamed It-I reckon. It'll be-all right with you both." He sighed peacefully, and ble eyou turned to Shirley's and,ekiW. "I'm so glad," be muttered, "so glad I didn't really do it, Judith. It would have-been the--enly-kw41wa thing (90 De Contianed.) Nations and rulers g conclusion fraught lie" is the one decis warring brothers of required to qualify r rank in the army w, to SAVE FIRST be commanded, will ~u decide otherwise e Company Gen. 9 gent Raurens"