Show I 1 WI c v HALLE ERMINIE RIVES 4 I j o LAUPEN L STOUT J JL J SYNOPSIS John Jom Va a rich society favorite I nl that the Valiant cor- cor which his father founded ll an anil was wu UK III lw principal source o of Ills hili wealth h. h had failed lie He voluntarily turns j ver his hilI private te fortune to the receiver for lor or the corporation Tile HIli entire remaining possessions consist o of an old motor car a n whIte bull dog dos and Damory court ourt a nt neu- neu tt In III On the tho way to court COUll he meth Shirl Shirley I Dand- Dand Idge an auburn haired b beauty aut and de- de itte hi that he ht Is ts going to like Virginia Im- Im I R IT mother 0 I her Mrs Mis II Dand- Dand and Major exchange p rem rem- during winch which It i Is 19 that the major father and a ah aman anati man nati n named Bassoon were rivals I f for the I I h hand j of Mr Mrs i rel In her youth ut and Valiant fought foucht ou ht a 1 duel on her account In which the lie former was wag killed Valiant Damory court r o overgrown rown 1 wI with h weeds 18 and creepers cre and decides to rehabilitate the 1118 place Valiant saves eaves I Still lev from the bite o of a snake which bites him Knowing Kno the tue deadlines of oC the i bite Shirley the pol poison on from the wound and hl his life Valiant learns I. I for or the first time that hi his father th I r left Virginia Vir- Vir ginia on n account count of a 1 duel In which Doctor Doctor Doc Doc- tor tar Southall o and Major Majer Bristow acted as Ills lis us second Valiant and Shirley become good friends friend Mrs MN Dan i wh-n wh she he mo mets ls Valiant for or the first time Valiant discovers that he lie his is hisa a foi tune In old walnut tr trees 8 The yearly I tournament 8 a survival of the Jousting n of feudal times is III held iii II i Damory court ourt At Atthe Atthe the 1111 last moment Valiant takes the place 1 of oC f one of the he kni knights lIt who Is hI sick and I enter the lie lists Jf He wins win and aM chooses Shirley a as al' queen o of beauty to the dismay o of if Katherine Faro Fargo a II former sweetheart tart who 1 Iii visiting In Virginia ball bail court The tournament at Damory Damor draws raws the elite Of oC the thc countryside Shirlay Slur Shir- Ie lay ley I 18 s d hy liy Valiant as queen of oC beauty Valiant telli telie Shirley of his hh love ov and they became engaged Katherine Fargo I determining not nor to give vl up Valiant Valiant Vali Vail ant without a rIa points out to Shirley Slur Shir ley how terrible It would be bl for Cor the woman woman wom woun- an who caused th the duel to meet mEt Valiant who looks so 50 much like his father Cather Shirley Shir ley ly uncertain but clIng that her mother moth moth- er tr r was wal In love with the victim of oC moth moth-I Valiant's Vail Vali ants ant's pistol breaks the engagement CHAPTER Continued r r The inquiry was drowned in a shriek from several children in unison They scrambled to their feet casting fearful fear fear- ful glances over their shoulders The fhe Theman Theman man who had been lying behind the bush had bad risen and was coming toward them them at a slouching amble one foot dragging slightly His appearance Indeed Indeed indeed in In- deed was enough to cause panic With his savage face set now in a grin and Ills his tramp-like tramp costume he looked looked- fierce and animal White and black the children fled fled like startled rabbits older ones dragging younger without a a. backward look look all all save Rickey who stood quite still her widening widening wid wid- I ening eyes fixed on him In a kind of blanched fascinated terror He came close to her never taking his eyes from hers then put his heavy beavy grimy hand under her chin and turned her ber twitching face taco upward chuckling Aint afeard d n d-n n me mel he be said with admiration with th Ut fine folks' folks white livered young uns uns Know who I am dont don't ye e Greet Greef King Rickey's lips rather formed than spoke the name Right An I know you too Got Jes' Jes tJ Ih Jame took rook ez when ye no hl hIern ern my knee So ye e aint at th Dome no mo eh eli Purkle an fine linning an a Ho ITo Goin Coin ter make ye another like the sweet ducky ducky-dovey that ye from th lovin lo embrace o 0 yer yet fond I stop step eh eli HIckeys Rickey's small arm went suddenly ut t and her fingers tore at his shirt shirt- r I I- I WJ j There He Goesl He Said With Bitter Bit ter Hatred band and Dont you OU she sho burst in a of passion dont you even P- P iP Speak k her name If you do Ill I'll kilt kill r you f So fierce was her leap leal that he fell fel back a step In sheer surprise Then he be laughed loudly Why ye yo little V wile-cat wile he ho grinned He leaned suddenly gripped he her ber wrist and covering her mouth tightly with his bin palm dragged her behind behina a dump clump of dogwood bushes A heavy y was coming along the wood path He lie held her motionless and breathless in this cruel grip till the pedestrian I I had passed It was Major Bristow his spruce white hat on the back of his head his unsullied waistcoat dappled with the leaf He stepped out briskly toward Damory y court swinging his stick all unconscious of the fierce scrutiny bent on him from behind the dogwoods Greet Greef King did not withdraw his hand band till tin the steps had died in the tho dis dis- tance When he did he clenched his fist and shook it in the air There he goes he said with bitter hatred Yer noble friend that sent mo me up upI I for or six years ears t break brcak my heart on onh th h rock-pile rock Oh hes he's a top lie he e is But hes he's got Greet Greef King to reckon with yit He looked at her ber balefully and shook her Look yere he said In a hissing voIce olce Ye remember me Im I'm a bad badone badone one ne ter fool Cool with Yer maw foun Coun that out ut I reckon Now promise me yell ell tell nobody who yeve seen Im I'm only a tramp dye e hear He shook her er roughly Rickey's fingers and teeth were wore clenched hard and she said eaid no word He le shook her again viciously the blood pouring Into his scarred face Ye Ye brat ye he snarled Ill Ill I'll show yer He lIe began to drag her after him through the bushes A Afew Afew few ew yards and they were on the brink of f the headlong ugly chasm of Lovers' Lovers Leap She cast one desperate look about bout her and shut her eyes Catching her about the waist he be leaned over I and nd held tier her out In mid-air mid as If f she ehe had lad been a kitten Ye aint seen Been me I hey he lev yet yer Promise PromIe or over ye go Ye wont won't look so pretty when yore ere ayin down there on them rocks The childs child's face was white paper-white and nd she had bad begun to tremble like a leaf eaf but her eyes remained closed One two One two he counted tely Her eyes ces opened She turned one shudderIng glance below then her resolution broke She clutched his arm rm and broke into wild supplications I I promise I promise she cried Oh Oh dont don't let go I promise He set her on the solid ground and released her looking at her with a a. sneering laugh Now well we'll see ef er ye belong here or up ter Hells Hell's-Half- Acre he said Fine folks keeps their promises Ive I've heerd tell Ricke Rickey looked at him a moment shaking baking then she burst into a passion of sobs and with her face Cace averted ran from roin him like a a. deer through the bushes CHAPTER In the Rain Shirley stood looking out at the rain It was falling in no steady I downpour which held forth promise of oC ending but with a gentle constancy that gave the hills a look of sudden discomfort and made disconsolate miry pools by the roadside The clouds were not too thick however to let et through a dismal gray brightness that shone on the foliage and touched with glistening lines of light high the draggled tufts of the soaked blue blue- grass Now and then across the dripping dripping dripping drip drip- ping fields fraying skeins of ot mist wandered wandered wan wan- dered to lie curdled In the flooded hollows where here and there cattle stud stood lowing at Intervals in a mournful mournful mournful mourn mourn- ful ke key The indoors had become impossible to her She was sick of ot trying to read sick of the and purposeless invention of needless tasks She wanted movement the thc cobwebby mist about her knees the wet rain in her face She ran upstairs and carne caine down clad In a close scarlet jersey with leather gaiters and a soft hat Emmaline saw her thus accoutered with disapproval mercy Lawdy I chile she urged you aint goin out Its It's rain In cats en ea salt Emmaline Emmaline Emma Emma- Im neither sugar nor line responded Shirley listlessly dragging on her rain coat and the walk will do me good On the sopping copping lawn she glanced up at her ber mothers mother's window Since the night of the ball her own self self- consciousness had overlaid the fine and sensitive association between bet them She had been full of at horrible feeling that her face must betray her herand herand herand and the cause of at her loss of spirits be guessed Her mother had in iii fact been troubled by this but was far tar from guessing the truth A somewhat long indisposition had followed her first firs sight of Valiant and she had bad no not notI I witnessed sed the tournament She had hung upon Shirleys Shirley's description of It however with an excited Interest that tha I the other was later to translate In Inthe inthe the light of at her ber own discovery If the thought had bad flitted to her that fate might hold hoid something deeper than friendship in Shirleys Shirley's acquaintance with Valiant it had been of the vaguest His choice of at her as Queen of f Beauty had seemed a natural homage homage hom horn age to that swift and unflinching act actor or of f hers which had saved his life There was in her mind a more obvious obvious ob- ob ious explanation of at Shirleys Shirley's altered demeanor Perhaps its it's Chilly Lusk she he had said to herself Have the they had lad a foolish quarrel I wonder Ah well In her own time she will swill tell me S S I S S There was some relief to Shirleys Shirley's overcharged feelings in the very discomfort dis- dis comfort of the drenched weather the sucking pull of the wet clay on her boots and the flirt of the drops on her cheeks heeks and hair She thrust her dogskin dog dog- skin kin gloves Into her ber pocket and held her arms outstretched to lot the wind windlow blow low through lier he ler fingers The moisture moisture mois- mois ture uro clung In damp wreaths to her ber lair hair and rolled In gre great t drops down I her ler coat as she went The wildest most secluded walks had lad always drawn her most a ad d she instinctively chose one of these today It t was the road whereon squatted Mad Anthonys Anthony's whitewashed cabin Dahs Dahser er man gwine look in dem deni eyes honey en gwine make em cry en cr cry cry She had lad forgotten the tho Incident of that da day when he had read her fortune but now the quavering prophecy came back ack to her with a shivering sense of reality Fo dahs dah's fiah flab en she ain am en dahs dah's watab en she ain am Ets Et's de thing cat eat de haat de breas' breas dat breas' dat she of If It were only fire and water that threatened her ber She struck her hands together with an inarticulate cry She remembered he the laugh in Valiant's Vallant's eyes as they had planted th the thi roses the characteristic gesture with which he tossed the way way- Ing ng hair from his bis forehead how forehead how she sho had md named the thc ducks and the peacock peacock pea pea- cock and chosen the spots for his flowers and she smiled for tor such memories memories mem mem- ories ones even in the stabbing kno ledge knowledge ledge that hat these dear trivial things could mean nothing to her In the future She tried to realize that he was gone I from her life that he was the one man on earth whom to marry would be to strike to the heart her love and loyalty to her mother and she said this over and over to herself in varying phrases You cant can't No matter how much you jou ou love him you cant can't His father I I deliberately ruined your mothers mother's lire life your your own mother Its It's bad enough to love loye him you him you cant can't help that But you OU can help marrying him You would hate yourself You can never kiss him again or feel his arms around you You cant can't touch his hand You mustn't even see him Not It If It breaks your heart heart heart-as as your mothers mother's heart beart was broken She had turned Into an unbeaten vay that ambled from the road through a track of ot tall 11 oaks and pines scarce more than a path bridle wIndIng winding winding wind wInd- ing aimlessly through strewn bracken depths 1 so 0 dense that even the wild- wild roses had not found them In her I childish hurts she had always fled fied to the companionship of the trees She I had known them every the everyone one the one the blackgum blackgum blackgum black- black gum and pale dogwood and gnarled hickory the prickly-balled prickly buttonwood buttonwood buttonwood button wood the lowly mulberry and the majestic red oak and walnut They had seemed friendly and pitying counselors counselors counselors coun coun- standing about her with arms Intertwined Now with the rain weepIng weeping weep weep- ing in soughing gusts g through them they offered her ber no comfort She suddenly suddenly sud sud- denly threw herself face down on the soaked moss Oh God she sho cried I love him so And I had bad only that one evening It do doesn't ant ent seem just If I 1 could only have him and suffer sutTer some other way Hes He's suffering too and md it Isn't our fault Cault We Ve neither of at us harmed anyone anyone any any- one one He Isn't responsible for what his father did why dId why he hardly knew him Oh God why must it be so hard for us Millions of other people love hove each other and nothing separates them like this Shirleys Shirley's warm breath made a little fog Cog against the star eyed moss She was scarcely conscious of her w wee am and clinging clothing and the soaked strands of her hair She was so wrapped in her desolation that she no longer heard the tile sound of the perseverIng persevering perse perse- vering rain and the wet swish swishing In o othe of the bushes parting bushes parting now to a hurried step that fell Cell almost without sound on tho the spongy forest soil She s tor tec up suddenly to see Valiant before her He was in a somewhat battered walking suit of ot brown khaki with a aleather aleather aleather leather belt and a felt hat liat whose brim stiff stitT with the wet was curved down wise visor over his brow In an instant In- In stant tant he had drawn her upright and andley they ley stood looking at each other In-I In drenched and trembling How lIow can you 1 he said with a roughness that sounded akin to anger Here Here in this atrocious weather weather like like this lis he be laid a hand on her arm Youre You're wet through I I 1 I dont don't mind the rain she answered answered an- an drawing away yet feeling with a guilty thrill the thc ot of f his Ills tone as well as its real concern Im Im I'm often otten wet Ills His gaze searched her face f feature b by y feature noting her pallor the blue- blue black lack shadows beneath her eyes the caught aught breath uneven like a childs child's from rom crying He still held her hands bands In n his Shirley he said I know what you intend intended cd to tell me by those flowers flowers- I I I I went to St. St Andrews Andrew's that night In InI inthe I I the 10 dark after I read your letter Who Who Vho told you rouT Your Your mother mother No no she cried She would never ever have told me I His face lighted With an lo movement he caught her to him Shirley he lie cried It shant shan't be It t shant shan't I tell you You cant can't break our ur lives in two like this Its It's un un- thInkable I No no she said piteously pushIng |