Show nalle ERNINIE illustrations ar LAUPEN TOUT y ay aoa fa coryy jol n valiant SYNOPSIS a rich society fai dl that the valiant cor wt ach his father and was the principal source of his wealth has failed lie voluntarily turns over his private fortune to the receiver tor the his entire remaining consist of an old motor car a white bull dog and mamorv court a neg estate tn virginia on the way to damory court he meeta sharley dandridge an auburn haired beauty and de rlue hat he 1 going to like virginia am mother mrs dandridge anil major exchange rein during which it Is revealed revea Jed that the major Vali ants father and a man named were rivals for th hand 0 mrs dandradge in her youth basson and valiant fought a duel on her account in which the former was killed valiant ands damory court overgrown with needs and creepers and the inks in n very much neglected condition he to rehabilitate the place and make the land produce a living for him valiant paves sharley from the bite of a nake which bites him the deadlines of the bite sharley akucka the from the wound and saves his life sharley tells her mother of the incident nd the latter la strangely moved at hearing that a valiant Is again living at amory court valiant learna for the farat time that his father left virginia on account of a duel in which doctor southall and major bristow acted as his ather s fecondo valiant and sharle become good friends mrs dandridge alnas when she first meets valiant CHAPTER continued he sat down on a boulder breathless his ev ea sparkling he had thought almost a beggar and here in Us band was a small fortune tall about engagement rings he muttered why a dozen of these ought to buy a whole tiara at length he rose and climbed on presently turning at a right angle to bisect the strip to its boundary before oe paused to rest I 1 m no timber cruiser he said to himself as he his brow but I 1 calculate there ire all ot three hundred trees big enough to cut why suppose they are north on an average only a hundred that would make good ord he muttered and ive been about poverty 1 the growth was smaller and sparser BOW and before long he came on the ulla very crest to the edge of a ragged clearing it held a squalid set lemont perhaps a score of dirt daubed sabana little better than hovels some at them mere mud walled lean tos alth sod roofs and window panes of cour sacking fences and outhouses out houses there was none littered paths ram bled aimlessly hither and thither from chip strewn yards to starved patches 0 corn under cultivated and blighted over the whole place hung an inde atmosphere of disconsolate of unredeemed squalor and vile cess with one hand on the dogs collar g him to silence valiant un een looked at the wretched place with a shiver he had glimpsed many wretched purlieus purlie us in the slums of great cities but this in the open sun light with the clean woods about it and the sweet clear blue above stood out with an unrelieved boldness and contrast that was doubly sinister anu forbidding he ariew instantly that the tan dry corner was the community known as hell c half acre the place to nelch sharley had made her night ride to rescue rackey snyder A quick glad realization of her cour age rushed through him on its heels came a feeling of shame that a spot this could exist a foul blot on such a landscape it waa on his own land ats denizens held place by squatter sovereignty but he was nevertheless their landlord the thought bred a new sense of response something should be done for them too As he gazed an uproar in a cabin reached a climax A red bearded fig ore in nondescript garments shot from the door and collapsed in a heap in the dirt he got up with a dreadful oath a jug thrown at him his temple aa he did boand shaking hta alst behind him staggered into a lean to valiant turned away with a feeling utmost of nausea and plunged back mcdown the forest hillside CHAPTER S the gardener he saw them coming through the gate on the red road the major and sharley in a lilac muslin by bis side and strode to meet them behind them janeton propelled a handcart hand cart filled with paper bundles from each of which protruded a bunch of flowering stems there was a flush in s cheek as her hand lay in Vali ants As for him hla eyes like a wilful drunkards returned agal nana again between the majors compliments to her face you have accomplished wonders tahl I 1 had no idea so much could be y done in such a limited time you have certainly drimped primped the old place UP 1 could almost think I 1 was look ang at damory court in the sixties tah quite the nicest thing yon could have cald major responded valiant but it needs the flowers he looked at sharley with sparkling as how splendid of you to bring in 1 feel like a robber with our of them we axll them at all have you ft out the others 1 I have indeed lvery one has rooted too m shall see them he A t k f a iya si J 3 led the atay up the drive till they stood before the porch gad chuckled the major who would think it had been unoccupied for three decades 1 at this rate you 11 soon be giving dances bah ah said valiant that s the very thing I 1 want to suggest the bourna ment comes off next week I 1 under stand and its been the custom to have a ball that night the tourney ground Is on this estate and damory court Is handler than the country club why wouldn t it be appropriate to hold the dance here the ground floor rooms are in order and if the oung people would put up with it it would be a great pleasure to me I 1 assure ou oh breathed sharley that would be too wonderful the major seized his hand and shook it heartily 1 I can answer for the committee he said the 11 jump at it why sah the new gener atlon has never set eyes inside the house it s a golden legend to them then go ahead with arrangements he led them around the bouse and down the terraces of the formal gar den and here the majors encomiums broke forth again you are going to take us old folks back sah he said with reil feeling this gaarden in its original lines was unique it had a piquancy and a that thank god are to be restored one can understand the owner of an es tate like this having no desire to spend his life philandering abroad we all hope bah that you will recur to the habit of your ancestors and count damory court home valiant smiled slowly I 1 don t dream of anything else he said my life as I 1 map it out seems to begin here the rest coun tonly the years when I 1 was little and had my father the major carefully adjusted bis eyeglasses eye glasses his head was turned away ah yes be said the last twenty years continued the other from my present view point are valuable mainly for con As a consistent regimen of pate de tole gras said sharley quizzically makes one value bread and butter he shook bis bead at her As star v atlon makes one appreciate plenty the next twenty years are to be here dut they hold side trips too now and then there s a back to the city contrast again T she asked interest idly yea and no yes because no one who has ever known that blazing clanging life can really understand the peace and blessedness of a place like his no because there are some things which are to tw found only there there are the galleries and the opera I 1 need a breath of both and semi occasional longer flights too the major reflected A look see abroad once in a blue moon why not yes for mental photographs im press lons one can t get from between book covers theres an old cloister garden I 1 know in italy and a tar river bank in japan in the season and a tiny island with he leaned slightly toward her one hand on the dials time notched a greek castle in the aegean little colored memories tor me to bring away to dream over dut al ways I 1 come back here to damory court for this la home they walked beneath the pergola to the lake where sharley gave a cry ot delight at of its feathered population where did you get them from she asked washington in crates that explains itt she one day last week the little darales darkles in the village all insisted a circus was coming they must have seen these being hauled here they watched the whole afternoon for the elephants poor youngsters he said its a shame ato fool them but ive had all the circus 1 want getting the live stock installed they won t suffer said the major rackey snyder II 11 get them up a three ringed show at the drop of a hat and drop it herself besides there a ament day coming and they can lire on that I 1 see youve dredged out bome of the ulles v t tac yea I 1 take my dip here every morning we used to have a diving board when we were little shavers pursued the major I 1 remember once your father he cleared his throat and stopped dead please said john valiant 1 I I 1 like to hear about him it was only that I 1 struck my head on a rock on the bottom and stayed down the others were frightened but he he dove down again and again till he brought me out it was a nar row squeak I 1 reckon A silence fell looking it the tall muscular form beside her sharley had a sudden vision of a determined little body cleaving the dark water over and over now rising panting for breath now plunging again never alv ing up and she told herself that the son was the same sort that hard set of the jaw those firm lips would know no flinching he might but he would be strong halt unconsciously she spoke her thought aloud you look like your father do you not yes he replied there s a strong likeness I 1 have a photograph which show you sometime but how did you know I 1 only guessed she said in some confusion to cover this she stooped by the pebbly marge and held out her hand to the bronze ducks that pushed and gobbled about her fingers what have you named them 7 she asked nothing you christen them very well the light one shall be and the dark one he I 1 got the names from john jasper he was virginia s famous negro preacher I 1 once heard him hold forth when he read from one of the psalms the one about the harp and the psaltery and he called it valiant a laugh rang out over the lake to be answered by a sudden knarp screech from the terrace where the peacock strutted a blaze of span aled purple and gold they turned to see aunt daphne issue from the kitchen twig broom in hand heah she exclaimed what to yo on like er wll we n we got company yo ol 01 tan tall yol git heah she waved her weapon and the bird with a raucous shriek of defiance retired in ruffled disorder the master of damory court looked at sharley what shall we name ahlm id call him firecracker fire cracker it be goes off like that she said and alre cracker the bird was christened forth with and now said sharley lets abet out the ramblers the major had brought a rough plan sketched from memory of the old ar ran gement of the formal garden just go over the lines of the beds with unc jefferson he proposed while you two potter over these roses so valiant and walked back up the slope beneath the pergola together with ranston puffing and blowing like a black porpoise over his creak i ing go cart they planted the rambler sj crimson and pink and white vai llant much of the time on his knees hla hands plunging deep into the blace spongy earth and sharley with broa hat flung on the grass her separating the clinging thread alki roots and her small arched foot tamp ing down the boll about them he hair the color 0 wet raw wood li the sunlight was very near the borowi head and their finger touched over the work once as the stood up flushed with the exercise i great black and orange butterfly fl dazed with the sun glow alighted c n valiant s rolled up sleeve he held til 16 arm perfectly still and blew genelly on the wavering pinions till it swam away when a flirted by ato his delight she whistled its call so perfectly that it wheeled in mid all ht and tilted inquiringly back tow rd them 1 As they descended the terrace agi aln to the pergola he said there a only one thing lacking at damory court a sun dial then you haven t found it a tie cried delightedly come and let i ie show you she led the way through the ma ze of beds at one bide till they reached a hedge lace 1 thickly with la creeper he parted this leafy scree n bending back the springing that thrust against the flimsy must in of her gown and threatened to sp ar the pink rosed hat that cast an aca acv r able warm tint over her creamy e thinking that never had the old ce seen such a picture as she mi de framed in the deep green some such thought was in the 1 na jors mind too as he came up the terrace below lie paused to cake off his hat and wipe ills brow with the place all fixed up itala way he sighed to himself I 1 cc uld believe it was only last week t hat beauty valiant and southall am 1 I 1 were bo a loafing around this ej ar den and to think that now its va llant a son and judith a daugal erf why it seems like esterday that S bar ley there was only knee high tr j a grasshopper and I 1 ud to tell her her hair WM that color because one I 1 r vr ran through hell bareheaded 1 m about a thousand years old I 1 reckon meanwhile the two figures above bad pushed through the tangle into a circular sunny space where stood a short round pillar of red onyx it was p sundial its vine clad disk cut of gray polished stone in which its metal tongue was docketed sock eted round the outer edge 0 the disk ran an inscription in archaic lettering valiant pulled away the clustering ivy leaves and read I 1 count no hours but the happy ones it that had only been true he said it Is true see how the vanes hid the sun from it it ceased to mark the time after the court was deserted put at its base and where 00 oo aber standing madonna lillea the outer part ot the circle shall havo bridal wreath and white irises and they shall shade out into pastel colors macies and grays and heliotropes helio tropes oh I 1 shall love this spot perhaps sometime the best 0 all which do you love the most now he benned slightly toward her one band oa the dial s time notched rim dont know he said in a lower voice could any other spot mean to me chajt that acre under the hemlocks meanest her face was turned from him her fingers pulling at the drifting vine and a splinter of sunlight tangled in her hair altae a lace of fireflies I 1 caula never forget it he con the thing that spoiled my father a life happened there yet there we two first talked and there you coq t she said facing him dont ah let me I 1 want to tell you thiet I 1 shall carry the memory of thai ai ernson and of your brave kind ness a ways always it I 1 were never to see you again in this life I 1 should always treasure it it I 1 died of thirst in son e sahara it would be the last thing should remember your face would be the last hing I 1 should see if I 1 in t ie silence there was the sound of a sa s1 ow foot fail on the gravel walk and at the same moment he saw a magl cil change sharley drew back the boott gentian blue ot her eyes darkened the lips that an instant defoia had been tremulous parted in a delicious laugh she swept him a d ep curtsey am beholden to you sir she sala gaily tor a most knightly corn there s the major come and let us show him where weve planted the ramblers CHAPTER tournament day the noon sun of tournament day shone brilliantly over the village drowsy no longer for many vehicles were hitched at the curb or moved leisurely along the leafy street big canvas topped country wagons drawn by shaggy hoofed horses and set with chairs that bumped and jostled their holiday loads from outlying tobacco plantation and stud farm sober black covered buggies long narrow spring less buckboards frivolous side bar run and antique shays resurrected from the primeval depths of cob webbed stables relics of tarnished grandeur and faded fortune at midday vehicles resolved them belies into luncheon booths hampers stowed away beneath the seats als closing all manner of picnic edibles the court house yard was an array of grass spread tahle claths cloths and an air of plenty reigned within mrs mason s |