Show D 1 A SCHUMANN w X caf 0 af da fa f A r WU set ica SYNOPSIS betia marah pretty sel selfish fill and twenty arrive home in corinth from rom school and Is f met by her older brother hugh lit ile drives her to the ilia marsh home where her widowed rr mother iother fluvanna a warmhearted self sacrificing and understanding understand iric toul soul welcomes her kailas titter sister margery plump and m matronly 1 with the care of 0 three chil childred dreu is sit at lunch with them wife dorrie dorric hat has pleaded a lack back to 1 hi 19 os OIK engagement engen nt on the ilia way job at the ilia stee atiel plant founded by an ane ol of tab it oreb bears rii I 1 hugh ligh pauses passes doe doc idiller a alto boyhood 1 friend he no longer sem sees frequently because 0 of douriet Doi Do riet irles antipathy Flava rinal marth wakens the next morning her late husband jim from rom a dream about whose unstable uni table character she fears kezia hat has inherited ullen ellen Pen pendeton Xelon cornea comes over she is ii an artistically inclined girl who li it a distant riece of flu v annas she happily tells tell fluvanna ll uvanna she h has become engaged to jerry purdue E allen ilan fears that her fat father h er and nd mother gavin and lizzle will not approve the match hugh and dorrie go out to the freeland farms to dance with their friends cun and joan whitney whitney who has ha been out of work has cun and dorrit dorrie landed a new position dance together and then disappear for or a white while dancing with loan joan hugh li Is amazed to 10 find her in tears tear apparently ilia die has hai some ome secret worry over her husband hui band cun when ellen and jerry speak peak about their engagement enle n t to ellens parents little Is ii d li agreeable all b 1 a until jerry sympathizes with her imagined ailments tile matter Is left pending CHAPTER ill III continued 4 4 ellen went to the front steps with jerry you ruinous man she whispered captivating mother like that I 1 1 I took your ecie cue you said me be nice to her and I 1 followed instructions she kissed him we might sit herolin hero on cin the steps while you smoke a cigarette A cigarette how about two make maka it two she answered laughing she wa hopeful unutterably happy the first hugh pendleton had como come out from connecticut in the year 1802 1602 made his way with horses and an ox team over the hazardous mountain roads and taken up land along tho the Pen achang valley in ohio ile he built a caba cabi near the stream and traded with the few settlers and the wandering bands of indians ile he sent for his family his wife with three small c children and his two brothers hugh started a store which flourished as the settlement grow grew into a village he made trips to io burgh by boat tor for supplies and bartered or sold according to the need of the individual presently the word traveled about that two settlers wyant and i nash had erected a blast furi Jace on the shore of the river a few miles above the settlement they turned out stoves kettles and castings crude cruda in appearance but serviceable hughs tr trips lp s to pittsburgh had awakened his interest in the need for iron in a new community and a nebulous idea took form as lie he weighed out coffee and tea and hour flour ile he talked of it to lo his sons hugh and caleb and silas and fired their thea ir youthful imaginations imagination ns wyant died and nash moved on to indiana abandoning tho the simple furnace while hugh figured and planned and explained to his sons the pendleton boys went into partnership when they grew up started another furnace dy by tho the middle forties hugh junior caleb and silas pendleton were the owners of a successful iron works which employed eighteen hundred men TI the 0 Pendle tons intermarried Inter married with the lenwoods hen woods the Ren shaws the mot alof fats the debarres De Deb barrys newcomers from VirgI virginia fila the east cast and england until in the nineteen thirties the relationships would have taken a genealogical expert to unravel the society of the town was a spi der web of distant cousin shIps turning up at unexpected places much of tho the leadership of old hugh pendleton had descended to the men of the family the women had grace and fastidiousness allen alien blood mingled with theirs warm blood cold blood but something racial persisted fluvanna Fluva mia was the great great granddaughter of tho the first hugh descending through hugh his son her father had been ely pendleton handshe and sho his only child a swaying anemone creature alne boned as most of the pendleton women were light brown hair grew bad from a curving hairline the tracery of the brows above full eyelids might have been done by a pencil stroke 1 the nose was sensitive the mouth curved and wistful although james marsh had been welcomed among them as a cousin of the clements there was not a great deal of approval of the mar riago of james and fluvanna there were local grit ances cami lies whose sons had yearned for fluvanna and been passed gassed over although pride in clothes was a pendleton credo james was thought to loan lean toward too great an elegance in dress ills hand some gome bearing was no novelty many of the men had that the they suspected his grace his flattery at as qualities which did not go with the solid virtues of monogamy As the years went by the older ones shook their heads as reports of his irregularities calein came in gambling drinking neglecting his bust busl ness ely pendleton looking grim and fluvanna gay in company but when off guard seeming frightened and distrait ely pendleton died suddenly and fluvanna and her family moved into the old house with her mother who was an invalid A year or two of comparative ease and prosperity followed james jamesway was thoughtful toward the suffering mother debts were paid the feverish prosperity of the war was on james made money in the stock market and it justified his belief tn in himself erased the galling sense of obligation he had left when old ely stern thin lipped had met his pressing deficits mrs pendleton died just jus after tafter armistice day and james was very kind that winter then business took a holiday stocks slumped find and fluvanna began a gradual parting with the income her father had left in trust for her tier her mothers money had been left to her unconditionally and that went in appalling amounts to coyer ver the very good securities I 1 sure to hit a hundred and ten which james had bought boughe on margin tho the more james lost the more he drank the tho oftener he was seen morose and truculent leaning over his cards late at night playing with men who were luckier than he late lajeone La ono afternoon the tha town rang with mith the news that he had killed himself it was whispered around that he had been threatened with prison that he had used company money for his own use people shook their heads over a wasted life women discussed it at tea part parties bartles les tor for a week then the world moved on about its own interesting affairs fluvanna was III for several weeks dry eyed white almost speechless she lay jay in bed her friends whispered of shock she aa I 1 wa she was proud hopeful nope ful lundt tenably happy had found him that way titter after she heard the shot small wonder she was ill with that and if the knew half the tha things that were nuno rumo redl when she grew better she devoted herself to her children and went out very little her friends could not surmise the poignancies that harmless idle conversation could awaken could not vision the pain that talk of home and husbands and plans for the future could awaken in a tortured soul bleeding with memories CHAPTER IV hugh was int intensely ensely annoy annoyed ed as lie he buttered tits breakfast roll you say you wrote to him and then you got this letter why you say so something methin to rne mo first 1 I thought I 1 might persuade pers uada you to change answered dorrie ile he shook his head it do darling at all insurance Is a busIn business 1 I know nothing about it would take me a year or two to le arnand what would we uve live on during that time john thinks you might do very well in a few months see what ho he says the she tossed the letter over to him from john husband of her sister beryl it was a mild communication offering little or nothing if hush hugh wanted to take up the insurance business in new york ho he would out him ui in touch with the right par ties hugh groaned to himself that dorrie should regard ali s as a business opportunity the lace on the lowing flowing sleeve of dorries negligee fell away as she lifted her arm to pour a cup of coffee your father was in the insurance business you should have some talent talant tar it she said idly hugh disregarded that wed have away exactly you want to leave this little place our place the arborvitae arbor vitae hedge Is coming along so nicely and the peach and plum trees we planted sentimental as a woman id hate to leave corinth even if this were a real opportunity and it the place where you were born sort of gets into your blood you know everyone and moth ershel ers er hes here all the foolish objections first and the real one bastl hugh looked abher at her reproachfully and you me like the steel business ive heard considerable complaint about how hard that she was using the curling tone he h e disliked very soft edged with malice ive spent eight years in it my grandfather was in it most of my relatives are at least I 1 know what its about when she did not answer he went on pleadingly 1 I done so badly here dorrie and it been my name or connections Those dont count with competition keen as it is I 1 start edat the bottom and they them advanced me I 1 might get a good salary some day yet yes a really good one she threw out her hands a small wise smile curved her lips lip at least ive asked youl but it has i turned out exactly the way I 1 expected it tol ill write to beryl today 0 at the plant that morning he hc visited the different departments checking with the foremen on the progress buthe work A little after ten along distance call came in from congress city about same steel mesh they had delivered for road building potter the contractor complained that it was not atthe of the specified thickness and was much enuch annoyed hugh promised to send a man to look at it at once potter was a good customer it do to offend him he sent tor for the records talked talked with the foreman and decided to make the trip to congress city him self a drive of 50 60 miles A fine day and if 11 he drove why not take corrle they could go over the new portland highway which wound along a ridge of the hills fine scenery he tried to telephone her but the line was busy she had told him she going out today he would have some sandwiches packed at the club drive up and add get her she would probably bo be glad to have the outing with his basket of lunch which the chebat the club had put up for him and driving toward home he felt an expanding glow with within in him seu at unexpected m the me dally daily order A day with dorrie corrle out under the sky and sun would work its magic would sm smooth out mi sunders misunderstanding banding tan ding draw them closer in harmony he saw aluie the maid moving a dust cloth over an upstairs window siu sill as he went up the walk corrle dorr ie was telephoning at the hau hall table in a low almost inaudible voles voice as ho he entered the fronts front door she turned at the sound of his footsteps arid and the look which came over her face startled almost angry gave him a feeling of shock she hung up the receiver quickly y without saying goodby good by what brings you home forget something she inquired lightly abrush A flush colored her cheeks no I 1 came to see it if you would like to go jaunting where congress city the contractor there id 19 kicking about the road mesh we sent want to go she hesitated no you go along alone im not dressed and there are things I 1 want to do the telephone pealed sharply dorrio dorrie whirled abruptly abrupt ij for it but hugh had already lifted the receiver to his ear hello hello hello lie he hung up no one on the line apparent lyl you dont want to go the reason Hav nt made a date have you we could drive over the portland highway they say it is beautiful scenery the flush on her face had faded sho she looked rather pals pale it does sound nice reconsidering ill go 1 I had a lunch packed and thought we would cat along lonesome river she smiled faintly in approval ill sup slip into that green dress you me like and ana be with you in a minute 11 in tho the country dorrie sang softly a snatch of this a bit of that a rhythmical accompaniment lo 10 to the purring of the engine they chose the less frequented narrow roads mads which led past rich farms arms gently rollin rolling ji hill farms brooks dividing the pastures where cattle grazed ponds which reflected the blue sky and its cottony wisps of cloud it was july when the season pauses in stillness the sparkling capricious spring was past there was no hint ot of autumn the new highway crested the huls hills they drove higher and higher until a panorama of countryside the sweep ot of field the darkness of wood the stubble of cut grata grain and shimmer of piled wheat extended in great rolling distances to right and left of them so far that a blue hato hale met the horizon dorrie touched his arm lets lela stop here hugh like a view from hn an it the deep valley beside them wound sinuously far down they caught the gleam of a small rivet river silvering over some rapids escaping the fringe of hemlock and willow which leaned caressingly over it IL lonesome river said hugh see that flat rock down by the stream well be eating lunch there in ten minutes they descended the mountain and came to a settlement ot of a doz en very old somnolent houses called norwich A lane to the right of the bridge led for a short distance along the river bed they parked the car under some yea mores add an d taking the picnic basket started along the little used trail by the water hungry asked hugh when they came to a ledge close bothel to the water ravenous what did you bring she knelt over the basket and I 1 drew out some chicken sandwiches wrapped in OU oil paper piled them on a napkin between them and fruit ginger ale and glass glasses esl you thought of everything you it wont be very cold never mind it will be wet wei anyhow have you an opener lunch over they sat side by side tor for a few I 1 minutes his arm around her youve been nicer to toma me today than youve been tor foi ages said hugh softly have I 1 old funny 1 11 I am glad I 1 had to go to congress city he waited not pin 4 im not checking Chec kin your phone calls my bly dear ing to have me go to new york got over it its all right if you you I 1 suppora sup posa she an sweet here it too badde bad we have to leave I 1 could loaf here all afternoon and yet biet at first you said you go when I 1 came indis brows puzzled bythe by the way who were you phoning to when I 1 came in you hung up without saying goodby good by her body stiffened against his ever so slightly A subterraneous tiny pain moved in hugh like ake the blow of a small hammer none of my business of course coursel I 1 he said with an apologetic laugh have asked you excuse me he sprang to his feet you would ask thail im Q hot checking your phone calls my dear it was just an idle question I 1 think how bow it sounded when I 1 spoke she traced the rock with lier her fin ger jn in a moment she saidi said anyone who is hiving having a birthday in a few days be too inquisitive inqui 11 next month Ati august gust 11 well even then she parried good the pain vanished he looked at his watch one thirty time to go afraid so euen ellen switched on her light and ancl looked at the clock on the mantel A quarter to four and she been able to go to sleep I 1 two hours and a half of this |