Show I 1 HE R T s I 1 by OARO LOUISE copy copyright Tig lit by american press association ocla t it CHAPTER L I 1 44 it I 1 1 Us lit I 1 j 04 I 1 I 1 1 3 I 1 11 ta 0 I 1 v it I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 t I 1 I 1 hi z ki I 1 11 II 11 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 1 I 1 it I 1 I 1 I 1 t L I 1 v 4 I 1 I 1 i I 1 katherine weatherly IP got sat atone alone in n the little littie 1 north stud studio to katherine Kat nerine weatherly sat alone in the little north studio gazing long at the bit of landscape framed in by the lower half window the red sunset across the snow the thread of river tangled among far away y bills hills and the tall red chimney of the distant foundry towering with as much dignity as though it marked the cite site of a famous battle or the burial place of a hero at a little distance a cluster of houses their bright bides sides turned toward the setting sun gave an inhabited look to the landscape and a rising whiff of smoke from the yellow brown chimney of a yellow brown house near by assured Kat katherine berine that she waa was not the sole inhabitant of the universe this little north studio unfurnished gave save by a huge fur rug and the necessary chairs and easel together with some studio properties bits of drapery and tho like was nevertheless lavishly decorated as to its walls where charcoal apollos and d minervah Miner vas and d numerous sightless crayon people hung in profusion together with dashy little water color landscapes sepia sketches still life studies and borne some more ambitious attempts from life katherine weatherly herself sitting in the fading light might have made an interesting study in monochrome och rome with her dove love gray gown her face so wan and pale almost ashy in hue and the soft rings of her hair gray I 1 ah all BO so gray yet bhe she was not old only twenty four years had passed over that fair head but borrow sorrow had dwelt much with her her happy days were easily numbered in childhood little katherine star had had a loveless home at 18 she married roger weatherly thinking her borrows sorrow s were ended and life had begun at last they went abroad for a time means wera were not lacking life broadened no longer drear and monotonous it was bright aud and eventful fleeing all too fast on their return from europe I 1 the young couple went to southwick the early home of the erlys before so 2 many of tha family had died and gone t A short lived race were they and roger a the only remaining weatherly was not a favored above his kin BO so that the old r I 1 homestead at southwick proved not an s abiding home for him for the consumptive F I 1 tendencies which were part of his r birthright became stronger than tendencies and finally gained the mastery so katherine weatherly widowed d at 20 20 with an infant son and resources somewhat depleted through mismanagement had to face life and her childs future with what courage she could muster there was something left of I 1 her husbands portion and a small a annuity n of her own but economy was needful to maintain the home and that in due time I 1 i boys education might bo be compassed Ka love of art had been tho the Is rainbow on the storm cloud of her life to in her young girlhood always drawing in after years she was permitted a few lessons with colors and after her marriage td a in the happy traveling days she ur had seized with abidi avidity every chance d offered for lessons in paris studies from rk the antique at nice in water colors in munich and dresden in oils from life so that a fair art education albeit somewhat desultory was here hers and what whit time bhe she gave to her art together wl with th tho the M cara care of her child occupied all her tier days jos although thus fully engrossed there were yet many lonely hours when courage faltered and heart failed katherine weatherly was a woman of deepest sensibilities bili ties of warm heart and earnest sympathies 11 pa thies cs few thought it however A 4 cool reserve concealed in large degree we 11 her true nature this reserve natural ve to her had been intensified by her surroundings this roun dings all her life and now her grief irlo but increased it with the outside era 11 world aha she had very little to do her child her art her home constituted lier her ost wt world tho the other occupants of that wets homo home were old prudence the housekeeper to at tho the old manso manse from time immemorial ito aund rae morial and john pidgin the boy ed who by caring for the horse and the t its garden earned his home and schooling lvis the little town of southwick dated its I 1 J early history back into colonial times as j and many of its families were desce descended tided L ia from revolutionary heroes and worthies iceo of that time the architecture of many i of its builder buil dir gs bore tho the stamp of those I 1 early aly days ame p ime of them quite E english n lish lit d la boina some confide considerably ably dutch altogether colonial 1 ai were tho the dwellings in the q quaint balut I 1 streets of the old village the north end I 1 was almost a new now town of itself which i knew not old southwick tho busy cn en ter iron manufacturing end the thrifty ty sprout on last years bulb north end was modem modern progressive commercial i southwick a memory of what had bad been the old weatherly homestead was as a little atle out of old southwick a rambling well supplied with the woodell 0 balconies and gothia windows which I 1 atra tre the pride of tho the period in which it was erected A mansi mansion ort it was considered 0 ered in its day built for hospitality and I 1 as was testified by its ample un room its numerous guest chain k ars and spacious ballroom in tho the third 1 letory story it was a fairly homelike place IA A in i thu this later day with ita its wide fireplaces I 4 iii broad sunny windows ita its old time aings comfortable and inviting 1 I 1 4 though ough antiquated and Kather inoa for sign sn knickknacks knick knacks enlivening sundry 1 niches cues and corners albeit a gentle decay I 1 wa was hero and there observable leaving mg 00 0 0 91 d ame but a semblance of its for I 1 courtr ivr Koa I 1 0 oi 3 c raw za the place luul had always been bei called the dense wooda WoOds on the east cast whose tiny ravines were fringed with maidenhair air and plumy ferns giving occasion to the name on the south sparsely wooded slopes gravitated gently toward the old town BO to picturesquely laid out while from the north windows of fernwood could bo be discerned tho the chimneys and spires of north end I 1 have strayed away from katherine Kath erino weatherly in her studio window gazing out at the dying winter day feeling lifo BO so drear so overborne by cares and nd A feeling of vague apprehension was drifting upon her tier her child little star was ill and yot yet no worse than ha lie had often been lie ile was sleeping quietly now for a little while and katherine had stolen away from him to watch for tho the coming of dr van duyn for whom john pidgin had been dispatched somo some time since 1 I shall feel so safe about my child if dr van duyn but rides past tho the house the she thought in another moment tho the doctor stood by her side he ile bad had stooped and touched her arm ere she discovered his presence 1 I came from southwick he said are you ill what is it child chil dIr the tender questioning look in those dark eyes his sympathetic tone his very presence comforted her sore heart inexpressibly pres sibly how she longed to lay her tired head on that strong arm and weep her sorrows all away I 1 no dr van duyn it is star but ho he is better ah ali lie is better now 11 she said with a glad little laugh of assurance while but a moment before caro care and anxiety had formed tho the very warp and woof of her hearts fibre fabre she took him to the child who bad had just wakened the strong man lifted the flaxen haired baby in his arms and carried him out to the open fire in tho the e 11 I 1 I 1 I 1 osa A I 1 ul t I 1 I 1 1 F 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 I 1 A A I 1 F I 1 t ft I 1 11 I 1 h I 1 I 1 N 2 I 1 the strong nan man lifted the flaxen haired baby in his amis arms library ho he did not count his pulse nor look at his tongue he ile only held him very close katherine sitting by felt her fears depart and such peace and content settle down upon her that glad grateful tears would start in spite of her A fair group were they to look upon the middle aged doctor a man of powerful physique with face rugged and rind bronzed from exposure but whose deep brown eyes were very kind and very sympathetic and in spite of the heavy brigand like mustache which concealed the mouth month there was tenderness in the face ah all there was love there as be gazed into the eyes of the ahe woman at his side she of such beautiful mien yet so unusual the great rings of soft silver hair almost white formed striking contrast to her dark eyebrows and deep hazel eyes whose fringe of long brown lashes offset the fleeting color in that delicately modeled face early grief had bad blanched those locks from bronze to silver while as yet her face and vivacious was young and girlish the third th rd figure in the group little star weatherly starry weather as he called himself although now palo pale and ill was a must picturesque child a van child with great dreamy eyes and art hair flaxen and soft and loosely curling A child mature beyond his five years one who could converse with dr van duyn dyn upon the origin and destiny of santa claus anil and who could follow john pidgin the stable boy in most of his theological vagaries for john pidgin had bad many fine flights of fancy in his roof chamber under tho the eaves john pidgin was speculative john pidgin had many theories dr john van duyn had long loved d katherine weatherly he ile had told her tier so once when he lie gave her back to herself and her child after a long low fever he ile asked for them both then to come into his lonely life and let lot him live and care for them katherine shrank from the thought at that time roger weatherly four seara years dead was still her husband albeit not always had be he been a kind husband and in startling moments of her married life bad had she discovered that her tier love for the proud self centered man was waa not strong and all absorbing as when she first knew him so that ills his death was something of a reproach to her and that with the final suddenness and the pathos of it all benumbed and teni terrified fied her heart and while there was not tho the deepest grief there at his death there was yet deepest self condemnation there was the awe and after loneliness all of which combined bore tho the semblance of deep grief to mind the features of grief without its soul ko was eho she held from entertaining the slightest thought of lovo love for another the very suggestion deemed abhorrent to her long they eat sat on ou this winter day by the library fire the doctor and katherine and d little star in occasional onal converse quiet subdued happy to be together the it little atle french clock on tho the mantel disturbed tho the serenity of the room more than they tho the child dozed off again his fair head bead pillowed billowed pill owed on the doctors arm van duyn carried him back to his little cot and after covering him soft and warm with a touch gentle as AM a wo mans he be led katherine Kath erino back to her seat by the fireside where bo be told her tho the story of how lila his days were passed an and d how he lie was bridging over tho the present blank and comfortless with tho the hopa hope that he might some day win her that she had grown so dear so dear and could she not hold out just a little of as assurance that somo some time euch buell a thing might be poa possible sIble just a faint glimmer that would light him through the dreary present but no no sho she could not it must never be he ile must not talk to her of marriage oh dr van duyn she cried ily your our coming comforted mo me BO so but iu I 1 I 1 4 1 st ilfin 1 1 ohly to tuia afia gisquet ais me adem I 1 thought I 1 could rely upon you my trusted physician my friend and I 1 so friendless stifling a sob she went on in a dry even voice dr van duyn never again speak of this to me I 1 did not call you upon such an errand star shall not fall ill III again if I 1 can prevent it cruel words from those fair lips words that cut deep overcome with humiliation and contrition hurt to the quick tho the fervor and tenderness now all gone van duyn dropped hand and left her side not trusting himself to speak he be strode over to the window a quaint oriel window through whose dia mond shaped panes he ke could look out on last years rose garden standing gaunt bereft dead from blasted hopes when he could subdue his voice and his heart he came back to her I 1 far be it from me katherine erly to presume upon any professional privilege I 1 may have in BO so far as to td thrust personal matters unwillingly upon you god knows I 1 meant to help carry your burden not to impose anything additional dit ional upon you he paused a moment a deathly pallor on his face his hands firmly locked together approaching her tier by one step he added in a quiet tone katherine forgive me iliad I 1 had hoped that perhaps this might be I 1 havo have wanted you so but believe me when I 1 tell you I 1 will never distress you in this way again without another word or glanco glance at her ho he turned to go at tho the outer door ho he hesitated he camo came back child he said in tho the same constrained voice not his own promise me one tiling thing it if you or tho the child is ill you will call me promise the tides of pity and contrition came sweeping in over her heart but rallying with a tremendous effort she replied with an assumed lightness oh yes I 1 will promise that there is no other physician at north end you know he turned full upon her for one ion long moment those deep unfathomable eyes his very soul came out to her in that expression of wounded love and pride and stricken hope she quailed before that look she could not brook it in another moment he was gone and aa as in the steely cold light of the winter moon she saw him stride down the snowy garden path his broad hat low over his eyes his fur coat gathered under hia his arm she began to realize what she bad had done A feeling of loneliness to ne liness and desolation which she had not imagined possible when van duyn was as present crept over her benumbing and chilling her heart while her brain seemed burning as with fever why do I 1 always treat him sot why am I 1 roused to ever oppose that truo true heart for whose regard I 1 do care oh I 1 do care caret I 1 dashing away the rising tears she went to her childs cot and throwing herself down buried her hot face deep in the pillows by his side CHAPTER IL I 1 7 r eel 1 I f 1 11 I 1 I 1 I 1 1 I 1 I 1 Z I 1 I 1 i 41 1 1 1 I 1 I 1 1 she caught fine one so of the fleet horse hom flying wheels a and a fain familiar ilia figure it waa was a lowering night in early juno june the sky was overcast actually downcast in its gloom flashes of lightning revealed banks of fleecy c cloud loud growing somber and sullen as they approached the west the night air waa was heavy with scents of blossoming bloss oming trees and early garden flowers the day had been oppressive and unseasonable as though an august day had hastened in upon tho the stage at the wrong cue at the old house at lemwood the silver haired mistress stood leaning against the lintel of the wide wido front door listlessly watching the progress of tho the storm while on oil the steps below sat little star with john pidgin and on a garden seat nearby old prudence tho the housekeeper knitting in hand her busy neo flies ales occasionally glistening in tho the almost languid flashes of heat light lightning nin john pidgin who bet between his garyn gardening and his I 1 I 1 managed to imbibo a little geometry and physiology at tho the north end high |