The Paducah Post (Paducah, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 23, 1914 Page: 7 of 10
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THE PADUCAH P O 8 T
Wh
llffiflllili
you lecfuring to the Ladles'
Church Guild before you know It"
“I hope you ride, Mr. Valiant?*’ the
nAiLE mum rives .Ss-g
ILUrSTKATID fos LAUREN STOUT
MnunfM m mn-mwu aft
oe
, chapter vin-Shlrtoy’i mother. Mrs 1 Sreef win.' Dey nay hedone'iwah
Dandrldge, end Major Bristow exchange ha rwineter do Up de majah when Be
—------■*—*---*-,-h It In revealed
father, and a
______,_____.. _j rival* for the
hand of Mm. Dandrldge In her youth.
Bassoon and Valiant fought a duel on her
s-ouiunage, Niu major onoiov e
: reminiscences during which It I*
'that the major. Valiant's father
man named Bassoon, were rivals
1 account in which the former was killed.
.servants.
git out.”
Such was the etory which Uncle
Jefferson told, standing In the door-
way. When his shuffling step had re-
treked, Valiant went to the table and
picked up a slim tooled volume that
and the buildings In a 'very much, iav there It was “LUCile.” Which he
feted condition. Uncle Jetferson .and ^d found In the hall the night of hi.
arrival. He opened It to a page where.
CHAPTER IX—Valiant And* Damory
court overgrown with weedsj and creep-
ers and the buildings In a very much
neglected condition. Uncle Jefferson and
his wife, Aunt Daphne, are engaged as
CHAPTER X-Vsllant explores hi* an-! pressed and wrinkled but still retain-
cestral home. He la surprised by a fox lug Its bright red pigment, lay What
bunting party which invades his estate. . .
;He recognises Shirley at the head of the had been a roie. ‘
party. He stood looking at It abstractedly,
CHAPTER XI—He gives sanctuary to ' Ws n0,trllB Widening to Its crushed
the cornered fox. Goselps discuss the ad,
vent of the new owner and recall the
tragedy In which the elder Valiant took
part.
CHAPTER XII—Valiant decides to re-
habilitate Damory court and make the
land produce a living for him.
spicy scent, tben closed It and slipped
It Into his pocket
CHAPTER XVI.
In Uevli-John'a Dsy.
CHAPTER XIII—He meets Shirley, who ! He was still Sitting motionless When
has been gathering flowers on the Valiant; there came a knock at the door and it
, - *.....- opened to admit the gruff voice of
'Doctor Southall. A big form was close
•state, and reveals his Identity to her.
CHAPTER XIV—Valiant saves Shirley
' Ite of a snake, which bites him.
ne deadliness of the bite. Shlr-
; from the bite of a snake, which bites him.
.Knowing the deadliness of the bite, Shir-
ley sucks the poison from the wound and
saves his Ufe.
mm i
jAui
thin
(thirty years getting in this condition.
'I guess we're detag pretty well."
j He stretched luxuriously, “('ll taka
A hand at it myself tomorrow. I'm
|as right at rain again Bow, thanks to
.unt Daph and the dodtor. Some-
Ing of.a crusty, citizen, the doctor,
but he's all to the good."
A heavy step came along the porch
pnd Uncle Jefferson appeared with a
tray holding a coverad dish with a
plate of biscuit and a round jam-pot.
“Look here,” said John Valiant, “1
had my luncheon three hours ago, I’m
being stuffed like a milk-fed turkey.”
- The old man smiled widely. ‘Tit's
lies' er. H’l snack er broth," he said.
fReck'n et’ll kinder float eroun’ do
Tuddah things Dta* yeah pot's dat
[spple-buttah wbut Miss Mattie Sue
man’ yo' by Rickey Snyder."
Valiant sniffed with satisfaction.
l*Tm getting so confoundedly spoiled,”
ihe said, ‘‘that I’m tempted to stay sick
and do nothing but oat By the way.
Uncle Jefferson, Where did Rickey
me from* Doee the belong here?"
“No, suh. She com# foes Hell's-
Half-Acre."
“What's that?"
"Det's dat ornery pasale o’ folks
yondah on do Dome,” explained Un-
cle Jefferaon. “Day’s been dah long’s
Ah kto reoommembah—jes’ er ram-
shackle lot o' shirieaa po'-wbite trash
wbnt git erlong anyways't all."
“Tkafa interesting,” said Valiant
“So Rickey belonged there?”
“Tan. suh; nebhah'd a-come down
hash ’oepin’ to’ Mis’ Shirley. She de
one whut foteh de H’l gal outen dat
plaee, an put huh wld MU’ Mattie Sue,
three yeah ergo.”
A sudden eolor came Into John Va-
Hant'a cheeks. ‘TeU me about ft'
His votes vibrated eagerly.
"Well, suh.” contiaaed Uaole Jeffer-
son, “dey was on# o’ dem low-down
Bell’a-Half Aerers, name* Gveef King,
whut call heae'f da mayah oh do
Dona on ho wont on do rampage on#
day, an took ahtah hit wife. She waa
er po' sickly 'ooman, wld- er 111 gal
rive yeah ol’ by er fust hashaa’. Ha
dona beat huh heap o' times befa', hut
41s time he boun' ter finish huh. Ah
reek’s he was too drunk fo' dat en
she got erway en run down heoh. Et
was wintah time en dah'a snow on do
groan*. Dab’s er road Pom do Dome
i dat hits de Rod Road dost* tor Rose-
wood—dat ar’s de Dandrldge place—
■ an she come dah. Reok’n the wus er
pitiful-lookin' obstacle. 'Peake lak
aha done put de 111 gal up in de
oabln lot’ en hid de laddah. en she
moe’ crasy fo’ feah Greet git huh. She
M* he huntto' fo’ do young auu when
run erway. Day waa on’y Mis’
Judith en Mis’ Shirley en <to gti Dm'
line at Rosewood. Well, suh. dey
wa’nt no time ter sen’ fo’ ineh. Whut
yo’ reck'n Mis’ 8hlrley dot She aln*
afeahd o' nuffto on die yerf, en she
on'y sebenteep" yeah Jr den, too. 8be
don' tell Mis’ Judith—no, suh! She
hrunsout ter de staMo en saddle huh
Toss, en she gallop Up totrogd^lnr
'HeU’eHalf-Acre Uk er shot outen er
behind him.
“Hell. Up, I see. I took the liberty
of bringing Major Bristow.”
The master of Damory Court earn*
forward—limping the least trtSo ■ ml
shook hands.
‘€Uad to know you, ash,” said'the
major. “Allow mo to oangMSaWto
you; It’s not every one who <gess Mb-
'ten by one of those internal wns-
i sins that lives to talk about it Ton
must be a pet of Providence, or else
yon have a cast-iron constitution,
sab.”
Valiant waved hie hand toward the
man of medicine, who said, “I reckon
Miss Shirley was the Providence In
the case. She had sense enough to
■and for me quick and spaed did It”
"When she aomo tar Oreel Ktog’s
latter asked genially.
“I’m fond of It,” said VaUant “but
I have no horse as yet”
“I was thinking,” pursued the ma-
jor, “of the coming tournament”
“Tournament?”
The doctor cut In. “A ridiculous
eock-a-doodle-do which glvet the young
The Other Got Up and Stood Before
the Mantel-Piece in a Napoleonlo
Attitude.
bucks a chance to rig out In silly tog-
gery and prance their colts before a lot
of petticoats!"
“It’s an annual affair,'’ explained the
major; “a kind of spectacle. For
many years, by the way, It has been
held on a part of this estate—perhaps
you will have no Objection to its use
thin mason?—and at night them la a
at the Country CM. By the
way, you must 1st me introduce you
there -tomorrow. r*e taken the liberty
of patting your name up”
I lord!” growled the doctor,
“He counts himself young! If
I’d reached your age, Bristow—”
“You have,” said the major, nettled.
“Four years ago!—As I was saying,
Mr. Valiant, they ride for a prise. It’s
a very ancient thing—I’ve seen refer-
ences to it In a colonial manuscript
In the Byrd Library at Westover. No
doubt It’s come down directly from
the old jousts.”
"Well, sab,” the major said, ”1
reckon under the circumstances, your
first Impressions of the section aren’t
anything tor ua to brag about.”
“I’m delighted; It’s hard for mo to
tell how much.”
“Watt tUl you know the fool place,”
growled the -doctor testily. "Vou’ll
change your tune.”
The major smiled genially. “Don’t
be taken In by the doctor's pessimism.
You’d have to get a yoke of three-
year oxen to drag him out of this
state."
“It would take as many for me.”
Valiant laughed a little. “You who
have talways lived here, can scarcely
understand what I am feeling, 1 Imag-
ine. You eoo, I never knew tiU quite
recently—my childhood was largely
spent abroad, and I have no near rela-
tives—that my father was a Virginian
and that my ancestors always lived
here. Why, them's a room upstairs
with the very toys they played With
when they worn children! To learn
that I being to it all; that l mynalf
a the last link to such » chain!”
"The ancestral Instinct,” said the
doctor. Tm glad to see that It
something still, la them rottou days."
“Of eoona.” John Valiant continued,
every one knows that ho has ances-
tors. But I'm beginning to am that
what you call tile ancestral instinct
aeads n locality and a plaoe. la o
way If seems t* u» that an old estate
like tots has a soul too—a Sort of
dan or family soul that reacts on the
descendant”
“Rather a Jqpanesy Idea, Isn't Itf
nerved the major. “But I know
what you mean. Maybe that's why old
Virginian families hang on to their
land In spite of hell and hlgh-watar.
They count their forebears real live
people, quite . napaMs of turning over
In their graven.”
“Mine are logtoulitg to mem very
real to mp Though I don't
know their Pridian namee yet, I cut
judge them by their handiwork; Tin
man who haMt JDamory Court had a,
sense of beauty and of art.”
“And their sham of deviltry, top”
put in the doctor.
”1 suppose op." Mtaitted his host,
“At this distance I can hear even that
But good or bad, I’m deeply thankful
that they Chose Vlrglals. Since I’ve
been laid up, I’ve keen browning In tin
library hero—” ' v
“A bit out of dat* now, I
■md the ^ -*• *
muster.
. out of date now, I reckon.
"Ton don’t mean to say,” cried his
hearer In genuine astonishment, “that
Virginia has a lineal descendant of the
tourney?”
The major nodded. “Yes. Certain
section a of Kentucky used to have It
too, but It has died out there. It
exists now only In this state. It’s
a curious thing that |he old knightly
meetings of the middle ages should
survive today only on Amertchn soil
and In a corner of Virginia.”
Doctor Southall, meanwhile, had set
his gase on the Utter of pamphlets. He
! turned with an appreciative eye.
“You’re beginning in earnest. . The
Agricultural Department And the
Congressional frank.’
Tm afraid I‘m a sad sketch as a
scientist,* laughed Valiant “My
point of view has to be a somewhat
practical one. I must be self-support-
ing. Damory Court is a big estate.
It has grain lands and forest as well.
If my ancestor* lived from It, I can.
It's not only that,” ho vent on more
.slowly, “I want to make the most of
the (dam tor its own shtt; top Np
only of Hu possibilities for earning,
hut of Its natural beauties. I Jack the
resources I once had, but I can give
lit thought and work, and if they cun
bring Damory Court back to anything
even remotely resembling what it onto
was, HI not spare either.”
The major smote his knee and even
'the doctor's taco showed a grim,
Itragrient approval. “I believe youB
do It!” exclaimed the former. “And
let me say, sab, that the neighbor-
hood la not unaware of the splendid
is responsible tor
generosity which
the present lack of which you speak.”
Valiant put out his hand with
Uttle gesture of deprecation, hut the
other disregarded it. “Confound tt,
rah, It waa to bo expected of g to
ltait Your ancestors wrote, their
namee in capital tetters ewer this
country. They were an up and dour*
lot hut good or bad (and. an gentium
■ays, I reckon V-he nodded toward tha
great portrait above the oouch—“they
weren't all Uttle woolly Mart*) .tit"
did big things in a big way.”
Valiant leaned forward eagerly,
question on his Ups. But at the mo-
ment a diversion occurred hi the
shape of UMle Jefferson, who roeu-
tered, hearing a troy on which "* —
dry Jugs and clinking
tog with white and green and a
-You old humbug.” told too
“dealt you know the totah
■toed with mlut-Julsps already
flM)’t got up hoist* eight to UR
mm'
The question that had sprung to
Valiant's lips now found utterance. “I
saw you look at the portrait there,”
be said to the major. “Which of toy
ancestors la it?”
The other got up and stood before
the mantel-piece in a Napoleonlo attf
tude. “That," he said, fixing hla eye-
glasses, “Is your great-grandfather,
Deril-John VaUant”
“Devll-John!” echoed his host. “Yog
I’ve beard the name.”
The doctor guffawed. “He earned
it, I reckon. I never realised what a
sinister expression that missing optie
gives the old rufflan. There was a
skirmish during the war on the hill-
slde ydnder and a bullet cut It out
When we were boys we used to call
him ’Old One-Eye.’”
“It Interests me enormously,” John
Valiant spoke explosively.
“The stories of Devll-John would flU
a mighty big book,” said tbe major.
’By all accounts he ought to have
lived In the middle ages.” Crossing
the library, be looked Into the dining-
room. “I thought I remembered. The
portrait over the console there Is his
wife, your great-grandmother. They
say he bet that when he brought his
bride home, she should walk into Da-
mory Court between rows of candle-
sticks worth twenty-thousand dollars.
He made tbe wager good, too. for
when she came up those steps out
there, there was a row of ten candles
burning on either side of the doorway,
each held by a young slave worth a
thousand dollars in the market.
“Some say he grew Jealous of his
wife’s beauty. There were any num-
ber of stories told of bis cruelties to
her that aren't worth repeating. She
died early —poor lady — and youi
grandfather was the only Issue. Devil-
ifton himself lived to be past seventy,
and at that age, when most men were
stacking their sins and groaning with
tbe gout, he wae dicing and tox-hunt-
; with the youngest of them. He
always swore he would die with his
hoots on; and they say when the doc-
tor told him he had only a few hours
leeway, he made his slaves dress him
completely and prop him on his hone.
They galloped out so, n negro on
either side of him. It was a stormy
tight, black as the Earl of Hell’s rid-
ing-boots, with wind and lightning,
and he rode cursing at both. There’s
an old black-gum tree n mile from
bora that they still call Devll-John’s
tree. They were Just passing under
it when the lightning struck it Light-
ting has no effect on the black-gum,
you know. The bolt glanced from the
tree and struck him between the two
slaves without harming either of
them. It killed hie horse, too. That’s
the etory. To be sure at this date
nobody can separate fact from fic-
tion. Possibly he wasn’t so much
worse than the rest of his neighbors
—not excepting the parsons. ‘Other
times, other manners.’”
“They weren’t any worse than the
present generation,” said the doctor
malevolently. “Your four bottio men
thou knew only claret: new they pun
'leh whiskey-straight."
The major buried hie nose to his
Julep for a long moment before he
looked at the doctor blandly. *T agree
with you. Bristow,” ho said: “but it’s
the first time I ever heard you admit
that muoh gokd of your ancestors.'
“Good!” said the doctor belligerent-
ly "Me? I tall I s*ld people now
were no better. As tor the mi of
Valiant went with them to tbe
outer door. A painful thought was
flooding his mind. It hampered his
■peach and it was only by a violent
effort that he found voice:
“One moment! There Is a question
I would Uko to ask.”
Beth gentlemen had turned upon the
■tope and as they faced him he
thought a swift glance passed between
them. They waited courteously, the
doctor with his habitual frown, the
major’s hand fombling for tbe black
rlbbpn on hla waistcoat.
“Since I came here, I have heard”
—his tone was uneven—“of a duel in
which my father was a principal.
There was such a meeting?”
"Thera was,” said the doctor after
the slightest pause of surprise. "Had
you known nothing of It?"
“Absolutely nothing.”
Tbe major cleared hi* throat. “It
wae something he might naturally not
have made a record of,” he said. “The
two had been friends, and It—it was
a fatal encounter for the other. The
doctor and 1 were your father's sec-
onds.”
There was a moment’s silence be-
fore Valiant spoke again. When he
did his voice waa steady, though drops
had sprung to his forehead. “Was
there any circumstance in that meet-
ing that might be construed as re-
flecting on hie—honor?”
"Good God, no!” said the major ex-
plosively.
"On his bearing as a gentleman?”
There was a hiatus this time in
which he could hear his heart beat.
In that single exclamation the major
seemed to have exhausted his vocabu-
lary. He was looking at the ground.
It was the doctor who spoke at last,
to a alienee that to the man In the
doorway weighed like a hundred at-
mospheres.
“No!” ho said bluntly. “Certainly
‘not. What put that Into your bead?”
When'ho was alone in tbe library
Valiant opened the glass door and
took from the shelf the morocco case.
The old shiver of repugnance ran over
him at the very touch of tbe leather,
to tbe farthest corner was a low com-
mode- He sot the case on this and
moved the big, tapestry screen across
the angle, hiding it from view.
'• • • e • * * * *
In the grant hall at Damory Court
the candles to their brass wall-sconces
blinked back from the polished par-
quetry and the shining fire-dogs, flll-
that time, they were a cheap swagger-
■wash-bucUera.
tog lot of bullies and
When I read history I’m ashamed to
ibo deepen fled from them.”
“I detire to inform you, sah,” said
the major, stung, “that I too ara a de-
aooodaat of those bullies and swash-
bucklers, as you call them. And
wish from my heart I thought wo, now-
adays, could hold a tallow-dip to
them.”
“You rotor, no doubt,” said the aoo-
tor with sarcasm, "to our friend Devll-
John and his ideal treatment of hla
wife!”
"No, sah,” replied the major warm-
ly. ‘Tm not referring to Devll-John.
anti part they treated their
folk as I baUeee i
te be treated! The
that this was no mere fancy. Some-
where in tbe languorous tight a harp
was being played. He paused and lis-
tened intently, then went on toward
the sound. The rose scent had grown
-stronger; it was almost In that heavy
air, as if he were breasting an ethertal
sea of attar. He felt as. If he wet*
treading on n path of rose-leaves,
down which the Increasing melody
flowed crimaonly to him, calling, onto
tog.
Ho stopped stock-still. He had been
skirting a close-cropped hedge of box.
This had ended abruptly and he was
looking straight up a bar of green-
yellow radiance from a double door-
way. The latter opened on a porch
and the light, flung across this,
drenched an arbor of climbing rosea,
making it stand out a mass of woven
rubies set In emerald.
He drew a long sigh of more than
delight, for framed In tbe doorway bn
saw a figure in misty white, leaning to
tbe gilded upright of a harp. Ho
knew at once that It was Shirley.
Holding his breath, he came closer, hla
feet muffled iu the thick grass. He
stood in the dense obscurity, one
hand gripping the gnarled limb of
a catalpa, his eyes following the
shapely arms from wrist to shoulder,
tbe fingers straying across the Btringa,
the bending cheek caressing tbe
carved wood. She was playing the
melody of Shelley’s “Indian Serenade”
—touching the chords softly and ten-
derly—and his lips moved, molding
themselves soundlessly to the words.
The serenade died in a single long
note. As if In answer to It there rose
a flood of blrd-mn8tc from beyond the
arbor—jets of song that swelled and
rippled to a soaring melody. She
heard it, too, for the graclle Angers
fell fleas the strings. She listened w
moment, with head held to one tide,
then sprang up and came through the
door and down the steps.
He hesitated a moment, then a sto-
gie stride took him from the shade w.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Beyond the Box-Hedge.
As he greeted her, his gase plunged
deep tote hen. She had recoiled *
step, startled, to recognise him al-
most instantly. He noted the shrink-
ing and thought It due to a subbing
memory of that forest-horror. Hla Ink
words wars prosaic enough:
tog the rather solemn gloom with an
air, of warmth and ereature-eomfort.
Leaning against the newel-post. Va-
liant gased about him. How different
It all lookad from the night of his
coming!
He began to walk up and down the
floor, teasing pricks of restlessness
urging him. He opened the door and
passed Into the nnUgfetod dining-room.
On the sideboard set a silver loving-
cup that had arrived the day before
to a huge box with his books and
knick-knacks. He bad won it at polo.
He lifted It, fingering Its carved han-
dles. He remembered that when that
particular spore had been made. Kath-
arine Farce had sat te one of the
drags at the side-line.
But the memory evoked no thrill.
Instead, the thought of her palely-cold,
passionless beauty called up another
mobile thoroughbred face instinct with
quick flashings of mirth and hanteur.
Again ho felt the Cnroe clutch of small
AmsM an thar hmk with hla in that
struggle tor his Ufe. Each line of
that faro stood before him—the arch-
ta toti dawn at the Mttrod «t a—“
He broke off and coughed. There
win ah awkward pause In which he
net d*wa his glass noisily and seas
had stood before the open bookcai
“I envy ran this, sah,” he MM with
* of haste; “A fine oM col-
Btw my soul, what n curious
What He Mad Brawn Prom the SheH
tan the Meroeee Ceee That Hals
* BesllngPtot.il
Tm an unconscionable trespasser.1*
he said. “It must seem awfully pt%w-
ly, but I didn't realize I was on pri-
vate property till I pasted the hedge
there.”
As her hand lay In hla, a strange
fancy stirred in him: In that woed-
meeting she had seemed something
witch-like, the wilful spirit of the pas-
sionate spring herself, mixed of bar
aerial essences and jungle wilder-
nesses; In this scented dim-lit close she
was grave-eyed, subdued, a paler
slve woman of under Lalf-guessr**
neeeee and haunting moods,
answer, however, this
to sUp from her like a
laughed Ughtly.
“I love to prowl myself. I think
sometimes 1 like the night better then
the day. I believe to one of my in-
carnations i meat have been a gam
1 ther.” ^
They both laughed. "I’m growing
superstitious about flowera,” he said.
"You know a rose figured to our. fiMt
meeting. And to our last—*
She shrank momentarily. “The mm
jessamines! I shall always think sf
that when I see them!”
“Ah. forgive me!” he begged. “DM
when I remember what yon did—toe
ms! Oh, I know! But for you, I meet
have died."'
“But for me you wouldn't have
been bitten. But don’t tofs talk tit to*
She shivered suddenly.
“You are odd." he said. “Isa’t that
-gown too thin for this tight air?”
“No. I often walk here till gtito
lafo. Listen!”
! The bird song had brokaw fastil
again, to be answered this time b* a
. rival's to a distant thicket. “My
nightingale la ta good vdton"
“1 never hoeed a tighUtato MfeM
sings otiy St Sight.’'
“Whit an ngfi idea! Why. tMtojH
to the daytiUm. too.” ■1 iW
“Realty? Bit I......
notice to the general ehefna.
large bird?”
“No; smaller than a thrall titiB a
little bigger than a robin,
over there to that hedge—a I
cup of dried oak leeveu,
hair, and the eggs are
Hew pretty the hedge :
>
the Rntisd
,,
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of pro-
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t and stood
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r
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Carlock, E. A. The Paducah Post (Paducah, Tex.), Vol. 8, No. 48, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 23, 1914, newspaper, April 23, 1914; Paducah, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth720498/m1/7/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Bicentennial City County Library.