SYNOPSIS, John Valiant. a rich soclety favorite, suddenly discovers that the Vallant cor- poration, which his father founded and which was the principal source of his wealth, has failed. He voluntarily turns over his private fortune to the receiver for tre corporation. His entire remaining possessions consist of an old motor car, a white bull dog and Damory court, a neg- fected estate In Virginia, On the way to Damory court he meets Shirley Dand- ridge, an auburn-haired beauty, and de- cides that he is going to llke Virginia im- mensely, Shirley's mother, Mrs Dand ridge, and Major Bristow exchange rem- iniscences during which it Is revealed that the major, Vallant's father, and a nan named Sasson were rivals for the hand of Mrs. Dandridge in her youth Basson and Valiant fought a duel on her a unt in which the former was killed it finds Damory cour overgrown with weeds and creepers and the build. ings in a very much neglected condition He decides to rehabilitate the place and make the land produce a living for him Valiant saves Shirley from the bite of a enake, which bites him Knowing the deadliness of the bite, Shirley sycks the noison from the wound and saves his life Shirley tells her mother of the Incldent and the latter is strangely moved at hearing that a Valiant is again living at Damory court. CHAPTER XVIi—Continued. The major nodded, “Ah, yes,” he sald. “The Continental prison-camp.” “And just over this rise there | can see an old court-house, and the Vir ginia Assembly bolling under the golden tongue-lashing of lean raw- boned Patrick Henry. | see a messen- ger gallop up and see the members scramble to their saddles—and then, Tarleton and his 1-d-coats streaming ap, too late.” “Well,” commented the doetor dellb- erately, “all 1 have to say is, don't materialize too much to Mrs. Poly Gifford when you meet her. She'll have you lecturing to the [Ladles’ Church Guild before you know it.” “1 hope you ride, Mr. Valiant?” the {atter asked genially. “I'm fond of it,” said Valiant, { have no horse as yet" “lI was thinking,” pursued the ma- for. “of the coming tournament.” “Tournament?” The doctor cut in. “A ridiculous cock-a-doodle-do which gives the young 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 this season? dance at the Country Club. By the way, you must let me Introduce you there—tomorrow. I've taken the liberty already of putting your name up" ‘Good lord!” growled the doctor. aside. “He counts himself young! If I'd reached your age, Bristow—"" “You have,” said the major, nettled. “Four years ago!—As | was saying. Mr. Valiant, they ride for a prize. It's “but nces to it In a colonial in the Byrd Library at Westover. doubt it's come down the old jousts.” “You don't mean to say,” directly do it!” exclaimed the former. let me say, sah, hood is not unaware of the splendid generosity which Vallant put out his other disregarded it. “Confound Your ancestors wrote in capital letters over They were an up and down liant, names country. weren't all little woolly lambs) did big things in a big way.” Valiant leaned forward eagerly, a question on his lips. But at the mo- ment a diversion occurred in the shape of Uncle Jefferson, who re-en tered, bearing a tray on which set sun dry jugs and clinking glasses, glow- ing with white and green and gold “You old humbug,” sald the doctor, “don’t you know the major's that pol soned with mint-juleps already that he can't get up before eight in the morn ing?” “Well, suh,” tittered Uncle Jeffer- son, “Ah done foun’ er mint-baid down below de kitchens dis mawnin’. Yo' all gemmun’ "bout de bigges' expuhts in dis yeah county, em Ah reck'n Mars’ Valiant sho’ ’'sist on yo' sam- plin* et.” “Sah,” sald the major (feelingly, turning to his host, “I'm proud to drink your health in the typical bev. erage of Virginia!” He touched glasses with Valliant and glared at the doctor, who was sipping his» own thoughtfully. “Poems have been writ. ten on the julep, sah™ “They served the doctor. “l noticed your glass isn't going begging,” the major retorted. “Unc they ry m in the gyarden of Eden Sea the patch out by mistake.” “Yas, sah,” sald Uncle Jefferson, as he retired with the tray. “Ah gwine- ter put er fence eroun’ dat ar bald fo’ sundown.” The question that Valiant's lips now found utterance. “I saw you look at the portrait there” he sald to the major. “Which of my ancestors is It? that much good of your ancestors.” i ly. “Me? 1 don't! were no better. As for the men that time, they were a cheap swagger: ing lot of bullies and swash-bucklers When | read history I'm ashamed to be descended from them.” the major, stung, “that I too am a do» bucklers, as you call them. And I wish from my heart [ thought we, now- adays, could hold a tallow-dip them." in that single exclamation the major lary. He was looking at the ground It was the doctor who spoke at last, in a silence that the man in the weighed like a hundred at mospheres, “No!” he sald bluntly. to “Certainly Whepo the glass door and took from the shelf the morocco case | i John and his ideal wife!” “No, sah,” replied the major warm- ly. “I'm not referring to Devil-John. for the most part they women folk as I belleve thelr Maker made them to be treated! What He Had Drawn From the Shelf Was the Morocco Case That Held the Rusted Dueling-Plstol! He was tude. “That.” he said, fixing his eye glasses, “is your Devil-John Valiant” “Devil-Jolin!” echoed his host I've heard the name.” The doctor guffawed. "He earned I reckon. | never realized what a “Yes, it, sir i old ruffian Kirmish during the war on the hill side yonder and a bullet cut it out When we were boys we used to call ves the § tourney?” The major nodded. “Yes. Certain too, but exists it has died out now only in there. this state. It's survive today only on and in a corner of Virginia.” his gaze on the litter of pamph'ets. He turned with an appreciative eye. “You're beginning in earnest. The The Other Got Up and Stood Before the Mantel-Piece in a Napoleonic Attitude. Agricultural Department. And Congressional frank.” “I'm afrald I'm a sad sketch as a scientist,” laughed Valiant “My point of view has to be a somewhat practical one. | must be self-support- ing. Damory Court is a big estate it has grain lands and forest as well If my ancestors lived from it, | can. It's not only that,” he went on more slowly, “1 want to make the most of the place for its own sake, too. Not only of its possibilities for earning, but of its natural beauties, | lack the resources | once had, but | can give it thought and work, and If they can bring Damory Court back to anything even remotely resembling what it once was, [I'll not spare either.” The major smote his knee and even the doctor's face showed a grim, If transient approval. “1 believe you'll the a “It interests me enormously.” John Valiant spoke explosively “The stories of Devil-John would fill “By all accounts he ought to have lived in the middle ages” Crossing the library, he looked into the dining: “1 thought I remembered. The portrait over the console there is his wife, your great-grandmother. They bride home, she should walk into Da- mory sticks worth twenty-thousand dollars He made the wager good. too, when she came up burning on either side of the doorway, each held by a voung 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 his cruelities to her that aren't worth repeating. She died early — poor lady — and your grandfather was the only issue. Devil John himself lived to be past seventy, and at that age, when most men were stacking their sins and groaning with the gout, he was dicing and fox -hunt- ing with the youngest of them. He boots on, and they say when the doe tor told him he had only a’ few hours completely and prop him on his horse They galloped out 80, a negro on either side of him. It was a stormy night, 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 a mile from here that they stil eall Devil-John': tree, They were just passing under it when the lightning struck it. Light ning has no effect on the black-gum, you know. The bolt glanced from the tree ard struck him between the two slaves without harming either of them. It killed his horse, too. That's the story. To be sure at this date tion. Possibly he wasn't so much worse than the rest o* his neighbors ~not excepting the parsons. ‘Other times. other manners.” “They weren't any worse than the present generation,” sald the doctor malevolently. “Your four bottle men then knew only claret: now they pun. ish whiskey-straight.” The major buried his nose in his Julep for a long moment before he looked at the doctor blandly. "1 agree with you, Bristow,” he sald: “but it's ¢ cool dawn at the buttend of « He broke off and coughed was an awkward pause in which Lae he rose and stood before the open bookcase “I envy you this, sah,” he sald with somewhat of haste. “A fine oid lection. Bless my soul, what a curious volume!™ As he spoke, his hand jerked out a leather-back. Vallang, who had risen and gaw instantly that what he had drawn the morocco case In major's hands the broken box across his leonine face. With smoth- ered exclamation he thrust it back between the books and closed glass door Valiant had paled. His previous finding of the weapon had escaped his Now he read, as clearly as if it had been printed in black-letter across the sunny wall, the significance That weap on had been In his father’s hand when faced his opponent in that fatal duel! It flashed across his mind as and got to his feet. “Come, Bristow,” sald the latter irri. tably. “Your feet will grow fast to the floor presently. We mustn't talk a new neighbor to death. ['ve got to se a patient at six.” CHAPTER XVII, John Valiant Agks a Question. Valiant went with them to th: outer door A painful thought was flooding his mind It hampered his speech and it was only by a violent effort that he found volce: “One moment! There is a question I would like to ask.” In the farthest corner was a low com He set the case on this and moved the big tapestry screen across the angle hiding it from view * * ® * N . the candles in thelr brass wall-sconces from the polished quetry and ing the rather solemr alr of warmth and Leaning against the fant gazed about him it all looked from the gloom with an creature-comfort Va- How different night of his newel-post, He began to walk up and down the teasing pricks of He opened the door and restlessness On the sideboard cup that had arrived the day before in a huge box with his books and knick-knacks. He had won It at polo He lifted it, fingering its carved han- dies. He remembered that when that particular score had been made, Kath arine Fargo had sat one drags t tLe sideline But the memory evoked the thought of passionliess bea get a silver loving in thrill her palely-cold called another "nao Ho up steps and as they faced him he major's hand fumbling for the black ribbon on his walstcoat, his tone was uneven--"of a duel In which my father was a principal There was such a meeting™ the slightest pause of surprise. you known nothing of it?” “Absolutely nothing.” The major cleared his throat. was something he might naturally not have made a record of,” he sald. “The two had been friends, and it--it was a fatal encounter for the other. The doctor and I were your father's seo onda.” There was a moment's silence be fore Valliant spoke again. When he did his voice was steady, though drops had sprung to his forehead. “Was there any circumstance in that meet. ing that might be construed as re flecting on his—honor?" “Good God, no!” sald the major ex- plosively. “On his bearing as a gentleman? There was a hiatus this time In which he could hear his heart beat. Again he felt the fierce cluteh of small life of struggle for his Each line of that face stood before him-—the arch ing brows, the cameo-delicacy of pro- file, the magnolia skin and hair like a brown-goid cloud across the sun He stepped down to the gravelead drive and followed it to the gate took the Red Road Along this highway he had rattled in Uncle Jefferson's erazy hack- her red rose in his hand The musky scent of the pressed leaves In the book in his pocket seemed to be all about him The odor of living roses, in fact, the air. It on a heavy calling He walked on, keeping the misty infiltrating the stars, with a sensation rather of glid ing than of walking. It occurred to that {f. as scientists say, sound-tones, scents also possess a music their own: the honeysuckle fragrance, mavbe-—soft mellow fluting as of diminutive wind AAR scarce perfume in felt came the breeze, run shimmer of or emit should r Of of lilles—the upper register of faery violins; this spicy breath of roses— blending, throbbing chords echoes of an Italian harp. The fancy him; he could Imagine the perfume no © In the alr carried with it an under-music, like a ghostly harp ing it came to him at the same instant that this was no mere fancy sii was being played tened intently, the sound stronger; it was almost in that heavy air, aa if he were breasting an etherial gen of attar. He felt as if he then went on toward -— Ng on a the treading path of rose-leaves, down which increasing melody flowed crimsonly to him, calling, cali ing He stopped stock-still. He aad been skirting a closecropped hedge of box, This had ended abruptly and he looking straight up bar of green radiance from double The on a Across imbing king it stand out a mass of bies set on emerald He drew a long sigh of more than t, for framed in the doorway he leaning to Larp He was Shirley closer, his He one was a a latter opened light, flung QO vellow door- WAY porch the this, roses, woven fort HE glided of a at it Holding his breath, he came feet muffied in the thick stood in the dense obscur hand gripping the gnarled of his eves following the from wrist to shoulder, the strings, the upright once that rau gras O88 18 bending carved wood melody of Shell ~touching the chords s CATress was playing the “Indian Serenade” and ten mold oftly move d. to the a single long wer to it there rose words from beyond the that soaring melody gracile listened a head held to one side, through and She iat swelled for the fingers » strings She then = up and came the own tated a moment, from door ; the steps then a sin 3 ’ adn he 1aCOwW He hes gle stride took him CHAPTER XVIII Beyond the As he greeted into startied, nize him most instantly shrink ing and thought it due to a stabd His fl Box-Hedge. her, his gaze plunged She had recoiled to recs He noted the deep step, hers al memory of that forestC-horror rst rds were prosaic enough: “I'm an said but | vale property there.” An unconscionable trespasser” “It must seem awfully prow. didn't realize | was on pri till 1 passed the hedge Lil he iy, her han stirred in meeting she had seemed witch like, the wilful sg herself. mixed of ngle gionate a1 aerial nesses spring ¢ ys d i essences an wilder in this scented lim-lit close she wa ied, a paler pen alf-gifegsed sad With her seemed 8 graveeyed, subd woman of under answer however, this gravity She laughed lightly “1 love prowl sometimes | like the night the day I believe to : think better than myself in one of have my must been ther ™ They T laughed "3 flowers ™ both 'm growing he said “You know a rose figured in our first meeting. And in our last—" She shrank momentarily. “The cape ssamines' [ shall always think of at when | see them!” “Ah, forgive me!” he begged "But when [| remember what did-—for me! Oh. 1 know! But for you, I must have died” “But for © h you me you wouldn't But don't let's talk of It.” She shivered suddenly DROVE THE CAT TO SUICIDE Representative Probably Did a Little Thinking After He Had Heard Policeman's Story. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray, Washington a short time ago with a In due time they length of the beauties of the shaft. At the close of his peroration, Alfal “How about It.” asked he; "lan't that some little talk on this ancient pile of masonry?” “You forgot about the cat,” replied that official, imperturbably. “What cat?” “The brindled cat of 1896." “Well, what about him?!” queried Representative Murray. “Oh, nothing,” replied the guard, evasively, “See here,” sald Mr. Murray, stern. ly, “1 demand to know about this eat.” “It ain't much of a story,” replied the guard. “Your talking there re minded me of It. Y’'see this here cat lived In the monument. Well, sir, me and another chap that uped to ba here i noticed that cat acting queerly every masonry,’ as you was saying “Then one day along came a gent with some friends and talked for three-quarters of an hour along this didn’t run all the way up 500 odd feet of steps and commit suicide by jump ing off the top of the monument." Washihgton Post, SBome Mushroom. Eplcures in the United States, who love mushrooms will long for a time in the Austrian Tyrol, where real mushrooms grow. A traveler writing of the region says: Bordering the road that led up the mountain were Italian chestnut trees, so large that it took frem three to five of us to span the trunks of most of them. Un der one of these one evening I saw crouching what I took to be a small, dark gray kitten, Stooping, 1 found that it was not a kitten, but a mush room. Our good peasant neighbor, hurrying toward me, begged that 1 would not disturb It, saying that she depended on this every year. After a few days of rain, what bad seemed & kitten now looked a stately cat and when It reached the weight of six pounds It was gathered and eaten. ATTORNEYS, | D, ® Peavey | ATTORNEY AP1AW PELLEVOSTR, 85 Gon Dur of Over Baus TE ———— I — | wT. BARRMOF WALFER ATTORNEY ATALY FRILEFONTA BS Bs BY Hgs tres Mi peatwmiensl warinem prem per west §9 mo CR LB. Gene I've. I. 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