SYNOPSIS.
John Valiant, a rich soclety favorite,
suddenly discovers that the Valliant 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 the corporation. His entire remalning
possessions consist of an old motor car, a
white bull dog and Damory court, a neg-
lected estate in Virginia. On the way to
Damory court he meets Bhirley Dand-
ridge, an auburn-haired beauty, and de-
cides that he is going to like 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
man named Basson were rivals for the
hand of Mrs. Dandridge in her youth
Basson and Vallant fought a duel on her
Account In which the former was killed
Valiant finds Damory court overgrown
with weeds and creepers and the bulld-
ings in a very much neglected condition
He decides to rehabilitate the place and
make the land produce a living for him.
Vallant saves Shirley from the bite of a
snake, which bites him Knowing the
deadliness of the bite, Shirley sucks the
poison from the wound and saves his life
Bhirley tells her mother of the Incident
and the latter is strangely moved at
bearing that a Valiant is again living at
Damory court. Vallant learns for the
first time that his father left Virginia on
sccount of a duel in which Doctor
Bouthall and Major Bristow acted as his
father's seconds
CHAPTER XVili—Continued.
“You are cold,” he sald. “Isn't that
gown too thin for this night air?”
“No, | often walk here till quite
late. Listen!”
The bird song had
again,
rival's in a distant thicket
nightingale is in good voice”
“1 never heard a nightingale before
! came to Virginia. | wonder why ft
ings only at night.”
yp an odd idea!
in e daytime, too.”
“Really? But I suppose it escapes
notice in the general chorus. Is it a
large bird?”
“No; smaller than a thrush.
little bigger than a robin
broken forth
Its nest is
cup of d#Med oak-leaves, lined with
Bair, and the eggs are olive color.
How pretty the hedge looks now, all
tangled with firefly sparks!”
“Doesn’t it! Uncle
them ‘lightning-bugs.' ”
“The name is much more
turesque., But all the darky
are. Do you find him and
Daphne useful?”
ple
fervently; “and her cooking
taught me to treat her with passion
ate respect. He's teaching
about flowers—it's surprising
many kinds he knows
herbarium.”
“Come and see mine ™
“Roses are our specialty—we have
live up to the Rosewood name. But
beyond the arbors, are beds and
other flowers See-—by this
tree are speed-well and delphinium
The is a black-walnut
dreadful thing to have one
that When you want s«
costs a lot of m
at and wonder whi *h
most, that particular
tree. | know a girl had
her yard only a little bigger than this.
and she went to Europe on them.
so far I've always
How does your garden come on™
“Famously. Uncle Jefferson
shanghaled a half-dozen negro gar
deners—f{rom where | can’t imagine
and he’s having the time of his
hectoring over them. He refers to the
upper and lower terraces as ‘upand
down-stairs.’ [I've got seeds
will be a long time before
flower.”
“Oh, would you
she cried “Or,
’ RE -
|| & $e 7 =
she sald
)
of
tree
as big
oney you go i
you
luxury
who
it
want
or
two in
voted for the tree
like some slips?”
better still, |
Shirley, Who Had Again Seated Her
self, Suddenly Laughed, and Point.
ed to the Book.
give you the roses already rooted—-
Mad Charles and Marechal Nell snd
Cloth of Gold and cabbage and ram-
blers. kL We have geraniums and
fuchsias, too, and the coral honey-
suckle, That's different from the wild
one, you know."
“You are too good! If you would
only advise me where to set them!
But | dare say you think me presum.
ing.”
Bhe turned her full face to him.
“'Presuming!’ You're punishing me
now for the dreadful way | talked to
you about Damory Court—before I
knew who you were. Oh, it was un-
pardonable! And after the splendid
thing you had done—l1 read about it
that same evening—with your money,
1 mean!”
Wo, no!" he protested. “There
was nothing splendid about it. It was
only pride. You see the corporation
was my father's great idea—the thing
he created and put his soul into—and
it was foundering. | know that would
have hurt him. One thing I've wanted
to say to you, ever since the day we
talked together—about the duel 1
want to say that whatever lay behind
it, my father's whole life was darkened
by that event. Now that | can put
two and two together,
was the cause of his sadness.”
“Ah, 1 can believe that,”
plied.
“I think he had only two interests—
myself and the corporation. So you
see why I'd rather save that and be a
beggar the rest of my natural life.
But I'm not a beggar. Damory Court
alone is worth-—] know it now—a hun.
dred times what [ left”
“You are so utterly different from
what | imagined you!”
“I could never have
he sald, “never.”
“1 must be terribly outre.”
“You are so many women in one
When 1 listened to your harp play
hardly believe {t was the same
I saw galleping across the flelds
that morning. Now you are a different
woman from both of those."
As she looked at him, her |
corner-wi her foot a
sheer edge of the turf She
toward 1d he caught
instant the ad
yd y
ping
footing
turned
she re-
imagined you”
I could
You
ps curled
ise, on
her, feel
ing for
nearness of B er b
with a cree
covered her
and
uptly to the
delight She re
with an exciama
back somewhat
porch w
drawing her
to make a place
There was a moment of silence
he broke
“That
on the step
him
which
for
exquisite serenade
You the
you were
know words, of
are
gCore
lovely, if
Do you
more
than the
poetry?”
“Ive always
een reading
fashi
care
loved It.” he said
lately—a little old
found at Damory
Do you know it?
some
oned book 1
Court. It's ‘Lucile’
“Yes. It's my mother's favorite.”
drew {t from his pocket "See,
I've got it It's marked, tc
He opened it, to close it instantly
ot. } before she had put
nowever
her hand ar laid
He
here,
it, palm down,
page rose! Oh. let
“nN
When |
did
LOW
passage.’
us read It’
ever!’
“l.ook he
ween the
i
i
protested
put bet
at random i nt
that | had opened It at a
re
leaves |
gee
marked
850
ieaf to
and the
» text
batt
ligh ym the Orway two
heads bent
A sou
turned A sligh
gown with oid |
tose ot
toe
a soft
» throat,
ats
OO
the doorway
sprang hi
Shirley, hougt h
Ia that ym
Mr
‘It's
“Ab,
You
‘It's
Shirley
not Lusk, mother ™
our new neighbor, Mr
ant."
As he bent over ‘he frail hand
muring the conventional words
presentations are believed to
Dandridge sank into a
ghioned chalr “Won't yom
she said He noticed that ahe
directly at him. and
pallid as her hair
“Thank you.” said John Valiant
resumed his place on the
Shirle had again
laughed, and
lay
mur
require
Mrs
down?
ot look
and
ower step
who seated her
ed to
them
we are doing. dearest!
We were reading ‘Lucile’ together.”
She saw the other wince, and the
deep dark eyea lifted, as If under com
pulsion, from the book-cover to Vall
ant's face. He was startled by
ley’'s ery and the sudden limp
point
book which between
uncon
"
effort to recall it. Only the intense
blue of her eyes, the tawny sweep of
her halr—these and the touch of her,
the consciousness of her warm and
vivid fragrance, remained to wrap all
his senses in a mist woven of gold
and fire.
* * ® . ® * % ®
Shirley, meanwhile, had sat some
time beside her mother’s bed, leaning
from a white chintz-covered chair, her
anxiety only partially allayed by reas
surances, now and then stooping to lay
her young cheek against the delicate
arm in its lacy sleeve or to pass her
hand lovingly up and down its outline,
noting with a recurrent passion of ten
derness the transparency of the skin
with its violet veining and the shad
ows beneath the closed eyes. Emma.
line, moving on soft worsted shod feet
about the dim room, at length had
whispered
“You go
with Mis’
“Yes, go,
tuh bald, honey I stay
Judith till she go tuh sleep.”
Shirley,” sald ber mother.
ne HBRLI®e Frits,
§
Tried the Numbers Carefully, First
Right, Then Left: 17-28-9490,
The Heavy Door Opened.
11
privil
© ges at all
ike it, without
brigade? You'll
any
faint when | feel
in ng out the fire
pamper me to death and
} need IL”
let me telephone for Doe-
j™
i
¢
‘Haven't |
I
3
( on't
“You won't
tor Southall
"Certainly not!”
"And are
the roses”
‘Why,
you sure ft
what else should it be? sald
vig "
i must
ally have the arbors thinned
heavy nights it's positiy
vely ower
ing GO along n
talk
over;
we'll
ring
and
Morrow I can
ow,
In her wm Shirley undressed
her
4
was betweer
tenuous bon
18 48 rare, per
She could not
had not
earliest
punctu
the ta f the little cane
sudden Indisposition bad
and her; to faint
at a rush of perfume seemed to sug
a growing weakness that
Tomorrow, herself,
he would send with a wagon-
of the the hospital
other
a semiinvalld, and
iildhood
with
Tonight's
her
reco!
were
disturbed
she told
Ranston
load roses to
§
|
|
|
|
of the fragile form
CHAPTER XIX,
Night.
A quicker breeze was stirring as
John Valiant went back along the Red
Road. He had waited in the garden
at Rosewood till Shirley, aided by
Emmaline and with Ranston’s anxious
face hovering in the background. hav
ing performed those gentle offices
which a woman's fainting spell re
quires, had come to reassure him and
to say good night.
As he threw off his coat in the
bedroom he had chosen for his own,
he felt the hard eorner of the “Lucile”
in the pocket, and drawing it out, laid
it on the table by the bedside. He
seemed to feel again the tingle of
his cheek where a curling strand of
her coppery hair had sprung against it
when her head had bent beside his
own to read the marked lines
When he had undressed he sat an
hour in the candle-blaze, a dressing
gown thrown over his shoulders, striv-
ing vainly to recreate that evening
call, to remember. her every word and
look and movement. For a breath
her face would flush sudderly before
him, like a live thing; then it would
mysteriously fade and elude him,
though he clenched his hands on the
arms of his chalr in) the fierce mental
She slipped on a
ng-gown of
riot of azaleas scattered
and then, dragging her chair
open wi
pink shellshaded
dresasi silk with a
ndow
brush her halr
fault
Pe
began to
once her gaze
and
at upon
twisting thread-like th
saffron-vellow glowed
the dark carpet. She
stant, however, that it was nothing
more dangerous than a fragment of
love-vine from the garden, which had
to her skirt She plcked ap |
the tiny mass of tendrils and with a
tossed It over her right
shoulder through the window
" she said aloud,
ing whose bright
sharply against
saw in an in
“my sweet
She leaned from the
sill to peer down Into the misty gar
den, but could not follow its fall
Long ago her visitor would have
reached Damory Court She had a
vision of him wandering candle In
hand, through the empty echoing
rooms. looking at the volceless por
traits on the walls, thinking perhaps
of his father, of the fatal duel of which
he had never known. She liked the
way he had spoken of his father!
As she leaned, out of the stiliness
there came to her ear a mellow sound.
It waa the bell of the courthouse in
the village. She counted the strokes
falling clearly or faintly as the slug.
Bish breeze ebbed or swelled. It was
eleven
She drew back, dropped the curtain
to shut out the wan glimmer, and In
the darkness crept into the soft bed
as if into . hiding: place.
» . - - » »
A warm sun wi an alr mildly mel.
low. A faint gold-shadowed mist over
the valley and a soft lac haze blend.
ing the rounded outlines of the hills
Through the shrubbery at Damory
Court ‘a, cardinal darted like a crim.
son shuttle, to rock Impudently from
a fleering limb, and here and there
on the blulsh-ivory sky, motionless as
a pasted wafer, hung a hawk; from
time to time one of thess wavered and
slanted swiftly down. to climb once!
more in a huge spiral to its high tower
of sky
Perhaps it wondered, as {ts tele
scopic looked down That had
been its choicest covert, that dishev-
eled tangle where the birds held per-
petual carnival, the weasel lurked In
the underbrush and the rabbit lined
his windfall. Now the wildness was
gone. A pergola, glistening white, now
upheld the runaway vines, making a
sickle-llke path from the upper ter
race to the lake. In the barn loft the
pigeons still quarrelled over thelr new
cotes of fresh pine, and under a clump
of locust trees at a little distance from
the house, a half-dozen dolls’ cabins
on stilts stood walting the honey stor.
age of the black and gold bees
There were new denizens,
These had arrived In a dozen zinc!
tanks and willow hampers, to the
amaze of a sleepy express clerk at the
raliroad station: two swans now salled
majestically over the lily-ponds of the
lake, along its gravel rim and a pair
ducks waddled and
face rippled
luggish backs
flirting fins of red
eve
also
broke to the of
and the
Japanese carp
The house
Its unkemptness
vanished soft gray f
remained, but the bleakness and
lornness gone: there was
warm
DOW Aa
that hinted
itself another air
had
wore
look of largely
The one of age
for
about
bearing
lowed beauty, 0
light and ch i ices within
Valiant heaved a long sigh of satis
faction as he stood in the suniigt
ing at the
was
to whom m
were
and penianil
anc genial
at
il gaz
iabors ie
not nos
the sine
fom r
EAT
was
He had
eign lesson-—one gained
the and fight
the simple peace of a countrys
by the clamor of gold
complex problems of a competitive ex
istence—that he had a need
f acl ent that be had |
nieven
i a sover-
not
push of crowds
vexed
inherited
|
|
:
he to
ack
“Chum. ™ the
his b
’
think of
log rolling
grass, “what do |
anyway?
geized a hind
on
You
down, leg and
Ee a teetotum
the bushes
again
cat gh :
m yin nto
hed
catapult. He
ers and held hin
sent h
upon
itke a
hite sho
the
rigat
gone
rowd
on, one
I've alwarvs
old pace, t
ocktail im-Beach
e Neilso
me on
have
clam « trained with
the Ver
career got
BRAMG
mouth
a doubl nonm
it At
swap this old house and |
that ‘gyarde
réon and Aunt Daph |
and the birds and
for a mile of Mil
sunshine
Jeff
and
and the chick
all the
lionaires
ens
rest of it
Row
He went into the house and to t}
library. The breeze through the wide
flung bow-windew was fluttering the
papers the desk and the
the wall was flapping sidewise
went straighten it, and then saw
what he had not noticed before—that
it covered something that had been let
into the plaster He swung it aside
and made an exclamation
the
on
He
to
Experiment Wa Painful to Tragedian,
but Me Could Not Mesitate When
Art Called Him.
“Thanks,” sald the tragedian, set
ting down his glass and absent-mind
edly pocketing my change, which lay
upon the bar between us. “Many
thanks for your good opinion. 1 ak
ways study from Nature—from Na |
ture, sir. In my acting you see re |
flected Nature herself”
“Try this cigar,” said an admirer of
Nature, reverently. “Now, where did
you study that expression of Intense
surprise that you assumed in the sec
ond act?”
“From Nature, sir; from Nature. To
secure that expression | asked an in.
mate personal friend to lend me five
pounds. He refused. This caused me
no surprise. 1 tried several more
Finally, | struck one who was willing
to oblige me, and, as he handed me
the money, 1 studied In the glass the
expression of my own face. [ saw
there surprise, but it was not what |
wanted. It was alloyed with suspic
fon that the sovereigns might be bad
I was in despair.”
“Well? sald the other, breathlessly.
“Then an idea struck me. 1 re
solved upon a desperate course. | re
turned the five pounds to my friend
the next day, and on his astounded
countenance | saw the expression I
7
He was looking at a square, uncom
promising wallsafe, with a round fig
ured disk of white metal on its face
He knelt before it and tried its knob
After a moment it turned easily. But
the resolute steel door would not open
though he tried every combination
that came into his mind. “No use,’
he sald disgustedly. “One must have
the right numbers.”
Then he lifted his fretted frame and
smote his grimy hands together. “Con
found it!” he sald with a short laugh
“Here | am, a bankrupt, with all this
outfit—clear to the very finger-bowls—
silver tray, and I'm
can't open the
He ran upstairs and donned a rough
and high leather
“We're going to climb the
today, Chum.” he announced,
more moccasins need apply.”
In the lower hall,
denly stopped stock-still, “1
paper th was in the chi
exclaimed “What a chump |
of tI" Hae
and, kneeling
leg
hill
uo
jacket
and
he sud
he slip
howey er,
na dog!
at
am
n
f
to have thought found
in {ts pigeonhole
tha
Laie
safe
first right
The heavy
ight!” he exulted
» drew it out, plece by pled
dark-red Can
oke the tape of one
wy i in
Agged
bag
cher
{iver pi
A Tavelh
tea-service
was marl
pant
;
ie BA
the dog
3
d the garden ar inged acrosg
as he
vas 4
path and
ushes and
below, humming went
leas over
i piace was
wn with paw.-paw SA8Sa
ras (:reat trees stood so thick
Hight an
of
atwi
masses
ni "
ning pur
rod tendr
sunnier spots
5 wison ivy far
I Oni-av) :
were
iaure;
is of
the
lities he had
This was
heart of the woods he
had
i broker
ing
mb that Hoorn
rey
1. shad
far
Al as
hardy
made
back
he
envelope
ubilantiy tc
=nough tc
Damory Court library
iiid twenty sideboards!”
BE CONTINUED)
an
eald
would cut
Great
the that
the
dog;
walined
ot
thank you. #
~ Loudon Tit
Yes,
emall whisky as before.”
Jits
Korean Marriages.
Marriages between widows
bachelors are very
Korea because not
as in the case of his marriage with s
The impecunions
girl and he is also unable to pay fos
the elaborate wedding ceremonies
which must take piace. All of this he
escapes by running off with a widow
It happens In Korea, as in other coun
tries, that the Iimpecunious bacheloy
is often more desirable from ever)
point of view but a mercenary ons
than the well to do member of the
community. Consequently, the widow
has a way of attaching a handsome
young husband to herself that might
well be envied by the young girl
Not There for Experiment,
Edith and Flora were passing thelr
summer vacation in the country,
“Do you know,” sald Edith, “that
young farmer tried to kiss me. He told
me that he had never kissed any gir)
before.”
“What did you tell him? asked
Flora.
“Why.” replied Edith, “1 told him |
was no agricultural experiment sts
tion. "~Harper's Bazaar.
AGHES AND PAINS
Have All Gone Since Taking
Lydia E. Pinkham’s Veg-
etable Compound.
Terre Hill, Pa.—** Kindly permit me
to give you my testimonial in favor of
Lydia E. Pinkham’s
Vegetable Com-
pound. When | first
began taking it I
was suffering from
female troubles for
some time and had
almost all kinds of
aches—pains in low-
er part of back and
in sides, and press-
ing down pains. |
could not sleep and
had no appetite. Since I have taken
Lydia E. Pinkham’s Vegetable Com-
pound the aches and pains are all gone
and | feel like a new woman, I cannot
praise your medicine too highly.” —Mra.
AuvcusTus Lyon, Terre Hill, Pa.
It is true that nature and a woman's
work nas produced the grandest remedy
for woman's ills that the world has
ever known From the roots and
herbs of the field, Lydia E. Pinkham,
forty years ago, gave to womankind
& remedy for their peculiar ills which
hus proved more efficacious than any
other combination of drugs ever com-
pounded, and today Lydia E. Pinkham’s
Vegetable Compound is recognized
from coast to coast as the standard
remedy for woman's ills.
In the Pinkham Laboratory at Lyn
Mass., are files containing hundreds of
thousands of letters from women Beek -
ing health — many of them openly state
over their own signatures that ud y have
regained the sir health by taking Lydia
E. Pinkham’'s V und;
and in some cases that it has saved them
frpm surgical operations.
egetable Compo
Constipation
Vanishes Forever
Prompt Relief —Permanent Cure
CARTER'S LITTLE
LIVER PILLS never
impr
ve the ox ghten the eves,
SMALL PILL, SMALL DOSE, SMALL PRICE
Genuine must Signature
Keeps
The Skin Fair
You can have a beautiful pink
and white complexion if you use
Glenn's
Sulphur Soap
Contains 30°, Pure Sulphur
Use it daily in bath and toilet.
Prevents and removes skin troubles,
Healing and
Dero Purifying
Will's Mair and Wiksker bye, slack or Brown,
mplexion, bri
bear
Bound to Be Heard
ACHY VEE L INGS. RAIN IN LTMRBSs
d all Malarious | cations removed
r Elixir Babek, 1? at well Known rems-
for all such diseases.
“1 have taken up the tt ree hotties of
ir ‘Elixir Babek, an have not felt
well and entirely free from pain in
five years."-—Mrs. E. Higgins,
ackeonviile. Fia.
Flixir Babek 50 cents all druggists or
by Parcels Post prepaid from Kloczews-
ski & Co., Washington, D. C
Get the Kernel.
i of a th
doctrine
ing,
ot
Look to
whether
actiise
or o
urelius
Good Cause for Alarm
Deaths from kidney diseases have in-
creased 72% in twenty years. People over
do sowaday % in so many wavs that the con
stant filtering of polsoved blood weakens
the Kidneys
Beware of fatal Bright’ t disease. When
tmckache or urinary ills suggest weak
kidoers, use Doan’s Kikloey Pills, drink
water freely and reduce the diet. Avoid
coffee, tea and liquor.
Doan’s Kideey Pills command confi
dence, for po other remedy is so widely
used of 80 generally successful,
A Maryland Case
“For two years 1
suffered dreadlully
froth kidney trou.
bie” pays Oliver ¥
Connoles, of 3401
Esther Place, High-
isndiown, Md “My
health broke down
and 1 had an awlally
ame back. I couldn't
get much rest and
ae he dina) & iis were
“Nn sag
Bares and went blind
of a few minutes
The kidney secre
tions were mo bad 1
“Tery Micke
ells 2 Shay”
ance.
ney Plies campietay
cured me and
haven't had a wign
of kideey complaint since. 1 have bean
able to get pig since 1 Soc. Doan's™
Get B0c a Box
DOAN’ “ Do ry
li a
Dr. NH. H. Greens