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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1930-01-30, Page 3THE EXETER TIMES-ADVOCATE altogether heyo-id who can minister 6-itlier diseased or to a maiden's has lost its hope? by ANNA S. SWAN Biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin *s«Z* with a rueful oxpress- - corners of his mouth, however, undoubtedly line, went to his own The Laird, ion about the which had, lost its stern sanctum to make, ready his neglect- ied letters for the post, and to ratify on paper some of the bargains that -lie had struck at Bordwick Fair. Dolly was admitted without de­ mur to Mrs. Kerr’s roohi, where she found her sitting up-in bed, looking very white and. frail, her scarcely iou’ched breakfast tray on. the table by Gier bed. Dolly’s by no means •hard heart melted at the sweetness •ond fraility of her looks, welcoming hand- made her Cry. She took it, and, after •ent, raised it to her lips. “How*awfully seedy you look! I’m very sorry. Is there anything I can rlo to help? I feel horribly guilty. It is I whoTia’ve made you'look like this/’ “No, no; I am -only tired, and my husband would not lei me get up. Have you seen him? “Oh yes; we huvQj just had a .tete- a-tete meal, and he’s ■me out driving.” Alice Kerr looked seven pleased. “I am glad mf -that, and the want to a niom- going to take relieved and • because T*am .afraid that 1 shall not be able to get, up to-day at all.” “I’ll come apd sit with you after thp drive, and I shall read to you. I can read well, Mrs. Kerr—and sing tod, if you” care for that,” “When Bam stronger I shall like like to hear you. Tell me, have you si wrap to put over'that, pretty frock? “Oh yes; a tweed coat and a cap. Will that do?” : Alice Kerr podded. “.Sit down,, if you are not going gust yet.” • - j “I want to write a letter to my • mother. I did not tell her that I was coming, and she’ll certainly have been round at my place by now, and she will imagine all sorts of things.” “Your mother is alive, then?” “Oh yes, and a. ripping good sort .’nhe is. She has kept us together.” .• “How many of you?” | “Only Baby and me. Father died’ when we were quite tinies, and j ;aily waved her hand and stopp- The Laird, ed to, and awkward recovered She gi -ed.. stoppe ent’s -Lui )'d spoke. “I. have to introduce now member of our fqqnil, 1m said admission cost him, guessed. “Mrs. Harry, the Hume of Heatherley. Dolly gave a little hand trembled on the vein's, “No—can it be? Oil, how,strange? Mrs. Harry! I beg ,your pardon. How do you dq? Pleased to meet you. Can I ride on to Essendon, Mr. Kerr, or would Mrs. Kerr rather not see mo today?” “She will always see you, Grisel­ da. /Ln d after your visit, if you like, you may spread the news that our son’s wife is at Essendon.” He drove on, and Dolly sat, biting her lip. “I have race, as a mom- Then the and grimly with reddening there m silence, himself you to the y, Griselda,' nd nobody knew what the though Griselda Honorable Mi; jerk. Griseld; seen her before,” snapped at last. “On the front, I-s that the woman wanted to. marry?” The Laird looked down wonderingly. How .gauche she was, how unexpected, rushing in where angels feared to tread! “No, that is the Honourable Miss Hume of Hatlierley—one of our best neiglrbcpirs. and most intimate of friends. She and Harry are like brother and .sister.” “Thon it’s the other one,” sa'ld Dolly under her breath. “Now I know.” There spoke the woman’s heart, betraying the fact that the whole ob­ ject of her coming to Essendon was to discover the secret of her hun- . I band’s soul at its very source. So it was Carrington’s daughter—Lion­ cousin—whom .Harry upon her Mr. Kerr, do the far from here?” mile. We shall Do el Maurice’s loved! Tell me, rington’s live “Under a the Priory gates presently. I know the Carringtons?” I “Only by name. I haye seen their ' cousin, Lionel Maurice.” .. t j “Ah”! said the Laird, and’ from mother has struggled right through - uie [One 0[- pjS voiced Dollv under- to keep, the home together, and she stood that she ’ I’m always hoping gr0Und. '■has done, it too;- i.............. ‘that I mli.y -able to give her a good time; but luow^iti.’.§. further off than " -ever.” . -VShe knows^about your marriage, of course?” “Oh yes; but she didn’t know un­ til. it was over, and then she didn’t approve,” said Dolly enigmatically, and she adroitly changed the sub­ ject. In about an 'hour's, time the dog­ cart was brought-M’ound to the door, and the Laird handed his daughter- in-law to her seat. Then he sprang up beside her, took the reins, told Tom he would not require him, and they went off down the chestnut av­ enue. ‘ *,-, * ■ . Dolly talked -slid the Laird listen­ ed. She had lost her fear of him, aAd more than once She beguiled him Into a smile. She was- immensely interested in Essendon village, and -she asked innumerable questions, all tof them intelligent. Just beyond 'the old church they met a. figure on horseback. It was Griselda on her way to Essendon. ■was on debatable “He's a little , Headaches Were So Bad They Kept Her Awake Headaches seem to be habitual with <omo people; some are seldom, if ever, free from them, suffering* continually •from the 'dull throbbings, the intense .pains; sometimes in. one part, sometimes in’ anothor, and again over the whole Lead. There is only one way to get relief from these persistent headaches, and that is by going* direct to the seat of the trouble, for unless the cause is ■removed the headaches will still tinuo to exist, and the fact, that ; deed, was • skill. For ■ to a mind ■ heart that i i She had come out now without the i knowledge of those who loved and ; tended her. stealing the opportunity ; while her mother took her after- : noon repose. She leaped upon the ! jnoss-giowp parapet, thinking of that long gope tryst upon which she had built such frail but.lovely hopes. An.l her wonder was still how she was to gel through the remainder of ‘ her days, it is so with the young. • When they give up hope they resign (it wholly with that abandon which marks all the eager haste of youth. Either the sun is high or they sit in black darkness.j Blanche was. ip the black dark­ nose, face. eyes, much most unnaturally large and bright. A big cloak of Inverness tweed and a little cap. seemed to renwrap her from head to fooL, hiding the too-slender outline of her figure. * The air was quiet save for the roar of the Dirdum in its flood. And because it was so deep and swift, and because the stones, were so em­ bedded in the silt, its voice was rather a deep boom than the famil­ iar gurgle note. All was changed—even the maiden watching with dieamy eyes the on­ ward sweep of waters. She had reached the autumn of her discon­ tent. ! Down tlie opposite slope from the open field, across which the narrow path led to the lands of Essendon, came another figure, bare-headed in the grey afternoon light. A long, loose wrap of Bordwick tweed, one of the Laird’s gifts to the now daughter, of whom -lie had grown strangely fond, swung open to reveal the .slender outline of a girl­ ish figure; and the arms were bare to the elbow, being apparently im­ mune from contact with the cold. The wild south wind tossed her hair, and the color- was high on her cheeks and, when she saw who stood by the tysting place brig it grew higher still. They met in silence, hiding a little defiance perhaps on both sides,, and between them stood tragedy, i-nvis- It is a tragedy when a man She wore its seal upon her She was waxen-pale, and her set in the frame that had lost of «its sweet contour, looked keeps the Stomach, liver and bowels toned up is proof enough to show that ' 'it. Will eliminatc'thft cause of- the heatf- . $$heg.’ . - I (Mrs. A. M. Arsenault, New Aberdeen, • N.S.,' writes:-—r,f Bor\a period I had, been troubled with, headaches and they Were, so' bad tho^ kept mo awake at jai'gM i was advised by a friend, after Slaving used many different kificK of medicine, tatty Burdock Blood Bitters. After taking threo.^ottlOs I waS cont-* jdetoly relieved, and* can recommend it tot bo a perfect medicine. f t •But up only'by Tiw T. Milburii Co., LtAy Toronto, Ontf . cad,” she informed him calmly. “No, he is worse—he ,is a liar as well. He was at the bottom of all this trouble, of my marrying Hal, I mean. Some day, , if yon will let me,- I’ll tell you the story.” | “Wouldn’t it be better to sink all the preliminaries into oblivion?” asked the Laird rather painfully. “What we have to concern ourselves with is the fact itself.” “Me—the .solid, indisputable fact Oh, what a lovely river. It’ I were contemplating kicking the bucket— don’t you know?—that’s where I should do it, just from that bridge. It’s lovely. How clear and cold it would be,' and it, at least, would tell no tales.” " “Don’t talk like that, child,” said the Laird in cold disapproval. “Well- balanced minds don’t go off at .such tangents.” * “But Dolly Vandom is not well balanced—she’s ill balanced—off at a hundred tangents in the day. Ah. you don’t know her yet.” CHAPTER XXXIV Two Women and One Woman Blauch'e Carrington stood on the little trysting bridge across the Dir­ dum Water, where it ran through the Priory woods. The Lammas spates had been long and sore in the Dale, and tales of disaster were rife from end to end. In the low-lying parts the fields were deep in still water, while in the - latitudes, whei'e harvest was late and poor, the stoo'ks had simply been swept like frail crafts from their moorings, add sent like foam-drift on the bosom of an angry flood. Many sheep had been drowned and great trees torn from their roots, an,d general havoc had been wrought. It was the late September now, hut such a- disastrous autumn had not been known in-tho Dale for many a year. Nothing else was talked o.f at'-Kirk and market, which were, in­ deed, mainly meeting-places for the recital of tho general woe. Dirdum was high in flood yet, and the low buttresses of the trysting brig were deep in tho tumbling bvown water sWopt everything before it. Tho i were already sadly thinned by high winds of the equinox, and whole peaceable Dale presented, early, a wintry aspect. Autumn shorn of its glory too.. A sad sodden green that had lost, it's was everywhere' the prevailing and there was no flame on hedge or tree waxing i’uddy. Blanche, from ,the sick clmmber to which she had been rclegAted-foi* sevoval had heard of all tho desolation, knew what ailed heL Ar, it knew, they held their peace, had dwi-ned like a lily on the from tho she heard of the new arrival .ftt Essondoiu The dodtoT I eoitid find no disease; Her ctWi/in-l, THVILSDAY, JANVAHT 30, 103^ - - 'i,r> i,wy?iy pmd been slrucfe. “Don’t, don't!” wildly. ”J tell y such a thing-with and untrue.” “It is neither wicked nor untrue replied Dolly equably. “it'a wu they call in that funny don kirk the Gospel truth. I Wut to tell you things, heaps of things, but yd’u have beep ill, and perhaps it would not bo good for you to stand here on this damp, mossy path. Will you come back with me? ? come to your house? It is a house. Surely there will bt little corner in it where you can talk l’or half an hour or so opt being disturbed by anybody?” Blanche shook her head, longing 'to turn and flee, yet fascinated and held spellbound to the spot. Jlie witchery of Dolly’s .eyes was upon, her. Dolly’s compelling power, which was a species of witchery too, held her to the spot. “If you have anything to say, I can- hear it now,” she said in a low voice, “But it is never goad to rake up dead^ashes.” • Dolly laughed, “But, bless you, these ashes aren’t dead. They are live coal, every bit of them. You have been ill be­ cause of me, and I have been ill lots of times in my mind because of you, and now you have got to listen to me while I tell you how it came about that Harry Kerr made such a fool ’of himself in London, and there- his j who is uuwciithy the love of - aim woman, but it is a deeper tragedy j when he wins the love of two. iloth these women loved, Harry Kerr, and i because of him they were 'desolate . In the springtime of their lives. ■ Blanche drew herself up a trifle haughtily, and she would quickly have turned away, but Dolly came to her eagerly. They met now for tho first time face to face, with pos­ sible speech lying to their hand. It was the opportunity for which Dolly had sought. “Don’t run away curious eat you, ............ tliis very day to have got bandy in my big pocket ently, when I had house, 1 should have put them on.” Blanche could not speak. With a strange yearning she looked up into the radiant face—the face that had been preferred before hers, Blanche was still in total ignorance regarding the particulars of the marriage of Harry Kerr and the strange London girl of whose doings, the Dale was full. The only two persons who could have told her the whole truth had shrunk from the task. Dolly' was one, but* all the time since she had hoard of Blanche lying, as they said, -near to the-gates of death, she had pondered, and then she had taken her resolve. And to-day saw its fulfillment, “Don't run away,” she said, with strange frankness which'was for ever; by made us two, who never harmed taking the Laird of Essendon by sur- prise, and alluring him against his better judgment or his will,. “You and I must have it out. The Elites have-decreed it. Do you know what has kept me here all this time, when I ought to -have gone back to my London life? Why, nothing but this, that you and I had to have it out.” *“I don't understand you,” Blanche feebly, colour flecked her cheek. ' want to have it out—as you it. I don’t want to talk to •all.” “Oh, that is unkind, for .said sh6 blithesomeitess. “1 and. anyway, I was > see you. my cap and my with a won’t coming See, I gloves and pres- got near the sne DU I you. cried wont It h a little discuss wicked -•It’s what little Essen- May I great e * one and I I Wltlj- | “you know what a j you have li-r a roasin! i villiany as plain as a . Don’t you see it all? ■ love with you- ' Anyway, he wanted to marry you, . and Harry was in the way. As ho could not shoot him down, as they used to do in these parts, or show- him into the Dirdum with a stone round his neck, he set about finish­ ing him in another way. Manrice knows the respectable folks as well as the -other sorts, and he know right well that surest way to part you and. Harry was to put him on to me, you twig?” Blanche gave a weary nod. “You have (beep blaming him along-—Hal, I mean; but. he isn’t bad. He’s one of the best sort that ever was born, and he wouldn’t hurt a woman, if he knew it, to save his life. He was kind to me, even when his hair rose up stiff at some of my doings, and he never spoke an -angry I word. I hadn't met any of that kind before, you see, and that’s what bowled me over so quickly. There was nobody in the wide -world to bjame except me.” <(Don’t say that,” said Blanche, faintly protesting, “I see it all quite well now, and I -am very sorry for you,” “You will be sorrier yet, for be­ fore Hal went off we had some words, and I aggravated him beyond endurance. I found this, and then I knew exactly what had happened and how hopeless the whole affair was.” ■She undid the fastenings of her white blouse -and drew from her bosom the letter that Blanche had written after much travail of spirit. “Take it, it is yours, That was what -brought me to Scotland—that and' nothing else. I wanted to see. you for myself, and get -a grip of the whole situation, and then to make up'my mind what was to be done. I thought two days would do the trick, and here I have been for nearly three months, and I have only had my chance- to-day.” Blanche tore the letter into frag­ ments and cast them on Dirdum’s angry bosom, and they both watch­ ed them dancing down and disap­ pearing from sight. (Continued next week.) luscal isn’t hh pikestaff ‘i He was in ■or imagined he was. do all all ' him, as miserable as we are. that is the way of men all the through. They have what want, and the woman pays.” She stood with her back against mossy prapot 'and folded her arms above her head—an attitude which gave some -*ficticious inches to her height. She was actually, however, taller than Blanche, who looked very slight and fragile beside her. She began to talk in her usual fluent tongue, telling the tale of Harry Kerr’s short London career and all that had .befallen him there. Her terse, graphic style, her use of words which are not usually heard in polite society, but which undoubt­ edly often fitted the case, held Blanche -absolutely spellbound, and Dolly knew it. -She was not an ac­ tress for nothing. “So now,” she said in conclusion, she Brighton that Hal said while the painful “I don’t i express youtjat But way they l MODELS 591 an 592 an i Rogers-Majestic Model 591 Lowboy of figured woods with panel deeply set-in, giving very rich appearance. High-lighted panel and two diminutive overlays. Fancy grille. Eight fully-guaranteed Rogers Tubes.' Super-sensitivity. Genuine Electro-Dynamic Speaker. more. ■ LperForrndnce, cfrich beautiful lowest prices ever established in new Dodie any,radio These are th Canada for ■ ’electric Radi epoch-making occasion— and Majestic into the new Rogers-Majestic" Enjoy the thrilling entertainment of the’ Rogers-Majestic i while paying for it on the easy terms of the budget plan. 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