Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 18, 1900, Page 24

NORMAN HOLT e By eral CHARLES KING. v (Copyright, 190, by CHA W. Dillingham Co.) BR 1 Christmastide In Merrily squeaked the vang the rafters with quip and jest and joyous mirth, with the stamp and ewing and go of the dance. “RIght han' acros now de let'—dosydo—swing yo' pahdnub wll han's shouted Harkless, black | major domo of Belleview, the doctor's fu- | mous homestead, and there at the side board, ladling out eggnog of his own in imitable composition, from the huge silver bowl that had borne for three genera- tions the arms of the Holts of Surrey— there in dark blue clawhammer, with flat gilt buttons, in walstcoat of buff nankeen and in cnowy-frilled choker, there stood the genlal, jovial host himself. In two Jong llnes the dancers advanced, retired balanced and swubg—fair, winsome girls on the one hand, bold, stalwart young gal Junts upon the other. Along the walls divans, sofas and chairs, gossiped a dozen smiling matrons, a sprinkling of elder beaux. At every door and windov kinky, curly or turbaned heads and opened of w8 of darky ers, whose nimble fect beat time | mantly the stirring music of “Unc' | Pomp's” black orchestra. Three fiddles, | a viol ambo and bones, all in expert hands w into the old tunes of “‘Money Musk” and the “Virginla Reel” a verve and vim and spirit that time and again even gray heads to bobblng-even vet- eran, gouty toes to tapping in irresistible | sympathy. Festoons, garlands and wreaths | of evergreen draped the walls, windows and the heavily-framed portraits of by. gone Holts. Silver flagons and tankards | gleamed on mantel and buffet; silver | sconces and candelabra with crystal pen dant prisms and bristling wax 4 Kentacky. fiddles. Merrily roun’, re wide oyes doz retaln inces th candles | shone and jingled on mantel, wall and side- | board; colored, opalescent lights glowed | fn dim recesses among the greens, glass | and gourd both furnishing the enclosing | spheres, Foxes' masks grinned above the broad fireplaces, where the coals of famous | bickory logs were still alive. Foxes'| brushes, hunting caps, crops, whips wnd | wpurs hung here and there upon the wall. | Red-berried, sharp-spined, dark-leaved olly stood pert and prim in every nook and corner, while from the cross-beams overhead in the very center of the big bay-windowed room lhung a single spray of paler ashen green, amid whose curling Jeaves peeped tiny globes of creamy white, ® sprig that vested the place beneath with strange and thrilling Interest, a spot to be coyly shunned by every maid and ea- gorly sought by every man who knew the w#ayIng grace of the thrice blessed mistletoo, and brilliant were the device and strategem by which each sought to lure unthinking damsels within the enchanted limits, thers to claim and take forfeit of her forget- fulness, for these were the ante-bellum days In the borderland of the Sunny South; this was an evening in the blithe Christ- mas hollday season and In an old Ken tucky home. And yet, long after 11 at night, only once or twice, despite the dangers of the dance. had damsel been fairly caught, and for those two Lorna Walton, a bril- lant belle from Louisville, was rightly chargeable, for her gown was a creation Kate Ray of Lexington gave more thought to than any man In the room could claim. She was gazing at this, thinking only of 1his, when suddenly swung beneath the en- abling parasite and summarily kissed by Henry Holt, the doctor’s eldest son. That sho was shamed, stung and startled, for the room resounded with applause and laughter, helped her not one whit flew at him with blazing cheeks MR, J. BURNETT MALLOY. i 3 eyes and furiously threatening little hands, but he was loug and lithe and an expert dodger. “AD'll pay you some day, Misth Harry Clay Holt,” had to be her sole satls faction for the time belug. Nor was she mollified when, hardly twenty minutes later, and possibly through the same cause, protty Lou Ward was trapped and pinloned and, despite frantic struggles, fairly kissod by a very good looking young guest from Ohlo, & comparative stranger at Belleview It wouldn't have been so bad, said Miss Lou, had it been one of their own set, bo- causo Kentuckisns are always, or nearly always, cousins, and, if not, have known each other so long and well they ire just 8 good o related. “But this Mr. Malloy, said Lou, “isn't one of us at all. Besides anybody could ree, any girl at least, that what brought him to Belleview was no Kentucky girl. It was Miss Lane from across the Oblo, And Miss Lane was a damsel many a man would have followed further, & mald many a man would be pardoned for sing- 1ing out, even in the midst of a bevy of Kentucky wowmen on their native heath. Sho was above the middle height, slemder. yet with rarely rounded form. Her hanls and feet were long and slim and exquisitely molded. Her hair was almost a chestnut brown, soft, shimmering and gloriously abundant, but her face was ome no man rould look at and forget—oval, delicately chiseled, with the softest curves and merri- est dimples. Her eyes were radiant, of deepest biue, shaded by long, dark, curv- | Kleamed two rows of snowy into O iog lashes and overarched by thick heavy brows of deeper brown than her glossy hair. The nose, stralght and small, one ever secied to see simply because of the . LA A the soft, portals th K beauty—the witching sweet mouth, between beauty—of whose red faultles such a head o rounded nec pretiy, sloping all dazzling | white, and there {s witchery enough to com pel the regard of an anchorite, if cver uch a being existed, ond to try the ascetl- 1sm of St. Anthony. This night, even in that roomful of borderland beauty, she moved in girlish triumph, the b of a Kentucky ball, and the falr you was flushed with the clousness her power. Barely 17, without a care In the | world, brimful of health, content and glad- mess, the {dol of a proud father, the joy of a devoted mothor, £he lived and moved | 18 though smiles and sunshine alone could light her pathway, as though 8in and sorrow had no place on earth, o lodgment in the heurts of those that hung about her. Barely the delights of a protly g first season, she had come | with her parents to be the guest of the mas ter of Belleview at this charmed holiday wson and to help celebrate the return of younger The friendship the elder standing impulsive, ault, Dr Set a full, above houlders reveling in Norman, his €on, ot often between Hot-heade Holt w the le and ever-widening circle, the fact that bis occasional quarrels had overrun the borders of his chosen state and overflowed Melatyre Lane, attorneys and \t-law, had long been his ted outside the limits of his own commonwealth, The wife of his youth and middle age Acvoted helpmeet, the fond mother of his stalvwrt boys, was Mclntyre's only and all Kentucky knew the neh old squire doctor would never take another in place of her who for seven years had been sleeping in the peaceful church yard ¢ hand A sister, the widow of € it who fell Buena Vista, came and kept house for him the year after his treasure w taken though, for many moons he had flercely repelled the idea of having any ome. Time, high health and the demands of his profession and his neighbors had gradually restored the old gonfality and kindliness, but the balance wheel, the gentle monitor and guide that so often and so long had curbed the impetuous will and unreasoning impulse, was sorely missed. In more ways than one the proud, high-mettled old gentleman had fallen into error since her demise and the latest and worst instance was in the case of Norman Norman Mclntyre she had fondly named him for her beloved father—Norman whom she had loved with a tenderness un- speakable—Norman for whom, despite all his pride in his first born—young “Harry of the West"—the hot-headed sire seemed 1o hold in especial favor—Norman, whose chosen career he had practically closed. The story was already all over Ken- tucky, though hardly a fortnight old. The lad, in his 21st year, was at West Point, standing well up in his class and weariug the chevrons of a eadet sergeant. Eighteen months more would graduate and estab- lish bim for life in an honorable profes- sfon, for which he was eminently fitted, when he fell out with a senior, a cadet lieutenant of his company, and after the manner of the corps, challenged and fought his adversary, who, in truth, had been the aggressor, and had used his official position to vent a personal spite. There was a girl at the bottom of it all. Thero gen- erally 1s. The sympathy of the baitalion almost to a man, was with the Kentuckian, but, as {l-luck would have it, the affalr was brought to the attention of the com- mandant in way he could not ignore. The regulations were explicit and court- | martial had to come. The finding was guilty, the sentence dismissal, but it coupled with the unanimous recommenda- tion of the court for clemency, od on “high character and soldierly record, and | the secretary of war commuted it to con- finement to barracks for a briet period and the loss of his sergeant's chevrons. Everybody felt confident that when June came around Norman Holt's name would again stand high on the list of cadet of- ficers. orman himself knew that he had gotten off easily. It was the old doctor who went wild in his wrath, who had hur- ried on to Washington and thence to the Point, arguing, denouncing, raging. Regu- lations be d—d, said he. In an affair be- tween gentlemen the only regulations gov- erning the case we tho of the cods, which every Kentuckian, every southerner, every man except a base born mudsill must recogniz His son had been put upoen and Insulted by a follow cadet, no matter what his battallon rank, and had simply acted as a gentleman in demanding reparation “I'd have disowned him if he hadn't. He served the scroundrel perfectly right, suh." The doctor looked for triumphant acquittal He wonld have considered even official commendation only right and proper under the clrcumstances. He listened in amaze to the order promulgating the findings and sentence and then in an outburst of rage ord: d his son to wr instantly his reslgnation, and Norman ma g under the lash of the implied reprimand, secretly uctant and doubting, heyed tho father's mav In vain| Qid the commandart, himself a gallant and dlstingutshed southerner, try to reason with th irate Kentuckian, Holt would have fought Hardee right them and there, and only a limited few at the offic mess were aware how narrowly a meeting averted. They got the fire eating phy away from the Point and “on to Washing ton" where, rabid old whig *hat he wa he more than relished the opportunity having it out with the Virg demncrat who signed the order that swept the chey rons from Norman's slee A man of mark and influence was Holt in the border states, but Kentucky and Tennessce, by presenting candidates of their own for the presidency in the momentous election just decided, had defeated the party which they were nvaturally allied, and, to the wrath of the south, had opened the doors of the White House to a rank sboll- tionist, “an obscure rail splitter,” “a son of the soll, who sprang from a hovel." Holt went to denounce and upbraid, but tound & cabinet that could outdo bim at both. He was stunned by the reproaches of the president's backers and advisers The president himself he could not #ee at all. Ho found that for the first time in national history Kentucky was not a name to conjure with at Washington! The border states had betrayed and knifed the great democratic party, was the cry, and turned the patlon over to the nigger worshiper The doctor wanted to fight Floyd, the war secretary, but found the capitol full amazed and ¢lsgusted statesmen, in whose mouths the very names of Kentucky and Tennessee were opprobrium. Kinsmen of was long despite counee clos- sister soldier at a8 away, was was clan of nia to rank and influence surrounded the wrath- | derer and whisked him away, tak- rman with him. The second week ember found him home agaln, and, forgetting, for a time at least, his bitter rage in the joys of hospitality. Then Belle- view was thrown wide open for the holl- days. Norman should be welcomed by the prettiest girls to be found in the west, and Norman should be hailed henceforth as a s beloved by a wide | | something had | THE OM altren ernment three year obnoxious from in the army of an Holt had retired Lefore youn br, succeeding to the good will and b febts, Holt had inherited wealth, a beauti ful howe and estate. He had a dozen hunt dogs by the score and iie hardly knew Just how many Ethiopians—he vever spoke of them or treated them as slaves. I had his boys, Hal studying law with Mclntyre & Lane at Cinciunati, and Norman—well, Norman should have a few months' rest after the years of iron-clad idlocy they called discipline at that infernal pauper #chool on the Hudson. He should look about | bim and teke his choice of a fon. He should go to college, read law or study medicine, or stay bome and hunt, ride, | hoot and be the young squire. But befors they had been home a week the fond, hot headed old father had b yond all peradventure that boy WA already repenting his and pining to be back at the Point Never in his life had Norman been happler, despito monotonous routine, than in the days just gone by, when, on battalion or dress parade, he marched as lett pract Woodre the 1 prote: seen the gulde of the left flank company, wherein | every Kentucklan fo the corps seemed to find his soldier station. They rode together | for hours each day, father and som, and by every means in his power did the doc- tor strive to reconcile the boy and to di his thoughts, Norman rode as do many Kentuckians, as though born to the saddle but he couldn’t be in saddle forever. long winter nights were on them now, and there were hours when he could mourn unscen. Holt noted and and thought and | ucted. The pollities he bad planned for Christmas week were all well enough, but to be dome at once. Old friends were tue Waltons of Louisville, \hl'; Rays of Lexington, and they were begged to come without delay, and come they did | aud much they made of Norman, but the was small chauce for sentiment—there sel- | dom is where lad and lassle have becn | chums from early childhood. Lorna and Lou had romped, played tag and ridden | double with him time and again and were | too near his own age. Loyally the boy wel- | cowed them and paid homage to them, but every Kentuckian would do that. The were in saddle every morning. They chased the fox by day and danced by night, but when the girls and thefr mammas were gone to bed amd the doctor would fain bave taken his boy to his heart and probed | his soul in search of symptoms of reviving | content Normnn would steal away, but not | to sleep, for liolt could hear him wmoving restlessly about his room, and well he | knew what that meant And this was the state of things at the opening of Christmas week and then cam the Lanes from Cincinnati, and then & change. Duty as host demanded of the | son that he should neglect none of his | father's guests—that eveu old chums like Lo and Lou uld ve just as much of his time and attention as those who were later arrivals. The old-fashioned | hostelry in the village, too, was filled with friends who could be he ul even the spreading roof of Belleview. | Henry's room was glven over to Mr. and Mrs. Lane apd he had doubled up with Norman. The register at the Asholt inn was flled with names the nation knew and all Kentucky loved. Holt and his stalwart sons had cvery meo nt upied and the father noted with joy the pa of that shadow that fate, not he, thrown about his younger hope, hi his little Benjamin It was half a before he fathomed the explanation then he hailed it in exultation and joicing. One thraldom had succeeded other. The bondsman to soldler tude « the months gone by dered to a new commander of military honor and glory not sed ler | had | pride, | week | and su had | | n| were | banighed by one overpowering dream of | re dreams love The lad, al of her arrival, had met Lane Judge Mclntyre had been unable to join them. Cares had multiplied upon the pior partner with advancing years and his bealth had sufiered. Lane, the junior young still and vigorous, felt a secret anxiety s to his frieud and bhelper, for | such had McIntyre ever been. He owned to Holt he hated to come away and leave the eld wan, but the judge had insi d. McIntyre's investments had gone Wrong. sald Lane, and he was broodiug, worrylng a great deal “I'll go up and sce him atter the New Year,” answered the doctor, heartily, “and | take Norman for a look into Cincinnatl | soclety,” and he wondered that Lane should say so little to support the plan. He won- dered more that afterncon at Lane's evi- | dent surprise and even disapprobation over | the coming of & new claimant on the doc- | tor's hospitality. Old Harkless entered the library where the two were seated b car nest chat and, bowing with grave dignity | presented on a silver salver & letter to his master | Why, this is from Mae, now!" suld Holt, l as he scanned the superscription unler | bis spectacles. “Introducing Mr. J. Bur- nett Malloy. I don't like that new-fangled | way of dividing & name. let's see’ he added, as he drew forth the enclosure wost from the his fate momen in Dalsy Keutucky gentleman wud mo starving sub- “This will be handed you by Mr. Buraett DAILY | pea: | disapproved BEE: SUNDAY Malloy M. Malloy ®on of my esteome: nad state senator, of ou most wmen and infuentinl oung gentleman Is visiting Ken Ky and as he will be a day or two at Asholt I bespeak for him the welcome you would a cord and mine Where's his card And the doctor picked up the square pastes board. * Glazed!" he exclaimed. “‘Where'd be learn that bourgeois ! Me J Burnett Malloy! Staying at the inn, is it? Well, Harkless, tell Mars Heory I want bim. We'll call and bid Mr. Malloy to din- per. Know him, Lane” But Lane was already on the move for the door. He stopped, half-turned, colored besitated and then spoke “'Yos ~that fs, slightly know them at all one citizen to me business 1 wish Mac didn’t CHAPTER 1L And yet it was a very presentable man, well garbed and groomed instantly to his callers e doctor had had no opportunity om Lane the Henry had come at once in obedience to his father's mes while Norman und young who came meet it the inn. to draw reasons for his reluctance, age, and NOVE MBER the fact of his coming Did you have Mr Lane had asked fug for the late din fought tn vain against that telltale she answ 1 He sald last week business might bring him to Asholt 1t %o happened that at the moment Malloy's entry Norman Holt in adjoining room, the Ifbrary and her mot Wax candles by filled the drawing room with soft liant light, while the library «hadow The Rays were full of interes wnd sympathy in Norman's West |lite ~there was a lad at home whose whole ambition was to win a cadetship that her mother had warned he Datsy were dress child had flush any intimation as they er, and the was ar the sec yet bril seemed description of barrack days. he their wander room, and then almost instantly and surely not in pleasure, seck each other There was something so significant in glance that between mother anc daughter that Norman 10 note the ca and turned just to see two forms in the conventional even saw eyes to the othe! passed CHRISTMAS AT BELLEVIEW. the other young knights were gallopiug through the forest alsles with Belleview's fair guests the father and eclder son had driven into Asholt, close at hund, to honor tho judge's vote. Henry had met both Malloys, the state senator and his heir, yet knew them only slightly. The former, he sald, was frequently closeted with Judge Mcintyre. The latter belonged to @ youug | [ and lively set, with whom Henry had little in common. Henry was studious and am- bitiou was not a soclety man, and so ap- ed but seldom at the blithe gatherings which the Cueen City in those days was famous. Young Malloy had traveled abrond—something few Americans could say two gencrations ago—and had abundant means and fair manners. The elder struck Henry being and pushing, but polish was not to be looked for in the pro- fessional politician. Henry was not in the confidence of Mr. Lane, and, tberefore, could not say how he regarded the Malloys, but thought it possible the junior partner of the son, on general prin- ciples, as u possible suitor, for Henry re- membered having heard that young Malloy was deeply smitten with Daisy's beauty. And then came the youth himself to greet them, and to accept, with evident pleasurs, the doctor's cordial bid to dinner that even- ing “Sorry we haven't a room for you at Bolleview, suh,” said tho Kentucklan, *'but the women folk there in force, several of our guests have to put up here. 1t they give you a comfortable bed it's all you'll meed. We expect you to spend your waking hours with us.” Mr. Burnett Malloy, in expressing his thenks, displayed much gratification and W fine sot of teeth. He arrived just ex- actly at the appointed hour and appeared as coarse are 1n black evening dress was rarely seen in the most men wearing @ frock coat and shirt [ s of remarkable pattern, and n a few still appearing in the frills and wrist bands that had been the mode of & wmuch parlier dauy’ Mr. Malloy was taken round the circle by the beaming host and pr sented individually to every man and won: old or young, in the big, low old-fashioned drawing room, and of the day, by u greeted with & Mr. and Mrs. Lane courteous, yet somewbat constrained and distant. Dalsy gave him a swift glance from her soft blue eyes, & faltering hand and colored to the brows an she met his gaze, and this, too, despite which at that time west or souti ceilinged, after the kindly nfanucs and women both cordlal handsh he wa and | {ing garb of two distinct epochs—his fath In the blue, gilt-buttoned swallow presentable young stranger in black, with white, tle. extended hand, it was the insiant that telitale blush suffused her lovely fa and, looking back from her to him, Jealous of the young soldier unerringly the eager, joyous, almost passioned gaze of the newcomer. think of nothing e when, the a | tended a welcoming hand to the unheraided | yet evidently expected stranger. of the two met in straightforward gaze, the soft, dark brown of the tuckian, the s the hands seemed at first to miss each other, somehow, and, when they met, the sturdy clasp of response Then Harkless threw open the folding doors and with his elaborate bow an- nounced that dinner was served. Then the doctor, blithely saying, “Give your arm to Miss Lane, Mr. Malloy," gave his to Mrs. Lane, and Norman fell in toward the rear of the column escorting Lorna Walton, deaf even to her joyous prophesy of @ splendid run for the morrow. 1t was a splendid run! The day had been superb—fine, clear and with a frosty rime that lent exhilaration to every hour in the open wir. And mow Christmas eve had come and a second dance and even a larger gathering. Time and again during th cvening that followed the splendid run of the day laughing girls and gallant men found themselves comparing notes and going over and over again the stirring | events of the chase. Whether because ho Ken- frost, Reynard had proved a teaser run long miles in valn, and as some broo were broad, some fences far too high for all but the most daring and skillful, 1t had resulted that “the fleld"" split up into & dozen little parties dispersed all over the country. It followed that toward 3 {1n the afternoon, when almost all the ric | had returned to Belleview, there were still four guests abroad Hounds and hunts | men, bedraggled and disappointed, had |come trotting back by an hour after noon | The elder women, who had driven out in open es o see what they could of | the sport, had long since returned to the solace of tea. Miss Walton and a cousin, | Louisville girls, had ridden in with Heory | Holt &nd Mr. Goodloe, just ahead of the hounds. Norman, guiding Lou Ward | short cut across the fields, had | home earlier still, and was striding about |the premises from gate to stables, still in riding dress, and obvlously nervous and | tretful Four of the party only were | missing. but had it been only one, and that | one Margaret Lane, so far as Norman was }umu'vnul the rest had returned in vain, At 1 o'clock & belated darky huntsman re- ported that he had seen Marse Blanton and Miss Ray at the ford of the Middle branch. Miss Ray's horse had cast a shoe |and they would stop at Sparrow's to have unother That would account for them, but who had seen Miss Lane and Mr. Mal loy? Unaccustomed by to cross-country riding though a graceful horsewoman, Daisy had refused @ broad jump early in the day and |taken to the highway. Norman at that time was well the le guiding Kate Ray | who rode like a bird. Malloy, it was ob served, though a falr rider, and sitting of the best hunters in the Belleview | stabies, seemed to little for Lonors the cha might separate bim from the girl cauty tranced him. He, t tnched at a hi could have cleared at a bound away ‘0 place himself again From that hour they were and practically Not a soul had seen them. thick long the Midale labyrinth of cattle trails and but the onc fox that drew in a | one 8 care any that hose hunter e |1ost to the rest of the hunt |to the world There were fork, and a bridle paths, 8 woods as that with Miss Ray n Point and they were listening in absorbed attention to his when suddenly v surprise, the turned fnstinctively in time noted im- He could moment | later, at his father's summons, he, too, ex- | The eyes steady the northerner found only faint | Lad grown unusually wary, thanks to suc I\“ frequent hunting or because of the nipping Hounds, huntsmen and the merry party had | reached | long, stern chase seemed to scout the cover of those nearby and had led on like rocket, straight for the spire at Hardin hill, nearly ni good miles to the 1 north Branching from the pike, & coun try road bore away for the hills, and as the chuse was in plain view, it was but reasonable to suppose the pair had fol- t Jowed, yet men and women who took that 1 route declared to the contrary Was 1t possible, then, that, preferring to be alone, they had deliberately chosen the byway that led to the long belt of forest® Mrs Lane was looking anxious and annoyed when, after luncheon, she came out and jolned Norman at the gate. Mr. Lane was o cager, she said, to mount and go forth in search of them. It was this that de- termined Norman Holt. “Tell him I'll go, and at sald he. “They have possi bly got bewildered in Buford woods." His fresh hor veady, and he was away ir than three minutes, They heard him winding his hunting horn, faint 1 fainter as he sped northeastward, and that was all until neatly 6, when the watchers saw the coming slowly in together, Norman afoot, Not until they reached the copses t 4 o was Tess rio door were matters understood. Dalsy, il, the | white one minute and flushed the next, was the solemn |ridiug Norman's horse. ecclesiastical-looking | and smiling, was explaining what had hap- It was at the instant when Mr. Mal- | pened, and Norman, without a word to any- | 1oy was bowing low over Dalsy Lane's half- when Malloy, plausible body, was leading to the stables Dalsy's pretty mare, which had gone suddenly, un- , |accountably, pitiably lame. ®| Trere had been a scene, it was believed, | between Mrs. Lane and her charming daughter the instant they reached the se- clusion of their room. Daisy had slipped out of saddle cven beforo Mr. Malloy could |leap from his and assist her to dismount. | With flaming cliceks sbe bad burried up [the steps to the broad-colonnaded portico, | forcing a smile for the benefit of the women | thronging to meet her, yet hastening past v gray of the guest, and | yey o hor mother, who, at the library | door, where she had been in anxious con- |ference with the doctor, stood walting, and at once led her to the stalrway. Not until Jate in the evening did the child reappear. Dinner had been sent to her that she might rest and be in readiness for the event of the holiday season—the Belleview ball. But they had been dancing over an hour before she came down, and every woman present knew she had been weeping. Norman, too, | despite the demands upon him as host, was far from being his usual self—was fittul, nervous, absent-minded. Malloy, however, scemed thoroughly at his ea | buoyant and debonair, dancing assiduously with one girl after wnother and striving 10 be agrecable to all, to all at least until Daley's late appearance. The thing that | observant women could not fail to note was (hat Norman Holt nover once addressed | him during the entire evening and spoke |only awkwardly and with cold restraint when compelled to answer his remarks, It was long after 10 when Mrs. Lane and ber daughter finally joined the party im the bull room. The mistletos bough still hubg conspicuous and threw its potent spell on all beneath, but maids and matrons were shy and guarded now, and mindful of the previous eve With with Mr man of frankness, proper regret, the atory to to the women every every expression Mulloy had told after man, and who witnessed thelr return—told it practically &s he bad told it to Norman, when that keen young scout and rider came u them in the depths of the Buford wool. He declared he had heard the dis- tant bay of the hounds comiug from over the tree tops, indicating that Reynard had turned sharply eastward when near Hardin hill, and, in his inexperience, us he frankly sald, he reasoned that the fox was now making for the woods. Why not ride di rectly thither and be foremost in the hunt? Miss Lane evidently louged to be up at the front again, but could not take the higher fences. He persuaded her to gallop, as he wald, in the direction of the sound, and away from the trailing field. But once within the wood the bridlepath becam crooked, narrow, intricate. The wounds were deadened, and in less than half an hour he found himself bewildered. Then tn crossing a shallow ditch, Miss Lane's pretty mount strained her off hind leg in gome mysterious way, and, evidently in great pain, could not ket foot to earth Malloy found a seat for his partner on a fallen log and followed a path to the open flelds to the north, hoping to see something of the hunt, but succeeded only fu hail w negro, who promised to go at to Belleview, soven miles away, and bring the phaeton for Miss Lane. Then he rode back to her and waited—walted long hours—and strave to comfort her by the assurance that | wid must soon come. Not until after 3 did they bear the mellow notes of a hunter's | born winding through the forest, and Mal | loy's shout in answer brought Mr. Holt to | their rotreat, and Mr. Holt could tell the It seems that Mr. Holt had stripped the saddles, reset Miss Lune's his fresh horse and started them home whila he followed afoot, leading poor bob- Vliug Nellie Gray. 1t was most unfortun but nobody, eald Malloy, was to blame except himself, the narrator, unless it was appearance of o once rest | ot own and | | the darky field hand whom he had liberally tpped to fnduce him to go with wll to Belleview Miss Ward sat there by her mother's slde to the girl who had bec before, refusing wnt the nigh! now every (nvitation still tired, she declared, and unac st and She had been saddle the spring. it tonight one,” her mother had said YOu cannot refuse others, and Mr. Malloy Wwill be sure to ask for all you can possibly give him was playing wall flower A role to which she was utterly unaccus tomed, bu n swarmed about and pe sisted in importunities, especially | Malloy. Norman Holt alone did not repeat his request for a dance. Even as midnight approached, the at which all were (o Join in one sail to the honor of | Fath y " o were men who | hovered about hair and begged that he reconsid ng this, with an odd somi-posse er. Malloy placed him self at her despite averted looks d A de ulder, hung thero undauntedly A single-headed Cerberus, warning o 111 comers, until the mridnight hour chimed from the old Dutch clock in the broad hallway, when glasses in hand whole assemblage gathered about the glud, genial host There were men that night who spoke of it before they sought their rooms and thought of It again and again in the years that followed. Never had tho master of Belleview seemed in blither, gayer mood [ his ruddy face wreathed in smiles, his kindly eyes twinkling in joy and hospitality and benediction on all around him. Even the servants had been summoned in, Hark s at their head, wnd in broad, black turbaned poll and kinky crown, en assed round about the bevy of fair women and | men. To each was given a brimmiug of the doctor's famous mixture \rose to the very rafters and 1 er sounds were hushed ‘ J b on them, lfted up 1 Only thres days before ha newn that South Carolin petted child of the family lared all bonds annulled and acelaimed its se man could tell thinking aud Ittle wor w0 n hour Christy he the &l volce the star spotled of states, all ties ing and had de severed, ession from the union, to what it might lead man could fall to s that, grave womwentous, a crisls had come in the onward sweep of our national life. Even here, in the midst of all the Christmas joys at Belloview, there had been grave faces among the few elders, but tonight the old doct s was uncloud. 1 “Friends and kindred,” he began, “old friends and new, good friends all; so long as I havo lived here in the heart of our beloved commonwealth has it been the boust of Belleview that no living soul, white or black, failed of welcome and of our good cheer on this thrice-blessed anniversary eaco on earth, good will to men’ has b the motto over our hearthstone from the day these doors were opened. ‘Peace on earth, good will to men’ remains its watch- word today, and such, please God, shall be its watchword through generation after generation long after I am lald beneath the sod. We rejolce, my sons and I, In your presence here tonight. We pledgo you with full hearts and brimming glasses, We drink to Christmas past, to Christmas pres- ent and to Christmas to come. May an- other year bring us all—-all who are here tonight—again within these walls, then, as now, to drink to each other's health and peace and happiness, and to say, in the words of Tiny Tim, God bless us, every one." The moment that followed, first of mur- murous applause, then of silence as glasses were raised to answering lips, was rudely closed. Sudden and imperative, somebody was knocking at the outer door. (To be Continued.) OUR THROAT are the direct cause of all LUNG TROUBLES. The first sym| fonts ‘may o slight tckling sensation, an then wcotigh and asthogerme mul tiply they even- tually find their way into the lungs and Cou- sumption results. DR. GEO. LEININGER'S FOR-MAL-DE-AYDE 00UGH CURE 18 the only Cough reine- dy that contains Bolidi Ykon v aucinite 1 throas 'm in the Land theroby T sumption, every pulmonary fegion. Th treatment will destroy every germ that can affect the respiratory system. and even in advance ll':"lm of Consumption will srrest he growth of the tubercular germ, and put the Hssue lining of the lungs in such & cond tion of health und acuivity that new perma fubsgeuiogis entorlug the body caunot live n it. o Ahsotote guarant Dr. e&é jh Cure sells it 25cts, f:y'x‘fulr‘.'u ‘F:.e 2%, e Dr. Goo. Lelginger’ Socmalashy nhaler tells ut bécts. on & AL BT ook el alled fr Wnd_recommendea by Sherman & Il Drug Co., Heaton-McGinn Drug iham Drug Chas. Schaefor, Park Pharmacy Pharmacy, Peyton Pharmacy, O suncil Bluffs, Ta.,, M. A. Dillon South Omiha MINUTE Cough Cure Cures Quickly It has long been a household fayorite for Coughs, Colds, Bronchitis, Poeu- monia, Asthma, Whooping Cough and all other Throat aud Lung Troubles, Tt is prescribed as a specific for Grippe, Mothers endorse it as an infallible remedy for Croup. Children like it. Propared by E. G. DeWItt & Go., Ghloage. 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