Katrine

ter Dermott's departure, Frank turned w

pany him; and her intimate acquaintance with Francis, sixth of the name, ma

Frank!" she exclaimed, as if

other," he retur

lways done th

k broke in, kissing her, with a def

rked by the grudging tone in which she spoke. "I remember that only yesterday

e gray eyes with the level lids looked into the

plated him, the ecstasy of moth

being I ever saw, Frank-though I thi

diced, lady mother," he laug

be-being only a mother,

t home with me! Not happy at having asked those

ave you

Presc

oo

rs and Sal

tte

nne Le

was a

ay 'best'?" Mrs.

mind, I forgot it," F

s mother continued. "Note the adroitne

nk she woul

here is the family name to be thought of, and there must be a Francis eighth to inherit the g

em before Frank turned the talk

verseer?" he aske

ot drun

the drunkenness, not the sat

fraid i

Dermott say

ick D

suppose?" h

," his mother returned, with

ic invasion of the Carolinas dur

leave her Mrs. Ravenel asked, lightly: "Ho

riageway he said to himself, with a smile: "Mother shows he

gwood hung white along the riverbanks; the golden azaleas, nodding wake-robins, and muskadine flowers look

rs' absence-his mother's reference to his marriage, his remembrances of Anne Lennox-had brought back to his face its habitual expression of sadness. And more than he would have acknowledged was a disquietude ca

a most magnetic power with women, he came to the edge of the far wood as lawless a man, in as l

an's voice-singing, and by instinct he knew that the s

ck of her hair in silhouette against the gold of the sky. He noted the slender grace of her body as she leaned back

in music, he knew that it was a great voice that sang it and a great personality which interpreted it. With the song still trembling thro

d with fire and spirit. Her hair was very dark, though red showed through it in a strong light, and her cheeks had the dusky pink of an October peach. But it was the eyes that held and allowed no forgetting; Ravenel always held they were violet, and Josef, who saw her every day for years, spoke them gray; but Dermott McDermott was firm as to their being blue until the day she visited him about the railroad business, when he afterward described

e lui." Twice she stopped abruptly, taking a tone a second time, listening as she did so, her head, birdlike, on one side with a concentrated at

intend to resume it. Standing thus, he bore himself, if one might use the word of a man, with a certain swe

ed, with a smile which seemed

gravely, for the readjustment from the m

you sing. It almost made me forg

red. "The plantation ha

assment, she retained her position, waiting for

e path, after two years' absence, a bit lonely." The sadness which accompanied

see him, Mr. Ravenel. May I ask him to go to you to-morrow instead?" T

you carrying me

red myself"-she sug

on your kindness, so I shall carry m

m through her long lashes without turning her hea

iscourtesy," he answ

d he seated himself upon it, placing his hat on the groun

howed neither embarrassment nor eagerness; indeed, she conveyed to him th

"before you sing, wh

Paris, in London, in Rome, in New York." There was bitte

e repeated,

ood, with her profile toward

asked again, his tone mo

call. She married my father; left him and me. I do not remember her. Since her death my father has been a spent man. We have wandered from place to place. When he found work I was sent to some convent near by. The

e ended the telling. "Wha

Sere

uber

is bu

thout the accompani

ars keep wat

sing t

ht for love

g, com

, come

was conscious that the passion in the voice had nothing to do with his presence; that it was the music alone of which she tho

ises, I shall say, 'Once she sang for me alone, at twilight, under the beeches, in a far

ifferent woman, a great artist, a careless Bohémienne in her speech; but for the next change he was unprepared: it was a pleading child with wist

outward gesture of the hands, as though casting discretion to the wind. "My father drinks. It began with his great sorrow. It is not all the time, but frequently. I had hoped that down here he would be better. He is not, and

ll not g

Katrine Dulany felt there was some one of great power to whom sh

he time has gone by for thinking of your father's trouble as anyth

"do you think it

. Is your father good to

is the kindest father in the world. Save

ery beautiful. Frank had seldom resisted temptation. This one

way. I am a better man to-night than I have ever been in my life. It's the music, maybe, or the fringed gentian, or the whippoorw

d might have done, to clasp his, look

ly," s

considered trustworthy

stood you." There was a sw

whole, fortunate for me," he

k of yourself like that. I k

lt when their eyes first met. "Believe me," he said, "I shall always try t

with uncertain footsteps and a shuffling gait,

he trees. There was not a moment's hesitation. The child rose and put her arms around the figure with a divine, womanly g

her head against his shoul