The (¡old Hill News, (¡old Hill, Oregon
tied expression In his eyes. "Y our
mother? She was the most beautiful
woman I have ever known, my
By
dear.”
" I have heard that—years ago—
M ARTHA
from Hannah. Was she in love with
my father?"
OSTENSO
Hector smiled. “ How can one
know what is hidden in u woman's
O MARTHA OSTENSO—» N U SERVICE
heart?"
" I know my father loved her—
Her father grunted “ There’s no and loves her still, after twenty
THE STORY THI S FAR
taming you. I'm afraid. Well, you years. Did anyone else love her?"
didn’t get that from me.”
"M y dear child, we all loved her,"
Lovely. Independent Autumn Dean, returning nome to British Columbia from
“ No,” observed old Hannuh, “ that Hector replied with a sigh. He
abroad without her father's knowledge, stops at the home of Hector Cardigan,
she didn’t. She's her own mother turned slightly away from her then
an old fam ily friend
He tells her that she should not have come home, that
things have changed. Arriving home at the "Castle of the Nom a." she Is greeted
over again, and there’s little fault to and picked up one of the yellowed
lovingly by her father. Jarvis Dean, who gives her to understand that she Is wel
find with her for that.”
come—for a short vtslt
Her mother, form er belle named Mtlltcent Odell, has
dice on the mantelpiece. “ She was
Silence fell upon Jarvis Dean as the only woman I ever loved."
been dead for years
Autumn cannot understand her father s attitude, though
gives him to understand that she Is home for good She has grown tired of life in
Hannah
told
of
how
Millicent
Dean
The simplicity of the statement
England, where she lived with an aunt Her father gives a welcoming dance al the
had ridden to the hounds in the days brought a momentary silence to Au
castle
Autumn meets Flotian P arr, dashing, well-educated young man of the
countryside. Late tn the evening Autumn leaves the dance, rides horseback to the
when the Corn walls of Ashcroft Man tumn. She was aware suddenly of
neighboring ranch where she meets Bruce Landor. friend and champion of her
or were still famous disciples of the an awed thrill, as though soma
childhood days.
chase. Autumn listened eagerly and haunting fragrance of the past had
would have ventured a question here
tended to, and later Hannah was so and there but that her father's for a fleet instant possessed the
C H A PTE R I I —Continued
much one of the fam ily that it was brows grew darker and his counte room. But then, as she glanced cov
It was only when they reached the unthinkable that she should eat nance clouded the more as the gar ertly up ut Hector, it seemed to her
long avenue of Lombardy poplars alone. Hannah had seen to it that rulous old housekeeper proceeded. I that she had always known that the
elderly soldier had cherished a ro
leading to the Landor house that the paper streamers and other dec
“ That w ill be enough now,” Jar
their voices ceased. Bruce seemed orations that had festooned the din vis interrupted finally, in a voice mantic and hopeless passion for Mil-
suddenly to have become preoccu ing room for the dance of the night that quieted Hannah at once and I licent. Autumn made an effort to
pied with something apart and re before had been cleared away and the breakfast was finished almost in ' regain her composure.
"D id Geoffrey Landor love her?"
mote as he rode slowly forward, his the place restored to its wonted silence.
i she pursued.
eyes fixed upon the house that stood homely austerity. She would give
“ You'd better be getting away,” ' “ I don’t see how he could help it,
among the shadows at the farther her attention to the drawing room the Laird advised Autumn as they
end of the avenue. A cool ripple of and the rest of the house as soon got up from the table, and Autumn really."
"Please, Hector. I want the truth.
apprehensiveness passed down over as the meal was over. Here in this felt that her father had no desire to
Autumn's body, a feeling ominous room, however, life had returned to leave her alone with Hannah. "Get You know exactly what I mean. I
( must know.”
and totally strange to her experi its accustomed way.
your things together and I'll have
Hector Cardigan stepped slowly
To Autumn, it seemed that some the car brought out for you.”
ence. She recalled now that as a
from his place and seated himself
g irl she had always been afraid of perverse fate had ordered the quiet
And while Autumn was in her { m a large chair opposite Autumn.
Jane Landor, though she had never scene so that she might find it im
known the reason. And now, within possible to seek an answer to the room preparing for the trip to town,
a room there beyond that glowing questions that had assailed her mind she could hear her father’s voice in
window, lay the helpless form of the throughout an almost sleepless stern admonishment to poor old
woman whose forbidding manner night. She had ridden home from Hannah.
had often caused Autumn to shrink the Landor place and had returned
Hector Cardigan possessed a hor
from her. It was not fear that over to her father’s guests with a feel
came her now, but pity—deep pity ing that some curse had been laid ror of glaring daylight, and the rays
for the woman whose staunch forti upon her. She had moved about of the late morning sun that filtered
tude had been reduced to frailty by under a black spell that was as un into his drawing room between the
a life that had beaten her at last.
real to her as a delirious dream. heavy drapes of the windows sug
When Bruce finally dismounted be And when it was all over and the gested to Autumn the curious fin
fore the doorway and stretched his last guest had gone, she had hurried gers of the present prying into the
hand up to her, she laid her own to her room and lain awake until crypt of the past. She sat in one of
Hector's armchairs, a glass of iced
slender one within it and got down. dawn.
For a moment $he clung to his hand
Her father turned his eyes search- tea in her hand, her lids half closed
upon that searching beam of light
and hesitated.
ingly upon her as she seated her from
the window.
“ Wait, Bruce,” she whispered, and self at the breakfast table.
“
Hector.”
she said, glancing up
the thought struck her that she
“ It was a little too much for you,
should not have come like this to that business last night,” he ob- at him with sudden directness, “ I
came to have a talk with you. Do
see Jane Landor.
you mind?”
He smiled down upon her and fold
Hector smiled at her. "We used
ed his other hand over hers. “ You
to get on very well with our talks, if
look—frightened,” he said, leaning
I remember.”
close to her.
" I was a child, then. Hector."
She followed him into the house.
“ Yes—that’s so, that’s so. I real
The large room was in darkness,
ly hadn’t considered that aspect of
but a light from the open doorway of
our—our friendship, may I say?"
an adjoining room cast a soft glim
“ I am no longer a child. Hector."
mer over the old-fashioned furnish
"Very true, my dear. I recog
ings of the place.
nize the fact—and I am forced to
Immediately a woman's voice,
confess that I have never been a
small and nervous to the point of
spectacular success in conversations
querulousness,'spoke from the inner
with women.”
“ P a rtly —as far as it goes,”
room.
“ You don’t have to be on this oc
Autumn replied.
“ Is that you, Bruce?”
casion, Hector. I am not here tor
“ Yes, mother. I ’ve brought a vis
small talk.”
He spread his feet before him and
itor to see you.”
"Hm-m-m—well, of course—”
slowly brought his hands together,
There was a moment’s silence.
“ I want to ask you some ques the points of his fingers meeting
Then, “ A visitor? Who?”
tions.”
"In my time, my dear," he be
“ I ’ll let you figure that out for
“ I cannot promise—ah, definitely, gan, "we were accustomed to living
yourself,” Bruce said, and led Au
you know—to answer any question a our lives in the best way we knew
tumn into the room.
young woman might put to me. Can how, without giving much thought
Jane Landor was in a half-sitting
I, now?”
to the past. This country was set
position among the pillows, a light
Autumn could not tell whether his tled by men who had left their pasts
attached to the bed above her thin,
manner was becoming evasive or behind them in the Old Country, and
colorless face. Autumn had expect
merely apologetic.
were eager to begin life anew in
ed to find her changed from the
“ You can answer the questions I this. It is only natural if I should
woman she remembered, but she
have in mind, Hector. I am sure of feel a bit embarrassed, perhaps, in
was not prepared for what she saw
that.”
the presence of a young woman who
there under the soft light of the
“ Well, we shall see, perhaps. demands that I tell her what manner
bed-lamp. She drew back instinc
What, for example, are you going to of mother she had. I have not grown
tively before the look from the fierce
ask?”
used to the ways of young people to
“ ÏOU look — frightened,’ he
black eyes that were turned upon
Autumn drained her glass and set day. It happens, however, that I
said, leaning close to her.
her as she stepped through the door
it aside.
can be just as direct in my answer
way.
served gently. “ You look stale this
“ I went over to visit Jane Landor as you were in your question. You
“ Come in where I can see you,” morning.”
last night,” she began.
say I know exactly what you mean.
Jane Landor ordered, and struggled
“ I didn't sleep well,” Autumn ad
“ I thought you were giving a I do. And I tell you that Millicent
to draw herself up for a closer look mitted. “ I ’ll be all right when I ’ve dance.”
Odell, who became Millicent Dean,
at her visitor.
had a little rest.”
“ I left it for an hour or so—and was a woman o f honor and integrity
Autumn stepped into the light and
She had permitted her father to rode over to the Landor place. I
stood for a moment smiling down know only that she had indulged an met Bruce and he took me to the and would have gone to her grave
before she would have broken the
at the fra il woman.
impulse last night to get away alone house to see his mother.”
vows that bound her in marriage to
“ Don’t you remember me?” she for a ride in the moonlight; it had
“ I see. Rather singular conduct— Jarvis Dean.” He paused for a mo
asked in a soft voice that was none been impossible to tell him of her for a hostess, I should say.”
ment and gazed unflinchingly into
too steady.
frightening visit to the Landors.
" I ’ll admit it was—for the time Autumn’s eyes. “ Is that an an
Jane Landor’s face twisted sud
“ I don’t know what’s wrong with being, in any case. I saw Jane Lan swer to your question, my dear?”
denly as if in spasm. She lifted the women nowadays,” Jarvis con dor.”
he asked finally.
her thin hands to her wasted cheeks tinued. “ In my time a young wom
“ You—spoke to her?”
“ P artly—as far as it goes.” Au
and drew her breath in a quick gasp. an could dance all night and go to
“ I ’m not sure. Perhaps a word. I
“ You! You!” she cried. “ M illi- work the next day and be none the forget. It was what she said to me tumn replied.
“ I think it goes quite far enough.”
cent Odell! What brings you back worse for it. But the women today that I have come to ask you about.”
Hector said. “ I confess I—”
here? Take her away, Bruce! Take have gone to pot.”
Hector moved uneasily. “ Poor
“ Let me come to the point at once,
her away!”
Old Hannah sniffed. “ I don’t see Jane Landor is not to be held to ac Hector,” Autumn interrupted. “ Be
Her voice was a hysterical shriek that your men nowadays show much count for anything she says these
hind what Jane Landor said to me
now. She covered her eyes with her to brag about.”
days, my dear. I understand she is last night there exists a life-long
hands as she lay back sobbing
The Laird smiled. “ Aye, they’re no longer—coherent."
hatred—or fear—of mother. A wom
among the pillows.
a feckless lot, and have a mighty
" I am not going to hold her re an doesn’t ordinarily hate another
Bruce was beside her instantly, high opinion of themselves.”
sponsible for what she said, Hector. woman without reason, and some
his arms about her shoulders.
“ I t ’s hard to judge the present by I want to know the meaning of it, where at the bottom of it all, if you
“ Mother — mother, it’s Autumn the past. Da,” Autumn ventured.
that's all.”
take the trouble to search, you find
Dean,” he tried to reassure her.
“ Aye, my girl, there’s something
"Hm-m, well, my dear—what did a man. It isn’t reasonable to sup
"Don’t you remember Autumn? She in that, too. It’s the times that she say?”
pose that father is the man in ques
has come back.”
1 make the difference. It was a hard
“ When I stepped into the room
His face under the light was life we lived when 1 was a young with Bruce, she became hysterical tion. We know him too well for that.
, What I want to know is whether
shocked and bewildered.
ster—and it made hard men of us." She declared to Bruce that I was ' Geoffrey Landor is the man.’
“ Take her away, I say!” Jane
And hard women, too, Autumn Millicent Odell and pleaded with him
“ I think I have answered that, my
Landor insisted vehemently. "Noth thought, her mind upon Jane Lan to put me out.”
dear.”
ing but death follows in the way of dor.
"Was that all?”
"Please, Hector!” Autumn was
the Odells!”
“ I t ’d take more than a hard life
“ Not quite. As,I turned to leave, losing her patience. "Do you think
She clung to Bruce, who tried in to make anything o’ the like o’ that I heard her say that death followed
that Geoffrey shot himself because
vain to soothe her, and Autumn stole Par lad, I’m thinking,” Hannah in the way of the Odells.”
he loved mother too much to live
in a trembling daze from the room suggested.
“ Anything else?”
without her?”
and out of the house.
“ There’s no way of telling that,”
“ Nothing. I hurried out and rode
“ It is too late—too late by many
Jarvis countered. "There’s good back home as fast as I could.”
years, my dear, to answer that ques
CHAPTER III
blood in the boy. His father comes
For several seconds Hector re tion. I could believe it. I knew
of a good line.”
mained standing with his back to the Geoffrey well. He was headstrong.
Breakfast in the Dean household
“ The world’s full of fools who can fireplace, his hands folded behind
had always been a ritual. In his boast of good fathers before them, him, his eyes at gaze across the He was—romantic, I should say. But
he was hopelessly in debt at the
busiest season Jarvis Dean never then,” said Hannah stoutly.
room.
time—and he had been drinking
theless attended his tabla of a morn
“ Right enough,” declared Jarvis,
"W ell, now,” he said at last, " it
ing with the leisurely grace of a chuckling to himself. “ It takes two was a somewhat curious greeting heavily, as I recall, for several days
before the tragedy. Given the facts,
country gentleman. If a man could to breed even a flock of culls.”
you received, I confess, and one I should imagine your guess would
not begin the day becomingly, the
“ W ill you be using the car today. likely to give you pause, but as I be as good as mine.”
Laird maintained, he had better re Da?” Autumn asked abruptly.
said before, the poor woman—’’
"And your guess, Hector?”
main in bed.
“ No. I ’ll be down at the pens
“ The poor woman, Hector, has
He considered the question a long
He was in good spirits this morn till supper. Haven’t you done enough lost her sense of time and place,
ing as he sat in his place, his daugh traveling to be content for a while?” but there is no use «" yn«ir attempt time before he made his reply. Then
he got suddenly to his feet and
ter on his right and old Hannah op
“ I have some things to do in town, ing to convince me that there was
posite him at the end of the table she said. “ I ’ll leave right away and nothing significant in what she stepped toward Autumn, his shoul
ders drawn back and his head erect
nearest the kitchen. Hannah Stew be back early.”
said.”
in soldierly bearing. “ I refuse to
art had, since the death of her mis
"There’ll be no call for haste,” the
Hm-m—well, perhaps you had
tress twenty years before, been ac Laird cautioned her. “ You drive better ask me your questions, my answer that question, my girl. You
should know better than to ask it.
customed to eating with the family that car like something that had lost dear, and I shall consider them.”
There is a point in such matters
unless there were guests. This ar her wits.”
“ What sort of woman was my beyond which a man of honor can
rangement had seemed to Jarvis to
Autumn smiled at him. “ I ’d lose mother, Hector?” Autumn asked not go. I must ask you to consider
be the most sensible one while Au them completely, Da. if I had to sit him bluntly.
the question closed.”
tumn was small and had to be at- and watch you drive it.”
He looked at her quickly, a star-
(TO BE C O NTINUED )
we
Thursday, Nov. 23, 1939
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