THE VALIANTS OF VIRGINIA
By HALLIE ERMINIE RIVES (MRS. POST WHEELER)
Author of "The Kingdom of Slender Swords," "Satan Sanderson," etc.
WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR BY ANDRE CASTAIGNE
A. L. BURT COMPANY PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT 1912
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
[Illustration]
TO THE REAL JOHN
"Molly, Molly Bright! Can I get there by candle-light?"
"Yes, if your legs are long enough."
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE CRASH 1 II VANITY VALIANT 12 III THE NEVER-NEVER LAND 21 IV THE TURN OF THE PAGE 29 V THE LETTER 36 VI A VALIANT OF VIRGINIA 44 VII ON THE RED ROAD 49 VIII MAD ANTHONY 59 IX UNCLE JEFFERSON 71 X WHAT HAPPENED THIRTY YEARS AGO 80 XI DAMORY COURT 90 XII THE CASE OF MOROCCO LEATHER 102 XIII THE HUNT 109 XIV SANCTUARY 119 XV MRS. POLY GIFFORD PAYS A CALL 124 XVI THE ECHO 138 XVII THE TRESPASSER 142 XVIII JOHN VALIANT MAKES A DISCOVERY 152 XIX UNDER THE HEMLOCKS 163 XX ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD 173 XXI AFTER THE STORM 179 XXII THE ANNIVERSARY 188 XXIII UNCLE JEFFERSON'S STORY 197 XXIV IN DEVIL-JOHN'S DAY 203 XXV JOHN VALIANT ASKS A QUESTION 219 XXVI THE CALL OF THE ROSES 223 XXVII BEYOND THE BOX-HEDGE 230 XXVIII NIGHT 238 XXIX AT THE DOME 244 XXX THE GARDENERS 255 XXXI TOURNAMENT DAY 267 XXXII A VIRGINIAN RUNNYMEDE 275 XXXIII THE KNIGHT OF THE CRIMSON ROSE 289 XXXIV KATHARINE DECIDES 300 XXXV "WHEN KNIGHTHOOD WAS IN FLOWER" 309 XXXVI BY THE SUN-DIAL 317 XXXVII THE DOCTOR SPEAKS 328 XXXVIII THE AMBUSH 334 XXXIX WHAT THE CAPE JESSAMINES KNEW 340 XL THE AWAKENING 346 XLI THE COMING OF GREEF KING 359 XLII IN THE RAIN 369 XLIII THE EVENING OF AN OLD SCORE 378 XLIV THE MAJOR BREAKS SILENCE 386 XLV RENUNCIATION 398 XLVI THE VOICE FROM THE PAST 408 XLVII WHEN THE CLOCK STRUCK 415 XLVIII THE SONG OF THE NIGHTINGALE 427
THE VALIANTS OF VIRGINIA
CHAPTER I
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: The Valiants of Virginia by Hallie Erminie Rives
- 2: Ejaculated John Valiant blankly
- 3: Valiant drew a sudden sharp breath
- 4: John Valiant faced him quickly
- 5: Sedgwick shot himself two hours ago
- 6: Katharine Fargo neither smiled nor flushed readily
- 7: Valiant took the chair with a sensation almost of relief
- 8: The newly appointed receiver of the Valiant Corporation
- 9: He had had only his own childish recollections
- 10: With a pudding as big as the gold chariot in the circus
- 11: Valiant put his hand under the eager muzzle
- 12: The Fargo fortune thanks to modern journalism
- 13: But it has never dawned on me until lately
- 14: A newspaper clipping and a letter
- 15: Many more Valiants before them were born
- 16: You may never care to live at Damory Court
- 17: He took out a small old fashioned photograph
- 18: John Valiant sat with his eyes upon the distance
- 19: I was I was talking to the bull
- 20: A fragment of verse ran through his mind Tawny flecked
- 21: She stopped to peer out of the dormer window to where
- 22: She said as the wide nostrils snuffled over her shoulder
- 23: The Valiant Corporation is being investigated
- 24: Dat de coloh dat buhn mah han's de coloh ob gol'
- 25: En dah's watah en she ain' afeahd
- 26: Ah jus' druv out hyuh 'case Miss Shirley done met me
- 27: Ain' gwineter live dar yo'se'f
- 28: Den de kyah took anuddah staht
- 29: You need more than mint juleps
- 30: When he and Valiant had been comrades
- 31: But on the fourteenth of May it has to be jessamines
- 32: And as the creaking conveyance stopped
- 33: Ribald wild grape vines ran amuck hither and thither
- 34: Ghostly floating cobwebs crawled across his face
- 35: Books tossed on desk and lounge
- 36: Me en Daph gwineter come ovah fus' thing in de mawnin'
- 37: The date it exposed was May 14th
- 38: The bulldog came bounding through the window
- 39: Right toodle link uh day Good morning
- 40: Said Uncle Jefferson behind him
- 41: The motto below the crest was worn away
- 42: Said John Valiant belligerently
- 43: Valiant was attracted by his face
- 44: Side by side with the golden chestnut
- 45: Who lived at Damory Court thirty years ago
- 46: Take yo' han's outer dem cherries
- 47: That's the real Doctor Southall
- 48: They'd say she'd been crazy in love with Sassoon
- 49: Valiant is coming to Damory Court
- 50: Southall may be right about that exercise
- 51: To the meal with which Aunt Daphne
- 52: Inquired Valiant with his mouth full
- 53: Gwine trapse yo' muddy feet all ovah dis yeah floor
- 54: The windfall had blocked the way
- 55: Bending to sweep together the scattered jessamine
- 56: Do you raise guinea pigs up North
- 57: En mah black en w'ite kitten ter Rickey Snydah
- 58: Murmured Rickey disconsolately
- 59: I'm to carry a buckeye in my pocket by the way
- 60: I love everything about Damory Court
- 61: She couldn't have borne seeing Valiant afterward
- 62: He had never heard of Damory Court
- 63: And she saw his lips twist together oddly
- 64: I might run to the house and send Unc' Jefferson
- 65: Lashing the dull Pompeian red puddles
- 66: The wetted fiber parting in her eager fingers
- 67: The light tat tat of a cane sounded
- 68: There's a tenant at Damory Court
- 69: Dandridge went early to her room
- 70: Shirley stepped lightly down to the wet grass
- 71: This afternoon went for cape jessamines
- 72: Thanks to Aunt Daph and the doctor
- 73: And Rickey was that little child
- 74: Valiant waved his hand toward the man of medicine
- 75: She sent it afterward by Miss Rickey Snyder
- 76: We needn't have it from Bristow
- 77: Valiant leaned forward eagerly
- 78: John Valiant spoke explosively
- 79: I'm not referring to Devil John
- 80: There was a moment's silence before Valiant spoke again
- 81: A pointed clock tower spiking the upper night gloom
- 82: The rose scent had grown stronger
- 83: The serenade died in a single long note
- 84: My nightingale is in good voice
- 85: My corn flowers aren't in bloom yet
- 86: We were reading Lucile together
- 87: At length had whispered You go tuh baid
- 88: In her own room Shirley undressed thoughtfully
- 89: CHAPTER XXIXAT THE DOME A warm sun and an air mildly mellow
- 90: Whence Chum launched again upon him
- 91: Fines' ol' lady evah yo' see
- 92: And he had sat for a moment in the Valiant pew
- 93: And Damory Court is handier than the Country Club
- 94: But always I come back here to Damory Court
- 95: So at last Chalmers got another drake
- 96: The master of Damory Court looked at Shirley
- 97: Her fingers pulling at the drifting vine
- 98: Poly Gifford a guest of the day here shone resplendent
- 99: Even folderolings have their use
- 100: Promised Valiant I would in a moment of temporary aberration
- 101: Ah's done been whah Ah's gwine
- 102: A picturesque block of negroes
- 103: She said laughingly to Nancy Chalmers
- 104: ' What do you reckon the gyrl said
- 105: Lest our jousting lack the royal number
- 106: Offspring of men who established chivalry
- 107: Restive and red nostriled under the tense rein
- 108: Valiant returned with the gage upon his lance
- 109: Fargo and his daughter are our guests at Gladden Hall
- 110: You really must know Rickey Snyder
- 111: Young Beverley was the Knight of the Silver Cross
- 112: Don't you feel rather Jekyl and Hydish
- 113: Katharine reflected complacently
- 114: He was in deep purple slashed with gold
- 115: But he was a Southron for all that
- 116: Miss Fargo would have The music swept the rest away
- 117: In another moment the waltz fainted out
- 118: The exquisite husk was the real Katharine
- 119: And that Wishing House was Damory Court
- 120: Laughingly declining to depart before royalty
- 121: But with her heart in the grave with Sassoon
- 122: Katharine greeted the latter with a charming smile
- 123: Conjectured Katharine thoughtfully
- 124: Emmaline will be waiting for me
- 125: Shirley lay staring open eyed at the ceiling
- 126: It was Valiant who broke it Valiant Valiant
- 127: Of the Damory Court that should be in days to come
- 128: She ain' gwineter run dis place
- 129: I have spent those eons in the garden
- 130: Uncle Jefferson was long in returning
- 131: But since the advent of Rickey
- 132: Greenie rolled over on the grass and tittered
- 133: As Rickey with a preliminary bass cough
- 134: Without a backward look all save Rickey
- 135: But he's got Greef King to reckon with yit
- 136: Emmaline saw her thus accoutered with disapproval
- 137: She suddenly threw herself face down on the soaked moss
- 138: For that sweet loyalty but it's wrong
- 139: Me en Daph moght'ly pestered 'bout him
- 140: Ah gwineter mix yo' dat julep in two shakes
- 141: Greef King stood an instant breathing hard
- 142: Echoed the major with feeble asperity
- 143: Jereboam lifted his head and looked at her piteously
- 144: Let it be Sassoon that she loved
- 145: She saw only the pillow and the graying face upon it
- 146: But when Valiant would have done so
- 147: Miss Mattie Sue was beside them
- 148: And Valiant stood watching him go
- 149: Ol' roostah he hollah ter all he wifes
- 150: Dandridge while Shirley waited in the carriage
- 151: Sassoon would suffer no harm
- 152: And the little locket still lay in her fingers
- 153: The hope and brightness in his voice touched her with pity
- 154: Shirley came close and looked down on the placid face
- 155: If she should be mistaken now
- 156: Quavering through the wondering silence
- 157: The great iron gate of Damory Court hung open
- 158: As the rider pulled down at his side
- 159: Burt Company's Popular Copyright Fiction
- 160: Sequel to Uncle William By Jennette Lee
- 161: Lord Loveland Discovers America
- 162: Round the Corner in Gay Street