The St. Louis Republic. [volume], June 19, 1904, Magazine Section, Page 13, Image 61

About The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919

Image provided by: State Historical Society of Missouri; Columbia, MO

                
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SUNDAY MAGAZINE for JUNE 19. 1904
13
BIDDEN
r-WKvSTT'V
Grounds
IT was she, at last! the client whose
arrival Foote had awaited so im
patiently; on whose appearance
and personality he had so long and
curiously conjectured. She was ushered
immediately into the private otitic,
while the man who had been swindled
in the horse-trade and the faded
blonde with the tiresome tale of marital
woe were left in the front room to
await Foote's pleasure, or to seek a
more attentive counselor.
By the time the preliminary greet
ings were finished and the girl had
nestled wearily in the easy chair. Foote
was her captive The woman and the
psychological moment had arrived
simultaneously
"The enmity between your uncle
and Richard Yent," the young at
torney explained, stealing another
glance at the girl's dreamy, dark eyes,
"began with a quarrel over a line
fence. Then followed this almost in
terminable law-suit, involving the title
to about an acre of ground a wooded
hill, really not worth quarreling about.
y WrsumK BJ0 Sttir&tttoHn
"Because of the peculiar mean
dering of the brook flowing between
the two farms, the land in question
was a bottle-shaped, narrow-necked
tract, jutting from your uncle's farm
into Yent's. One night a freshet cut a
new channel through the neck of the
bottle, leaving the disputed territory
on Yent's side of the stream He im
mediately brought this suit to quiet
title, and obtained an order of court
restraining your uncle from entering
upon the land. Since Mr Orr's death
his administrator has likewise been
enjoined, and a similar writ is ready
to be served on you."
"It was served this morning im
mediately on my arrival," the girl re
marked, smiling just enough to reveal
two captivating dimples.
" Indeed! Yent is certainly in earnest,
and at present he has rather some ad
vantage over us."
"But, surely, Mr. Foote. the mere
shifting of the stream cannot give him
title."
"There are other questions in the
case. Miss Mills. Since the ("m em
inent grant the deeds hae read
'thence south with the meandenngs
of said stream,' and Yent hopes to
prove that at the time of the original
grant the stream flowed as it now does, directly south
between the two farms I understand Miss Mills, that
you have never seen the land."
"Never. This is my first visit. I have neither seen
nor heard from my uncle since I was a v ery small child.
I had not learned of his death when I received your
letter. I am told tint he was very eccentric "
"Extremely so; a most combative old gentleman,
and an avowed misogamist. His will evinces tho-e '
two traits. As I wrote you, you are to take the rent
and profits of the estate until the final determination
of this suit. The victor then takes all. in fee simple;
provided, however, that you are then neither married
nor betrothed. If you are either, Yent takes all. even
though you may have won the suit. Your uncle would
have prohibited your ever marrying, but that might
have subjected the will to a successful attack. Evi
dently he wished to feel assured that you would oppose
Yent to the last. You are playing, or rather fighting,
for big stakes, Miss Mills."
An aggressive gleam dissolved the dreaminess in
the dark eyes; the girl leaned forward and laid an ex
quisite hand on the lawyer's desk.
"And I must win!" she said impressively. "Do
you understand, Mr. Foote? I must carry out my
benefactor's desire, and be released from the daily grind
of a school-teacher's existence. Win this case and
you may name your own fee."
"The proviso, then, presents no barrier?" There
was an eager tremor in Foote's voice.
"Fortunately, no," she answered quickly. "There
is no obstacle of that nature, and shall be none."
Foote looked wistfully toward her, and then and
there fixed the fee in his mind.
"I may ask too much," he said.
"Then draw up an agreement, if you please. I
am just past twenty-one, and my signature will
HClMBflPfvF riHIHBrl l YtcftSVrA.-a ?vw"y 3isfd vlh
1 Am Reminding You That "You Are "Violating an Order of Court'
bind me I am prepared to pay you something now."
"No." said Foote, quietly. "At the proper time I
shall name my reward. If you think it too great
you shall fix the fee, yourself. Is that satisfactory?"
"Quite so, Mr. Foote. I feel that I can trust you,
and I believe that we shall win."
The next moment Foote was mentally heaping an
athemas upon himself, for he had exclaimed in his enthusiasm-
"We certainly shall if my arguments are but
one-half as irresistible as my client'" and the girl, with
an almost imperceptible shrug of her shapely shoulders,
had risen to depart.
"I think that is all for the present," she said coldly.
"I am going now to yjew the debatable land. No,
thank you, I prefer going alone. Good-day, Mr.
Foote."
An hour later, she surveyed, dubiously, the only
means of crossing the brook dry-shod, a tree under
mined by the freshet. Then she resolutely grasped her
skirts and sprang upon the improvised bridge. A slip
of the dainty shoe, a little, half-suppressed scream, a
quick scramble, and she stood on the forbidden
ground, ankle-deep in the cool, luxuriant grass. From
the spreading boughs of a walnut tree a saucy, blue jay
chattered a protest against the intrusion, then subsided
into low chirps of approbation as the girl smiled up at
him. From his home in a mossy stump a ground
squirrel peered timidly at the intruder with soft, sus
picious eyes, then sprang confidently to the roof of his
domicile, so near her that she could almost stroke his
glossy, striped coat.
"I suppose I'm inviting a reprimand, or worse, from
some austere old judge." she soliloquized. "Perhaps
I shall encounter the sanguinary Yent; but I shall
insist on the right of walking over my own land."
She strolled slowly up the hill under
the rustling trees, enjoying the cool,
invigorating breeze, and halting non
ami then to gather some of the wild
flowers that nodded to her from every
side At the summit she seated her
self, with a sigh of content on the
trunk of a fallen tree, and contem
plated long and intently the cyclorama
of forest and field below, so much of
which might soon be her own.
"Oh, I must win!" she exclaimed
aloud, digging one tiny heel into the
soft earth in excess of energy.
A slight rustle of dry leaves caused
her to turn her head, and then to
spring to her feet. A blue-eyed, young
giant with keen and resolute face was
leaning against a tree, coolly surveying
her. As she turned toward him he
swept the sombrero from his head and
bowed with exaggerated politeness.
"Dick! Mr. Barr!"she cried breath
lessly. "What are you doing here'"
The giant sauntered toward her, hat
m hand.
"At present I am reminding you
that you are violating an order of
court," he said insouciantly.
The girl's firm, rounded chin was
raised haughtily; the dark eyes flashed
defiantly.
"Mav I ask, Mr. Barr, why you
are interesting yourself in my affairs? "
" I am not. I merely happen to be
looking after Mr. Yent's interests."
"In that case," she retorted, resum--ing
her seat, "you had better serve
your master by forcibly ejecting me
from my own premises."
The giant laughed softly, and seated
himself on the farther end of the tree.
"I see that you have lost none of
the old fire, Mrs. .Mrs. Arnold I
presume."
She tried to wither him with a dis
dainful, scorching stare.
"The idea' So that was why you
went away! You believed "
He nodded. " Your actions certainly
justified the belief," he said bitterly.
"Oh, Dick! A thoughtless caprice'"
A great eagerness shone in the
giant's eyes. He arose and took a step
toward her, but she motioned him back.
" No," she said decisively, "it is all
ended now."
"Pardon me. Miss Mills," he re
joined, cynically, " I had forgotten the
will. I could not hope to weigh against ' ' he finished
the sentence by waving the sombrero toward the Orr
acres.
"Certainly not, even if there were no other reasons,"
she replied with a scornful little laugh; but the dark
eyes were moist, and the red lips quivered. She rested
her elbows on her knees, and with chin in hands gazed
musingly at the distant horizon.
"But we needn't Mister and Miss each other, I hope,"
she said, after awhile, her voice scarcely audible.
"Tell me where you have been these three years, Dick."
The giant swung the sombrero to and fro three
times before he replied the girl counted the swings
from the corner of her eye.
"The last year, here, the previous one, in the Klon
dike; the first one, in hades."
"Then you were cured in one short year. How un
gallant of you. I flattered myself that I had sunk the
dart deeper."
He turned a defiant look on her. and she laughed
back tantalizingly.
"And this man Vent tell me, Dick, does he really
expect to win?"
"He will win."
"Ah? My lawyer thinks differently. And I can
rely on him, for he's in love with me, already How
is that for a quick conquest, Dick'"
It was the blue eyes that flashed fire now.
" What! Has he dared? "
The girl laughed merrily, and shot a coquettish
glance at the scowling giant.
"And you thought that you were cured' You are a
poor diagnost. sir. No. he hasn't dared; but he will
later. The will is in the way just now, you know."
He glared at her fiercely, gnawing his lip. She arose
complacently and gathered up her skirts with a graceful
sweep of her arm, preparatory to taking her departure
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