Burton E. Stevenson

“ Kitty Ettrick is to marry Judge Chester next month, and no doubt they will both be miserable ever after. Abbott Sutherlin has settled down on his place with his green-eyed wife—it seems they were married all the time! How history repeats itself! The feud is evidently to be passed on to the next generation, and I suppose to the generation after that. It makes me feel as though I were living in the Middle Ages! “Kitty's mother is quite broken. I think she knows the whole story—no doubt Kitty told her. Kitty is more reserved than ever. ”

“ From Colonel Pendleton I managed to extract some further information about the Ettrick-Sutherlin feud. He imparted it with the greatest reluctance.
“You know, Mr. Dallas,” he said, “we've rather got the name, down here, of being foolish about family quarrels, of cherishing them, and all that, to the third and fourth generation. We used to; it used to be the code that every injury must be repaid in kind, a sort of revised Law of Moses. If a member of your house killed a member of ours, then one of us must kill one of you; if one of your men ruined one of our women, then we must retaliate. ”

“ I had taken, and I was going to keep!
“That was Kitty Ettrick and her mother on the back seat,” said Betty. “I wonder if they were alone together?”
“If they were alone together?”
“Oh, you know what I mean. What did you think of Abbott Sutherlin?”
“A most dangerous man,” I answered promptly. “I don't want you to see much of him. He's a regular volcano.”
“Yes,” agreed Betty, closing her eyes rapturously. “Imagine him making love to one. My, but it would be exciting!”
“Betty,” I said sternly, “I want you to understand that the only person who is to make love to you hereafter is myself. ”

“ Dallas!”
I gave it up again. I felt like a man retreating before an overwhelming force, making a stand now and then to avoid being rushed, but always having to give way in the end.
“And now,” she continued, “since we have exhausted that subject, let us choose another. Are you going to the dance at Greenbriar to-morrow night?”
“At Greenbriar?”
“Yes; twelve miles away over the hills back yonder. It's their annual event, and a great treat. Every one's going.” ”

“ And then a figure in white appeared at the window, and advanced after an instant's hesitation.
“Oh, so you are still here, Mr. Dallas?" asked Betty Bramwell's voice. “That must be a good cigar.”
“It is. Sutherlin gave it to me. Won't you sit down?”
“Thanks,” she said, and dropped into the chair. “How kind of you to ask me. Will you spend the remainder of the evening here?”
“I'll have to go get some more cigars,” I said.
“You don't enjoy dancing, then?”
“I don't enjoy being made a fool of. I'm going to follow Abbott Sutherlin's example.” ”

“ I glanced around it with a faint sense of recognition; then, with a start, I saw it was the spot where I had blundered upon Kitty Ettrick and her lover.
“You'll have to take two of my men for seconds, Sutherlin,” said Ettrick composedly. “They'll see that you get fair play. Or perhaps you'd rather have Doctor Dallas.”
“Your men will do,” said Sutherlin curtly.
“Then perhaps you will look after my sister, Doctor Dallas,” said Ettrick, “until we have need of you.” ”

“ And just then the current of my thoughts was interrupted by a sharp exclamation from my companion.
“See there,” she said, and I looked up to see Philip Ettrick swinging himself into the saddle in front of the house.
We ourselves were sitting on a bench near the entrance to the grounds—a bench well screened with shrubbery—and as he came galloping toward us, Betty made as though to rise and intercept him. But I held her back.
“Sit still!” I commanded sternly. ”

“ He opened the case he had been carrying under his arm. “Will you select your weapon?”
“I warn you, Ettrick,” said Sutherlin, in a voice carefully suppressed, “that I am a dead shot. And this is wholly irregular.”
“It is the best I could do,” said Ettrick. “And as for your being a dead shot, your hand will tremble to-night. You are a coward at heart.”
Without a word, Sutherlin strode forward, and snatched one of the pistols from the case. Ettrick took the other, and placed the box on the ground.
“Here is powder and ball,” he added. “Each man will load for himself.” ”

“ He shot a man once.”
“Shot a man?”
“Oh, not to kill him. In a duel. The fellow had eavesdropped—something about a woman. Sutherlin had him out, and shot his ear off. Said it was a fitting punishment. Something like Peeping Tom. But I must be going, or I'll have a girl rampaging around after me.
I watched him as he plunged back into the house. Typical product of his environment—nothing but women. And Sutherlin? I thought I understood what Betty Bramwell meant when she said he wasn't really in love. He wasn't the kind to let himself go. Of love, as of life, he would ask more than he gave. ”

“ And so I met Miss Bramwell, but I did not meet Kitty Ettrick.
However, Miss Bramwell and I talked about her, as has been seen; and one afternoon when Miss Bramwell was for some reason invisible, I managed to get some further information from Colonel Pendleton, as we sat smoking a cigar together.
“Miss Bramwell tells me I've been made to feel at home down here because Philip Ferringham spoke a good word for me,” I said.
“We'd have made you feel at home, sir,” retorted the colonel, “without any introduction; we always welcome the stranger within our gates. ”

“ At six o'clock the following evening I drove up in front of the hotel, and found Miss Bramwell awaiting me on the veranda.
“You see, Mr. Dallas,” she said, as I assisted her into the buggy, mounted beside her, and took up the reins, “I am very different to these other girls. They would have kept you waiting at least fifteen minutes; not because they had anything to do, but just to prove the supremacy of the sex.” ”

“ Taking the reins, he spoke a low word to the horses, and we were off along the road to Greenbriar. And still I could not understand—only one thing, the encounter had not yet taken place. Ettrick had perhaps conceived some wild notion of kidnaping Sutherlin and fighting it out with him.
I could not be a party to such a thing, and I started to protest, but Ettrick silenced me sternly.
“You have promised to ask no questions, Doctor Dallas,” he said.
“But I did not suspect——” I began.
“No matter; it is useless to ask questions. They will not be answered.” ”

“ I asked, smiling.
“Supremely selfish. But, so far as I am concerned, this world was made for me. I enjoy it. Others must look out for themselves. Ah,” he added, rising and throwing away his cigar, “I have been remiss.”
As he spoke, Betty Bramwell sailed up on the arm of her current partner.
“Are you aware that this is your dance, Mr. Sutherlin?” she demanded, not looking at me. “Do you call this gallant?”
“No,” he answered, smiling down into her eyes, “I don't. I apologize most abjectly. But I was interested in my conversation with Mr. Dallas.” ”

“ I began to feel that I held the clew to the subject of Miss Ettrick's reveries, and also that I could make a pretty good guess at the role which Mr. Abbott Sutherlin played in the drama.
“She'd be worth a row,” I said, and again the colonel glanced at me. Then he glanced over his shoulder in a manner absurdly reminiscent of Betty Bramwell's.
“Yes, she would,” he agreed. “But she's got a fool of a brother—one of those high-strung young fire eaters—and the man who takes her away from the judge will probably have to fight him.” ”

“ The road forked just beyond the graveyard, and I had no idea, of course, which of the forks Miss Ettrick had taken, even if she had come this far, and not turned up one of the bridle paths into the woods. Besides, I felt rather ashamed that I had followed her at all. So the debate ended by my mounting my horse and turning his head back toward Eagle Gap. ”

“ Let me say here, in parenthesis, that I shall not attempt to indicate Miss Bramwell's delicious pronunciation. To do so would be merely to travesty it. If you do not know how a Virginia girl talks, mere type can never tell you.
“Philip Ferringham sent word you were a friend of his,” said Miss Bramwell, as though no further word was necessary. ”

“ I found with disgust that my cigar had gone out, and I pitched it petulantly into the shrubbery. I would write Ferringham that Eagle Gap didn't agree with me. I knew perfectly well there was no use in my falling any deeper in love with Betty Bramwell. These people, with their insufferable pride of caste, would never consider me eligible. ”

“ That they should take who have the power,
And they should keep who can!
“But,” she added, in another tone, and one which somehow warned me that the time had not yet come, “I don't see how a man can look at any other girl when Kitty Ettrick is around.”
I put my hand to my head. I felt as though I had received a sudden jolt.
“Is she around?” I asked feebly.
“Metaphorically.”
“I never was good at metaphors. As for Miss Ettrick, she's too grand, too remote. Too high and good tor human nature's daily food.”
“You don't know her,” said Miss Bramwell, with conviction. ”

“ Suppose we say a man and a woman—that's fairest to all concerned. It happened a long time ago, when the great-grandfather of Kitty Ettrick ran away with Beatrice Sutherlin.”
“Why should that start a feud?”
“Well, you see, Ettrick was married,” said the colonel, stroking his mustache reflectively, “and Beatrice Sutherlin didn't know it. But when she found it out, she stuck to him—which was about the only thing she could do, I guess. They went abroad somewhere, and lived together until Ettrick's wife died. Then they got married, and came back to Virginia.” ”

“ I always put some initials on my card that I can rub out when some particularly nice fellow comes up too late.”
“Well,” I said, refusing to be hurt, “you can rub out some other fellow's initials, but you can't rub out mine.” ”

“ My eye caught the glimmer of a dress coming down the path, and a moment later descried another form beside it—a man evidently. They were coming straight for me, and instinctively I shrank farther back into the shadow. 3ut they did not enter the house. They passed along beside it. I could see that his arm was around her, and that her face was lifted to his. My heart gave a sickening throb of fear that it might be Betty Bramwell; but, as they came nearer, and the moonlight fell upon them more clearly, I saw that it was Kitty Ettrick and Abbott Sutherlin. ”

“ Dallas,” she said. “I want you to forget it. My thoughtlessness leads me too far sometimes.”
And she went away indoors, leaving me staring blankly.
Chapter II. If it hadn't been for the innocent distraction furnished by Miss Bramwell, I should have found Eagle Gap a pretty dull place. It had been famous in its day—famous for its high play, and deep drinking, and ardent love affairs; but the war had changed all that. When such of its old patrons as survived came creeping back to it, it was in a vastly different key. ”