The Secret of the Storm Country | Page 9

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bosom of the hills. Her eyes rejoiced in its calm beauty, and a feeling of
peace and security grew in her thought.
Tess was about to cross the ravine when a step behind her caused her to
turn. Ebenezer Waldstricker, riding whip in hand, was coming toward
her. At his unexpected appearance, the blood fled from her face,
leaving her quite pale and trembling. This was the man who was
seeking Andy Bishop as at one time Dominie Graves had sought her
father. How lordly he seemed, looking down upon her unsmilingly
from his great height. Arrogantly he surveyed her from head to foot.
"You're the little church singer, aren't you?" he questioned after a
while.
Tess noticed with fascination that one corner of his mouth curled up as
if smiling, while the other was rigidly drawn down. She'd never seen an
expression just like that before.
"Yep," she murmured, dropping her lids.
"Where are you going?" asked the man, tersely.
Tess glanced about. She wanted to turn and run, anywhere to escape
from the brilliant dark eyes and the unmatched lips.
"I were goin' to see Mother Moll," she stammered, slowly. "She lives
over there in the gully." She hesitated, pointing to Moll's shack.
"Sometimes she reads out of the fortune-pot fer me."
Waldstricker glanced first at the little hut, then back at Tess.
"You don't mean you have faith in witchcraft?" he ejaculated,
incredulously. "Why, girl, that's positively against the Bible

commandments."
"Air it? Well I swan!" She nodded her head as though digesting a new
idea. "Anyway, Mother Moll always tells me the truth. She can see
things comin' years and years."
Waldstricker contemplated the grave young face for an instant, noting
involuntarily the abundance and beauty of the wind-blown hair. He
turned about on the path.
"I shall go with you," he said.
Her desire to forbid the proposed visit, struggling with her awe of the
powerful man at her side, confused her. She couldn't think clearly. She
twisted her fingers into her red curls.
"I'd ruther ye wouldn't," she explained. "Ma Moll hates strangers
worser'n she does the old nick!"
Waldstricker ignored the girl's speech except that the frown deepened
on his brow.
"Nevertheless I'm going," he returned, sternly. "I can't realize that
God-fearing men and women have such iniquity among them. Come on;
I'll go with you!"
Tess would gladly have deferred her visit until another day, and
returned home, but she feared he'd follow her there. Here was a man of
whom she was heartily afraid, and as she dared not defy him, she
obediently walked across the gully bridge, and hurried along the path.
Then she paused, looking at Mother Moll's shack, snuggled in a jut in
the ravine. It was quite close now. Tess knew the witch was at home,
for a thin line of smoke drifted zig-zag from the toppling chimney.
She looked back and found Waldstricker eyeing her. She noted both
corners of his lips were down now.
"I came from Ithaca purposely to see you and your father," said he.

Tess was so startled she took two sudden steps backward.
"My daddy ain't very well!" she exclaimed, nervously. "He don't like
strange folks comin' around, Daddy don't."
Waldstricker shrugged his shoulders indifferently.
"However, I must see him," he responded.
Tessibel felt a surging anger against this man. He had the same
imperious bearing she remembered in Dominie Graves.
"What fer? What d'ye want to see Daddy fer?" Her voice was
compelling.
"About a matter that may make him a lot of money," the man explained,
pompously. "When may I come?"
She considered a moment before replying. This put a different face on
the matter.
"Could ye come tomorrow?" she demanded finally.
"Yes, at two, then. Tell your father, please."
"All right," muttered Tess.
Waldstricker's whip cut a cluster of wild flowers and nipped clean the
stems of their upraised heads.
"Oh!" cried Tess, sharply, hurt to the quick.
As if reading her thoughts, he retorted, "A flower hasn't a soul, so what
does it matter?"
Tess turned tear-dimmed eyes from him to Mother Moll's shack.
Shocked at his brutality, his arrogant cruelty to the flowers she
cherished so tenderly left her dumb. That his statement was false, she
knew. To her the flowers expressed Love's sweetness and beauty, but

she couldn't explain her faith to this haughty, dictatorial millionaire at
her side.
She was all of a tremble as she mounted the narrow shanty steps.
An aged voice croaked, "Come in," in response to her knock. Before
pulling the latch string, Tessibel paused and said to Waldstricker,
"Wait a minute! I'll go first, an' tell Mother Moll you're here."
She crossed the threshold and saw the old woman swaying to and fro in
a wooden rocker.
"It air Tessibel, Mother