In Happy Valley

Happy Valley and St. Hilda are the centre of the comedy and tragedy in which Allaphair, Christopher, Parson Small, the Angel, the Pope, the Marquise of Queensberry, and the Goddess play their parts, sometimes amusing, sometimes pathetic. Always they stand out as real people of the mountains--notable additions to the gallery of Kentucky mountaineers with which Mr. Fox has for so many years enriched our literature. Extract: The professor stood at the window of his study waiting for Her to come home. The wind outside was high and whipped her skirts close to her magnificent body as, breasting it unconcernedly, she came with a long, slow stride around a corner down the street. Now, as always whenever he saw her move, he thought of the line in Virgil, for even in her walk she showed the goddess. And Juno was her name. He met her at the door and he did not have to stoop to kiss her. "What is it, dear?" he said quickly, for deep in her eyes, which looked level with his, he saw trouble. She handed him a letter and walked to the window--looking out at the gathering storm. The letter was from her home away down in the Kentucky hills--from the Mission teacher in Happy Valley. There was an epidemic of typhoid down there. It was spreading through the school and through the hills. They were without nurses or doctors, and they needed help. "Too bad, too bad," he murmured, and he turned anxiously.