The Bossier banner., 1894-01-11

IL, IOr Sne -naQ given MIN ner ADVICE on
the subject long ago, and it was the
sole matter on which they disagreed.
wife, have you nothing new to tell
me?"
Nothing, my dear husband"
His face contracted as with sudden
pain. His wife, thinking it due to
chagrin at the accident, kissed him
tenderly.
He pressed her to him with unaccus-
toned force. Never, even in the fiercest
tempest, had he suffered as he suffered
now. Suspicion entering his simple,
loyal heart ravaged it terribly.
well, good-by. l am going to the
harbor. We shall go out with the next
tide if the backstay is repaired. Good
by"
She accompanied him to the end of
the street and bade him farewell with
SO frank an eye that he asked himself
if it were possible that such a woman
could lie
He was about to go to the Harding
when one of his sailors saw him and
came after him. Compelled to return
to his vessel he had time to reflect A
sudden fit of rage, fight, would prove
nothing, and he would never know the
truth.
So he calmly watched the work of
reparation which was coming on apace.
At two o'clock his wife brought him
his luncheon; at five his son came to
kiss him good-by, and that evening he
set sail again, after having seen the
Harding leave Treport for England
The following Saturday, after terri
BILE tempest, the fishing fleet returned
to Treport, laden with a fine catch of
| fish. Master Fournier looked quickly
to see if the English three-master were
at the quay, but she was not there.
Discriminating, he learned that the
Harding had gone down in sight OF
Spitehead, and that all on board had
been lost.
Harry Evans, then, was dead His
wife alone knew the truth; he would
| not dare to question her; he would
never know the truth-he would doubt
her always.
From that time everyone in Treport
| remarked that Master Fournier haG
grown taciturn; they asked his wife
the reason, but she replied evasively
| that she did not know.
His sailors found him rougher than
| before and more avaricious. He often
returned to Treport on Sunday morn
| ing and left again the same evening
without nights rest.
One week he came back on Tuesday,
mr. ha hn+
rent had brought back the corpse of
drowned man. According to the GUS
| tom of that part of the coast Master
Fournier had given orders to return to
port, losing his catch of fish, in order
to bury the dead.
Accompanie d by two of his sailors he
made his deposition before the com.
missioner and the latter had him sign
| the declaration that "the body of a
drowned man had been recovered by
| the st. Laurent at a point fifteen miles
SSW of Spithead, measuring five feet
| ten inches in height, dressed in a blue
woolen shirt, trousers of gray cloth
and neckerchief of red cotton; no
papers, no marks to establish identity;
| supposed, from the place of drowning,
in default of other evidence, to have
been one OF the crew of the Harding.''
Early the next morning funeral
procession traversed the village and
bore to the little church the remains of
the unknown sailor found by the ST.
| Laurent. Behind the coffin walked the
sailors of the st. Laurent, their master
at their head, and behind the men
came the wives or mothers of the
| sailors.
The religious ceremony was brief,
| but respectfully followed, and the un-
known dead was conducted to the
cemetery by the great family of sailors
of Treport, who honor themselves in
thus honoring the remains of others.
| "Get yourselves ready" announced
Master Fournier to his men; 1--WE go to
sea directly"
| Fournier led his wife to little knoll
few PAGES away from the cemetery.
| He wished to speak with her without
witnesses.
Wife," said he, do you know for
whom you have come to pray?'
| She trembled and pressed her hus-
bands hand She had never seen him
SO solemn.
The man we had just buried was
| Harry Evans-wait!'
Nine. Fournier turned pale. Her hus-
band rendered her a paper, stained as if
with water.
"Wife, | have doubted you. My pun
ishment is to accuse myself of it. l
read the letter he dared write you-and
l have been very miserable. The other
| night, when this drowned man was
| found, l alone searched him. l could
not show to others, not even to the
commissioner, the only paper he had
on him, in a little bag of oiled silk
The water had dimmed it little, but l
read it nevertheless.
1t was the answer written to the
handsome English sailor by Nine. Four
| nier:
| SIR-I love my husband: that is the sole an
! swer can make to your letter I shall say
| nothing to my husband, for he would kill you
| Never come here again.
''Wife, do you forgive me?"
I