Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1895-08-29

VI N
& II made the lock and key, and lltted;
It all myself" he said. & Look how
neat and strong! Yes! 4 wIssSiSSsgi
once at all that wcrk--it WalS my
tradetil that morning when found
her with the singer from Venice then
forgot all / used to know--it went
away somehow, could never under
stand why. Here is the fisherMAnss
suit; you can take your time to put III
On-fasten the door-the room ~ at
your service"
And he nodded several times In =
manner that was meant to be frlNnd-
", and left me. followed his al Vice
ut once and locked myself In. Then y
stepped steadily to the mirror hanging
on the wall, and looked at my own res.
Election. A bitter pang shot through.
me. The dealers sight was good, he,
had said truly. was old! IfstWenty
years of suffering Fad passed over my
head they could hardly have changed
me more terribly. MY Illness had
thinned my face and marked Il with
deep lines of pain; my eyes Ind Ne
treated far back into my head, while a
certain wildness of expression In them
bore witness to the te rrors I had sur
fered in the vault, and to crown all,
my hair was indeed perfectly white.
I understood now the; alarm of the;
man who had sold me grapes on the
highway that morning my appear
ance was strange enough to stlrtle
any one. Indeed. scarcely recognized
myself. Would my wife would Guido
recognize me? Almost I doubted 1t.
This thought was so painful 10 me
that the tears sprang to my eyes. /
brushed them away in haste
''Fie on thee, Fabio! Be mang' I
said, addressing myself angrily. .'Of
what matter after all whether, hairs,
are black or white? What matter
how the face changes, SO long as the
heart is true? For q moment, per-
haps, thy love may grow pale at sight
of thee; but when she knows of thy
sufrerings, wilt thou not be dearer to
her than ever? Win not one Of her
soft embraces recompense thee for all
thy past anguish, and suffice to make:
thee young againy"
And thus encoura cling my sinking
spirits, l quickly arrayed myself In
the Neapolitan coral-fisher's garb. The.
trousers We're very loose, and were
provided with two long deep pockets
convenient receptacles which easily
contained the leathern bags OF gold
and jewels had taken from the brig
and's coffin. When my hastys toilet
was completed took another hasty
glance at the nirror-this time with q
half smile. True, I was greatly al
tered but after all I did not look so
bad. The fisherman's picturesque
costume became me we'll; the scarlet
cap sat jauntily on the snow-wllite
curls that clustered so thickly over my;
forehead, and the consciousness had
Of approaching happiness sent a. little
OF the old fearless luster back into my
sunken eyes. Besides knew Ishoulds
not always have this careworn and
wasted appearances: rest, and perhaps
u change of air, would infallibly re-
store the roundness to my face and
the freshness to my complexion. Even
my white locks might return to their
pristine color-suca things had been
and supposing they remained white
well! there We're many who would
admire the peculiar contrast between
a young mans face and an old mans
hair.
Having finished dressing, I unlocked
the door of the stuffy cabin and called
the old 1ag-picker. He came shutting
along with his head bent, but raising
his eyes as he approached me. he
threw up his hands in astcnishnent,
exclaiming:
"Santissima Madonna! But you are
nj y mi $50
Holy Joseph! What height and
breadth! A pity-a pity you are old;
you must have been strong when you
were youngw III
Half in joke, and half to humor
him in his fancy for mere muscular
force, rolled up the sleeve of my
jacket to the shoulder saying lightly:
ooh, as for being strong! There is
plenty Of strength in me still, you
see."
He stared; laid his yellow fingers
on my barred arm with kind Of
ghoul-like interest and wonder, and
felt the muscles Of it with Childish.
almost maudlin admiration.
Beautiful! beautifulv' he mumbled.
Like iron-jnst think of it! Yes, yes!
You could kill anything easily. All! /
used to be like that once. vas clever
at sword play. could, with wen Item
pered steel, cut asunder seven-times
folded piece Of silk at one blow with
out fraying out a thread. Yes, as
neatly as one cuts butter! You could
do that, too, If you liked. 1t all lies in
the arm-the brave arm that kills at a
single stroke" s5,
To BE CONTINUED