Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-10-04
THE LIME BURNER.

For a man in whose life there had been
tragedy he was cheerful. He had habiy
of humming vague notes in the silence Of
conversation, as if TO put you at your ease
!, His body and face were lean and arid. his
eyes oblique and small, his hair straight
and dry and straw colored, and it flew out
cracking with electricity, TO meet his cap
~ he put it on. He lived alone in a little
hut near his limekiln by the river, with
no near neighbors, and few companions
save his four dogs. and these he fed some
times at expense of his own stomach. He
had just enough crude poetry in his nature
TO enjoy his surroundings. For he was
well placed Behind the limckiln rose
knoll on knoll and beyond these the YER
dant hills all converging 10 Dalgrothe
mountain In front Of il was the river
with its banks dropping 40 feet, and below
the rapids, always troubled and sportive.
On the farther side of the river lay peace
ful areas of meadow and corn land, and
low rooted, lowering farmhouses with
one larger than the rest, having "A wind
mill and flagstaff This building was al
most large enough for a manor and indeed
II was said that il had been built for one
just before the conquest in 1883, but the
war had destroyed the ambitious owner,
and il had become "A farmhouse Garrote
always knew the time of the day by the
way the light fell on the windmill. He
had owned this farm once, he and his
brother Fabian, and he had loved 1t as he
loved Fabian, ana he loved il now a. he
loved Fabian memory. And in spite OF
all they were cheerful memories both Of
brother and house
- ais
of land, some cash, horses and cattle, plen-
~ Of credit in the parish, or in the county
for that matter. Both were of hearty dis
positions but Fabian had taste for
liquor, and Henri for pretty faces and
shapely ankles. Yet no one thought the
worse of them for that, especially AT first.
An old servant kept house for them and
cared for them in her honest way both
physically and morally. She lectured
them when at first there was little 10 lee
ture about. 1t l. no wonder that when
there came vast deal to reprove, good
Agatha desisted altogether, overwhelmed
by the weight Of it,
Henri got a shock that day before their
father died when he saw Fabian lift the
brandy used 10 mix with the milk of the
dying man, and pouring out the third of "a
tumbler drink 1t off, smacking his lips as
he did SO "a though il We're "A cordial.
That gave him a cue 10 his future and to
Fabian :. After their father died Fabian
gave way TO the vice. He drank in the tav.
erns; he was at once the despair and the
JOY of the parish, for wild as he was he had
"a gay temper, a humorous mind, "a strong
arm and was the universal lover. The cure.
who did not Of course know one fourth OF
his wildness, had warm spot for him in
his heart But there was IA vicious streak
In him somewhere, and it came out one
day in perilous fashion. There was in
the hotel of the Louis Quinze an English
servant from the west called Nell Barra-
way She had been in hotel in Montre-
a. and it was there Fabian had seen her
as she waited on the table. She was "a
splendid looking creature, all life and en-
ergy, tall, fair haired and with "a charm
above her kind. She was also an excellent
servant, could do as much as any two
women in any house and was capable Of
more airy diablcric than any ten in Pom.
tiac. When Fabian had said 10 her in
Montreal that he would come, he told her
where he lived. She came 10 see him in
stead, for she wrote 10 the landlord of the
Louis Quinze, inclosed five testimonials
and was Immediately engaged She came,
the Louis Quinze and saw her waiting on
table, alert, busy, good to see. She nod
ded at him with "a quick smile as he stood
bewildered just inside the door, then said
in English, for he understood it fairly,
This way, monsieur "
As he sat down he said In English also
with laugh and with swapping eyes:
GOOD Lord What brings you here, lady
birdY'
As she pushed chair under him she al.
most Kissed through his hair, "Your and
then was gone away to fetch pot au feu for
six hungry men.
The Louis Quinze did more business now
In three months than IL had done before In
six. But 1t was whispered among few
In Pontiac that Nell was vicious. How
1t had crept up from Montreal no one
knew, and when II did come her name was
very intimately associated with Fabian's
No one could say that she was not the
most perfect OF servants, and also no one
could say that her life in Pontiac had not
been exemplary.
Yet wise people had made up their
minds that she was determined TO marry
Fabian, and the wisest declared that she
would In spite of rything-religion (she
was Protestant), character, race she
was clever, as the young seigneur found.
as the little avocat was forced to admit.
a. the cure allowed with a sigh and she
had no airs Of badness at all and very lit
tie of usual coquetry. Fabian was enam-
ored, and IL was clear that he intended TO
bring the woman to the manor one way or
another.
Henri admitted the fascination of the
woman, felt IT, despaired, went to Mont.
real, got proof Of her career, came back
and made his final and only effort to turn
his brother from the girl.