The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-10-14
TuE LIME BURNER,

For a man in whose life there hail been
| tragedy he was cheerful. He had d habia
| of hummiDg vague notes in the silence Of
conversation, as if to put you at your ease.
| His body and face We're lean and arid, his
eyes oblique and small, his hair straight
and dry and straw colored, and>lt flew our
| cracking with electricity, to meet his cap
as he put it on. He lived alone la 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. lie
had just enough crude poetry in his nature
to enjoy his surroundings. For he was
well placed Behind the limekiln rose
| knoll on knoll and beyond these the YER
danb hills, all convorging to Dalgrothe
mountain. In front of it was the river
with its banks dropping 40feet, and below
the rapids, always troubled and sport1ye.
On the farther side of the river lay peace
| full areas OF meadow ard corn land, and
low rooted, lowering jfarmhouses, with
one larger than the rest, having wind
mill and flagstaff. This building was al
most large enough for q manor, and indeed
it was said that it had been built for one
just before the conquest i'll 1853, but the
war had destroyed the ambitious owner,
and it had become a farmhouse. Garrote
always knew the time of the day by the
way the light fell on the windmill. He
ha0 owned this farm once, he and his
brother Fabian, and he had loved it as he
loved Fabian, and he loved it now as he
loved Fabian's memory. And in spite of
all they were cheerful memories both OF
brother and house.
At 23 they were orphans with 200 acres
Of land, some cash, horses and cattle, plen-
ty 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 to lee
ture about. 1t is no wonder that when
there came q vast deal to reprove, good
Agatha desisted altogether, overwhelmed
by the weight of it.
Henri got shock that day before their
father died when he SAW Fabian lift the
brandy used to mix with the milk of the
dying man, and pouring out the third OF a
tumbler drink it of, smacking his lips as
he did so as though it were a cordial.
That gave him cue to his future and to
Fabian's. After their father died Fabian
gave way to the vice. He drank in the tay-
erns; he was at once the despair and the
| JOY of the parish, for wild as he was he had
| 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 a warm spot for him in
| his heart. But there was a vicious streak
in him somewhere and it came out one
day in a perilous fashion. There was in
the hotel Of the Louis Guinze an English
servant from the west called Nell Barra-
way. She had been in hotel III Montre
| al, and it was there Fabian had seen her
as she waited on the table. She was
splendid looking creature all life and en-
| ergy, TALL fair haired and with a charm
| above her kind. She was also al excellent
servant, could do as much as any two
women in any house and was capable of
| more airy diablerie than any ten in Pom
! tiac. When Fabian had said to her in
| Montreal that he would come, he told her
! where he lived. She came to see him in
stead. for she wrote to the landlord OF the
Louis Quinze. inclosed five testimonials
and was immediately engaged. She came,
and Fabian was stunned when he entered
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,
'sThis way, monsieur. "
AS he sat down he said in English also,
with laugh and with swapping eyes:
"Good Lord What brings you here, lady
bird?''
AS she pushed a chair under him she al
most Kissed through his hair, 'YouH and
then was gone away to fetch pot au feu fer
six hungry men.
! The Louis Quinze did more business now
in three months than it had done before in
six But it was whispered among few
| in Pontiac that Nell was vicious. How
| it had crept up from Montreal mo one
| knew, ana when it did come her name was
very intimately associated with Fabian S.
| No one could say that she YVES 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 everything religion (she
was a Protestant), character, race. She
was clever as the young seign0ur found,
as the little avocat was forced TO admit,
US the cure allowed with a sigh, and she
| had 10 airs of badness at all and very lit
tie of usual coquetry. Fabian was enam-
orcd, and it was clear that he intended to
bring She 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
| BIS brother from. she girl
/ Es had waitsG ia hour outside tho no