The Portland daily press., 1895-11-08
ourt. while Che iury. mortified at son.

counsel with the prisoners advocate, I'M
mediately signed an appeal for mercy ana
returned home with the blissful satisfac-
ton born of the consciousness that they
had done their duty.
The president of the republic, on the
strength of the appeal from the jury, COM
muted the sentence to penal serv ibude for
life, and Rhodie was conveyed to the lie
de Ee penSlng the departure of the first
convict ship for New Caledonia. Al first
he was dazed, but he gradually recovered
his senses. The verdict he regarded as
monstrous, but little by little he became
reconciled to the fait accompli and if q
sentiment of bitterness remained in his
heart it was against the concierge primary
cause of all his misfortune.
If ever he came across him, he told him
self as he clinched his fists, what re
venge he would take! How could man
condemned to penal servitude for life hop
ever to be able to take revenge upon l.
enemy? 1t matters not. "Hope spring
eternal in the human breast"
Jean Rhode passed his spare time i
prison in composing a grand opera in fly
acts, entitled the Golden Fleece" ALT
three years after his arrival in the lie dc
Pins where he had been relegated, ans
where he enjoyed almost absolute liberty
he was enabled to put in execution
scheme which he had long caressed. Thu
scheme was the foundation of a school
music reserved for certain categories
the natives.
Rhode was at once director and seer
tary, professor Of harmony, fugue, coui
terpoint, solfeggio and naturally of til
violin. A burglar who possessed som
talent as clarinetist was placed in chara
of the wind instrument class, and an ex
notary, forger and dramatic author Wa
exclusively charged with the declamatio-
section.
Some of the natives had splendid has
voices, and little girl, Meoka-Liki, gavl
fair promise of becoming a second Patti
Jean Rhode, happy in his enterprise
had spent five years teaching the native
of the lie DIES Pins the gentle art of music
when one day the commissary of police a
Nice received visit from young woma1
who appeared to be prey to violent grief
She explained between her sobs that sht
had been abandoned by her master and
mistress and was absolutely penniless
She had been abroad with them for sey
eral years, and on their return to Nice the.
had turned her out.
The young woman was none other thai
Marianne, Jean Rhodes missing seryan.
Her strange conduct and disappearance
which had had such disastrous consc
quences for the violinist, is easily ex
planned. She was in love with valet i
the service OF rich foreigners, who resides
in the PLANE Moneear. Suddenly the for
eigners took theis departure. What wer
the levers to do? Fortune came to thei
aid. On the day previous to that fixed foi
leaving Paris q kitchen maids place be
came vacant. Marianne was accepted, ant
leaving several months pay behind he
went off without notifying Rhode in orde
to escape from his circumstances
She had intended to write, but had pu
it off and put it off till finally she neve.
wrote at all Now, however, that sh'
found herself in Nice, abandoned by he.
lover, without parents and without friends
she thought Of her former master and beg
ged to be sent to Paris.
The comnissary acceded to her reques;
after vainly trying for week to find hel
a place. The money for her fare was ad
vanced out Of the public funds on condi
| ton that it should be reimbursed upon
her arrival. On reaching the capital Mari
| anne at once FASTENED to the Rue Nollet.
Not only was the concierge no longer
there, but her master had disappeared
and none of the dodgers knew anything
| about him. In the height of her perplexity
she was sent for by the commissary Of Pc
lice of the quarter, who demanded the sum
due from her to the state.
She was, Of course, unable to pay
"Then," said the oommissary, ''you
will HAYS to go to prison for IS days for
defaulting the state"
The terrified girl burst into tears.
"Ah," she exclaimed, "if only my old
master had been there, he would have
saved me!''
"Your old master9 What masters
queried the oommissary.
'sWhy, NJ Jean Rhode, of course, with
whom I served for over five years"
"Hold hard!' exclaimed the magistrate
tapping his forehead. He thought awhile,
and then the circumstances Of Jean
Rhodie's trial and condemnation cans
back to him.
$50 you were Jean Rhodes sorvant"
| he exclaimed
eyes, sir.''
"And you are not deadf''
"Dead? MOI"
"Then tell me where you went to and
| WIdU YOU QdtO uo0l uClUS SluG6 yOO 1Sli
| Paris"
| ''Well," said the commissary after lis
tening to her story, "your precipitate de-
/ parture was the cause of an innocent
| mans condemnation. And he told her
| the whole history of Jean Rhodio's trial
| and conviction.
Marianne's establishment and grief can
be imagined.
The commissary of the Batignolles quar-
ter was an energetic and enterprisine
| functionary. He went to work to obtain
Jean Rhodes liberation, and after months
of hard work, in which he was aided as
siduously by Rhodes remorseful counsel,
who had given up the bar and made 9
fortune as soap boiler, the barriers Of
red tape were surmounted and Jean
Rhode was sent back to France free
man, after serving ton years in the distant
| convict settlement.
| Will it be believed He was almost sorry
| at his release. What would become Of his
school of music, in which he took such
| pride? What would become of his favorite
pupil, Meoka-Liki?
However, he returned to Paris and