Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-01-15


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 a man
condemned to penal servitude for life hope
ever to be able to take revenge upon his
enemy? 1t matters not. Hope springs
eternal in the human breast
Jean Rhode passed his spare time in
prison in composing grand opera In hve
acts, entitled the Golden Fleece" and
three years after his arrival in the lie DIES
Pins, where he had been relegated, and
where he enjoyed almost absolute liberty,
he was enabled to put in execution
scheme which he had long caressed. This
scheme was the foundation of a school of
music reserved for certain categories of
the natives.
Rhode was at once director and secre-
tary, professor of harmony, fugue, coun-
terpoint, solfeggio and naturally of the
violin. A burglar who possessed some
talent as a clarinetist was placed In charge
of the wind instrument class, and an ex-
notary, forger and dramatic author was
exclusively charged with the defamation
section.
Some of the natives had splendid bass
voices and little girl, Meoka- Liki, gave
fair promise Of becoming second Patti.
Jean Rhode, happy in his enterprise,
had spent five years teaching the natives
of the lie des Pins the gentle art Of music,
when one day the oommissary Of police at
Nice received visit from young woman
who appeared to be prey to violent grief.
She explained between her sobs that she
had been abandoned by her master and
mistress and was absolutely penniless.
She had been abroad with them for sew
eral years, and on their return to Nice they
had turned her out.
The young woman was none other than
Marianne Jean Rhodes missing servant.
Her strange conduct and disappearance,
which had had such disastrous conse-
quences for the violinist, is easily ex-
planned She was in love with valet in
the service of rich Foreigners who resided
in the Plaine Monoeau Suddenly the for
eigners took their departure. What. were
tho lovers to dor Fortune came to their
aid On the day previous to that fixed for
leaving Paris kitchen maids place be-
came vacant. Marianne was accepted and
leaving several months pay behind her
went off without notifying Rhode In order
to escape from his circumstances.
She had intended to write, but had put
it off and put it off till finally she never
wrote at all. Now, however, that she
found herself in Nice, abandoned by her
lover, without parents and without friends,
she thought Of her former master and beg
ged to be sent to Paris.
The commissary acceded to her request
after vainly trying for week to findrher
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 commissary, "you
will have 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 mel"
"Your old master? What master9'
queried the commissary.
why, NJ Jean Rhode, of course, with
whom served for over five years. F."
Hold hard! p exclaimed the magistrate,
tapping his forehead. He thought awhile,
and then the circumstances Of jean
Rhodes trial and condemnation came
back to him.
$50 you were Jean Rhodes servantr
he exclaimed.
YES, sir. :"
And you are not deadp"
"Deadp MOI"
''Then tell me where you went to and
what you have been doing since you left
Paris"
'Well,' said the oommissary after lis
tening to her story "your preoipitate de
parture was the cause of an innocent
mans condemnation. And he told hel
the whole history Of Jean Rhodes trial
and conviction.
Marianne's establishment and grief CAL
be imagined.
The commissary of the Batignolles quar-
ter was an energetic and enterprising
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 q
fortune as soap boiler, the barriers Of
red tape were surmounted and jean
Rhode was sent back to France free
man, after serving ten 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 sucl
pride? What would become Of his favoritt
pupil, Meoka-Likia
However, he returned to Paris and
found his servant Marianne, but was un
able to ascertain the whereabouts of hi
concierge. Was his vengeance, over which
he had brooded for SO many years, then tt
escape him?
Jean Rhode has resumed his former
mode of life. Reinstalled in his apartment
in the Rue Nollet, he again occupies thu
post Of first violin at the Ambigu-C omique
But the unhappy fellow has two secret
griefs-the "Golden Fleece" has not ye
been staged and he has never been able Il
lay hands upon his concierge. From tn,
French.
Wanted Him to Wait.
In the midst Of the great crisis of tn,
seven years war soldier Of Frederick
the Greats army deserted. He was caught
and brought before his majesty.
"Why did you leave mef" inquirct
Frederick.
"Sire," replied the deserter, "your at
fairs are going SO badly that considered
it necessary to give them up"
every well, just remain till tomorrow,
said Frederick Ut was the eve of battle)
'.sand II they do not improve let US deser1
together. y