The Monmouth inquirer., 1896-03-19

stOoO WIN MS lcit l1uu resting lRnIly on
the bar. In his right he held small tum-
bier. The wan light iltering in through
the ground glass Of The door fell upon its
cloudy green contents, giving them an
unearthly CLEAN. Tho man, who was ele.
gantly and fashionably attired, was young
and extraordinarily handsome though his
face showed signs of dissipation, and his
dark eyes beneath the thick brows had
bold, unpleasant expression He wore
white flower in his buttonhole.
He lifted the glass to his lips but set ii
down hastily. Octave Lafttel 1t was a
whisper, family dying breath, but be
heard his own name distinctly pronounced
He looked at the deaf old man half asleep
in his chair. Then he stepped noiselessly
to the door. The rain, striking him full
in the face as he opened it, blurred his vi
sion for a second. Mile. Destran
Leoniel' be exclaimed, starting back sur
prised, his dark face flushing with pleas
ure
She lifted her hand. "Stay, monsieur, .
she said, speaking rapidly and in French.
There is no time for words l was fol
lowing you, and saw you enter here.
have been waiting for you to come out,
but | dared wait no longer You must
leave this state, this country, at once.
Stay for be was beginning to speak
"roinette Fargo, ON Bayou Desnoyers,
near our plantation, has confessed to heI
father that it is you''-a wave of crimson
dyed her face and throat, but she con
tinued to look steadily at him that ii
is you who have disgraced her and ruined
their home. Old Dominique Fargo will
kill you. He has sworn to hunt you down
like dog. My father is il1-we fear he is
Il ~
you'll did not even stop to change my
dress--I have been travelling all day"
She stopped, painting for breath, with hen
hand pressed to her side.
His eyes were glowing He smiled ex-
ultantly. And you have done this foI
! me, Leonie, for met' he whispered ten
derby, moving toward her with out
stretched arms. Then you do care fol
me! You do love-
She drew away with a gesture of loath,
ing s'You God forbidl' she cried Il
do the duty of the Destrehan to the La
fitte, . she added calmly. But you must
go at once, monsieur Dominique Fargo
may reach the city at any moment. Go
before it is too Late
1t was already too late. There was a
sound of footsteps above the rush of the
rain, and Dominique Fargo came around
the corner-,a large, old man, with a swart,
bearded face His blue cotton shirt--he
wore no coat-was open at the throat,
showing his massive chest, and the unbot-
toned sleeves fell away from his hairy
wrists dis deep sunken eyes were blood
shot. His long, grizzled hair, soaked and
matted by the rain, clung to his cheeks.
AT sight of his prey his face lighted horri-
bly,. Lii move nommel" he hissed, with
a forward spring.
Laftte, with his eyes on the uplifted
hand, stood rooted to his place. But there
was quick movement on the girls part.
She had thrown herself in front of the
intended victim, and the alligator knife in
Dominique's S hand descending sheathed it
self in her bosom.
Without cry and like a bayou lily
whose stem has been suddenly cut, the
white figure sank into the ooze of the
banquette, her squirting blood dyeing the
succeed wall.
The old man passed his hand over his
starting eyes. He did not even stoop to
see if the child of his neighbor and old
eomrade in arms were dead, but stepping
back a pace he drew revolver from his
belt and placed the Inuzzle against his
forehead.
The report of the pistol brought yolu-
BILE, hurrying crowd into the drowned
street. but there had been no witnesses of
the double tragedy-which caused extraor
dinary comment. No one ever knew it's
meaning 'Toinette Fargo covering over
her nameless infant in the cabin on Bayou
Desnoyers, Henri Destrehan on his death
bed in the old Destrehan plantation house,
even these but dimly surmised the truth.
The deaf old cabaret keeper came out to
watch the removal of the dead bodies,
leaving the little room quite empty.
The untasted glass of absinth on the
bar glowed like huge scintillating opal
in the purple shadows.
A year later man drifted at nightfall
one day alone into a cheap pothouse on
the outskirts of Paris. There was an air
of decayed gentility about him. His well
fitting clothes were shabby. The lining
of the topcoat be carried over his arm was
frayed and much soiled.
His face, covered with a stubble of black
beard, was haggard. His dark, shifting
eyes had dull, outworn expression. The
hand which he stretched out toward the
little glass, pushed toward him by the gruff,
i'll looking proprietor, shook almost as if
with palsy.
\ He grasped the slender stem eagerly and
raised the glass to his lips, but set it down
again with nauseated shudder and turned
away Il cannot drink it," he muttered,
dropping upon the rude bench outside the
door, and drawing the brim of his hat over
his eyes, as if to shut out something from
his sight. ''God | am dying for it, yet l
cannot drink it There were exactly
those green. changing lights in her eyes
that day And when / remember he
threw out his arms with gesture of self
loathing when ! remember that am,
after all, Laftte only by adoption IN
K. NJ. Davis in Romance.
In the Woods In Winter Time.
As we wound along the little woodland
stream that slipped so softly by we could