Santa Fe daily New Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1885-1897, 1896-06-17

stood with his left hand resting lightly on
the bar. In his right he held a small tum-
bier. The wan light tiltering in through
the ground glass of the door fell upon its
cloudy green contents, giving them an
unearthiy gleam The man, who was ele-
gantly and fashionably attired, was young
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 it
down hastily. Octave Lafitte! 1t was
whisper, family dying breath, but he
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 second. 'Mlle. Destran!
Leonie!" he 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. | was fol
lowing you, and saw you enter here.
have been waiting for you to come out,
but l dared wait no longer. You must
leave this state, this country, at once.
Stay''-for he was beginning to speak
:" 'Toinette Fargo, on Bayou Desnoyers,
near our plantation, has confessed to her
father that it is you'-a wave of crimson
dyed her face and throat, but she con-
tinued to look steadily at him-'that it
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 ill--we fear he is
dying-he could not come himself to warn
you'll did not even stop to change my
dress-I have been travelling all day"
She stopped, painting for breath, with her
hand pressed to her side.
His eyes were glowing. He smiled ex-
ultantly "And you have done this for
me, Leonie, for mer' he whispered ten
derby, moving toward her with out
stretched arms. "Then you do care for
me! You do love-
She drew away with gesture of loath-
ing. "You! God Forbid" she cried. II
do the duty of the Destrehan to the La
fitte, she added calmly. But you must
20 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 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. His deep sunken eyes were blood
shot. His long, grizzled hair, soaked and
matted by the rain, chung to his cheeks.
At sight of his prey his face lighted horri-
bly,. Lii move nomme!' he Kissed, with
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 hand descending sheathed it,
self in her bosom.
Without cry and like 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
| comrade In arms were dead, but stepping
back pace he drew revolver from his
belt and placed the muzzle against his
forehead.
His body fell heavily at her feet.
The report of the pistol brought volu.
BILE, hurrying crowd into the drowned
street, but there had been no witnesses OF
the double tragedy-which caused extraor
binary comment. No one ever knew its
meaning. 'Toinette Fargo, covering ovel
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 hugo scintillating Opal
in the purple shadows.
A year later man drifted at nightfal
one day alone into cheap pothouse or
the outskirts of Paris. There was an all
of decayed gentility about him. His well
fitting clothes were shabby. The lining
of the topcoat he 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 thu
little glass, pushed toward him by the gruff
ill looking proprietor, shook almost as il
with palsy.
He grasped the slender stem eagerly ant
raised the glass to his lips, but set it dow1
again with nauseated shudder and turned
away. II cannot drink IT., he muttered
dropping upon the rude bench outside thu
door, and drawing the brim of his hat ovel
his eyes, as If to shut out something from
his sight. "God! l am dying for it, yet
cannot drink it! There were exactly
those green, changing lights in her eyes
that day And when I remember
threw out his arms with gesture Of sci
loathing-''when I remember that am
after all, a Lafltte only by adoption IN
E. M. Davis in Romance.