Rocky Ford enterprise., 1896-07-16

M H WITHOUT uuitiHS ioT
ON}( ~ rest. took the first
S @))) train to Rennes.
M W From Rennes had
to go to L'Orient.
which found was
as far as the railway could carry me to-
ward my destination.
Rennes I reached In the evening.
Here Twas compelled to spend the night.
there being no train to L'Orient until
the next morning. The morning train
was n painfully slow one: 1t was not
until late In the afternoon of the sec
ond day that / had reached the fortified
port on the Bay of Biscay.
There inquired as to the best way OF
getting to st. Seurin. found the place
was nearly twenty miles away. A iili-
gence which passed 1t left L'Orient ev-
cry other morning at ten o'clock.
must wait and go by that.
chafed at the time which must
elapse before met my enemy. and was
on the point Of ordering carriage and
horses to take ME to st. Seurin at once.
But reflection told me that the arrival OF
a traveller in such way, at a village SO
small as ascertained St. Seurin to be,
must excite curiosity. People would
gossip, and the man whom I longed to
meet might hear Of my arrival, and
once more fly and leave no trace. So
curbed my impatience. stayed the night
at L'Orient, and started in the morning
by the numbering old diligence.
Why Is 1t that, when one is burning
to reach a certain place. the sole avail
able mode Of progression seems not
only the slowest, but In many cases ac-
tually is the .slowest that can we'll be
hit upon. Those twenty miles, or their
equivalent in kilometers, seemed longer
than all the rest of the journey. True,
the road was in many places steep, and
the heavy vehicle not adequately horsed;
and. very likely, no one save myself
was in a hurry.
But the most wearisome journey ends
at last. A snail. II allowed time, will
arrive at his goal. The diligence
reached st. Seurin, and as dismounted
in front Of miserable le-looking inn /
could scarcely repress cry of exhulta-
ton. Eustace Grant was all but within
my grasp.
I entered the inn, where I was re-
ceived with joyful faces. Guests we're,
no doubt, few. and their visits far be-
tween. asked II could have accom-
mediation, and was assured could
count upon the best out of Paris. At an
other time, this grandiloquent assertion
would have amused me. Now nothing
amused me, and cared for nothing SO
long as could have food and drink,
and place to lay my head until I lad
accomplished my mission. I diaed,
for was beginning to feel the effects
Of the exhausting journey. Then I
walked out, and took stock of my sur
roundings.
st. Seurin was, as had been in
formed, small decaying village. Some
of the houses were picturesque in their
way. but many were half in ruins.
There was church, whose size was, of
course, utterly disproportioned to the
village. There were the shops neces-
sary to supply the humble needs of the
scanty population. So far as I could
see, there was nothing else.
struck my heel on the dusty, sandy
path. Was 1t for life in such place
as this that Viola had left me? Had she
given up all the comforts and luxuries
with which would have surrounded
her, to hide with the partner of her
flight in wretched hole where she
could see none save rough fishermen
peasants and such like? II so, her love
for Grant must be more than mortal to
bring about such sacrifice of all that
women, from the time of Eve down
ward, have been credited with longing
after. These questions, and the only
answer could give them, did not i'm.
prove the state of my mind.
1t was now growing dusk. walked
back to the little inn, went to my room
and asked for lights and coffee.
broad-faced, broad-shouldered BretoI
lass ministered to my wants. en-
tered into conversation with her, ant
in spite Of her patois managed to under
stand her.
asked about the place and the peo
pie. She shrugged her shoulders. All
but the place was decaying-goinl
down-going down. Once she had hear
that people could live there and max
money; but that was hundreds Of year
ago. Now. every one was poor a
poor could be. Parents could not saw
their daughters dots-girls could nc
save them. Besides many of the youn
men went away. They went t
L'Orient and became sailors. 1t was
rare thing for girl to get married i
st. Seurin.
Were there no visitors-no English
for misunderstanding in the neigbboI
hood? No-yes. There was one mon
steur-he was English. He lived a
Pierre Boulay's 'farm-the farm Jus