The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1899-03-24
CHAPTER XII.-Continued.

membering my promise, wrote to Mr..
Dorion, giving him full account of
affairs here, and of the condition of his
old friend. | will say here, that the
subject need not be again referred to,
that, while my presence and the recol-
lections it recalled had temporary
effect in withdrawing Mr. Bostock
from the clouds that enveloped him,
that unfortunate condition soon re-
turned. He was sunk in melancholy,
morose and peevish. There was never
a time when the sight of his child or
the sound of her voice would not cause
him to brighten for a moment, and
could see that he sometimes tried to
shake off his shadows and converse
freely with me. But the effort was
vain. The decline of his physical
health was bad enough; but it was not
to be compared to the changed condi-
tion of his mind. | watched him mar
rowly, and began to think that Mr..
Dorion was right. The mans mental
faculties were impaired; but there was
some mysterious terror, some haunting
dread back of that condition. He
would sit for an hour sunk in moody
abstraction, and when suddenly ad-
dressed would start, look wildly at his
daughter, and recover his sense of his
surroundings slowly and with effort.
Could all this be the result of remorse,
the punishment of conscience for the
Staying of Castex? No; for recalled
Mr.. Dorion's shuddering description of
the ferocity with which his friend had
ho4 la +.>1 81 I, =,
sary. My watchings, and my refec-
tions by day and night, gave me no
clew to the mystery of the mans de-
meanor, to the appalling change that
had come over him.
So the weeks passed. One week had
not gone when ] was placed upon a
footing of charming, cordial friend
ship with the beautiful daughter of
this house. We read together, she
often aloud from old French romances,
in the original. She played and sang
to me; she told me all about this
strange region, with it's natural won
ders told her of the White noun
tains and the granite hills, the snow
storms and the cold of winter. All
these things she had read of, but she
listened to my stories as though they
were leaves from some fairy chronicle.
And, most charming of all, we would
wander by the moonlight through the
oak and magnolia grove; through the
wide fields green with the cane leaves,
to the edge of the impenetrable cy-
press swamps, where the cry of the
pelican and the splash of the alligator
could be heard.
Did reflect as to whittier all this
was tending? Did it occur to me that
the seed was sowing could only come
to bitter harvest of impossibili-
ties? In fact, took no thought about
it. let the dream go on-the en-
trancing. enrapturing dream!
But my time was not all passed in
this way. ! became well acquainted
with lie Fevre, and found that he was
much more blunt than brutal; though
the negroes all stood in fear of him.
He took me over the plantation and
explained the processes of cane-grow-
ing, cutting and grinding. We went
over to New Orleans, put up for three
days at the ST. Charles, and examined
the wonders of the crescent river
front with it's forest of smoke-pipes
and the busy scenes of the levee. We
strolled in the French quarter of this
unique city, which, within less than a
century, has been under Spanish,
French and American government; we
visited the market; we rode in the sub
urbs on the hard and shining shell
roads. Back again at the La Fourche
| plantation, we went over to the ancient
French town of Thibodeaux, and dined
at an inn, where, except the bread,
knew not the name of single dish
that ate.
1t was to me season of glamour, a
happy time, that ! knew must end,
somehow; yet | was treated precisely
as though were to remain forever
wished not to break the spell; and it
was only to test Mr.. Bostock's feelings
iowa rd me that said to him one day.
when we were alone:
Il have been with you six weeks; is
that not pretty long visit?"
He reused himself and looked
troubled.
You don't think of leaving me.
Dorr?"
why, sir-you know I've got my
own way to make, somewhere. This
is all pleasure and vacation"
"You like it here, then2"
"Indeed l do. sir. Everything is
charming"
"Stay, then. 1t does me good to have
you here. Stay till November. anyway
| can't have you go SO soon. Do you
want money!"
mo, sir.''
Tell me whenever you do. Enjoy
yourself all you can-and don't think
of going. loved your father; love
| you"
His hand was laid affecticnately on
my shoulder; a mist shone in his
weary eyes.
So that was settled-for a time. l
was not to leave him-nor Coralie.
But that night in my dreams the warm
ing face of Mr.. Dorion came to me,
and ! seemed to hear his words again:
There is fearful mystery hanging
over his past life. do not know, you
do not know, show you may become
complicated with it, if you persist in
|