The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-09-22
U "A iill.s q



SEA
Alexander Basi lwski looked moodi1yy
out of the window. IT. seemed 81 II
All5 the world was covered with 4 vast
White 4mantle , hiding Its anguIari ties
and and crad ties, and presenting only q:
% smooth unbroken surface to the glow
ING skies above. In the streets below
numbers l OF figures like puppets tn d
show y s. ran to and fro In the mad strife
of living. Afar, OF in u the II distance
9s1c sci t Hated many groups Of electric
/ balls 9 hang from high towers. This
was st. Petersburg and mid winter.
He tapped idly upon the pane Of
glass with his lone, tapering fingers.
and as he beat out in an impatien tat
too q rhythmic Slavonic melody his
mind was actively intent upon other
surroundings than this. IN. ISL I s.
How he hated st. Petersburg and
winter! How he hated wealth and ,des-
potic fathers! Why should he not have
been free, like those young English
men with whom u he had spent six
n onths Of his last year. They were all
younger sons; every one Of them. Pen
niless and happy, they herded cattle
on the Pacific slope Of North America.
How freely she came among them :
fearlessly, innocently, with her clean
limbed pony, her. bright eyes and her
red rebosso Tasca, the boys called
her, but what her name really was
strange that he never had thought to
ask! i, tx 4! .G ssEE$ 4 5#&Ss 8:
~ They would meet afar down the
lonely prairie and sit amid the sage
bushes while their ponies grazed near
BY, and gazing at each other in SUI
preme contentment, they needed not
words to express the joy, the rapture,
Of living 4} vi St. :. a. ;
Again he saw the deep red glow OF
the sun on that last evening together,
Again he marked her sloe black eyes.
the long, straight ilashes, tine curled
crimson lip, and his eyes followed the
straight fold of her short black serge
shirt, where the little. foot with its
high Spanish instep peeped temptingly
forth. They had told him that mixed
with the mild Aztec strain in Tasca's
veins ran the vigorous. and vengefu]
blood Of the Spanish invader. All; lit
tie he knew Or cared what race called
her its own, what her family, what her
kindf Suffice it, he loved her. 49, - f. y
M5 That last night love held him slave
His tattootng came to a violent and In
harmonious end, and broke in a series
ST wild disconnected chords that. fell
IN the stiffness Of the luxurious apart
nent like the wall of lost soul wand
sring in purgatorial depths He start
ed-that wall was SO real-then vici-
ously bit at his old Virginia Scheroot,
the last of a quantity carried over from
America to this accursed land. ~: ~
At the late hour Of that last night.
| The pale moon on the wane-the warm
air-the cattle taking their rest in the
corral hard by he white light on the
sage bushes and -Tasca! He swore
that, come veal Or come woe, she was
his wife, his only #S4.5 j:
Only that afternoon they had ridden
miles across country to the little padre
in the mission church-she would have
it thus the PADRES blessing they must
have. He swore that nothing in heav-
en- or on earth could make him prove
untrue. Even hell itself could not keep
him from her; and he left her to re-
turn home at the bidding of his father.
How long ago that was! Nine long,
dreary months. The first three spent
at the bedside of a fretful, querulous
| father, never daring to talk of Amer
lea, lest it should send him into one
OF those frfghtful paroxysms Eof rage
which had overcome him for the first
time on. the morning when he, Alexan-
der, .essayed to speak of Tasca. Ms
Course your foamed the father. I'm
fernal Whelp of an Internal dam, thou
shalt marry Alexandra Alexovltch,
whose mother have ever loved!"
| ='.tNot the daughter of that aecursed
rival of my mother. IT. 4 sz::.5z. q.
s~'I want nothing, father. Let me re-
turn to- America, but be\kind to my
mother % ~ " ,5S:.
/ Elizabeth Alexovitch shall take her
| place if thou. my lawful son, defy me-
land choking, he fell in hideous CON
vulsions. $t4 q q 3ss2sE#7,.s$< Ill
+ God permitted that tyrant to live. i.
They were decorating the chapel
near by. The good father had sent to
his gold mines in Siberia for treasures
and gold; silver, malacn1te and pre-
cious Jewels bedecked the altar, ready
j for the bridal tomorrow. s5..5 Al = =
L The women are busy in another part
Of the house ;: the pale mother listless-
" doing that in which she had nc
i heart, her rival, radiant and domineer-
4 ing, dominating all things; the fat
general wheezy and soverbearing, sub:
i uniting every thing to the Judgment Of
EElizabeth Alexoyitch, 81 and the pale
blonde Alexandra bemo gaming her heart
out for love Of Paul Demid * all IN III.
happy because Of one nay, two selfish
i natures "a Sls K 4 ssz.s35 sd
I He mad not touched the wind owe,
1 that ry--that broken chord s--i thai
vail! A child's voice and asca's S!
i Yes, she was before him now. The
short black, skirt, the red robosso, the