The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-14

| pen to know that there s<a some par
/ ticularly delicious ones in the paIRrI
OF Madame RoussIllon. MademolselIs
Alice gave me a juicy sample; but
men dare say you do not care -
nave your pie served by her hand. 1t
woHd Interfere with your appetite: Ell.
my son?''
Rene turned short about wagging his
mead and laughing, and so with his
Daek TO the priest he strobe away
| along the wet path leading to the
! Roussillon place.
Father Beret gazed after him. his
lace relaxing to serious expression
/ IN which d trace of sadness and gloom
| spread like an elusive twilight. He
| took out his letter. but did not glance
/ at 1t, sinSsly holding il tightly gripped
In his sinewy right hand. Then his old
! eyes stared yaeantly. as eyes do when
their sight Is cast back many. many
years into ne past The naissive N-as
from beyond the sea-he knew the
handwriting watt of the flowers of
AYlSnon seemed to rise out of il. as if
by the pressure of his grasp.
A stoop- shouldered burIy man went
by, leading pair of goats. a kid fol-
lowing. He was making haste excit-
cay, Keeping the goats at lively trot.
BSn jour. Pere Beret," he flung out
breezily, and walked rapidly on.
An an; his mind is busy with the
| newly arrived cargo thought the old
| priest, returning the saIutation; Ibis
throat aches for the Hquor-the poor
man"
Then he read again the letters SUI
prescription and made faltering
move, as if to break the seal. His
hands trembled violently, his face
! looked gray and drawn.
Come on, you brutes,' cried the rec
| ceding man. jerking the thongs of skin
by which he led the goats.
Father aBeret rose and turned into
his damp little hut where the light
was dim on the crucihx hanging oppo-
! site the door against the clay-d/ubed
| VAL 1t was a bare, unsightly, clam
my room; a rude bed on one side, a
shelf for table and two or three wood
en- stools constituting the furniture,
while the uneven puncheons of the
floor wabbled and clattered under the
| priests feet.
An unopened letter is always a
mysterious thing. We who receive
three or four mails every day, scan
each little paper square with spec
ulative eye Most of us know what
sweet uncertainty hangs on the open
( ing of envelopes whose contents may
be almost anything except something
imSoZant, and what a vague yet de-
| licious thrill comes with the snip of
| the paper knife: but if we be in a
foreign land and long years absent
from home. then is a letter subtly
powerful to move US, even more before
1t is opened than after it is read.
1t had been many years since a let
! ter from home had come to Father
Beret. The last. before the one now
| in hand. had made him i'll of nostalgia,
| fairly shaking his iron determination
never to quit for a moment his life
work as a missionary. Ever since thar
day he had found it harder to meet
| the many and stern demands of a
most difficult and exacting duty. Now
the me1a touch of the paper in his
| hand gave him a sense of returning
weakness. dissatisfaction. and long
| ing. The home of his boyhood, the
! rushing of the Rhone. seat in a
shady nook of the garden, Madeline.
| his sister. prattling beside him, and
his mother singing somewhere about
| the house-it all came back and went
over him and through him. making his
heart sink strangely, while anothe1
voice, the sweetest ever heard-but she
was ineffable and her memory a for
| hidden fragrance.
Faiths Beret tottered across the for
| lorn little room and knelt before
the crueihx holding his clasped hands
high, the letter pressed between them.
| His lips moved in prayer. but made
no sound; his whole frame shook vio-
lently.
1t would be objectionable desecra-
| tion to enter the chamber of Father
| Berets soul and look upon his sacred
| and secret trouble: nor must we even
| speculate as to its particulars. The
] good old man writhed and wrestled be-
| fore the cross for a long time, until at
| last he seemed to receive the calnness
and strength he prayed for so fervent-
ly; then he hose, tore the letter into
pieces so small that not word re-
manned whole. and squeezed them so
firmly together that they were COM
pressed into a tiny, solid ball, which
| he let fall through a crack between
the floor puncheons. After waiting
! twenty years for that letter. hungry as
! his heart was. he did not even omen il
when it at last arrived. He would
never know what message it bore. The
| link between him and the old sweet
days was broken forever. Now, with
end.
He went and stood in his doorway.
leaning against the side. Was it mere
coincidence that the meadow lark flew
up just then from its grass tuft. and
came TO the roofs comb overhead.
| where IT lit with a light yet audible
stroke of. its feet and began ffuting its
tender. lonesome sounding strain? If
| Rather Beret heard it he gave no sign
| OF recognition; very likely he was
thinking about the cargo of LIQUOR and
how he could best counteract its hale
| fui influence. He looked toward Tho
/ river house" as the inhabitants had
| named large shanty. which stood on a
bluff of the Wabash. not far from
where the road bridge at present
crosses, and saw men gathering there.