The Minneapolis journal., 1903-03-16
The Garden Of Lies
BY Justus Miles Forman
Copyright by Frederick ~ company
CHAPTER /.
BY Justus Miles Forman
Copyright 1899 by Frederick A,-.tokes company

~ 10 MAINTAIN CTat a man character is
determined for good or i'll by the circum-
stances chance throws in his way, by the
gay or sorry tricks fate plays him, has
ever seemed to me a folly. Yet so Won
Altdorf maintained most strenEously as
we sat. last evening and late into the
night. on the terrace of one of those
throngedr and gayly lighted cafes along the
old Boulevard St. Michel-"La Source it
was-and talked of the great game that
we had tried to play. long since, and OF
how the. game was taken out of our hands
by greater hands and played to so strange
an end. -
Elise why" demanded Won Altdorf pur-
suing his argument. why did Denis NAL
lory, happen into the Cafe d'Alencon on
that particular evening Of all evenings?
Why did he not pass by and-end his
days In the grave of a drunkard and
blackguard? How else did he grow into a
nobility and greatness that shamed us ALL
but by force Of the circumstances into
which he: fell in those following weeks?
Answer me that" = '~. $500 F. -
He was led" said firmly. 'nto the
cafe, that night. by something greater
than chance, my friend, something beyond
our philosophy. And he was given us to
do. our work by no mere happening. More
over II circumstances make a man, why
dldn Denis Mallory prove, la ter on. a
greater blackguard than one likes to think
later. when circumstances made it pos
sibe for him and chance made it easy?
Answer ME that" .-..-. tn., =. '---: r.. s
But Won Altdorf shook his gray head
and frowned out into the hustle and hurry
Of the boulevard,' where the fiacres dashed
up and down loaded with students and
cocottes. and a steam tram painted noisily
up the hill. f> .Tf'.. a. =. ,.':' ',',s =.
1t was the first time we had met since
those days two years ago-two years did
say? BY my faith. it seems but two
weeks. | can see their faces. hear their
voices. those players of a great game Mr.
Mallorys and Sir Gavins and Won Alt
DORIS and the Princes, and perhaps more
wildly more intimately than all, the face
ano voice of the unhappy lady whose fate
had semed to lie in our hands. !.
1t was our first meeting and we had
much to say to each other. Won Altdorf
had come OH to Paris from Vienna on a
private mission Of the emperor whom he
now serves. and l had run across from
London to meet him.
1T was good to see him. to claps his
hand once more to talk long and fully Of
those matters that neither of us may ever
forget. but am not altogether sure that /
ain glad we met There was a difference.
certain something of restraint, fail
TIRE to see things quite from the same
viewpoint. Won Altdorf's mind was fun
of his present business. of the secrets and
policies of the Court of Vienna. The pres
ent and the future pressed insistently
| upon him and he turned with a certain ef-
for. stiffness. Ito look backward. -
AS for me. why j suppose I was most
keenly occupied with my own little af-
fairs and my own future. The two Years
had carried us apart. filmed the windows
| OF memory, deadened ever so slightly the
keenness of those passions that once were
all our life. r-,r. -. -. :.
And SO it has occurred to me since
| bade farewell to Won Altdorf and saw him
off again to his work in the east to set
down as faithfully AS I;may while vet my
| memory is fresh and. strong. the story of
| the man who won our love and admiration
against such odds. and beside whom all
other men seem to me dwarfed and petty.
There can be no harm in writing of
these matters now. Denis Mallory is"very
| Tar away beyond the stir and murmur OF
this western world of ours. and She Is
far away too. Mackenzie is back in Lon
don. He has an office in Harley street
where you may consult him at certain
| hours-for certain, number: of guineas
[ see him now and then but we never talk
of Paris. Won Altdorf is as have said
busted in Vienna. and the prince is with
! his fathers-God rest his soul!
| To no one beyond these few could the
| telling of my tale be Of consequence The
| things that stirred us all so deeply never
! reached the great public. though heaven
knows they came near enough to reaching
it. The very realm over which we plotted
and schemed and fought has been quietly
erased from the map Of urope by tha,
swift and noiseless hand outstretcheC
| from the white throne in the north, which
will. some day, as quietly erase the names
| of all the remaining little states that we
call the BALKANS and Of whose inner his
| tory we know SO little ~- rE
But let me come to my tale without fur.
ther parley, save in the matter Of this.