The St. Louis Republic., 1903-09-13

I eye upon the goal and hew his path to It,
! joying in TIE conflict. But there is also
another way, desert trail owning no
peril more affrighting than its own dread
waste and lim:tless monOtOny; and when
his eyes beholi the dismal prospect ana
his feet have pressed the hitheTward sands
of this desert of despair, a man may well
pause to gird his loins. to cross himself
and patter such prayer for strength and
! fcrtitude as his creed hath taught him.
To such n faring through all the days
and nights of this grim desert of a future
these lonely hours in the wine vault were
4 fitting vigil. as l conceived: and when
| I had hugged my misery close, and sort
Of monstrous self-pity had come to make
! a seeming virtue Of the hard necessity. I
was best pleased to be alone In such
| frame OF mind the sound Of footsteps in
! the out-cellar. arning me that more COM
| pany was coming. sent a wave>of sUllen
anger to submcrge me. and do think
twas in me to turn my back upon a friend
who should come 10 tell me l was free to
go Mt large.
Since I had led forth the good horses
! the great oasen door had stood ajar. SO
I wondered why my visitor made SO much
ado rattlinE the key in the lock. Then it
came TO me suddenly that the noise and
delay were meant TO give me timely warn
! ing; and at Tie scent Of threatening peril
( peril I might cope with and Crapplc sol
/ derwisc-I became y man again. y sweep
/ Of my hat sent the sputtering
candle flying from its barrel head to the
/ farther corner OF the vault, and I dropped
! quickly behind = row of empty wine
butts To await what should befaH
Had she been n ghost. Mistress 1Ia-ecry
would scarce have startled me more when
/ she swung the door TO let me SEQ her.
She was powned in her best: there was =
| heightened color in her check; her eyes
were like stars. Truly. l do think
never saw her so beautiful as she ap-
pearcd at that moment standing under
| the massive arch of the doorway with her
candle held high to light the inner gloom.
This way, Scipio." she said. tripping
ahead of the mulatto to point out the
madeira bin. I'VE shall give my Lord
/ and his gentlemen the best the Appiehy
cellar holds TO speed their parting"
| Whercwith she stood aside to wait whilst
| he filed his basket with the straw-cased
/ bottles.
At this l saw why she had come Lord
/ Cornwaliis and his gentlemen were about
to take the :oad. and the wine was want
cd for the stirrup-cup. Trusting my fate
TO no hand less loyal than her own. she
had come herself with Scipio to stand be
twixt me and possible discovery. And
her word to the serving-man was also
a word to me 10 let me know my prison
ment was near an end.
l thought it n most generous thing in
| her; the last Of all her many wife.y 10y
aIties: and l would have given much Tor
! leave to stand forth and tell her so. In
! deed. when the mulatto had poised his
! basket upon his head and vanished, and
! she was lingering to take last look
around before she followed him, I was
! upon the point Of speaking.
But whilst I hcsitated I saw her start
| back with a cry of terror. Standing in
the arched doorway through which the
mulatto had but now passed was a man
cloaked. hated booted and spurred as
! for the road. AT her cry he doffed his
| hat and
| Ny dcars. l shall never be able to
draw for YOU the hideous death-mask this
man was wearing for a face. Scanned and
Scared. shr--e,ed and Hvid in purple and
crimson w; you would think a nine
| teen-t thong, hip of fire had scourged
| out every SEN. 1ce of comeliness. leav-
| ing only the sE rton frame on which TO
hang this ghastly caricature of a human
face Fearing him not at all, l could
scarce forbear a shudder at the sight of
this walking death-mask OF the libertine,
Sir Francis Faleonnet