Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-02

load his frigates with; things he sold at
| Key West
Upon my SOUL" he said.
You used TO buy things :" pinned
him down. He looked suddenly at the
kings advocate then dropped his eyes.
'Nevah bought a thing in my life, he
said.
l was in mad temper. / smashed my
hand upon the spikes of the rail in front
of me. and, although ] saw hands move
impulsively toward me all over the court
| did not know that my arm was lmpaied
and the blood running down.
"Perjurer"' l shouted, Ramon himself
told me-
''Ah, you were mighty thick with Ramon
- - he said.
| let him stand down. l was done. Some
one below said harshly, That closes our
case, m'luds,'' and the court rustled all
over Old Lord stowell in front of me
shiyered a little, looked at the "ihoo"'
and then said:
Prisoner at the bar, our procedure has
1t that If you wish to say anything, you
NAV now address the jury. Afterward, If
you had counsel. he could call and eX-
anime your witnesses, if you have any
1t was growing very dark IN the court
l began to tell my story; 1t was so plain
so evident it shimmered there before me
and yet ! knew it was so useless
! remembered that in my cell had rea :
soned out that l must be very constrained
very lucid about the opening. ON such
and such a day l landed at Kingston, 10
become an improver on the estate of my
brother-in-law. He is Sir Ralph Rookspy
of Horton Priory in Kent dld Keep
cool; ] was lucid; ! spoke like that had
ewes fixed on the face of the young Rlri
upon the bench. Her eyes were hXed, fas-
cinated. upon my hand. / tried to move It,
and found that it was stuck upon the spike
on which l had damned IT; moved II
carelessly away and only felt little pain
! as If from a pin-prick; but the blood was
dripping on to the floor. pat. pat Later
| on a man lit the candles on the judge
|
| were deep shadows everywhere and the
| Illuminated face of Lord StoWell looked
| grimmer less kind, more ancient, more
/ impossible to bring ray of sympathy TO
| The barristers looked at me from time 10
| time | heard one say. THAT man ought
| to have his hand bound up l was telling
| the story of my life, that was all couid
| do.
| telling the story for that young girl. Sud
| denly | saw the white face of my father
| peep at me between the head or an old
| man with an enormous nose and a stout
/ ladv in a brown cloak hat had number
| of little watchmen'S capeS. He smiled
| suddenly and nodded again and again,
| opened his eyes. shut them; furtiVeiy
! waved n hand. 1t distracted me. threw
me off nv balance my GOODNESS was gone.
1t was al if something had snapped. After
! that | remember very little; / think
may have quoted the Prisoner OF Chill
! Ion" because he put 1t into my head.
| / seemed to be back again in Cuba.
| Down below me the barristers were talk
| ing. The kings advocate pulled out a
| puce- colored bandanna. and waved IT
I abroad preparatory to blowing his nose. A
| cloud of the perfume of West Indian
| bean went up from il, sweet and warm.
| had smelt ii last at Rio, the sensation W.
| so strong that / could not tell where l was.
The candles made a yellow glow on the
| Judges desk; but II seemed to be the blaze
| of light in the cell where Nicholas and the
| Cuban had fenced.
| ba
| people in the court disappeared in the deep
| ening shadows, At times l could not speak.
| Then | would begin again.
If there were to be any possibility of saw
| ing my life | had TO tell what | had been
| through-and to tell it vividly-I had to
| narrate the story of my life: and my whole
life came into my mind 1t was Seraphina
who was the essence of my life: who spoke
| with the voice of all Cuba. of all Spain. of
| all romance. l began to talk about old Don
| Balthasar RieSo. l began to talk about
! Manuel de-Popolo of his red shirt. his
| black eyes, his mandolin; / saw again the
light of his fires flicker on the other side of
| the raVne, in front of the cave.
| And | rammed all that into my story, the
story | telling to that young girl In
| the black shadows of the wall of the court
| / could feel the eyes upon me. 1 could see
! the parted lips of the young girl as she
leaned further toward me. I knew it. be-
cause when one of the barristers below
| raised his voice some one Missed, Ssh"
| from the shadows
1 And suddenly it came into my head that
even If l did save my life by talking about
these things il would be absolutely useless.
| | could never go back again; never be the
boy again; never hear the true voice of the