Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1904-03-24

sweet little heart disclosed itself.
'sAnd, o Alice. Rene has not come
yety
She plunged her dusky face between
Alice's cheek and shoulder. Alice hug
ged her sympathetically and said:
''But Rene will come, know he will.
dear"
ooh, but do you know 1t? Is it true?
Who told you? When will he come?
Where is he? Tell me about him.
Her head popped up from her friends
neck and she smiled brilliantly through
the tears that were still sparkling on
her long black lashes.
Il didn't mean that had heard from
him, and don't know where lie is.
But-but they always come back
"You say that because your man-be-
cause Lieutenant Beverley has return
ed. 1t is always so. You have every
thing to make you happy. while I-1"-
Again her eyes spilled their shower,
and She hid her face in her hands.
which Alice tried in vain to remove.
'"Don't cry, Adrienne. You didn't sec
me crying
mo, of course not; you didn't have
thing to cry about. Lieutenant Bev-
erley told you just where he was going
and just WHAT .
But think, Adrienne, only think Of
the awful story they told-that he was
killed, that Governor Hamilton had
paid Long Hair for killing him and
bringing back his scalp! Oh, dear, just
think! And thought it was true"
"Well, I'd be willing to think and be-
lieve anything in the world if Rene
would come back" said Adrienne, her
face, now uncovered, showing pitiful
lines of suffering. "Oh, Alice, Alice.
and he never, never will Gomez
Alice exhausted every device to cheer,
encourage and comfort her. Adrienne
had been so good to her when she lay
recovering from the shock of Hamil-
toms pistol bullet, which, although it
came near killing her, made no serious
wou1Al-on!y bruise, in fact. 1t was
one of those fortunate accidents or
providentially ordered interferences
which once in awhile save life. The
stone disk worn by Alice CHANGED to lie
exactly in the missiles way, and.
while it was not broken, the ball, al
ready somewhat checked by passing
through several folds of Father Beret's
garments, nattened itself upon it with
a shock which somehow struck Alice
senseless.
Here. again, history in the form of
an ancient family document "a letter
written in 1921 by Alice HERSELF gives
us the curious brace of incidents-to
wit, the breaking of the miniature on
Beyerley's breast by British musket
ball and the stopping Of Hamilton's
bullet over Alice's heart by the Indian
charm stone.
(Which shows the goodness of Cod"
the letter goes on, land also seems to
sustain the Indian legend concerning
the stone that whoever might wear it
could not be killed. Unquestionable
aimed at poor, dear old Father Beret.
would have pierced my heart but for
that charm stone. AS for my locket, it
did not. as some have reported, save
FitZhugh's life when the musket ball
was stopped. The ball was SO spent
that the blow was only hard enough to
spoil temporary (sic) the face of the
miniature, which was afterward re-
stored fairly we'll by an artist in Paris.
When it did actually save Fitzhugh's
life was out on the Illinois plain. The
savage Long Hair, peace to his men,
DRY, worked the miracle Of restoring to
me- Here fold in the paper has de-
stroyed line Of the writing.
The letter is a sacred family paper,
and there is not justification for going
farther into it's faded and, in some
parts, almost obliterated writing. But
so much may pass into these pages as
a pleasant authorization of what 9TH
erwise might be Altogether too sweet a
double nut for the critics teeth to
crack.
While Adrienne and Alice were still
discussing the probability of Rene de
Ronville's return NJ. Roussillon came to
the door. He was in search of madame,
his wife, whom he had not yet seen.
He gathered the two girls in his
mighty arms, tousling them with rough
tenderness. Alice returned his afrec-
Tomato embrace and told him where to
find Nine. Roussillon, who was with
Dame Godere, probably at her house.
Nobody killed." he said, in an ;wcr
to Alice's inquiry about the ca..astro-
phe at the fort. "Some of 'em hurt ana
burnt little. Great big scare about
nearly nothing. Ziff! my children. yoa
should have seen me quiet things.
put out my hands this way-coul:nr ca
-pouf! 1t was all over. Til. pcar1.n
went home"
His gestures indicated t!::t no
borne back an army with @ o., h." :;
Then he chucked Adriennc ,:,;ucr tie
chin with his finger and add (! III u:
softest voice:
Il saw somebody's love. NE @;
day over yonder in the Indian village.
He spoke to me about so..!ebody-c.l.
ma petite, que vonlez-vous dire?"
"Oh, Papa Isoussil!on, we were lust