The Elbert County tribune., 1905-02-02


will answer 1t upon my honor"
Laftte appeared irresolute, as II
the question were of such grave i'm
por. that he dreaded an unfavorable
reply. Then. laying hand on Gre
loires shoulder. he asked. What said
he-Bonaparte, when you told him
that l had departed from Toulon?"
Nothing"
"You have told me all ! wished to
konw, and thank you" said Iafitte.
again holding out hand, which Gre
loire clasped firmly.
"Adieu. and bon voyage"
"Adieu. and bonne fortune"
With this they parted: and Lafitte.
returning directly to the wharf. or
dered the boats crew to row him
back to the Condor
Jean had. up to this moment, con-
sidered himself deeply agerieved by
Bonaparte's apparent neglect; and.
looking at the matter from the stand
point Of youth, his ardent. impulsive
nature, and his unstinted love for the
young officer, his feelings we're not
without warrant.
But. in the light of Greloire's expla-
nation. the man OF thirty could well
see how unreasonable and hasty had
been the boy Of fifteen; how unthink-
ing and rash; how Utterly lacking in
proper appreciation of Bonaparte's
regard, and of how the manifestations
of this was subject to conditions and
influences beyond the latter's power
to always control
He thought of Margot, and her
words returned to him-when, upon
that last evening of her life. she had
said that Bonaparte was his good an
gel, and Laro his evil one.
Truly had her words been proven;
for now he knew the former as he
was. and would have been. while the
passing years had either increased, or
made more apparent Laro's coarseness
and cruelty.
It was only to the boy Jean that he
had ever been otherwise; but latterly
something of a change had taken
place In this respect toward the man.
especially after he had refused to ac-
quiesce In the adventurer's cherished
scheme. that he. Jean LATTE. should
take as his wife. Lazalie, the formers
niece.
But the young man had. all through
his wild life. held within the inner
most depths OF his soul a sacred
shrine, kept closed and pure, where
never the love for woman had en-
tered. over its altar, faded and in
distinct. yet his life. fingered the
teachings of his foster-mother. and
the remembrance of sunny-faced,
blue-eyed girl, who had promised the
boy to pray that he might be that
which he had so woefully failed 10 he,
or had even sought to attain.
The past rolled in upon him like
a smothering flood, until. in wild
tumult of despair, he left his cabin
and went on deck. There he heard
one of the watch whistling to him
softly into the words of the an:
"cest ramour. ramour. lamour.
Qui fait la monde a In ROUNDED"
The song brought to mind again the
blue-eyed girls face, and also that of
her daughter, the little 'Island Rose"
whom. late the previous May. he had
piloted through the woods, and down
the rivers, from her dead mothers
home among the Choctaws.
The long. rough journey had given
him rare opportunities for sounding
the depths of the childish soul 50
close to nature that 1t seemed to wor-
ship the mothers God through nature.
and nature through God.
He was known as Captain Jean"
a friend of her grandfather-as Gap.
tain Jean" whom she found such a
charming companion. and whom his
escort of white men and Indians re-
spected and loved. She trusted him
fully. and their intercourse was free
from restraint.
Recalling her now, while he paced
the deck, with the troubled water OF
his soul casting ashore such woeful
wreckage for his contemplation. the
thought of her white purity. her sill
very voice. her childish confidence.
brought to him blessed peace.
ITO be contlnued.)