Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-05-10
e your chief, you know I shah send

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venture with the British, locating the,
scene as carefully as might be, and she
sent it by mounted messenger to 1.-The
Burg" s... = j.. ..>z
'The young ladies' they wish to see
yOO," said the baroness. 'They are
kind-hearted; they would like to do
what they can. But tell them no;
they will make you to ~be very tired"
ION the contrary, it will rest me.
Let them come" said.
But warn you,'' said she, lifting
her finger as she lett the room, do not
fall in love. They are full of mischief.
They do not study. They do not care.
You know they: make much fun all
day"
The young ladies came in presently.
They wore gray gowns admirably fit
ted to their fine figures. They brought
big bouquets and set them, with
handsome courtesy, on the table be-
side me. They took chairs and sat
sO1emn-faced. without word, as II it
were Quaker meeting they had como
to. never saw better models of SYM
pathetic prOpriety. I was about to
speak. One of them shook her head,
finger on her lips. e. = -
do not say one word" she said SOL
emily in English. 1T will make you
YER SICK"
1t was the first effort of either of
them to address me in English. AS I
soon knew, the warning had exhausted
her vocabulary. The baroness went
below in moment. Then the one
who had spoken came over and sat
near me, smiling.
".She does not know you can speak
French" said she, whispering and adj
dressing me in her native tongue, as
the other tiptoed to the door. ION
your life, do not let her know. She
will never permit lis to see you. She
! will keep us under lock and key She
knows we cannot speak English, so
she thinks we cannot talk with you.
1t is a great lark. Are you better?"
What was to do under orders from
such authority? AS they babe me,
hope you will say, for that is what
| did. l had no easy conscience about it,
1 must own. Day after day took my
part in the little comedy. They came
in Quaker-faced if the baroness were
at hand, never speaking, except to her,
until she had gone. Then-well, such
animation, such wit, such bright eyes,
such brilliancy, l have never seen or
heard.
My wound was healing. War and
past The grand passion had hold of
me. I tried to fight it down, to shake
it of, but somehow it had. the claws of
| tiger. There was an odd thing about
it all: l could not for the life of me
tell which of the two charming girls
loved the better. 1t may seem in
credible; could not understand it my
self. They looked alike, and yet they
We're quite different. Louison was a
year Older and of stouter build. She
had more animation also, and always
a quicker and perhaps brighter an
sWer. The other had a face more Sc
rious, albeit no less beautiful, and i
slower tongue. She had little to say,
but her silence had much in it to ad-
mire, and, indeed, to remember. They
appealed to different men in me with
equal force; T. did not then know why.
A perplexing problem it was, and had
to think and suffer much before I saw
the end of it, and really came to know
! what love is and what it is not.
Shortly l was near the end of this
delightful season of illness. l had been
out of bed week. The baroness had
read to me every day, and. had been so
kind that [ felt a great shame for
my part in our deception. Every af-
ternoon she was off in boat or in
! her caleche, and had promised to take
me with her as soon as I was able to
80.
"You know" said she, II am going
10 make you stay her full month. /
have the consent OF the general
| l had begun to move about little
and enjoy the splendor Of that forest
home. There were, indeed, many rara
and priceless things in it that came
out of her chateau in France. She had
some curious old clocks, tokens of
ancestral taste and friendship. There
was one her grandfather had got from
the land of Louis KYLE Grand Mcn-
argue, of whom my mother had begun
to tell me as soon as could hear with
understanding. Another came from the
bedchamber Of Philip III. of Spain-a
grand high clock that tolled the hours
in that great hall beyond my door.
A little thing, in case of carved
ivory, that licked on a table near my
bed, Molierc had given to one of her
ancestors, and there were many others
Of equal interest.
Her walls were adorned with art
treasures of the value of which Il had
little appreciation those days. But. I
remember there were canvasses of
Correggio and Rembrandt and Sir
Joshua Reynolds. She was, indeed, a
woman of fine taste, who had brought
her best to America; for no one had a
doubt, in the time of which I am writ
ing, that the settlement of the Com
pagnle de New York would grow into
a great colony, with towns and cities
and fine roadways, and the full COM
plement of high living. She had built
the Hermitage-that was the name of
the mansion-fne and splendid as it
was, for mere temporary shelter
pending the arrival of those better
days.
She had a curious fad, this hermit
baroness OF the big woods. She loved