The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1905-03-31

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not been that a certain somebody would
be there and expecting him, he would
have yielded to his foolish uneasiness
and stayed at home. Yet what was
there to fear, in this fair countryside
at least? He must bewatchful wher
they returned to the city: r
1T is in honvr of NJ. Manton's niece.
you know. Mon pere"-leaning for.
ward and laying his fingers lightly on
his fathers arm; while his face flushed
what should you say if some day I
should bring you daughter" T.
ooh! that is it," interrogated Chev-
reau, dryly, but he sighed slttle, too.
that after all these years of comiade-
ship a: pretty face should win him away
in few short weeks Still, it was ma
ture.
boy, boy!" he smiled, ruefully, II
had almost forgotten that you could
grow into a, man. But be careful,
Theon, be CAREFUL"
He knew how absurdly useless was
the warning. and he smiled grimly to
himself, but the smile hardened to
sneer as he turned and stared again at
the gray towers of the chateau, loom
ing shadowy. in the dusk.
after 20 years! And this is good
day."
The road from B, past the old
chateau, is very beautiful. Strangers
travelling through the country take the
drive and exclaim at the fairness of
open field and massive wood, but there
is one spot where silence comes in
voluntarily, a long, Swallowed stretch
where the forest rises darkly on both
sides, and twilight reigns at high noon.
Here the wood to the right extends but
few rods, ending abruptly in the high
cliff that follows the road for miles,
and far below, in the silence of the for
est. comes the subdued rush and MUIR
muir of the deep river, swirling against
the rocks in it's bed.
In the day it is beautiful. but at night
it is awesome, and none travel past
them but those whose way leads them
there Of necessity.
On the night that Jules D'Arblay rode
to B, the deep forest lay quiet and
still. knowing that the one sound that
would awaken its echoes would be the
gallop of a returning horse. Jules
D'Arblay always returned late, and
alone. He was later than usual to-
night. for he was making arrangements
to leave indefinitely. AS rule he en-
joyed spending his summers in the fine
old chateau, but this summer he pre-
ferred to leave
The trees rose high and met in thick
arches over the road. shutting out the
light of the stars. The trees and. the
little bushes were the only things OF
the forest not asleep in the yastness
of the night. and they stirred and whis-
pered, nodding wisely to one another
and shivering awesomely in the silence.
Down the hard road came the whole
some reality of steady hoof-beats, and
the quivering bushes held themselves to
listen as horse and rider came nearer
through the black shadows. At one
side the low grass rustled, andstw restss
less eyes cleaned at the dark outline
approaching. The slim. straight shadow
sat fearlessly erect and unconscious of
danger.
From out of the roadside something
rose and struck viciously at the head
of the rider, kissing angrily: AFTER
20 years. Jules D'Arblay!" something
fell heavily without a cry, and then
the leaves rustled as the startled horse
was backed through the blackness by
a commanding hand. still back, toward
the steep cliff for a riderless horse is a
betrayal, and if drunken man rides
over a cliff in returning from town it
is no ones fault but his own. The air
quivered with the human scream of z
terrified beast, and the deep river
splashed solemnly as it received it's bur-
den.
The timid bushes shivered and COW
cred again, bending fearsomely to one
side as the man returned, and a still.
warm thing was carried heavily through
them. its nerveless limbs Imply brush
ing them in its progress.
The wind stopped to hear his heavy
breathing as the bearer of the burden
strobe on. Then it fed up swiftly.
affrighted, to tell the tree-tops what it
had SEEN and the good old trees tossed
their long arms in sorrow over the
treachery Of man to man, and let the
stars peep wonderingly through, so that
their clear light shone fair and steadily
on the still face.
AS one who does SO against his will,
the one who bore him glanced down in
stern aversion at the dead man. The
limp thing half slipped from his loos-
ened grasp; the distant stars quivered
and shranl, as great cry rang out and
up to them. lingering and sobbing in ths
tree-tops like the wall of stricken
woman.
ooh, my God! My Cod"
M L. 4