New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1905-07-01
you mey ask" declared Greloire; land

you mey ask" declared Greloire; land
| will answer it upon my honor"
Latte appeared irresolute, as II
the question were of such grave i'm.
port that he dreaded an unfavorable
reply. Then, laying a hand on Gre.
loires shoulder, he asked, What said
he-Bonaparte. when you told him
that had departed from Toulon?'
Nothing"
you have told me all | wished to
konw, and | thank you" said Lafitte.
again holding out hand. which Gre
loire clasped firmly.
"Adieu, and bon voyage"
"Adieu, and bonnie fortune"
With this they parted and LATTE,
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 aggrieved 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 were 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
a proper appreciation of Bonapartes
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.
1t was only to the boy Jean that he
had ever been otherwise; but latterly
something of 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
fc hal xr,fth hn TN
most depths of his soul sacred
shrine, kept closed and pure, where
never the love for woman had en-
tered. Over it's 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 to he,
or had even sought to attain.
The past rolled in upon him like
a smothering food, until, in wild
tumult of despair, he left his cabin
and went on deck. There he heard
one of the watch whistling to him
self; and presently the man broke
softly into the words of the air:
"C'est ramour. ramour, ramour.
Qui faft la monde a la 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 so
close to nature that it 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 cap |
tain JEAN" whom she found such q |
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 |
bis 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 a blessed peace.
Ito be continued.)