Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1906-08-15
DAILY STORY
ONE MANS IDOL.
fOriginal.1

might Quench his thirst. Don ROderigO
had married n girl very much younger
than himself Sset her up on pedes-
tai as his mother had placed crucifix
on her dressing table. to worship. ST.
gnora de Sandovll while she at first
found it pleasant to be thus adored,
especially since ad grafton brought wiki
it every comfort. soon found it tire
some Her huSban devoted but brief
time to her every day, the rest being
given to affairs of state. he being one
of the kings cabinet. The rest of the
time the young wife spent alone, and IT
did not occur tOSthe husband that the
time would hang heavy on her hands
or that she would crave society. espe-
cially of the opposite sex. Did she not
have servants at her beck and call, the
finest apparel to wear, the most Savory
dishes upon her Stable? What more
could any woman 'need?
One night when Don Roderigo was re-
turning from the palace where he had
been in conference.-the the king, just
before entering the, court in which he
lived he stopped sho't and fastened his
eyes on n scene before him. \ young
man stood at the fountain holding the
cup in his hand and looking up ut the
balcony projecting from the second
floor of Don Roderigo's house. Jusr
within a window opening on to the bal
cony fiuttered a handkerchief. while
the young man was making signs with
the cup. His back was toward De San
| doval. so that he could not be recoS
nized.
The husband watcheSthis pantomime
-, Sc 10. nnth
been more thunderstrvHk had he seen
an angel from heaven alight on the
fountain and pour mud upon the wa
| ters. That the being he had worshiped
could thus dishonor HIM filed him with
agony. While he looked he saw fan
waved frantically from within the win
| dow and the man drinking ut the foun-
tain dropped the cup and walked rap
| idly away. Don Roderigo. awakening
from his stupor, followed. but the
stranger had only a short distance to
go to turn corner, and by the time
SandovaI reached it the man he sought
was nowhere to be seen.
Don Roderigo went to his house,
kissed his wife (she noticed that his
| lips were cold as icep, and went to bed.
He did not accuse her nor ask the
name of the young man who had been
making signs at her window. From
| that time his manner toward her was
changed, though no one except herself
noticed it. She was allowed the same
privileges, enjoyed the same comforts,
/ but somehow she felt that she lived in
the shadow of death.
| A few weeks after the episode that
had such Il marked effect upon Ro-
| Gerigo he was coming home late at
night when he saw Il man drinking at
| the fountain. Advancing, he knocked
| the cup from the strangers hand. The
man turned, hot at the insult, and see
| ing one worthy of his steel drew his
rapier and attacked the insulter. San
doval drew and defended himself, cast
| ing from time to time an eye on his
wife's window. All was dark there,
and ia time he called a halt i'll the
fight. apologized for the insult. refilled
the cup and offered it TO the stranger.
The latter, puzzled, drank and went
away.
After that on numerous occasions
always at the dead of night-Some
stranger stopping to quench his thirst
at the fountain would report in the
morning that the cup had been knocked
| from his hand and, sometimes after n
| fight, the insulter had apologized and
lproffered n full cup. The police seemed
| singularly apathetic about the matter,
not even taking pains to watch the
| fountain. Thus it became the belief
that the person who gave these insults
was high in favor of the government.
One night a man entered the square
| and. seeing another at the fountain,
withdrew under the shadow of n flight
| of steps. While the man at the foun-
tain was drinking a third figure APP
preached and knocked the cup out
of the drinkers hand.
what means this insult2' asked the
man attacked.
At that moment a glimmer of white
appeared on the balcony of Don Ro-
derigo's house. Roderigo saw it in an
instant.
1T means that L have at last found
the man 1 have been so long looking
for said Roderigo.
His rapier flashed, but before the
man for whom it was intended had
turned to draw his own weapon third
man shot from shadow and stood,
sword in hand, between the two.
You are mistaken. signor," he said.
Il am the man you have been looking
for. l was lover of your wife's be-
fore you married her. Thrice 1 have
passed q few words, or rather signals,
with her from this fountain, but I
have never been nearer She is pure
as marble. Go and continue the wor
ship which till you found me here you
bestowed upon her, for she is worthy
of it."
The reply to this was a lunge on the
part of Don Roderigo and shrek
from the balcony. The stranger
caught the blade on his own steel and
replied in kind. In few minutes
Don ROdaripO de- SandovaI Law