The Sisseton weekly standard. (Sisseton, Roberts County, S.D.) 1892-1929, 1907-01-04
CHAPTER XVII.

spoken Ilelr last WoTu aOoul NiS
B%rangwyn MYSTERY for years to come.
Alexis was his old self again. The po-
lice had been foiled on their final clue,
and life. with all its various claims
of mind and body, had ONT to its own.
as it always does after IN event, how
ever momentous, until the last event
OF all.
The cousins were at breakfast. and
old Sewar. with a napkin over his
arm, sbood at the sideboard.
10y" said Alexis, addressing his
companion with the familiar abbrevi-
alton of his name. Come into the
studio in half an hour, will you?
There's something l want to ask your
advice about"
IAN right said Aloysius, looking
up from the study Of that mornings
Times. IN be there"
Alexis finished his coffee, Mt a Gig
arctic, and strolled away. AT about
the appointed time the elder found
him sitting before a half-wrought col
ossal figure. He arose and began to
circle about it critically from a dozen
different hating places. Aloysius fol-
lowed, engaging himself in the same
way.
What do YOU think Of it," asked
Alexis.
1T promises" the other answered.
Il don't like the pose OF the head,
though. You meant it for %deiance?"
Yes, that's the idea"
Have you a sketch anywhere?"
NO." said Alexis; 81 went straight
cheap enough"
"Oh!" said Aloysius, ~half-laughing.
You'll do nothing worth doing so long
as you live until you cease to rush at
your work like a bull at a gate. You
have a fine talent If You choose to
use it, but you're so uncertain with it.
You've wasted a heap of time here,
and the whole things set as hard as a
brick. If you want to utilize the idea
make a careful little sketch, and have
this thing broken up, and begin again,
de novo."
ooh, dear, no." said Alexis, Tn not
going to have my Boadicea broken
up. Not by any manner Of means. III
get her into a condition in which l can
work at her again. I'll make Sewar
spray her and W. her in wet cloths,
and she'll be all right in a week"
Very WE'LL" said Aloysius. "We'l
see what you make of her. The chin
wants lifting a full inch. You must
bring the eyelids lower. l should cut
the pupil deep - about two-thirds
seen. The right hands disproportion-
ate. It's three or four sizes larger
than the left. Bring it farther back
and mass it here"
"H'm!-yes," Alexis answered,
watching his cousins hand as he drew
lines il the air. 81 think you're right,
so far. Do you know, old man, I'm dy-
ing to get back to work again? I'm
sick Of this unoccupied, unsettled life.
l must take up something ambitious
something that will fasten on me and
distract my thoughts, or do sincerely
believe l shall go mad. I begin to un'
derstand Eugene Aram with his 'one
tormenting, horrid thought, that
racked him all the time" He began
to pace up and down the room, NUT
tering under his breath and gesticu.
lating wildly.
Steady" said Aloysius, "Steady!'
Il was thinking of the poem," Alexis
answered. What a masterpiece" he
began to recite, with a vibrating voice
!, and dreadful eyes:
"And WE'LL" quoth he. 81 know for truth
Their pangs must be extreme,
t Woe! Woe! Unutterable woe,
l Who spill life's sacred stream.
For why? Methought last night
2 wrought
7 A m~urder--in a dream"
l 1t looked and sounded like a piece
Of the intensest acting. and it startled
Aloysius, who never had thought hi:
cousin had any power that way. I
was not less than awful. The cry
: "Woe! Woe! Unutterable woe!" wa!
like the wall of a lost soul, and tn,
despairing toss of the hands that wen
with it was as eloquent as the tom
y itself. Then the wall dropped to
t hoarse whisper, the last word Of whicl
was barely breathed, and sounded hor
rible because in some inexplicable wa,
the tone proclaimed the word a lie an
e the pretended vision a reality.
Hold ont" said Aloysius, sternly
r stop that! You make my flesh CREEP
Come into the fresh air. Come int
: the park"
j "Why not?" returned Alexis. Hi
face was pale, but he had turned bac'
g to his ordinary n
n That scene, too, came back to Alo!
g sius as he sat alone with those old LEI
tiers. And then that ever-memorabl
g walk, the true beginning Of the ma
tyrdom he had endured so long. Col
looks, averted eyes, unrecognizin
stares from old a~cquaintances, peopl
d gathering in clusters to point him on
d to each other furtively, and turning
look after him. That some 1nalign IL
It 1uence had fallen or his world wa
clear enough; but the cause Of it,