Ladysmith news. [volume] (Ladysmith, Wis.) 1906-1907, 1907-01-05
CHAPTER XVII.

spoken their last word about the
Brangwyn 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 it's various claims
of mind and body, had come to its own,
as it always does after any event, how
ever momentous, until the last event
of all
The cousins were at breakfast, and
old Sewar, with a napkin over his
arm, stood at the sideboard.
"Loy!" 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 1 want to ask your
advice about"
"All right" said Aloysius, looking
UP from the study Of that mornings
Times. "I'll be there"
Alexis finished his coffee, lit Gig
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.
'Tt promises" the other answered.
81 don't like the pose of the head,
though. You meant it for defance?'
Yes, that's the idea
''Have you a sketch anywhere"
mo- said Alexis; Il went straight
at it. I like to work large, and clay's
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 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
brick. If you want to utilize the idea
make a careful little sketch, and have
this thing broken up, and begin again,
de novo."
"Oh, dear, no. said Alexis, I'm not
going to have my Boadicea broken
up. Not by any manner of means. I'll
get her into a condition in which I can
work at her again. I'll make Sewar
spray her and cover her in wet cloths,
and she'll be all right in a week"
Very we'll" said Aloysius. We'll
see what you make of her The chin
wants lifting a full inch. You must
bring the eyelids lower. I should cut
the pupil deep = about two-thirds
seen. The right hands disproportion-
ate. It's three or four sizes larger
than the left Bringsit farther back
and mass it here"
"H'm!-yes,". Alexis answered,
watching his cousins hand as he drew
lines in the air Il think you're right,
so far. Do you know, old man, I'm dy-
ing to get back to work again? Tn
sick of this unoccupied, unsettled life.
l must take up something ambitious
something that will fasten on me and
distract my thoughts, or I do sincerely
believe l shall go mad. | begin to I'M
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"
81 was thinking of the poem" Alexis
answered. What masterpiece" he
BEGAN to recite, with vibrating voice
and dreadful eyes:
"And we'll" quoth he. "T know for truth
Their pangs must be extreme,
Woe! Woe! Unutterable woe!
Who spill life's sacred stream.
For why? Methought last night l
wrought
A murder-in a dream.
1t looked and sounded like a piece
of the intensest acting, and it startled
Aloysius, who never had thought his
cousin had any power that way. 1t
was not less than awful. The cry,
''Woei Woe! Unutterable woe" was
like the wall of a lost soul, and the
despairing toss of the hands that went
with it was as eloquent as the tone
itself Then the wall dropped to
hoarse whisper, the last word Of which
was barely breathed, and sounded hor-
rible because in some inexplicable way
the tone proclaimed the word lie and
the pretended vision a reality.
Hold ont" said Aloysius, sternly.
''Stop that! You make my flesh creep.
Come into the fresh air. Come into
the park
why not?" returned Alexis His
face was pale, but he had turned back
to his ordinary manner.
That scene, too, came back to Alloy
sius as he sat alone with those old let
ters And then that ever-memorable
walk, the true beginning of the mar
tyrdom he had endured SO long. Cole
looks, averted eyes, unrecognlzlng
stares from old acquaintance, people