Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1908-10-16


safety valves scattered over the face of
earth have trembled before giving way.
Pelee is trembling now, and there is
woman here whose safety is-important
to me- She is two miles away this mo-
ment, and am as powerless as a man in
a street fight, with his lady's arms about
him. What shall l do?"
Peter, there is a short cut" Breep
said.
''Tell me-" Constable urged.
"Are you Jealous and strong ng-souled?"
"Try me-"
At this juncture Soronia entered the
shop from the little court of the song
birds, filling the eyes of the Americans.
A dark, ardent, alluring face; flesh like
dull gold, made wonderful by the faintest
tints of ripe fruit eyes that could melt
and burn and laugh; fragile figure but
radiantly abloom, and as worthily draped
as young palm in vine richly blossom
ing. Such, vaguely, was Soronia. She
made one think of strange, regal flower,
an experiment of Nature, wrought in the
most sumptuous shadow of a tropic gar
den. She was gone. Breens face bore a
drained look
"An orchid?" he whispered "Will the
visitation be repeated? Do l wake or
sleep"
"Old Pere Rabeaut married French
woman" Constable observed
Some Daphne of the islands, she must
have beeu, since Pere Rabeaut does not
seem designed to father a SUNRISE" Breen
added, his eyes lost in the shadows of the
court, from whence the bird songs came.
Pere Rabeaut was a worthy soldier OF
France, have heard" said Constable. 81
have never seen the mother, but every
year | have seen Soronia-for moment
like this She was but child when |
came first-five years ago-but radiant
child even then"
Five years ago." Breen mused. "Fiv.
years ago | had not ceased to paint. |
should have put her on canvas"
! There was moment of silence, then
Constable said in low voice, II must go
back. Tell me the shorter way"
Peter, you are a man, and she WON
an. Forgive me, but / know what has
sprung into your heart in the past twenty
| four hours from the seeds that have been
there five years. Tell her-tel her all
about those five years and the one day
what they have meant to you, and your
dream of the future. If you tell her
nightly enough, she will follow you to
the Madame, and cast no longing look be-
hind l shall stay here for an hour or
two."
Constable left the shop. He was very
miserable, full of undirected wrath. New
er in his life before had there been a
time when a stiff shoulder, dollars, an ath-
letic mind, or all three, had failed entirely
to move an obstacle in his way. Here he
was ground by impotence absolute. The
| suggestion of Breen entailed such deep
and vital thing that he dared not think Of
it, here in the glaring day, with the pant
ing crowd about him. 1t was against the
very structure of his mind to act precipi-
lately in this, of all matters, most deli
cate. 1t is true that he meant now to
win Lara Stansbury, if such a stately
citadel lay within range of man of his
caliber; but he had vouchsafed to strike
only after a fawless investment were
| laid.
Breen did not return for luncheon,
| and the name of Pelee was not heard. In
his room afterward, Constable fell asleep,
with his face to the north. He awoke
out of a horrid dream, in which black
fingers were tightening, like garrote,
| upon his throat. 1t was the ash and
sulphur fumes again. Pelee was obscur-
ed by the fresh fog. Instantly, upon
awakening, the old thoughts and breads
! resumed their hateful swing in his brain.
The sight of the Madame, lying out in the
harbor, her needle-boom pointed like a
| black, feshless finger across the smoky
sunset, whipped him again to the sense
of action which had no means Of express
sion. Thoughts of the night-the locked
doors, the still halls, the wall of chill
dren from the native cabins, sleeplessness
without hope, vigilance without meaning
and this new master-romance shining far
and bright and alone, like a brave star
above wind-hurled clouds-out of these
were moulded thoughts of little mercy, as
the shadows grew long upon the whiten-
ing lawn.
Pelees moods were variable that after.
hoou. L ne Twilight DlouSul edSe again,
and with the old freshness of evening
came glad hour of reaction. There wns
ripping wave of merriment from the
darky quarters and a score of children
went blithely forth to bathe in the sea-
Never before was the volatile tropic soul
so imperiously videnced-simple hearts
which glow at little things, whose swift
tragedies come and go like Dlighting
winds, which slay but leave no wound.
Constable was ashamed for the mo
ment. Throughout the day his eyes had
fixed in stubborn gloom upon cataclysm
Up the stairway, airily as laughter, came
a bright melody from the piano. lie was
thrilled, and held, and his mind was stir
red with tenderness. She was like her
island people, quick to enter the groves
of serenity when the blach cloud had
blown by. Could Breen be right? he
thought. The suggestion appealed to him
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