The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-01-21

that she was beautiful. r would be
'uBg,, :uIIqSnBToN IofBN ..fuBuoAA,,
proud to cry aloud, 'FThis Is my daugh-
teri" To prom. enade with her or my
ARMAND I must hide this secret from
All the world h is my torture. And
It is the chastisement OF all that has
not been right in my life. All, sad, UNI
happy Lowest That same malediction
for the past came to his lips as IL had
come to his thoughts. The old work
man, burdened with labor throughout
the week, who could promenade on the
Boulevard de Clichy on Sunday. with
his daughter on his arm, was happier
than Revere. And--a strange thing.
sentiment of shame and remorse-feel-
ing himself travelling fast to his last
resting place In the cemetery, he
pressed nc wish to see that child, to
send for her to come to Blois under
some pretext or other, easy enough to
find.
'No, he experienced a fierce desire
for solitude, he shrank from an inter-
view In which he feared all his grief
would rush to his lips In a torrent of
words He feared for himself, for his
weakness, for the strange feeling he
experienced in his head.
cit seems as IL 1t loscillated upon
my shoulders. he said. If Marthe
came'-and he repeated the name as a
child would have pronounced IL who
was just learning to name the letters
OF a word-I would give her but the
sad spectacle OF a broken down man
and leave on her mind only the impress
sion of a human ruin. And then-and
then--not to see her, not to have the
right to see her, that is all right-it is
my chastisement.'
'Let 1t be so. / understood. / feared
that an interview would be mortal; he
had been SO terribly agitated when he
had sent for me that other time.
but / at least wished to recall to
him his former wish which he had ex-
pressed OF providing for the girls fu-
ture. 1 desired that he should make up
for the past, since money is one OF the
forms OF reparation. But / dared not
speak to him again In regard to 1t or OF
that trust of which he had spoken.
He said to me, this strong man
whom death had never frightened and
whom he had braved many times, he
said to me now, weakened by this ILL
ness which was killing him hour by
hour:
III I knew that my end was near, I
would decide. But / have time
Thine! Each day brought him a lit
tie nearer TO that life about which I
feared to say to him, The time has
come The fear, In urging him to q
last resolution, of seeming like an exc
c%utioner whose presence seemed to say
Today is the day. prevented me. You
understand, monsieur? And why not?
I ought to wait no longer. Rovere's
confidence had made of me a second
Revere who possessed the strength n
force of will which the first one now
lacked. i felt that / held in my hands,
so to speak, Marines fate. 4 did not
know her, but / looked upon her as a
martyr In her vocation Of nurse to the
old paralytic to whom she was paying,
In love, the debt of the dead wife. I
said to myself: 1T Is to me, TO me
alone, that Revere must give instruc-
tions Of what he wishes to leave to his
daughter, and IL is for me to urge him
to do this. 1T is for me to brace his
weakened will was resolved. 1t
was a duty Each day the unhappy
mans strength failed. 1 saw it-this
human ruin. One morning, when 1.
went to his apartments, / found him I'm
a singular state OF terror. He related
me a story, 1 Knew not what, OF a
thief, whose victim he was. The lock of
his door had been forced, his safe
opened. Then suddenly, interrupting
himself, he began to laugh-a feeble
laugh, which made me Ill.
81 am a fool he said. Il am dream
ing awake, / continue in the daytime
the nightmares of h night. A thief
herel No n has come. Nine. Moniche
has watched. But my head is so weak,
80 weak! Il nave hHOWA ~ Audny TdS-
cals in my life. Rascals always return,
hein!'
HE made a sad attempt at a laugh.
cit was delirium--a delirium which
soon passed away, but which frightened
mo. 1t returned with increased force
each day and at shorter intervals.
We'll, I said TO myself, during a
lucid interview, He must do what he
has resolved to do. what he had willed
to do, what he wishes to dot And I
decided-it was the night before the as
sasslnation--to bring him to the point,
to aid his hesitation. / found him
calmer that day, He was lying on his
lounge, e~nveloped in his dressing gown.
with a travelling rug thrown across his
thin legs. With his back skull cap and
his grayish beard he looked like a dying
doge.
"He held out his bony hand to me,
giving me a sad smile, and said that he
felt better, a period of remission in
his disease, a feeling of comfort, per"
vading his general condition.
(C~ontinued Next Weekl