El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-11-24
By J. H. Rosuy0

A n immense flock OF ravens
"A lowered over and around the
4 two towers which thanked the
chateau Of my host, and often when
we went out walking these birds came
quite close to US and flew croaking
around our heads.
One morning when expressed my
surprise at this my host said: Well
you see the ravens and once en-
tered into an alliance"
He looked proudly and with beaming
ewes across the fertile fields to the
distant hills, rising IN the west CT
1 will tell you how ne salu-
was brought up by my uncle, Athanase,
a cold calculating, greedy ana So
man. He had charge OF the estate
left me by my parents on conditions
which left him much freedom Of &C
ton until my coming OF age ne
brought me up rudeIy ana exposed
me to many dangers in the nope that
I should die and leave him my in
heritance, as he was the only helr,.
But nature is not easily fooled When
I was turned over to Auhanase was
pale thin and siclzly, but instead OF
suffering under his harsh regime my
health kept on improving. As 1 grew
up I grew broad shouldered, deep
chested, strong and muscular, and my
health became insolent almost indie
when my uncle saw that neither
exposure TO cold weather, nor damp
rooms nor insufficient nourishment
were enough to put me into my coIIlns
he began to hate me. But. when
grew to be is, he suddenly changed
tactics and became disgusungly kind
and friendly. He fed me we'll, gave me
decent clothing ana even little
pocket money. Evidently he was be-
ginning to think Of the day when ne
was to account for his management Of
my fortune. I understood him wei
enough I could read his falsehOOd in
his yellowish eyes and hear his hatred
in his coarse laugh. ] lOathed him
and decided to make 1t as hot for him
as my lawyers could possibly do.
This praiseworthy resolution van
ished, however, because Of my COUSIN
Helene Jeanne She was three years
younger than I and until my nine
teenth year I felt nothing but friend
ship towards her. They very seldom
permitted US to be together. As long
as she was a child j thought very lit
tie Of whether she was beautiful or
not. Her hair, however, had always
struck me bv its length, golden color
and thickness.
when Helene Jeanne became 16. I
suddenly discovered that she was
on all my dreams were of her. 1t
was not very dangerous, for saw
her only about five weeks a year as
she spent most Of the year with an
'eThe year before I became Of age.
I saw more Of her and my love for
her grew. My uncle noticed 1t and DID
nothing to discourage it, but rather
did what he could to make 1t grow.
He never, however, allowed us to be
together alone as much as single
''The day before my twenty-first
birthday he encouraged me to speak
while we were walking together In
the park and, when I asked him for
her hand, he said;
81 have no objections to make and
only one condition to impose. You
must promise to say nothing about
this to anyone, not even to her for
Il promised and spent 4s hours in
an ecstacy Of delight. You may I'M
agine my state of mind when Ath-
anase presented certain papers for my
signature. I was too excited and de-
lighted TO thing Of studying them very
closely but simply signed one after
the other. Once or twice he tried to
explain something, but I did not listen;
/ just went on signing. / might have
been signing my own death sentence
for all I knew.
when had finished had received
only one third OF what ought to have
been mine. I had given up my landed
estates, changed them for stocks and
bonds of more or less doubtful value.
after a month my uncle began post 1
poning our engagement time and
again. Helene Jeanne had disappeared.
she was far away. At first she had
written to me- now I received no more
letters. One morning my uncle said
to me:
+" she has changed her mind
Il was In despair. At first I
thought of bringing suit against
Athanase, but I gave this up because
I knew that Helene Jeanne would
then be lost to me forever. I rOamed
restessly about the country In the
solitude of the hills and woods, and
often thought of committing suicide
until the raven came.
1T was quite a young raven, of 20
9r perhaps 80 years, a great black
bird which settled down on the tower
Of Athanase's castle. I don't know
what caused my uncle to hate it. but
a war broke out between man and
bird
"Athanase tried to exterminate II
with shots and gun. He sneaked up
near it, pressing himself flat against