The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-09-06

grown up a man," he continued, speak ing more calmly. "I have heard that since. But here it is different The curse never dies. It follows, day after day, year after year. And this child, more unfortunate than the wild things, was born oDe of them. If the winds had whispered the secret nothing would have come near him. The In dian women would sooner have touch cd she plague. He would have been an outcast, 'despfsed as he grew older, pointed at and taunted, called names which are worse than those called to the lowest and meanest dogs. That is what it means to be born under that curse-up here.''
 He waited for Thornton to speak, but the other sat silent and moveless across the table.
 ''The curse worked swiftly, m'sieur. It came first-in remorsAto the man. It gnawed at his soul, ate him alive and drove him from place to place with the woman and the child. The purity and love. of the woman added to his suffering, and at last he came to know that the hand of God had fallen upon his head. The woman saw his grief, but did not know the reason for it. And so the curse first came to her. They went north-far north, above the Barren Lands, and the curse followed there. It gnawed at his life untiEhe died. That was. seven years after the child was born.''
 The oil lamp sputtered and began to smoke, and with a quick movement Jan turned the wick down until they yvePa left in darkness a
 ''M'sieur, 1t was then that the curse began to fall upon the woman and the child. Do you not believe that about the sins of the fathers falling upon others? It is so, it is so. It came in many small ways, and then the curse it came suddenly-iike this.' Jan's voice came in hissing whisper now. Thornton could feel his hot breath as he leaned over the table, and in the darkness Jan's eyes shone like two coa1s of fire. ''It came like thisl'' pant ed Jan. "There was new missioner at the post-a-a Christian from the south, and he was a great friend to the woman and preached God, and she be- heved him. The boy was very young and saw things, but did not under stand at first. He knew afterward that the missioner loved his mothers OCdUIy anu (IlclL A0 II10Q udI0 u VIII it-and failed. for the woman until death would love only the one to whom she had given herself first. Great God, it happened then-one night when every soul was about the big fires at the caribou roast and there was no one near the lonely little cabin where the boy and his mother lived. The boy was at the feast, but he ran home with bit ofs dripping meat as gift for his mother, and he heard her cries and ran in, to be struck down by the missioner. It happened then, and even the boy knew and followed the man, shrieking that he had killed his mother" There was a terrible calmness now in Jan's voice. "M'sieur, it was true. She wasted away like a flower after that night She died and left the boy alone with the curse. And that boy, m'sieur, was Jan Thoreau. The woman was his mother"
 There was silence now,. dead, pulse less quiet, broken after a moment by a movement. It was Thornton, grop- ing across the table. Jan felt his hands touch his arm. They groped farther in the darkness, until Jan Thoreau's hands were clasped tightly in Thornton's.
 'And that-is alI?" he questioned hoarsely.
 -'No, it is but the beginning" said Jan softly. '"The curse has followed me. m'sieur, until am the unhappiest man in the world. Today I have done all that is to be done When my fla ther died he left papers which my mother was to give to me when I had attained manhood. When she died they came to me. She knew nothing of that which was in them, and I am glad, for they told the story that have told to you, m'sieur, and from his grave my father prayed to me to make what restitution I could. When he came into the north for good he brought with him most of his fortune, which was large, m'sieur, and placed it where no one would ever find it-in the stock of the great company. A half of it. he said, should be mine The other half he asked me to return to his children and to his real wife if she were living. 1 have done more than that, m'sieur. I have given up all, for none of it is mine. A half will go to the two children whom he de serted. The other half will go to the child that was unborn. The mother is-dead.''
 After. a time Thornton said:~