Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1912-02-23

Ouereu them lmpulSlvely TO the aged
hero
Take these. mon brave" she saiL
lightly. you have fought for France"
The old man was confused and his
faded eyes filed For me. mademoi.
seller"
Surely
Thanks, mademOiseIle. thanks.
saw him when they brought him back
from St Helena. and the Old Guard
waded out into the Seine. Those were
days. Thanks. mademoiselle: an old
soldier salutes you" And the time
bent, withered form grew tall.
Fitzgerald cleared his throat, for just
then something hard had formed there.
Why, God bless her! She was the
kind of girl who became the mother
of soldiers.
With her departure his present in
terest here began to wane. He won
dered who she might be and what part
Of his native land she adorned when
not grazing European capitals. Well.
this was no time for incoming. He had
arrived from London the day preced-
ing and was leaving for Corfu on the
morrow, and perfOrce he must crowd
many things into this short grace of
time
Today his sightseeing ended in the
hall of Turenne, before the souvenirs
of the Due de ReichStadt, so called
the king of Rome Poor, little lead
soldiers, furnished and broken; what
a pathetic history! Abused. ignored.
his childish aspirations trampled on,
the name and glory of his father made
sport of; worried as cruel children
worry puppy, tantalized, hoping
against hope that this night or the
next his father would dash in at the
head of the Old Guard and take him
back to Paris A plaything for Meter
mich! Who can gaze upon these little
toys without a thrill of pity2
Poor little codgerr Fitzgerald muir
INJURED aloud.
"Yes, yes" agreed a voice in good
English, over his shoulder who will
ever realize the misery of that bOy?"
Fitzgerald at once recognized his
jousting opponent of the previous hour.
Further, this second appearance re-
freshed his memory. He knew now
where he had met the man; he even
recalled his name.
Are you not Karl BreitmannT he
asked with directnesS.
Eyes. And you are-let me think.
Yes; / have it. You are the American
correspondent. Fitzgerald"
And we met in Macedonia during
the Greek war"
Right! And you and !, with a hand
full of other Scribblers slept that night
under the same tent"
by George"
Il did not recall you when we
bumped awhile ago, but once had
gone by you your face became singu-
larry familiar"
Funny. isn't it," And Fitzgerald
took hold of the extended hand THE
sight of these toys always gets into my
heart"
Into mine Also Who can say what
might have been had they not crushed
out the great spirit lying dormant in
his little SOul?"
Fitzgerald smiled You are an en-
thuSiast like myself"
who wouldn't be who has visited
every battlefield. who has spent days
wandering about Corsica. Elba. st.
Helena? But your
My word. ! have done the same
things"
They exchanged smiles and drifted
into a long conversation and fought a
dozen battles. compared this general
and that and built idle fancies upon
what the outcome would have been
had Napoleon won at Waterloo This
might have gone on indefinitely had
not the patient attendant finally dan
died his keys and yawned over his
watch. 1t was o'clock. and they had
been talking for q full hour. They ex-
changed cards. and Fitzgerald. with
his usual disregard of convention, in
vited Breitmann to dine with him that
lvening at the Meurice
He selected a table by the window.
dining at 100 Breitmann was prompt
In evening clothes there was some
thing distinctive about the man. FitZ-
gerald, who was himself a wide trav-
eler and a man of the world. instantly
saw and WAS agreeably surprised that
he had asked a gentleman to dine.
Fitzgerald was no cad: he would have
been just as much interested in Brett
mann had he arrived in a cutaway
sack. But chance acquaintance. as a
rule. are rudimental experiments.
They sat down. Breitmann was
full Of surprises. and as the evening
wore on Fitzgerald remembered
having seen Breitmann's name at the
foot Of bic newspaper stories. The
man had Travelled everywhere. spoke
five languages. had been a war cor.
respondent sailor in the sonth seas