The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-11-16
THE KEEPER OF THE LIGHT
By VICTOR ROUSSEAU
 htd1esby yHaper& &Rroso

do with such sharp earsf' he continued. hunor- ously. Now, my friend, heard you n1isjudging that fine man downstairs Perhaps if you heard his story-
 I cannot reproduce his words, with their quaint accentuation, the stumbling idios, and the strong phrases struck from the mans enkindling anger and sense of stern justice: in the dors roo with the bell-buoy booming below and the figure of the graybeard only blur against the spears of the fire. But it substantially this:
 Twenty years before yacht lay in the little hay. Its owner the of rich man. milf Eonaire n those days, before wealth had heaped up fortunes for its possessors Tete des Roehers then substantially the now, save that the cottages did not extend far along the bluff, and the salmon swarmed in June up the Black River, where now~.t the logs of the lumber mill float in the dam The yacht anchored off the small pier; it's owner spent each day ashore. fishing. Sometimes when he tired of the sport, he passed his days the stoop of the house of the village postmistress, whose husband acted as his guide
 pictured the scene at evening: girls stro1ng in along the pier to the yacht once mora and exchange words with the sailors; little group testing with one who walked alone. then, seeing young approach her. making off. calling back:
 tRun, Lisette. Here comes Pierre If he should catch you you cannot escape him.
 Envious were the g1ances that some cast back at him, for Pierre Desmoulins with his fine figure and handsome face, could have many girl in Tete Ses Rochers in place of Lsette Tremblay the daugh ter of the pestmistress, though he one of the hfe-boat crew and the death of his father in the of the sea foreshadowed his own.
 Pierre caught the girl by the arm and linked his own through hers. Thus they passed onward toward silent. she always silent Gradually, before the girls indifference, Perre'sz speech died away.
 They stood at the piers end, side by side, their longer linked 4 tourist boat had cast anchor and her thronged the decks. star ing at the fisher girls. plying their lonely lives
 How happy they those people,. murnured
 aOh, some are happy and some are not re- sponded Pierre. sagey. rBut they conceal their rovs--as we do.'
 But they free and they go where they will' said the girl .eThey are going-to Gaspe," she said, with indravn breath
 Pierre turned and looked her.
 When married you will roam," he replied linking his through hers again.
 But she detached herself and stood gazing hard to sea- watching the gu11s' flight into the gray shadows that crept over the waves. The steamship had cast off. and already beginning to recede into the twilight The opposite shore had vanished in the night rsts and of the depths the vessel alight from stern to bow. blazed like galaxy of stars.
 And he too, would soon go thus, into that outer world-the young yachtsman who had first taught her that she was lonely.
 voice hailed her, pitched just as to reach her She started and glanced toward the yacht. Pierre talking the harbor-naster and did not A was beckoning to her fron~the bow she knew him: Mark Frere, who cargoes of con-
  ister reputation the coast folks She him laugh, and his voice accentuated the horror of the lonely shore The incoming tide, turning the brack is water salt began suddenly to lap the rocks and send little rippies of spray. Next moment Pierre came back; he had observed nothing.
 'You are sad, Lisette," he said "But when we married you will forget sPerhaps--".
 He could continue, for the shadow that op- pressed her seemed to fall upon him also; Loneliness of men who strive against the mighty forces of the hills and the sea-
 She watched him in terror Always that riage. Would he never talking of 1t? More silent than before they retraced their steps toward the cluster of log houses under the pine-topped cliffs.
 Later that night while Lisette hemmed her we'd ding clothes in the kitchen, Pierre talked with her mother, the old postmstress and the unheeded tel egraph clicked ifs messages from village vi- 1age along the shore The girl caught fragments of messages that came of the void through miles of emptiness. Suddenly E1O HO ticked out It the call for Gaspe-
 Gasps the ultimate port the gray shores of the St Lawrence seemed the end of the world to her. And the yacht was going to Gaspe; going soon, go- ing soon The telegraph sang the words to her: soon, soon,l soon, soon
 The old woman, having heard Pierre's story. laid her knitting aside and called
 ssLisette come here F she cried. 5s-S
 The girl came slowly in, her fingers picking the garment that she held
 s"Pierre complains that want to postpone the wedding again ; she grumbled- Why you foolish, child? If you don't take you will lose him, He is to be trihed with Has the cure talked with you?
 She scolded her. while her father, the haf-witted man who guided the yachtsrnan, stroIed in, chuck ling and rubbing his hands.
 s"Teans' ed tf1e. to .here