The Tabor independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1913-19??, 1913-08-21

win give you a years rent for THAI
which viii cost you nothing"
You are like the rest or them re-
piled the man, placing the pitcher OF
fresh water on the table. "All promises.
One would think I had only TO open
the door and say, Monsieur what's
your-name, walk out
He left the cell, shutting the door
behind him and locking It, and De Lus-
sac lay down OF his bed again.
After a while he rose up, drew the
table beneath the window space, stood
on the table and, springing up, chung
to the window bars. He saw again the
battlement wall and against the sky
line y form of O sentry passing along
IL, Just as he Fad seen a passing sentry
on the evening before. The sight de-
pressed him. He began to recognize
that In the Bastile the guardianship
of prisoners had beeh reduced to q
science. Drawing the table back ia
It's place he sat down on his bed again
this time with his chin between his
hands.
All this Is a system said he, "and
there Is no system without some flaw
Let me find the flaw. These jailers o.
mine have been reduced from living
0AAA eAAAhhALb AACh W dulOIldId1 surely
that is q point for a mind alive and
fresh to work upon"
Two hours passed, and then tn,
Jailer returned with the coffee and roll
which formed the d~ejeuner OF the Bias.
tile; dinner was served at 2 o'clock
What time is it," asked De Lussac
as he sat down at the table.
Timer" said the man. 1--WE hav,
q NJ need for time here. It's time fol
your coffee. Time! Ma fol, IL yoI
once begin about that. you will become
Ike that merry gentleman down tn,
passage, who sings all day. The clocl
with US is b dejeuner hour, the din
ner our and the supper hour--a very
good timepieces too" He laughed a.
he went out.
De Lussac, with a sinking feeling a
his heart, drank his. coffee and crum
bled his roll. AS he did so he hearC
something whisk on the floor. 1t wa
the rat. Hastily he flung q piece of tn,
roll and the rat vanished with 1t. Tn,
thing and its antics stirred him almos'
to terror. ALT
Then, to divert his thoughts, he tool
the pen, ink and paper and began {.
write his letter to the governor.
It was q short letter. imply asktni
for an interview, and having folded thu
sheet he fastened It with b wafer an
directed II. Then he sat down again
on the side Of his bed. 1t was at Thu
moment. perhaps, that he first felt tn,
terrible sensation, almost impossible t
put in words, the feeling that time hai
stopped-that the hour is no longer {
boat taking us to any destination.
When the TALLER appeared at two
bearing h prisoners dinner; he fount
De Llssac seated on the side of hi
bed, staring vacantly before him.
He refused the food. He did not even
refer to the letter which was lying OF
the table; he seemed like a ma daze,
by a blow. Philosophy, that toy OF tn,
mind destroyed at once by grief OF
pain, was'no longer with this unfortu
nate gentleman. La bastile had at las
got him firmly In her grip. La bastile
that living pain made from dead stone
that despair embodied in masonry, haC
taken his mind prisoner as well as hi
body.
The ja!ler withdrew, grumbling t
himself. He knew the symptoms anc
he expected trouble. At 3 o'clock
when he brought the prisoner a change
of linen. De Lussac was no longer
seated on the bed; he was pacing TIT
| cell feyerishly.- His face. was white
and he turned such a ferocious glance
on his visitor that the man hastily
Withdrew.
Never mind" said he; "a little star
walton will bring him to his senses. w,
h see what he has to say at suppe
time" s"|
For. half an hour after the jailer lef
him De Lussac continued pacing the
floor. Then, suddenly, he broke out
shouting, raving, beating upon the door
with his fists, furious like q trapped
animal. He seemed fighting and strug.
Cling with something; he was strug,
Cling with la bastile.
The viewless one, whose integumenti
We're the walls and the doors, whose
jewelry was the locks, the chains anC
the bars, was at last at grips with him
He had said to himself, "Courage! ]
will disregard her, l will escape from
her. If 1 can not leave her in the body
I will kill myself and free my soul"
She had replied, at is your soul
want. Only men of spirit kill them,
selves: I will take your spirit away
their spirits. They make friends o.
rats. They are brave, they threaten
me with suicide, but they live to for.
get all that, and they die laughing and
singing like that merry gentleman
down the corridor"
Then he struck her and she STRUCK
him. using only his own force In re.
turning the blow. He shouted at her
and she shouted back in echoes of his
own voice. He wrestled with her, anG
she flung him IN the bed.
Spent, foaming at the mouth, bag,
gard and .dulled, he lay while she stoot
over him-towers and battlements-
armed, silent and victorious. She haC
reduced him without killing him. Tha'
was her victory. 1t would go on lik,
this the struggle Of the soul agains
her and her struggle against the soul
breaking the spirit, debasing the mar
till he began to play with rats or SIM
songs to her like the merry gentleman
down the corridor.