The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1913-09-24

moved on to the wild sweet music.
Way down upon de S'wanee RID
ber." the Negroes sang. and the ship
was at the turn OF the river The
stately walls OF Roanoke House, the
green slope crowded with figures OK
his friends. the sparkling waterfront
tho current had swept away all OK
the picture and he could only hear
that wailing music OF the Negroes
voices, lower, more ntful: and now
II was gone. He had left Virginia;
ne was on his way to friends. And Tor
all his JOY OF going. he was heavy
hearted for the leaving.
The weeks went slowly at sea. but
after a while he had landed. was IN
France. was at VicQues. He had seen
his mother, with her hair whitened
by those years Of prison life--a happy
woman now. full OF business and re-
sponsibility. yet always with . rapt
look in her face IS Of one who lived
in q deep inner quiet. He had talked
long talks with his prosperous father
and slipped into his old place among
his brothers and sisters, utterly re-
fusing to be made . stranger or .
great man. And over and over again
he had told the story of his capture
and the story Of his escape and the
story Of the Count Won Gersdorfs
great fancy for the song which they
all knew:
de tous cote's ron dit que je suis
bette:
Celia SO peut' ut dependant TENS
ris."
Family. old friends who gathered TO
see the. little Francois Beaupre who
had gone 20 far from his village. all
these hummed the song with him as
he came to that part Of his tale. and
then reared with laughter as he told
over again how hs had written 1t on
the note left for the governor. the
night of his escape. That was dis
tinctly the best part of the chronicle
of Francois, 10 the taste Of the Jura
peasants.
At the castle the returned wanderer
picked up no less the thread dropped
SO suddenly seven years before. The
general, to whom the boy seemed his
boy risen from the dead. would hard
" let him from his sight; Alike kept
him In Q tingling atmosphere OF ten
derness and mockery and sisterly de-
votion. which thrilled him and chilled
him and made him blissful and
wretched by turns. The puzzle OF
Alike was more unreliable than the
puzzle Of the sphinx to the three men
who loved her-to her father and
Francois and Pietro. The general
and Francois spoke of It guardedly. In
few words, once In long time, but
Pietro never spoke. Pietro was there
often, yet more often away In Lon
don. where the exiled Mazzini, at the
head Of one wing Of Italian patriots.
lived and conspired. And other men
appeared suddenly and disappeared
at the chateau, and held conferences
with tho general and Francois In that
large dim library where the little
peasant boy had sat with his thin
ankles twisted about the legs Of his
high chair. and copied the history
OF Napoleon. These men paid great
attention nowadays to the words Of
that peasant boy.
"As soon ~ you are q little strong
err" they said. there Is much work
for you to do" and the general would
come In ct that point with q growl
like distant thunder.
He 10 to rest" the general would
order. HE 10 to rest till he Is well
He has done enough: let the boy
alone, you others"
But the time came, six months after
his return, when Francois must be
sent 30 visit the officers Of certain
regiments thought to be secretly Bon
aparttst; when only he. 1t was be-
lieved. could get into touch with them
and tell them enough and not too
much Of the plans of the party, and
ind out where they stood and how
much one might count on them. So.
against the generals wish, Francois
went OF on q political mission. II
proved more complicated than had
seemed probable: he was gone q long
time; he had to travel and endure
experiences for which he
was not yet IT. SO that when he
came home to vicques. two months
later, he was white and transparent
and III. And there were some Of the
men at the chateau to
meet him. delighted, pitiless. De-
lighted with the work he had done,
with his daring and finesse and sue
cess. without pity for his weakness,
begging him to go at once on another
The general was firm as
to that; his boy should not be hound
ed: he should stay at home In the
quiet old chateau and get we'll. But
the boy was restless; q fever Of en-
thusiasm was on him and he wanted
to do more and yet more for the
Princes work.
= Moreover. It was SPOUT as much
misery as Joy to be near Alike. Every
day he narrowly escaped taking her
into his arms and telling her how he
had loved her and did love her and
would love her always, right or wrong,
or unreasonable. II was
almost more than he could do to re-
sist that temptation at times. And at
times It seemed that Alike, with the
swift lift of those long black lashes.
and the blue CLEAN Of her eyes into
hist seemed as II she were telling
him not to resist any longer. He did
not know; II he had been sure what
sort OF love that glance meant-if he
had been sure II was not the sisterly
sort-he was human-he could not
perhaps. have resisted. But Alike
vas q thousand things In . minute; no
one could be 80 alluring. SO cold. SO
warm, 20 fascinating. so forbidding-
al at once. How could Francois tell
what was mask and what reality in