The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1914-06-25

tASs III WAlOio tTGlAH Ol iICulIlSldlASS
from one of those mornings with Geo
in the park. to this adventure OF life
and death. 1t was the morning-you
VIII know before / say it-when ear
Philippe Nelson. In his lovely purple
clothes. came mincing down the grav-
eled drive. as If afraid of spelling his
good shoes-and / think he waste
the seigneur, who taught us to ride
COD. Do you remember how your ia
Their Numbered at him?
"A strange monsieur to see me Inn
possible! / am engaged. Tell him I
will not see him.
And Jean Philippe smiling. for all
OF them understood the seigneur. and
saying gently, Yes, my seigneur,'
turned away with the message. And
your father shouted after him:
Stop! Come back there! What do
you mean by that? Bring the monsieur
to me- And the purple clothes disap-
peared and appeared again in a few
minutes cleaning In the sun against
the gray old walls-I can see it all now,
Allxe-ilke q large violet blossom of
a strange flower. And behind Jean
Phllllpe was a tall man in a long
travelling cloak and behind him a tall
little boy. And as they came the seig-
neur turned to go to meet them, and
stopped and stared. And the monsieur
IN the cloak stopped and stared; n
you, mounted on Cog, and I, holding
Coos bride. watched ~curiously, be-
cause of the other child, n we saw
how the seigneur suddenly began to
shake as If i'll, and then with a hoarse
shout rushed to h tall man and threw
his arms about him and held him and
sobbed aloud. That was a strange thing
to see the seigneur do, and / for
got it. And to think that the child who
stood there, shy and unknown, was
Pietro! 1t seems unreasonable that
ever there vas a time when you and
Pietro and 1 did not know one mother
we'll.
AS rode that day, with the Aus
TRANS after me, / thought out the whole
and had stayed while his father, the
marquis, went to America, and had fit
ted into our life and become dear to us,
the big, beautiful, silent lad. And how
then, because of the death Of the mar
qu1s, Pietro had come under the charge
OF your father, the seigneur, and how
he and / went away together to the
military school, always more and more
like brothers and-all the rest. I need
not recite those things to you, yet I
like to do it. My thoughts, in that
Wild, dangerous moment, seemed to go
In detail through all, from the morn
ing that the Marquis Zappi arrived
with his little son at the chateau,
through the 10 years of our life togeth-
er, to my coming into Italy as his sec
~retary-and from that, by a rapid step,
to this castle prison"
The rest of the letter belongs to a
later part of the story. That little Pie
tro Zappi should be led into the mar
rative by the hand of his closest friend
was the object for which the letter was
introduced, and, that accomplished, the
course Of history bends back to the
quiet Valley Delesmontes and the chill
dren growing up under the SHADOW of
the castle towers.
The general, sitting in his library he
morning after the arrival ~chronicled
in the quoted letter, stared at his old
friend from under his heavy broWs
as If trying vigorously to convince
himself of his presence. The mar
quis, an Italian of North. Italy,
tall and proud and quiet, had the air
more of a student thar a soldier. "A
little the air, also of an invalid, for he
stopped and walked %languidly, and a
cough caught him at times. He was
talking on that morning in the library,
while the general listened; it was not
the usual order Of things. Work on the
book had been given over; the young
secretary a been ordered out to play
and outside, through the open window,
one heard the chiidren's voices in
shouts n laughter. Alike and Fran
co.'s were teaching Pietro to ride Cog.
The marquis turned his head toward
the window a little as the sounds of
gaiety floated in and smiled gently, and
the general frowned f~erociously, which
meant the same thing.
s you see, Gaspard," the marquis
went on in his quiet reticent way, that
l nave believed in our old friendship.
l have X for granted a welcome for
my boy-I could not have lone it with
another man. The voyage to America
and my stay there will last, it may be
a year. l can not take the boy with
me-he is too young to travel as l
must. His brother died two years ago,
his mother is just dead; he is lonely;
1 could not leave him in Castelforte
alone with servants. So l thought of
my old friend, Gaspard Gourgaud, and
of what we had suffered together, and
how suffering binds people; and |
thought of words you said once, Gas
pard, that if a time hould come when
L needed you no matter when or how,
you would be ready. So-tllough /
know that men in general forget and
live in the present, and fret to be re-
called to dead friendships-yet / dared
believe you were different. / have
brought Pietro to leave him with you
If You will have him, while 1 go to
America"
Nothing could have gone beyond the
s~aFageness of the generals face as his
friend finished speaking. His eyes
flashed fire, his eyebrows gathered in
to a line of bushy defiance. his mouth
set grlnly; he was a living threat OF
assault and battery. His voice came
with a fierce rumble, well suited to his
look. IF you had not lone it, A~lessan-
dro," he growled, "if o had not trust
ed me, 1T" and with that the thun-
der storm broke down.
This old officer of Napoleon had, af-
ter all his battle and Killings, the sim
plicity and the heart of his own little
girl. But he cleared his throat hurried
ly with a bravado of carelessness, and
before the marquis could do more thar
smile at him wistfully, ne went on.
1T is all settled; there was no need
of q word; Pietro is my son till you
claim him from me, and glad enough ]
am to get him for as long as ! may. ]
nave q lien on a very good manner OF
boy already, young Francois Beaupre
whom / wished to adopt, but the lac
would not give up his parents. And
that makes me more eager for another
They will play better together and
work better together, and they will be
a good brace OF brothers for my Alike.
Your Alike" the marquis spoke re-