Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-09-24

Allxe's postscript were final. "Pietre
sends his love-" A -subsconscious
reasoning made him certain thai
Pietro would not have come into such
a letter If it had been indeed a q let
ter: that the three lines Of writ
ing just before the battle could
not have held another mans name,
ii they had been written to the
man whom she loved. Very dimly,
very surely the Prince concluded these
things; and then he lowered his cigar
and his gray dull eyes came down from
the ceiling and rested. kindly on the
radiant face. You are right. my
friend. 1t was an exquisite thought OF
Your lady-love to put this other
weapon. this bright sword of happi-
ness into your hand, to fight with to-
morrow. Nor Dieu, we will reward
her BY sending her back a marshals
patton by you; a marshals baton to-
morrow. Francois! How would it
sound par exemple, to say Madame la
Marechale'?"
The list from Francois eyes was like
a lamp.
My Prince-Sire-there are three
Things l have desired all my life, all
great things, but of them that one
the baton of a marshal--is the least.
II | might win her love-I have said;
II might help put you in Napoleon's
place and shout 'Vive IEmpereur' for
you on the throne of France; if /
might fulfil the emperor's prophecy
ana be not a marshal some day any
longer but a marshal of your empire
II is asking much of n lifetime, above
all for a man born a peasant, Is it not?
Yet of those three wishes one wonder
iei fuf1iment has come to me"-and he
grlpped his letter closer-''and once,
believe tomorrow brings. Before to-
morrow night"-his great eyes We're
lifted toward the ceiling of the room,
and in them was the rapt look Of the
child OF the farm house in the Jura, a
look of a seer of visions. a look that
caught at the Princes nerves. and made
him draw a breath quickly. Something
above myself tells me-" Francois said
slowly. and the words came with a
languid power, as If his personality
We're a medium, that before tomorrow
night the officers who stand about you
shall hail you emperor over the body
Of a man who lies before you"
In the silence, the princes watch
could be heard ticking. Francois
shivered violently.
"ugh!" he said, his teeth chatter
Ing. 1T gives me a crise de nerfs'.
that trick of vision seeing. 1 do not
Ike it.. and yet at times it seizes me.
Why should it come to a man happy
as l ana man who has dared ask
IN 4tioako III III SOOu
fairies; who holds M of them in his
hand"-he lifted the letter-"who sees
another in easy reach, and Who" he
smiled brilliantly. "who will be we'll
content without the third, my prince,
the first two being his" He shivered
again. rs the night raw? 1t is as if
1 We're in a grave this c%oldness," he
said, looking about With a disturbed
gaze, yet my life is just beginning"
Inc prince rose and tossed his cigar
to the fireplace. 1T is simply that you
are tired. Francois" he said in the
tranquil one which no peril disturbed.
'Ihe nerves of us all are stretched and
yours are the finest strung. Go to
bed. and at daylight you will be warm
enough. with the work that awaits us.
sleep Well-good night, my friend"
Later. in the darkness of his cham
per- FRINGE Louis lay awake, his i'm
asallatlon hlled with the man whose
dramatic personality appealed to him
as lew had ever done He thought of
ms own life, according to his lights
not a bad life, radically strong and
radically gentle, yet complicated. alb
normal from it's start, with MANY
and many stains; then of the
crystal clearness of this others. with
MS three wishes in which he trusted
as simply as a child would trust to the
fairies A small almost tender stole
across the mask-like features in the
dark. There is no doubt but the girl
VIII marry the marquis" he reflected.
.1et am glad l left him his hope and
his happiness" A vision of anc
beatified look rose before him.
a man tights better So" the prince
aloud. and. his own sad
ness forgotten in another mans 10y.
he fell asleep.