Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-06-03

them. One wonders why the grand
father of the grandfather of Pierre
built his bari at his place, but there 1t
stands. n the horses must accustom
themselves.
1t is n quaint old village sitting UNI
der it's mountains, "a with it's gardens
and poppy fields. strung on it's little
river n it's old, old highway. tied to-
gether with its steep-arched bridge.
The general looked o him with APP
prevail when he drove down of a morn
ing from the new" chateau on the hill.
The new chateau, the castle, is 1000
years old. built before the crusades, In
the time of Charlemagne. but yet hab-
liable. 1t stands not distant from and
on the same spur of LIE Rose as h old
Roman chateau. that pile Of tumbled
ruins which Francois loved. The
with q pointed ROOT of red tile; four
towers flank it. two battlemented. w
with spires red tiled. Windows narrow
and high n round, meurtrieres in the
towers, prick h stretch of masonry;
h front facade is battlemented; a
hedge of horns Is feet high reaches a
delicate green arm about it's strength;
half a mile back a stone wall battle
mented. too, defends the place from
attack on the mountain side; the noun
tain rises sharply 500 feet high behind,
A park of beech trees stands stately
the castle: above it one sees
only the red roofs, Inc the towers, and
glimpses Of gray stone 1t was like
this in the year of 1900; it is like this
today.
The Baron-General Gourgaud, taking
possession in the month of July,
thought 1T lucky he had not seen this
domain Of his before. else the vision
would have turned his heart from his
duty. After a full career almost in
INxyH0@1 F~n <I,~ HVn@r, 80 AI1 ~{~
of Honor had come to him at 24-after
service in the Spanish and Austrian
campaigns and diplomatic missions;
after saving the emperor's life at
Moscow: after Waterloo. Napoleon had
chosen him as n of three officers to
go with him to ST. Helena. The
chateau and estate Of Vicques had been
brave and lucky moment at Moscow
when, h first man to enter the Krem-
lin, he had snatched the match from a
mass of gunpowder which would a mo-
ment later have blown UP both officers
and emperor. But, what with battles
and diplomacy, what with ear at st.
Helena n the years In England after.
he had not till this summer of 1920
seen his property. Now, at once his
heart went out to 1t, n he loved 1t as
naturally, az whole-heartedly as If It
had come to him through a line of an
cestors. The splendid, gray, old pile, the
wide green fields, the little village nest
ling to it's castle-all this seemed to the
soldier of fortune not a strange new
luxury but like coming to his own.
Ten years before he had married;
four years after that his wife had died,
and the daughter she had left was now
a girl of seven, a fairy type Of girl,
airily and daintily made, quickfooted
and Quick-witted; unexpected, too, like
a fairy, and with a brave and obstinate
spirit which gratified her soldier father
every day.
"You are perfect in every way but
one. Alike" he said, as he swung her
high to kiss her. you are"
II know" the girl interrupted, COM
rade-like. II know the fault I have. I
am not a boy. But I do not wish to be
a boy, father. I would then grow to be
a great fierce person with q mustache"
and h two laughed together Men r
more like the brutes. like the horses or
tigers or lions-like you, father. It is
only women who are really people
dumode."
"Indeed!" General Courtyard re-
ceived the statement with his heavy
brows in a tremendous frown, and his
eye cleaning with pride In the def
ance. rs 1T 80, my daughter? I am
lucky to nave some n who is really
q person to save me from being q
Va oSASOoOSAAOAs 0uS GAL tAAO 06AAA0
you grand lady and person, you can not
hand down the name Of Gourgaud. You
will fly off some day to q brute with q
mustache, and leave your father alone
in this big chateau, is 1t not?" He
knew her answer, but he liked to hear
lie.
II shall never marry anybody"
Alike announced. II can not ever love
any one like my father"
In spite OF the satisfaction which
this speech gave him, 1t vas q sadness
to the baron that no grandchild of
Of his name would live in this chateau
which he had so soon loved SO much.
He thought Of It many times, and the
more 'keenly he felt the joy Of his life
the more keenly he felt this missing
thread in its pattern. Yet 1t seemed a
d~isloyalty to Alike when the memory
of the little pleasant boy with the
large dark eyes came to him as he
twilight. The story Of the battle OF
Ratisbon 1t was tonight, and how he
he had gone down into that GLORIOUS
ditch" and swarmed up the ladder with
the French troops under fire.
Alixe's blue. eyes flashed and hel
loved the tale. Yet into the mind OF
Gaspard Gourgaud shot the idea thai
IL he were telling 1t to a boy of his, he
might dream how that boy woull
march away some day and do such 8
deed with a memory Of his father IL
his soul. Yet no boy could ever have
been so dear to him as this girl
gentle and spirited, elusive, caressinE
sweetest always in the world.
CHAPTER v
HIS STAR
Father, father!" Alike dashed int.
the library the morning after the tai,
OF Ratisbon. 81 told you, mademoiselle