Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1914-03-06
CHAPTER VII.

In the claw-footed, carved, old ma
hogany desk of a Virginia house, in a
drawer where are packets of yellowed
letters tied up and labeled, Is a letter
written years later, referring to that
earlier time in France. Perhaps this
bit of the chronicle of Francois Beau
pre- could not be told SO wildly as in
these words of Francois written from
his prison. He begins with the &C
count Of an adventure, Of a ride for
life.
80, dear Alike" he finishes this
the detailed story OF his capture
down went the poor horse, and owe
his head l spun into the ditch with
a bump on the skull which dazed me.
And when | came to there were the
heavy Austrians around me, gaping
to see the Prince. And only Francois
Beaupre to see, which they found III
pretty promptly, as I have told you
before, and also how l { efied them.
In a great danger they say one
thinks more clearly than usual-one's
mind works with smoothness and at
leisure. It was so during that ride.
for l followed u as / dashed along,
hearing the shouts of the men back
of me, the whole train of circum-
stances from one of those mornings
with Cog in the park, to his adven-
ture of life and death. 1t was the
morning-you will know before I say
it-when Jean Philippe Moison, in his
lovely purple clothes, came mincing
down the graveled drive, as If afraid
of spelling his good shoes-and l
think he was-to the seigneur, who
taught us to ride Cog. Do you re-
member how your father Numbered at
him?
"a strange monsieur to see me?
Impossible! l am engaged. Tell him
I will O 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 here! What
do you mean by that? Bring the mon
sieur to me- And the purple clothes
few minutes cleaning in the sun
against the gray old walls-I can see
1t all now, Alixe-like a large violet
blossom of a strange flower. And be-
hind Jean Philippe was a tall man
in a long travelling cloak. and behind
him q tall little boy. And as they
came the seigneur turned to go to
meet them, and stopped and stared.
And the monsieur in the CLOAK stopped
and stared; and you. mounted on Coo,
and 1, holding Coos bride, watched
c%uriously, because of the other child,
and we saw how the seigneur sud
denly began to shake as II i'll. and then
with a hoarse shout rushed to the
tall man and threw his arms about
him and held him, and sobbed aloud.
That was q strange thing to e the
seigneur do, and l neve forgot it. And
to think that the child who stood
there, shy and unknown, was Pietro!
It seems unreasonable that ever there
was a time when you and Pietro and
I did not know n another well.
"As rode that day, with the Aus
TRANS after me. I thought out the
whole chain of events; how Pietro had
come and had stayed while his father.
the marquis. went to America, and had
fitted into our life and become dear to
us, the big, beautiful, silent lad. And
how then, because Of the death Of the
marquis, Pietro had come under the
charge of your father, the seigneur,
and how he and l went away together
to the military school, always more
and more like brothers and-all the
rest. l need not recite those things
to you, yet l like to do 1t. My
thoughts, in that wild dangerous mo-
ment, seemed to go in detail through
all, from the morning that the Mar
quis Zappi arrived with his little son
at the chateau, through the ten years
of our life together, to my coming
into Italy as his secretary-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
Pietro Zappi should be led into the
narrative by the hand of his closest
friend WIS the object for which the
letter was introduced, ana. that &C.
compliehed, the course of history
bends back to the quiet Valley of
Delesmontes and the children growing
up under the shadows Of the castle
towers.
The general. sitting in his library
the morning after the arrival chron-
icled in the quoted letter. stared at
his old friend from under his heavy
brows ~ II trying vigorously to con-
vince himself Of his presence. The
marquis, an Italian Of North Italy; tall
and proud and quiet, had the air more
of q student than of q 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.
$50 you see, Gaspard," the marquis
went on in his quiet reticent way,
that 1 have believed in our old friend
ship. / have taken for granted a well
come for my boy-I could not have
done 1t with another man. The voy-
age to America and my stay there
will last, it may be. a a I have
brought Pietro to leave him with you
if you will have him..
This old officer Of Napoleon had,
after all his battles and killings, the
simplicity and the heart Of his own
little girl. But be cleared his throat
hurriedly with a bravado of careless
ness. and before the marquis could do
more thar smile at him w%istfully. he
went on:
ct is all settled; there was no need
of a word: Pietro is my son till you