Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1914-06-04

NoA'o Chateau, ttidt pic Ql kutilplco
ruins which Francois loved. The
castle ia g massive square of gray stone
With a pointed roof of red tile; four
towers flank it, two battlemented. two
with spires red tiled. Windows narrow
and high and round, meurtrieres in the
towers, prick the stretch of masonry;
the front facade Ii battlemented; a
hedge of thorns Is feet high reaches q
delicate green arm about its strength;
half a mile Jack 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
about the castle: above it n sees
only the red roofs, and the towers, and
glimpses OF gray stone. 1t was like
this in the year of 1900; 1t is like this
today.
The Baron-General Gourgaud. taking
possession in the month of July,
thought it 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
~boyhood-for the Cross of the Legion
of Honor had come to him at A-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 one of three officers to
oS III 4Al1Al ~ NJ IlClC1los ~
chateau and estate Of Vicques had been
given to him by the emperor after that
brave and lucky moment at Moscow
when, the first ma to enter the Krem-
lin, he had snatched the match from a
mass OF sunpowder which would q mo-
ment later have blown up both officers
and emperor. But, what with battles
and diplomacy, what with years at ST.
Helena and the years in England after,
he had not till this summer of 1920
seen his property. Now, at once his
heart went out to it, and he loved 1T as
naturally. as Fundamentally 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 its 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 h had left was now
a girl OF seven, a fairy type Of girl,
airily and daintily made, quickfooted
n 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"
Il know" the girl interrupted, com
AooS-AAhC. L hllOW lllC lduII i udVS. l.
am not a boy. But I do not wish to be
a boy, father. / would then grow to be
a great fierce person with a mustache'
and the two laughed together Men are
more like the brutes. like the horses or
tigers or lions-like you, father. 1t 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
eyes cleaning with pride In the defi-
ance. Is 1T SO, my daughter? / am
lucky to have some n who is really
a person to save me from being a
brute altogether. But all the same
you grand lady and person, you can not
hand down the name Of Gourgaud. You
Will fly off some day to a brute with q
mustache, n leave your father alone
in this big chateau, is 1t not?" He
knew her answer, but he liked to hear
IT shall never marry anybody"
Alike announced. II can not ever love
any n like my father"
In spite of the satisfaction which
this speech gave him, it was a sadness
to the baron that no %grandchild o.
OF. his name would live in this chateau
which he had so soon loved so much.
He thought Of 1t many times, and the
more keenly he felt the joy of his life
sAS AS hSSAAASt ~ 4GAL ILLS HllS6lIlk
thread in its pattern. Yet it seemed a
disloyalty to Alike when the memory
OF the little pleasant boy with the
large dark eyes came to him as he
told stories to his daughter in the
twilight. The story of the battle of
Ratisbon 1t was tonight, and how HI
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 her
hands clutched his coat lapels-she
loved the tale, Yet into the mind OF
Gaspard Gourgaud shot the idea that
IL he were telling it to a boy Of his, he
might dream how thai boy would
march away some day and do such a
deed with a memory of his father in
his soul. Yet no boy could ever have
been so dear to him as this girl,
gentle and spirited, elusive, caressing.
sweetest always in the world.