Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-09-02
CHAPTER XXI.
LUCY TOLD.

lHe prince was gone. mere mao Deen
festivities and formalities. great din
ners. gatherings of the Virginia nobility
to do honor to his highness at Roam
k House and elsewhere; everywhere
the Chevalier Beaupre had been dis
tinguished by his highness' most
marked favor. And Lucy Hampton's
eyes had shone with quiet delight to
e it and to see the effect on her IA
ther. For the colonel, confused in his
mind as to how it might be true. re-
l%uctantly acknowledged that there must
be something Of Importance about the
Chevalier Beaupre. that a prince should
treat him as a brother. He believed that
it would be best to treat him-he also
at least as a gentleman. So the French
lessons We're continued and the Jeffer-
son troop was encouraged. and Fran
co.'s was asked often to Roanoke House.
And as the months rolled on he tried
with every thoughtful and considerable
effort to express to the little lady of the
manor his gratitude for the goodness of
her family. 1t troubled him more than
q little that the early friendliness of
Harry Hampton seemed to be wearing
off. h boy did not come so often to
CarnifaN. and when he came he did not
stay for hours. for days sometimes, as
was his way at first. He was uneasy
with his friend. and his friend Won
dered n did not understand. but hes
1tated to push a way into the lads
heart. HE will tell me in time"
thought Francois. and. sure of his own
innocence. waited for the time.
Meanwhile. he was going home. Go
ing. much against the advice of the
Norfolk doctor. who warned him tha
he was not yet we'll or strong. that the
out-of-door. life. in the mild Virginia
climate should be continued perhaps for
w Years more. before he went back to
the agitation and effort of a Bona
partist agent in France. But he could
not wait; he must see his old home, his
mother, his father. and all the unfor-
gotten faces. He longed to watch the
black lashes curl upward from the blue
Of Alixe's eyes. He longed to hear her
clear voice with its boyish note of cour-
age. 1t would put new life into him,
that voice. 1t was seven years now
n more since he had left them all at
q days notice to go to Pietro in Italy
to a living death of five years, to many
undreamed of happenings. The fever
was on him and he must go home.
There was to be a celebration for the
new and very fashionable cavalry troop
or Which Francois was the unofficial
backbone and author. In the great
grassy paddock at Bayly's Folly the
proud mother of 1S-year-old Caperton
Bayly-irst lieutenant. and the most
finished horseman in the Virginia coun-
ty-had invited the gentry from miles
about to feast with her and to watch
her son and his friends SHOW how the
val Beaupre had made them into
soldiers. They came in shoals, driving
from far off over bad roads i'll big
lurching chariots, or riding in gay COM
panies. mostly Of older men and girls
n young boys. because all of the
gllded youth were in the ranks that
day.
The day was perfect; a day remem-
bered in that part of Virginia among
the great families who came to see
their boys ride. Yeardleys and Carriers
n Littletons and Letchers and Bow
Harrisons and Bowdoins and Castle
burys and Churchills and Wises and
Fitchetts and Stewards and Wards
and the rest Of them. names there in
virginia when Charles 1 was king. The
ols CARRIAGES were drawn up in a
n horsewomen stood about nicta,ra
esquely IN and out of the saddle. ak
ing, watching, admiring the SURPRISING
military things which their sons and
brothers n sweethearts were doing.
And the lads went through their drill
and horse flesh formed in tours. in
twos, melted into l~ong-drawn lines.
wound into close ~concentric circles and
unwound again. and charged and dis
mounted and leaped into the saddle. at
Harry Hampton's shouts of command,
with surprising accuracy; also to the
u%nbounded pride of Francois, who. in
the ranks, watched every evolution,
every move Of every rider, with anxious
delight. They did wondersi the horses
were on their best behavior and pushed
into the places they had learned SO
eagerly that the riders needed hardly t.
guide them at all: the whole graceful,
inspiring exhibition Of strength and
skill and youth and vigor went with
out a fault. Harry Hampton, ushed
with deep pleasure at this first trial Of
strength Of his life where he had been
leader. was 10 happy that Francois al
most forgot to gallop to the head OF the