Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1914-07-01

AAAA GIN ! y ID oSoAR1 Ce AAO
leader of the village for play. who a "
1t. That game Of all games. riding. we
learned together and took the hard
knocks equally. Many times 1 have
thanked the seigneur for many things.
but so much. l believe. as 1
Austrians closing on me. for having
made me a Observation-Disclosures that
saved the prince.
In a great danger they say one
thinks more clearly than usual-one's
mind works with smoothness and at
leasure. 1t was so during that ride.
for l followed out Is I dashed along,
me. the whole train Of circumstances
from n of those mornings with Geo
in the park. to this adventure Of life
and death. 1t was the morning-you
VIII know before I say it-when Jean
Philippe Moison. in his lovely purple
clothes came mincing down the grav-
eled drive. as If afraid of spelling his
good shoes-and I think he was-to
the %seigneur,. who taught us to ride
Cog. Do you remember how your fa-
ther numbered at him?
"A strange monsieur to see me? Inn
possible! am engaged. Tell him 1
will not 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:
"SStop! Come back there! What do
you mean by that? Bring the monsieur
TO me. And the purple clothes disap-
peared and appeared again in a few
minut cleaning in the u against
the gray old walls-I can see it all now,
Al1xe-like a large violet blossom Of
a strange flower. And behind Jean
PHILIPPE was a tall mar j n a long
travelling cloak and behind him a tall
little boy. And as they came the seig-
neur turned to go to meet them, and
stopped and stared. And the monsieur
IN the cloak stopped and stared; and
you, mounted on Cog, and I, holding
Coq's bride, watched %cufiously, be-
cause of the other child, and we saw
how the seigneur suddenly began to
shake as If 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 a strange thing
to see the seigneur do, and I never for
got 1t. And to think that>the child who
stood there. shy and unknown. was
Pietro! 1t seems unreasonable that
ever there was a time when you and
Pietro and I did not know one another
we'll.
"A I rode that day. with the Aus
TRANS after me. I thought out the Whole
chain of events; how Pietro had come
dA0 Aao SIdyeu Wnlle MS Iatner, the
marquis, went to America, and had fill
ted into our life and become dear to us,
the big. beautiful, silent lad. And how
then. because of the death Of the mar
quis. Pietro had On under the charge
of your father, the seigneur, and how
he n I went away together to the
military school, always more and more
ike brothers and-all the rest. I need
not recite those things to you, YET I
like to do it. My thoughts, in thai
wild. dangerous moment, seemed to go
in detail through all, from the morn
ing that the Marquis Zappi arrived
with his little son at the chateau,
through the 10 years of our life togeth-
er. to my coming into Italy az his sec
retary-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 Pie
tro Zappt should be led into the mar
rattve by the hand Of his closest friend
was the object for which the letter was
introduced, and. that accomplished, the
course of history bends back to the
quiet Valley Delesmontes and the chill
dren growing up under the shadow of
the castle towers.
The general. sitting in his library the
morning after the arrival chrontcled
in the quoted letter, stared at his old
friend from under his heavy brows
as II trying vigorously to convince
himself of his presence. The mar
quis. an Italian OF North Italy.
tall and proud and quiet. had the air
more OF a student than a soldier. A
little the air, also of an invalid, for he
stopped and walked languidly, and a
cough caught him al times. He was
talking, on that morning in the library,
while the general listened; 1t was not
the usual order Of things. Work on the
book had been given over; the young
secretary had been ordered out to play
and outside. through the open window,
one heard the children's voices in
shouts and laughter. Alike and Fran
co.'s were teaching Pietro to ride Coo.
The marquis turned his head toward
the window 2 little as the sounds of
the general frowned ferociously. which
meant the same thing.
s o gee, Gaspard." the marquis
went on in his quiet reticent way, that
I have believed in u old friendship.
I have taken for granted a welcome for
my BOY could not have done 1t with
another man. Tho voyage to America
and my stay there will last, it may be
q year. I can not take the. boy with
me-he IL too young to travel as I
must. His brother died two years ago.
his mother is just dead; he Is lonely;
I could not leave him In Castelforte
my old friend. Gaspard Gourgaud. and
Of what we had suffered together. and
how suffering binds people: and I
thought OF words you said once. Cas-
pard. that II q time should como when
I needed you. no matter when or how,
you would be ready. So-though /
know that men In general forget and
live in the present, and fret to be re-
called to dead friendships-yet I dared
believe you were different. I have
brought Ptetro to leave him with you
IL you will have him, while I 70 to
America"
Nothing could have sone beyond the