Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1914-07-17
An
Quarrel
By DWIGHT NORWOOD

the OcIndd SOAutciS SLdlAOueu tutIC "
keep them ~subservient to their con-
querors. True, those provinces were
wrested from Germany. and many of
their inhabitants are Germans. 1t is
the French citizens who are FESTIVE
under German rule.
Among those French Alsatians who
returned to their homes after the war
which lost these provinces to France
was young Jules Laurant. eighteen
years old. His mother was a widow.
not yet forty, and still fair to look
upon. One of the German officers be-
longing to the army of occupation met
her and desired to marry her. But she
was not willing to give her son a step
father. and she was too patriotic to
marry a man whose business it was to
keep her country under a foreign yoke.
Besides these reasons, she had no love
for her adnirer.
Captain Won Gottschalk was not es-
pecially pleased at his refusal and
considered Jules Laurant responsible
for it. Consequently he took a great
dislike to the young But Jules
did not even know the captain had
proposed to his mother. Quite likely
had he known it he would have vigor-
ously opposed 1t; but, being ignorant
of the matter. he had nothing to do
with the refusal.
One day when Won Gottschalk was
marching at the head of his company
some persons standing on the sidewalk
looking at the soldiers jeered. 1t hap
pened that Jules Laurant was there.
Captain Won Gottschalk was very
wroth with those who had insulted
him and his command and saw Jules
standing near them. Jules had not ut
tered a sound. He had fought the
Germans, and they had conquered. He
was not the man to jeer at them.
though he burned to have another
chance to oppose them under arms.
Won G~ottschalk. feeling this was a
good opportunity to vent his spleen on
Jules and withal being very angry,
walked right past those who had given
the insult up to Jules and cuffed him.
Jules was unarmed. while the captain
held a sword In his hand. Jules could
not retaliate at the time. but be could
challenge his insulter to mortal COM
bat.
Jules went home and told his mother
of the circumstance. explaining to her
that it was not only his wish. but ac-
cording to custom, that he should send
a challenge to Won G~ottschalk. She
agreed with him. though she saw that
the matter was a misfortune to both
of them. The captain would be sup
ported by the German government.
and Jules, if he won in the fight. would
be made to suffer. for the captain. so
far as was known. had merely resent
ed an insult to himself and his com
pany which no officer of the German
army could brook and retain his COM
mission. For these reasons Nine. Tau
rant took the affair deeply to heart.
Captain Won Gottschalk was an ac-
complished swordsman.
To make a show of magnanimity he
gave Jules the choice of terms and
weapons. though as the challenged
party he was entitled to this choice
himself. Jules. who consulted his
mother in everything, was advised by
her to choose pistols at ten PAGES.
The night before the meeting Jules
left his waking in the morning to his
mother. She gave him a glass of wine
to drink before going to bed into which
she had dropped a soporifc powder.
AS soon as he had gone to sleep she
took his clothes into her own room
and. throwing herself on a lounge, rest
ed for the few hours remaining be-
fore going Oh to the ground. Then at
the first sign of dawn she put on her
sons clothes, wrapped a muffier around
her throat and the lower part of her
face. pulled a felt hat down over the
back of her neck to conceal her hair
and waited for her second.
Whether she revealed herself to him
or not on the way to the meeting has
been kept a secret with much of what
followed. On reaching the ground it
was suggested that she take OF some
Of the extra clothing that concealed
her identity, but she refused. Being
placed at only ten PAGES from her adj
versary, he would easily have recog-
nized her had it not been for her muf-
fer and the brim of her hat. which she
pulled down over her forehead. Two
signals were given-the one to aim, the
other to fire. Between the first and
the second signal Mrs. Laurant lifted
the brim of her hat and pulled down
her muller, exposing her face.
Never was a man more thoroughly
paralyzed by ir%resolution at a critical
moment. Should he shoot a woman
a woman to whom he had proposed
marriage.or permit her to shoot him J
Before he had made up his mind which
to do she had fired and put a ball into
his chest that dropped him on the
ground.
Mrs. Laurent's identity was exposed
to all the attendants. Realizing what
an unfortunate affair Captain Won
Gottschalk had fallen into. they pledg.
ed each other to secrecy, and he was
hurried to a hospital. He recovered
ord cx.frara1 %ho .rcua1 f0runoI ronrf