Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-08-21

trees. the moss and forest sponge undei
our feet. the very rocks were changed
by that weird medium. And when the
fog opened and we walked as through ar
endless tunnel of gray revolving stone
II was into a world that never existed
before and would never exist again.
There was no path. Creeping under
and climbing over obstacles, sometimes
inclosed by the whiteness of steam,
sometimes walking briskly across lighted
spaces, we reached gorge smoking as
the lake smoked in the chill of early
mornings. Vapor played all its freaks
on that brink. The edge had been sharply
defined But the fog shut around us like
a curtain, and we dared not stir.
Below a medallion shaped rift widened
out and showed us a scene as | have
since beheld such things appear upon
the stage. Within the round changing
frame of wispy vapor two men sat by a
fire of logs and branches. We could
smell wood smoke and hear the branches
crackle, convincing us the vision was
real. Behind them stood a cabin almost
as rude as my shelter on the island.
One man was a grand fellow, not at
ali OF the common order, though he was
more plainly clothed than De Chaumont.
His face was so familiar that | almost
| grasped recogntion-but missed II. The
| whole cast was full and auuiline, and
| the lobe of mis- ear, as l noticed when
| light fell on his profile, sat close to his
head like mine.
The other man worked his feet upon
| the treadle of a small wheel, which re-
| volved like circular table in front of
him, and on this he deftly touched some
thing which appeared to be an earthen-
! ware vessel His thin fingers moved with
| spider swiftness, and shaped with a kind
! or magic. He was a mad looking per-
| son. with an air of being tremendously
driven by inner force. He wore mus
taches the like of which 1 had never
seen, carried back over his ears: and
these hairy devices seemed to split his
countenance in two crosswise.
Some broken pottery lay on the ground
and few vessels, colored and lustrous so
they snone in the freight, stood on a
stump near him.
The hollow was not a deep one, but IL
the men had been talking, their voices
did not reach us until the curtain parted
You are great fool or a great ras-
cal. or both, Bellenger," the superior man
said.
Most people are, your highness," re-
sponded the one at the wheel He kept
1t going, as II his earthenware was Of
more Importance than the talk.
You are living a miserable life, row.
ing about"
Many other Frenchmen are no better
of than am, my prince"
True enough. I've roved about my
self"
did you turn schoolmaster in Swift
zerland, primer"
81 did. My family are in Switzerland
now"
Some Of the mobiles were pillaged by
their peasants as well as by the govern
ment But your house should not have
lost everything"
You are mistaken about our losses.
The Orleans Bourbons have little or no
revenue left. Monsieur and Artois were
the Bourbons able to maintain a court
about him I'm exile. So you have to turn
potter, to help support the idiot and
yourself?"
'Is your highness interested in art?"
What have I to do with art?"
But your highness can understand
how an idea will haunt a man. II is true
live a wretched life, but ] amuse my
self trying to produce perfect vase.
have broken thousands. II a shape an
swers my expectations, that very shape
is certain to crack in the burning or run
in the glaze"
"Then you don't make things to sell?"
"Oh. yes. I make noggins and crockery
10 sell in the towns. There is a kind OF
clay In these hills that suits me-"
THE wonderful vase" said the other
yawning, might perhaps interest me
more II some facts were not pressing for
discussion. l am man OF benevolent
disposition, Bellenger."
your royal highness--"
stop! / have been a revolutionlst,
like my poor father, whose memory you
were about to touch-and / forbid 1t.
But am a man whose will II is to do
good. II is impossible / should search
you out In America to harm my royal
cousin. Now I want to know the truth
about him"
Madame de Ferrier had forgotten her
breath. We both stood fastened on that
scene in another world, guiltless of caves
dropping.
The potter shifted his eyes from side
to side. seeming TO follow the burr of his
vessel upon the wheel
II find you with a creature cannot
recognize as my royal cousin. II this is
he, sunk far lower than when he left
France in your charge, why are two
thirds of his pension sent out from New
York TO another person, while you re-
ceive for his maintenance only one
third?"
The potter bounded from his wheel, let
ting the vessel spin of TO destruction, and
danced, stretching his long mustaches
abroad In both hands as the ancients
must have rent their clothes. He cried
that he had been cheated. stripped.
starved.
"I thought they were straitened in
Monsieur's court" he ragged, "and they
have been maintaining false dauphin,"
superior you are either a fool or the
greatest rascal / ever saw"
lie looked at Bellenger attentiVely
yet why should you want to mix clues
and be rewarded with evident miseryg
And how could you lose him out OF your
hand and remain unconscious OF II? He
was sent to the ends of the earth for
safety-poor shattered child.-and N he
Is safe elsewhere, why should you be nen-
stoned 70 maintain another child9 They
say that Bourbon never learns anv,
thing; but / protest that a Bourbon
knows well what he does know. / feei
sure my uncle intends no harm 10 ths
disabled heir Who 10 guilty OF this do,,-
bic deaiing7 l confess I don't understand
H."
Now whether by our long ana silent
stare we drew his regard. OF chance cat
his eve upward. the potter that instant
saw us standing In the cloud above Mn
He dropped by his motionless wheel All
turned to clay himself, The eyeballs
stuck from his face. He opened M
mouth and sereeched as II he had been
started and could not leave on e''
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