Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-03-18

A Novel
George Agnew Chamberlain
Copyright by the Century Coz

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Gerry's first impulse was to saw he
would stay, but he suddenly remem.
bered Margarita. How far away from
life she seemed! Alan and Marearita
could not crowd into one day or even
into one world-it was against the mr..
der OF things. But facts do not stand
on the order of their coming, they sim.
ply come, and against the protest NJ
mans will they present his fate.
against the cry of the troubled and
displaced soul they voice the eternal
J'y suiss j'y reste of inanimate things
One cannot go around a fact. One
must either break ones head against
1t or swallow it and let 1t take its
course through the mental gorge.
Gerry longed to stay by Alan's side,
and through his returning conscious
ness, as through a magnlfylng glass,
gaze upon the world he had foresworn
the heritage he had abandoned. But
the fact of Margarita and her boy
suddenly declared itself-demanded
digeston-and Gerry turned his back
on Alan. He mounted. and with the
ANCAhp ICNGISeu TIE uElNt luGJ
had made together months before
Lieber did not go with them. When
ne had seen them off, he busted him
self giving orders for the tidying up
OF the veranda, the feeding of Alan's
convoy. beast and man, and the prepa-
ration of room FOR the self-invited
guest From the pile of dusty pillows
servant nialriner Pol ri
L1eber glanced down at it. Words
We're cut roughly but clearly into its
surface. They spoke to him. They
held his eyes. He stopped laboriously
and picked up the board. He took 1t
into his private room, propped it up
against some books on the table and
sat before it with his face dropped
in his hands. To his closed eyes the
words seemed no longer carved in
wood Against the inward darkness
of his brain they shone out in points
of light. He could not shut them out.
"Qui de nous ma pas eu sa terre
promise, son jour dextase, ct sa fin en-
exil?"
At sundown Lieber came out to his
patient. He had him moved. settle
and all, into room whose windows
opened upon the veranda. Lieber sat
beside him and nursed him through the
long, hot night TO the deftness of
his hand had been added tenderness,
and into his face a new determination
had come-a resolve to win Alan's
battle for him whatever the odds.
Gerry did not sleep that night. He
lay on the little extra bed he had made
upon his sons arrival and, propping
himself on his elbow, gazed around
him. The moon shone through great
cracks in the warped shutters and
filled the room with a glow that, as his
eyes dilated, became a revealing light.
In one corner was an iron wash-stand
with its vessels of coarse enameled
metal, recent purchase In another
corner stood a grotesque clothes-rack.
1t looked like young pine with irreg-
ular branches and top Topped off. On
the stubs or pegs hung his clothes and
Margarita's and, on the lowest peg Of
all, the Lilliputian garments of the !
Man. The floor was bare and rolling, /
for the boards, roughhewn from hard |
wood giants of the forest. had warped |
steadily through many years. In its |
center stood the great rustic bed that |
Gerry had made from the twisted |
limbs of trees and Bonifacio had plait- |!
ed with thongs. BY raising himself |
to the full length of his arm Gerry
could see Margarita lying uncovered |
on the coarse, yellowish homespun.
On her bare, brown arm lay the black |
head of her son.
Gerry shuddered at the nearness-
the familiarity-of everything. The |
seams of elementary life stood out bru-
tally. For the first time he saw them. |
From the touch of the coarse homespun |
that covered him, his mind went back
to the feel of Liebers fine linen, and |
from that it poised on Alan and then |
flew back to AliX-Alix, who, seen
through the years. became doubly ethe-
real and fowerlike Where was Alix?
What had Alan done with her? He !
must ask him. That, at least, he must |
know. But before he could ask he |.
must decide about Margarita and steel
himself to his purpose. He thought of |
the long still days at Fazenda Flores |
before Alan had come to Lieber's-the |
struggle and the reward that had been
his-and the firmness in him, the
steadfastness that had led Alan to
name him The Rock. rose up in de-
fense of Margarita and her son.
Gerry was up early. As he was
saddling True Blue Margarita came on
to the veranda. Where art thou 60
ing?" she asked.
Gerry looked up. He was a
little pale from tue wakeful night
and there were slight shadows under
his eyes. II am going to Lieber's.
There is !; man therc--he is dying
and I mj y ,elp. He is my fellow
countryman
Margarita'S eyes searched his face.
Her bosom r, and fell rapidly. do
not CO." she sad, and Gerry started at
the passion in her voice.
He looked at her and smiled. 'T
must see this man before he dies" he
said. half to himself