Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-28
CHAPTER NXI-lContinuedl

He was back two centuries, and he
stared. as IL each moment he expected
some manifestation of life in what he
saw. He had dreamed his dream over
the dead at Churchill: here it was
reality-almost; ii lacked but breath,
a movement, a hutter OF life in the
dead faces that looked down upon him.
He gazed up at them again, ana
laughed little nervously. Then he
fixed his eyes on the opposite wall
One OF the pictures was moving. lhe
thought In his brain had given birth
to the movement he had imagined.
It was woman's face in the picture,
young and beautiful, and il nodded to
him, one moment radiant with light,
the next caught in shadows that cast
over it a gloom. He jumped from his
chair and went SO that he stood dl.
rectly under It.
A current of warm air shot up into
his face from the floor. 1t was this
air that was causing movement in the
picture. and he looked down. What
he discovered broke the spell he was
under. About him We're the relics OF
age, Of life long dead. Rubcns might
have sat in that room. and mourned
over his handiwork. lost in a wilder
ness. The stingy Louis might hav"
recognized in the spindlc.lcGged table
bit of his predecessors eXtrava-
Rance, which he had sold for the good
% ~
might have reclaimed one of the woven
landscapes on the wall Groscllicr
himself have issued from behind the
curtained bed. Philip himself in that
environment, was the stranger. II
was the current of warm air which
brought him back from the eighteenth
to the twentieth century. Under his
feet was a furnace.
Even the master of Fort q God.
stern and forbidden as Philip began
to imagine him. might have laughed at
the look which came into his face
Grosellier. the cavalier, had he ap.
peared. Philip would have accepted
with the same confidence that he had
accepted Jeanne and Pierre. But--a
furnace! He thrust his hands deep
in his pockets. a trick which was al.
ways the last convincing evidence OF
his perpleXity. and walked slowly
around the room. Ther" were two
books on the table. one. bound in
faded red velum, was Greek Anthol.
ogy. the other Drummonds Ascent
of Man There were other books on a
quantity carved shelf, under the pie.
ture which had been turned to the
wall He ran over the titles. There
were number of French novels,
Ely's Socialism. Sir Thomas Mores
Utopia St Pierre's Paul and Virginia
and a dozen other volumes. there were
Balzac and Hugo. and Dante's Divine
Comedy. Amid this array like a black
sheep lost among the angels was "A
flnger-worn and faded little volume
bearing the name Camille. Some.
thing about this one book SO strangely
out of place in its present company
aroused Philips curiosity It bore the
name, too. which ne had found work
in the corner of Jcanne's handker.
chief. In a way. the presence Of this
book gave him sort Of shock, and he
took ii in his hands. and opened the
cover. Under his fingers were pages
yellola and frayed with age. and in an
ancient type, once black, the title The
Meaning of God.
In large masculine hand some one
1.nl .l., 1. tfV1.
companying words: "A black skin
often contains a white soul; wUm.
ans bcautv hell
Philip replaced the book with feel.
ing of awe. Something N those
words, brutal In their truth something
in the strange whim that had placed
a pearl OF purity within the faded and
worn mask of the condemned. seemed
TO speak 20 him of tragedy that
might be key TO the mystery Of
Fort O. God From the books he
looked up at the picture which had
been turned to the wall. The tempta.
ton to see what was hidden overCame
him, and he turned the frame over.
Then he stepped back with low cry
OF pleasure.
From out of the prescribed canvas
there smiled down upon his a face Uf
bewildering beauty. 1t was the face
of a young woman, a stranger among
its companions, because it was Of the
present Philip stepped to one side,
so that the light from the lamp Shone
from behind him, and he wondered
II the picture had been condemned
10 hang with its face 70 the wall be-
cause II typifed the existent rather
than the past. He looked more close
ly, and drew back step by step, until
he was in the proper focus TO bring out
every expression in the lovely face. In
the picture he saw each moment a
greater resemblance TO Jeanne. The
eyes, the hair, the sweetness Of the
mouth, the smile, brought 10 him a
vision of Jeanne herself, The woman
in the picture was older than Jeanne,
and his first thought was that II
must be sister, or her mother. II
came to him in the next breath that
this would be impossible, for Jeanne
had been found by Pierre i'm the deep
SHOWS, on her dead mothers breast,
And this was a painting OF life, Of
youth. OF beauty, and not Of death
and starvation