The L'Anse sentinel., 1919-04-25


years ago you occupied the pedestal
How do matters stand nowY"
I'm the presence Of my wife, such re
marks are hardly In good TASTE" said.
inwardly boiling.
He drummed the ground with his
foot and hummed a little tune.
by the by. you fulfilled the prom
ise you then gavef Have you become
the great artistT
"When married I found something
better In life."
"You mean something easier. You
thought you could rest on your laurels.
How do you suppose I spent the last
five years. l. who had no laurels to
rest onr"
81 understood you had gone to New
Guinea"
did you ever hear the purpose3'
mo; II was queer place to go
to, whatever the reason"
"In every way l had been fail
ure," he declared impressively. IL
was resolved to turn that failure into
triumph"
"TO accomplish which you buried
yourself in New Guinea swamp"
"Yes. went to the only real teacher.
nature herself. Among the deep
morasses and cane-brakes of reek-
ing tropical swamp sought for twelve
weary months. months Of dirt. priva-
ton and disease till from among the
acres of rushes had selected one per-
feet reed. =
"Look at 1t. Marius-examine it
blow through It! For II represents
the five years of life which you have
consumed In Incidence"
Willing to humOr him. picked II
up. II seemed almost to vibrate In
my fingers. Blowing into It produced
no sound. but queer sensation passed
over me; 1t was as though I were a
piece Of slate and someone had rub
bed me all over with crumpied paper.
81 haven't the knack Of it," l said.
dropping 1t to the ground like rcd'
hot coal.
The reed gave forth musical sigh
MS IL struck the stones; Adrian caught
II on the rebound and turned sudden
ly to Isabelle.
"Would you care to hear my one
little accomplishment. after Ave years
Of the cruelest cOncentration?'
Isabelle nodded eagerly. but In a
frightened manner; her hands were
clenched tightly against the tendrils
Of the hOneysuckles. as though she
We're bracing herself for an ordeal.
began to laugh nervously. Where
upon Adrian wheeled sharply on his
heel and faced Isabelle. Again he
blew Into the pipe; low note, the
purr of a distant tuningfork, trem-
bled from the frail reed; IT grew in
volume till 1t resembled broken mel
ody.
At my cry he stepped lightly from
the terrace. descended into the garden.
and disappeared among the dark shrub
berries.
Faint and dizzy I pressed the tips
Of my fingers against my eyelids to
clear my mental and physical vision.
When raised my head, the terrace
and porch were both deserted.
was alone. Only black shadows In
the garden. the sharp outline Of the
cliff. and an Unreasonable coldness
of sky and ocean.
The surety that some unforeseen
whip forced me back to thought
and action. / called loudly for Isa-
belle; descended from the terrace; /;
plunged into the garden. Nothing
there but solid darkness, checkered
shade and narrow strips of moonlight.
OF course. Isabelle, unable to en-
dure such an unnatural strain, had
slipped unobserved into the house and
was probably resting in her own room.
In n leisurely saunter retraced my
steps to the house. entered II by side
door, and halfway up the stairs gave
n peculiar whistle, which had always
been private signal between Isabelle
and myself.
There was no reply. The house
seemed very still.
| repeated the whistle in higher
key and followed 1t up with thump
on the bedroom door.
Then from the west side Of the
house heard once more the sound Of
| the hateful reed and that wonderful
medley of which Adrian Hope alone
was the master.
l rushed down the stairs and back
| to the terrace again.
ran down the drive into the road
way and made for the spot. AS l ap-
preached the sounds. they drew imper-
ceptibly away from me. When I
reached the outside wall, the music
was ascending the cliffs toward the
broad Pacific.
I started to climb the bluff; at every
step the reed grew fainter and the
ocean more insistent.
The reed could no longer hear ;
but there, on the point Of the tallest
cliff, one foot advanced to the edge
of the abyss, her hands stretched forth
In an agony of suppllcation, saw Isa-
| belle; saw the shine In her hair, the
| folds of her frock, even the rings upon
her fingers, so clear, so sharp, SO def
mite was the moonlight on that memo
rable occasion.