Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-06-19

.r'- 80
me safely home with the DOLL
\ Still he insisted.
II should rather hear you"
h said q curious thing; not at all
what he would have expected to hear
IN reply to such a speech from any
of the princesses he had met. I
Mr.. Noel?"
He was un~ureasonably startled. He
whose life had been hardest struggle
and warfare, strong ambition and
fighting. actual and mental, to attain
his ends, to be asked that question!
He could imagine what any, Of his as
sociates in the far south would have
replied to that question; their deri-
sion and amusement at this a~bsurdity.
Benito loved his master with a slavish
devotion, but Noel knew. how the In
dian would have nswered it. He
laughed, or Gil Granada. Yet-there
was the House of the Little Shoes!
Why was he here now in this posi-
ton except because this dancing girl
vaguely resembled the child who had
walked across his heart? II memory
was sentimentality, perhaps-
"Only once" he said dryly, quite
careless of her understanding him.
THAT is enough" she returned,
aSA VO1Cc COIuAlS OuOIy dCTO6S tne QlS.
tant music. Yes, I will play for you;
some time"
In that oblique way he received at
once his pardon and his permission to
come at some future day. to the home
Of Vasilif Arloff. For the moment, it
was much.
Thank you," he accepted both.
He lay still for a time, listening to
the sounds that indicated she was en-
gagged in some bit Of sewing. How
much might he say now, he debated ?
is own work to be done. Already he
had fingered too long in this country;
he must return. He would delight IN
returning, only, he must take his wife
with him. Yes. he would take this
girl home to his villa; take her and
hers.
He fell to thinking of vasili Arloff,
Of all the dazzling career sunk to an
invalid's chair and dependency upon a
young girls labor and the support Of
an old man. This was the vasili
had envied. And yet, how much still
remained with him, even with his
shattered intellect; as the ruins Of a
palace are more imposing in their
majesty than the whole completeness
OF an ordinary building. To follow
Vasilfs discourse was indeed like
wandering through the broken ar
cades, the lofty, frescoed halls whose
brilliancy fingered amid destruction.
as a once-royal house of thought. 1t
was as If he and David Noel had
passed on the stairs of life, one going
down as the other toiled up. but
where between those two t~ravellefs
did Rosalind Arloff stand? Surely on
some steady point to which, giving a
hand to each, she might draw the two
men to stand with her. Noel, in his
darkness. n still confused by his
illness, fancied he saw her as he had
seen her so many mornings, not posed
aloft on the shining peak like Con-
mon road; a way made beautiful by
her passing. And he had affronted,
insulted her!
"Street-boy," he murmured bitter
you spoke, Mr.. Noel T" she asked.
mo. listened to the music" he
seized the nearest pretext.
And !! What does he play Of. for
you? What does he make you see?"
Il am afraid I am stupid" he de-
precated. Il am not used to that
game. what does he make you see,
may I ask? !.
The laughter crept into her voice
again.
II forget she apologised. you
see, we have always played like that,
my father and Abel and 1, played to-
gether a. little game. What does he
make me see. you ask? A Dutch gar
den, I think. Rows Of tulips like
painted silk, or china cups holding
perfume instead of tea, and a breeze
that bendsg them this way or that.
And then, a gi~rl-creature who runs
drinking from each cup as a hum
ming bird sips and flies; a girl in
painted silks as bright as the tulips in
the sun. And there in the sun
among the tulips, she dances and
dances-until Abel ceases playing"
you saw all that?" amazed.
perhaps, or dreamed 1 saw it!'
you saw yourself" he said slow
ly.t Eyes, that is how you would look
dancing in the sun. But not in a
Holland garden. FRather In one rich
er. where there are fountains with
His voice dropped into silence. Had
he alarmed her? If she took flight,
he was 80 helpless to prevent or pur-
u her! But she neither spoke nor
moved. and presently he gained cour-
age.
II am not gifted, with fancy like
you," he said, "'but il I may, can tell
you of another picture that Abel's
music brings before me-"
please, do" she permitted.
1T is a painting" he began, sum-
moning the vision before him against
the darkness Of his bandased eyes.
"a painting exceedingly smooth in
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