The patriot. (Glenmora, La.) 1918-1955, 1919-04-25


inwardly boiling.
He drummed the ground with his
foot and hummed little tune.
"By the by, you fulfilled the prom
! Use you then gave? Have you become
the great artist?"
"When l married found something
| better in life"
'You mean something easier. You
thought you could rest on your laurels.
How do you suppose spent the last
five years, /, who had no laurels to
| rest on?'
ST understood you had gone to New
Guinea"
did you ever hear the purpose?"
"No; it was a queer place to go
| to, whatever the reason"
'In every way I had been a fall
| ure," he declared ffnpressively. Il
was resolved to turn that failure into
| triumph"
"To accomplish which you buried
yourself in New Guinea swamp
eyes, went to the only real teacher,
| nature herself. Among the deep
morasses and cane-brakes of reek-
| ing tropical swamp I 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 it, Marius-examine it
blow through it! For 1t represents
the five years of life which you have
| consumed in Incidence"
/ Willing to humor him, I picked 1t
ND. 1t seemed almost to vibrate In
my fingers. Blowing into it produced
no sound, but queer sensation passed
over me; it was as though I were
piece Of slate and someone had rub
bed me all over with crumpled paper.
81 haven't the knack of it" I said,
dropping 1t to the ground like a red
hot coal.
The reed gave forth musical sigh
as it struck the stones; Adrian caught
1t on the rebound and turned sudden
ly to Isabelle.
would you care to hear my one
little accomplishment, after five years
of the cruelest concentration"
Isabelle nodded eagerly, but in a
frightened manner; her hands We're
clenched tightly against the tendrifs
of the honeysuckles, as though she
were bracing herself for an ordeal.
| I began to laugh nervously. Where
upon Adrian wheeled sharply on his
heel and faced Isabelle. Again he
blew into the pipe; o low note, the
purr Of a distant tuning-fork. trem-
bled from the frafl reed; It grew In
volume till it 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.
I was alone. Only black shadows in
the garden, the sharp outline Of the
cliff. and an unreasonable GOODNESS
of sky and ocean.
The surety that some unforeseen
crisis was upon me, like the sting OF
a whip forced me back to thought
and action. I called loudly for lisa.
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 a leisurely saunter retraced my
steps to the house, entered it by side
door, and halfway UP the stairs gave
a 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 it up with thumT
on the bedroom door:
Then from the west side OF tht
house heard once more the sound o.
the hateful reed and that wonderful
medley of which Adrian Hope alone
was the master.
I rushed down the stairs and baci
to the terrace again.
I ran down the drive into the road
way and made for the spot. AS ap
preached the sounds. they drew imper
ceptibly away from me. When
reached the outside wall, the musi
was ascending the cliffs toward tn,
: broad Pacific.
: 1 started to climb the bluff at ever,
7 step the reed grew fainter and tn
!, ocean more insistent.
The reed / could no longer hear
t but there, on the point OF the TALES
8 Cliff, one foot advanced to the edg
OF the abyss. her hands stretched fort
Q In an agony OF supplication. saw lisa
a. belle: saw the shine in her hair, tn
folds of her frock, even the rings up0
L her fingers. so clear. 80 sharp, so def
Mite was the moonlight on that memo
: rable occasion.
"Oh, Adrian. take mel teach me.
g teach me- too r.
. The despair OF a lifetime was col
r centrated in her voice. Her form sti