Middletown transcript., 1920-08-21

He jumped up, bowling with his
hand on his heart in his queer fashion.
IF you would allow me to have the
honor !" he cried and then. seeing that
we were all laughing, he began to
laugh. also, but ] am sure that there
was really no thought Of joke. IN his
mind. "a
I could never make out what his age
could be, nor could Jim Horscroft
either. Sometimes we thought that
he was an oldish man that looked
young, and at others that he was a
youngish man who looked old. On the
whole, we thought that he might be
about forty or forty-fve, though 1t
was hard to see how he could have
seen so much of life in the time. But
one day we got talking Of ages. and
then he surprised us.
had been saying that l was just
twenty, and Jim said that he was
twenty-seven.
"Then 1 am the most old Of the
three" said De Lapp.
We laughed at this, for by our
reckoning he might almost have been
our father.
"But not by so much" said he, arch
ing his brows. II was nine-and-twen-
ty in December"
And It was this even more than his
talk which made us understand what
an extraordinary life it must have
been that he had led. He saw our as
tonishment, and laughed at it.
II have lived. l have lived" he
cried. II have spent my days and my
nights. 1 led company in a battle
where five nations were engaged when
I was but fourteen. made king
turn pale at the words whispered In
his ear when I was twenty. had
hand in remaking kingdom and put
ting a fresh king upon a fresh throne
the very year that / came OF age.
Mon Dieu! have lived my life."
That was the most that ever heard
him confess Of his past life, and ne
only shook his head and laughed when
we tried to get something more out
of him. There were times when we
thought that he was but a clever Inn
postor-for what could man of such
influence and talents be lettering here
in Berwickshire for?-but one day
there came an incident which showed
us that he had, indeed, history in the
past.
You will remember that there was
an old officer Of the Peninsular war
who lived no great way from us, the
same who danced round the bonfire
with his sister and the two maids. he
had gone up to London on some busi-
ness about his pension and his wound
money and the choice Of having some
work given him, so that he did not
come back until late in the autumn.
One Of the first days after his return
he came down to see US, and there for
the first time he clapped eyes on De
Lapp. Never in my life did I look
upon so astOnished q face, and he
stared at our friend for a long minute
without so much as a word. De Lapp
looked back at him equally hard, but
there was no recognition in his eyes.
II do not know who you are, SIR" he
said at last, "but you look It me as If
you had seen me before"
$50 have" answered the major.
"Never to my knowledge"
"But I'll swear itv'
"Where, then?"
"At the village of Astorga, In the
year g."
De Lapp started, and stared again
at our neighbor. mon Dieu! what a
chance!" he cried; ''and you were the
English parliamentaire! remember
you very well indeed, sir. Let me
have whisper in your ear" He took
him aside, and talked very earnestly
with him in French for quarter of
an hour, gesticulating with his hands,
and explaining something, while the
major nodded his old grizzled head
from time to time. At last they
seemed to come to some agreement.
and 1 heard the major say parole
dhonneur' several times, and after
wards fortune de la guerre." But
after that I always noticed that the
major never used the same free fash.
ion of speech that we did toward our
lodger, but bowed when he addressed
him, and treated him with wonder.