The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1920-12-11

| emancipation, no longer eAISIn' + E
several days they lead a formal, $50
lated existence. Tess, whose sole wish
is TO please her idol, acquiesces IN MS
attitude. and after a first wild out
burst at the injustice, does nothing to
exonerate herself, and her one chance
| for reinstatement is bliGhted by inc
mocking witness of the vindictiTe Rer'
traits. No chaste-minded, uns11SS&su
Gated peasant maid she, but the y1ss
dregS of a dpcadent stock! "A separa-
ton, temporarily at least, is DECIDED
upon, and while Clare ranges atar, less
again creeps home. Joan, after the
first bitter reproachcs for the mad dis
obedience of her repeated .njunctions
of secrecy. treats the affair with her
usual fatalistic lightheartedness nut
the harsh words of the father IN
drunken moment of excessive ances-
trail pride causes a dignified departure
with the cOncillatOry donation OF
half her means of subsistence and the
intimat.On that she is rejOining her
husband.
Determined, however, to make no
appeal to Clare's family, Tess easily
finds summer employment among the
farms; but with the coming Of win
ter and too lavish contributions to her
family's support, privatiOn stares her
i'm the face Day after day she wan
derS on until at length on the high,
chalky tablelands, IN a great drab
field of deSOlat:On, she finds the mean
est, most arduOus of tasks rendered
tenfOld difficult by a churlish bOOr OF
an employer in all the rancOr of an an
Gent grudge against her In the sting
ing rain and the chilling snow she tolls
increasingly, uncOmplainingly, living
wholly in the hope of her husbands re-
turn. Songs that he loved she prac-
tees; the sweet, gay notes contrasting
sadly with her tragic lips and great,
sOrrOwing eyes. At length, diStraught
by the continued silence, she bravely
decides to seek news of him from his
parents, and walks the long. tremulous
miles to Emminster vicarage. OF rare
spiritual as well as physical endOw-
ments, she would have undoubtedly
received a welcome at the hands of the
benevolent old clergyman and his wife,
hut an empty house reverberates to her
knocking. and while she unObtrusively
awaits their return from church. she
Overhears Il wayside conversation be-
tween Angels two exemplary brothers
that sends her hOmeward with rended
heart.
The voice of ''ranter". triumphant
~ cOnSigning a harmful of rustics to
eternal damnation caused Tess to
pause for a moment in doorway, and
there on a platform of corn bags, in
SanctimOniOus side wh:skers and semi
clerical black, stood Alec D'Urberville.
AnimaliSm had yielded to fanaticiSm,
and the bold, rowing eye now cleaned
with a ferOciOus righteousness. AS she
passed down the lane he came after
her, implOring forgiveness and offer
ing redemption. Repulse after repulse
failed to deter Alec. who persisted day
by day, at first with marriage license
and holy words and then his former
passion uneOntrollably revived by
Tess compelling beauty, his new
found religion dropped from him like
a cloak. the convert disappeared and
all the arts of man and devil were en-
ployed to ensnare the girl. And poor,
hopeless Tess, grinding on under be-
numbing strain, was IN more danger
than her scOrn of, the man could real
ize. Finally her fathers death, result
ing in the eviction of her family from
their home, precipitated Tess doom,
and as a last desperate reparation to
her helpless mother and sisters, she
yields. with a fatalistic calm, to the in
evitable.
To SandbOrne. a gay watering place,
a melancholy specter of man, wasted
by illness and regret, comes in search
of his lost bride, and in a fashionable
boarding house Glare finds Tess and
learns the agOnizing truth. Just be-
yond the town she overlook him, her
eyes wild and trancelike, her whole
body as if bereft Of soul and will. 81
have killed him. he tainted
me he called you by a foul
name l owed it to yOu and l
owed it to myself. II came to
me as a shining Eight that I should get
you back that way"
With a final realization of the i'm
mensity of her love and the piteous
plight it had brought upon her, Clare
held out tender, protecting arms, and
together they wandered through the
untrodden ways like two children-the
world and its retributiOn quito forgot
For five days they continued thisk
| idyll.c state and on the sixth nigh (
| Tess half iestingly. claimed sGIctuar,
among the conspicuous ruins Of the an
cient pagan temple to the sur II Stone
hcnge. With the dawn cane the
guardians of the law, lOOrIing dark
against the silver horizon. IN . grim,
| memorable circle they waited until the
suns level rays, relentlessly reminis-
cent of a bycOne sacr.fcial day, fell
full upon another victim, and Tess, de-
serted by the gods, awoke. Quietly
she faced her captors. 81 an ready"
| she said.
! Fight metallic strokes shivsr the
/ morning air and from a nearby hill
Estricken figure rivets involuntary eyes
on the flagstaff of a sullen cage OF
building. For Angel the prison where
Tess is confined has AT this fatal hour