The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1921-01-27

everything up, ana the clerk nung up
laughing.
Half an hour later a boy from the
steamship office arrived with the tick
cts. collected for them. and departed,
leaving John Stuart Webster singu-
larly pleased with himself and at
peace with the entire world.
A large" dinner at A%ntoine's that
night Webscr had heard Of Antoine's
dinners. both large and small and was
resolved not 70 leave New Orleans I'M
Ill he had visited the famous restaur-
anti. and a stroll through the pictur-
csqle old French quarter and along the
lcvce next day, helped to render his
enforced stay In New Orleans delight
full, interesting, and instructive. For
Sunday he planned an early morning
visit TO the old French market, around
which still fingers much of the pic
turCSque charm and cOlOrful romance
OF a day that is d~One-that echo of
yesterday, as It we're, which has left
New Orleans an individuality as dis
tinct as that which the Olden, golden,
goddess days have left upon San Fran
cisco.
He rose before six O'Clock, there
fore; found q taxi, with the driver
sound asleep inside. at the curb In
front of the hotel ave the latter his
instructions, and climbed In.
Opposite Jackson Square the cloy-
ing sweetness Of palmetto, palm, and
fg burdened the air. Above the
rumble of the taxi he could hear the
distant babel Of voices in the French
market across the square, so he
halted the taxicab, alighted, and handed
the driver a bill.
81 want TO explore this square," he
said. He had recognized it by the
heroic statue Of General Jackson peep
ing through the trees. "Tll walk
through the square to the market, and
you may proceed to the market and
meet me there. Later we will return
to the hotel"
A Creole girl-starry-eyed, beauti-
full, rich with the glorious coloring Of
her race-passed him bound for the
cathedral across the square, as Web
ster thought, for she carried a large
prayer book on her arm. His glance
followed the girl down the walk.
Presently she halted. A young man
rose from a bench where he evidently
had been waiting for her, and
bowed low, his hat clasped to his
breast, as only q Frenchman or a
Spanish %grandee can bow. Webster
| saw the Creole girl turn to him with a
little gesture Of pleasure. She ex-
tended her hand and the young man
kissed it with ~old-fashioned courtesy.
John Stuart Webster with reverent
and wlstful eyes watched their meet
ing.
"Forty years Old" he thought, land
| haven't spoken to a dozen women
that caused me a second thought, or
who weren't postmistresses or biscuit
shooters, Forty years old and I've
never been In love! Springtime down
that little path and Indian summer In
my old fool heart. Why, | ought to
be arrested For failure to live!"
The lovers were walking slowly,
arm in arm. along the path by which
the girl had come, so with a courtesy
and gentleness that were innate in
him, Webster stepped out Of sight be-
hind the statue Of Old Hickory; for
he did not desire, by his mere pres
ence, to intrude q discordant note in
the perfect harmony Of those two hui
man hearts. He knew they desired
that sylvan path to themselves; that
evidently they had sought their early
morning tryst in the knowledge that
the square was likely to be deserted
at this hour.
The young man was speaking as
they passed his voice was rich, pleas-'
ant, vibrant with the earneStnesS Of
what he had to say: with a pretty
little sill yer mounted walking stick he
slashed a: spears Of grass alongside
the path tie girl was crying a little.
Neither OF them had seen him, so he
entered n path that led from them at
right angles.
He had proceeded but a few feet
along this trail when, through a break
in the shrubbery ahead Of him. he saw
two men. Brief as was his glimpse of
them. Webster instantly recognized
the two Central Americans he had
sect In the steamship ticket office two
days previous.
They were not walking as walk two
men abroad at this hour for a con-
stitutioral. Neither did they walk as
walk men churchward bound. A
slight, skulking air marked their prog
ress, and caused Webster to wonder
idly what they were stalking.
He trrued into the path down which
the TIC nirn had passed, not with the
sligl.; .s, idea Of s%hadowing them, but
becNr.. ia destination lay In that
direc'.@',
Both ....r mad forsaken the graveled
path sn1 .Cre walking on the soft vel
We % ~tr, grass lawn that frlnged It +!
Perhaps I'd better deaden my hoof
heats asa1.," John Stuart Webster
sair eruis-.l, and followed suit imme-
ftst~il.