Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-01-15

numbers. was vastly superior in arms.
/ Presently the shells no longer
shrieked above El-Ammeh. They
! From her gallery Pansy saw the
two forces meet
Then she could look no longer. Men
fell in the sand and rose no more.
And any one OF them might be her
She went back to her room and
crouched there in terror; her father
and friends all forgotten at the
thought of the man who might be
lying dead in the sand.
AS the morning wore on. the din of
battle grew nearer. Every now and
again shell got home. There were
screams Of terrified people; the heavy
fall of masonry; the means and cries
of the injured.
Once Pansy thought her end had
come.
4 she'll struck the palace. The place
rocked to it's foundations There was
the thunder of falling masonry as il
the four walls of her room were
| crashing down upon her.
She closed her eyes and waited.
few moments later she opened
them, and was surprised to find her
giided prison very little damaged. IT
| was badly cracked, and several blocks
OF stone had crashed down from the
ceiling, one on the sandalwood bureau
| near where she crouched, smashing it
20 splinters and scattering the con-
tents about her feet.
More than once Pansy had rum
mayed in its scented recesses, until
she knew its contents by heart. She
had found nothing but a few quilts.
sheets~of paper yellow with age, and
quaint, cut-crystal bottles in which
the colored inks had dried. She knew
the desk had belonged to the sultan's
mother. Just as she knew tho gilded
room had been the French girls
prison.
AS she gazed at the debris at her
feet, it seemed she could not have
searched thoroughly. Among the
splinters was something she had not
seen before. A few sheets of paper
folded fat and tied with a strand of
silk: that must have been hidden be-
hind one OF the many drawers.
| More to get her thoughts away
from the battle raging round her than
anything else, Pansy picked up the
tiny packet. Untying the silk, she
opened the faded, scented sheets and
glanced at them.
After the first glance, she stayed
riveted. And as she read on, she for
got everything except what the letter
said.
1t was in French. in woman's
hand. and the date was now more
than twenty years old: a statement
written by Annette lie Breton before
she died, proclaiming her sons real
identity, and left by her in the bureau
Some servant rummaging in the desk
for trinkets. after her mistress death
must have let il slip behind one OF
the numerous drawers.
Pansy read OF Col. Raoul lie Breton's
ill-fated expedition to the northeast
how he and his little force had been
murdered by the Sultan Casinl
Ammeh. She learned of Annette LIE
Breton's fate at the hands of her
savage captor. OF the son who had
come nearly nine months after her
husbands death--the son, the Sultan
Casim Ammeh, imagined to be his.
Raoul is not the son of the Sultan
Casim Ammeh,' the faint handwriting
declared. He is the son of my muir
dered husband, Col Raoul lie Breton
know, for every day he grows more
like his dear. dead father. Yet he
imagines the sultan to be his father
And l dare not tell him the truth. For
if the sultan learned the boy was not
his, he would kill him. For Raours
sake l must let the deception go on
have to live for. And my hear,
breaks, for daily my boy grows more
and more to love that savage chief
who murdered his father"
Pansy read of Annette's dreary years
in the harem OF her captor.
Years that have no light in them
save my son. Years that 1 should not
have endured except for my child, my
boy. the son of my brave Raoul."
1t was heart-breaking story OF
tured to save her child from the fate
that had befallen his father.
The sultan will make my boy like
, himself" the letter went on. For
there is no one at hand to stop him
stronger. The boy admires and copies
the man he deems his father He IL
too young to know the sultan fol-
what he really is. He sees only Z
man, bold and picturesque. And the
courages him to be cruel and AFRO.
, giant, he fosters all that is bad in the
boy. 1t is useless for me to try anc
check him, for my own son laughs Al
me now"
The writing grew more feeble a,
the letter went on: the wild entreaty
OF a mother who had no life outside
of her son, and who saw him being
ruined by his own fathers murderer
Whoever finds this be kind to my
. boy, my Raoul, for the sake OF .
woman who has suffered much. fol
the sake of his martyred father, Col
Raoul LIE Breton. Do not Judge m,
SON by what he is, but by what hi
might have been. In the Sultan
Casim he has a bad example, a savax,
who would make the boy as bar.
barous as he is himself"
The writing grew even more feeble
faint scrawl on the yellow paper.
II am dying, and my son is fal
, away. / shall not live until my boy
returns. And he will be left with ne
; influence but the sultan's. o fate
deal kindly with my boy, my Raoul
left alone with savages in this bar.
barrie city. l have only endured thes.
dreadful years for the sake of my son
In the name of pity be kind to him
, He will have no chance in the hand.
Of his present teacher. Have mercy
| for the sake of his tortured mother
, ana HIS father, that brave soldier wht
> gave his life for France.
II "ANNETTE LIE BRETON"
, Pansy read the sheets through
, without once raising her eyes. Sh.
was ravenous for tho contents.
At that moment 1t seemed as lie tn,
! dim, gilded room were full of tear.
and sorrows; the faint sweet fra
? GRANGE of the girl who had lived Their,
long years ago. suffering and endurins
! for the sake Of her boy.
! 1t was not In Pansy's kind heart Il
! refuse that tragic mother pleadinf
for her SON.
Then she remembered that Col. L,
Breton's son was out there f1ghtinf
} | against his own people. II, indeed, b,
, wore still left alive to fight.
IL Her lips moved in silent prayer.
She kissed the faded. scented sheets
and tucked than against her heart
She was not going to fail Annette. All
3 she wanted now was to be at the sid,
, OF the dead girls son. to help him K
! build up now character according Il
: the best white codes and standards.
Then she sat on, listening to tn,
4 battle that ragged around the sdeser
! city.
" II Raoul lie Breton were spare,
l there was another battle before her
. a battle with two governments for hi
! life. But she had not many uualm
about the result, with Annette's let
ter, her own wealth, and her fathe