The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1940-03-14
Prologue taAore sits sits
O MARTHA OsIENsO-wNu SERVICE

Autumn's plans to live in England
but always in an impersonal tone
that gave Bruce no hint Of what was
In the old mans mind.
When they rose from the table,
Hector spread a cloth tidily over
the dishes and led Bruce into the
drawing room, closing the dining
room door behind him.
''The skeletons will be at the
feast" Bruce thought, smiling to
himself.
The evening having turned cool,
Hector had kindled a small blaze of
pine logs in the Dutch tiled fire
place, and now they seated them
selves before it with their brandy
and cigarettes.
st suppose you would be uncom-
Portable in the presence Of modern
furniture" Bruce remarked, glanc-
ing idly about the room. "You have
lived so long with the ghosts of the
past"
A strange glow warmed Hector's
eyes. "In more ways than one, my
boy" he observed pointedly. "But
I have never permitted my ghosts
to haunt me. That Elizabethan wine
cup, now" he pointed to an elab-
orately wrought chalice that stood
on the top of a china closet-"who
knows but what the death of some
gallant courtier may have been
drunk from its brim? But does it
make the cup less beautiful, less
precious to our timer"
Rather not" Bruce replied. ''On
the contrary"
1.-The past" Hector said, warming
to his subject, sis a dim avenue
down which we may walk and find
the diverging paths of terror and
beauty and passion. II we stand
at the entrance to that avenue and
peer within, remote times telescope
into our own immediate past, so
that with clear eyes we may note
that the events of antiquity and Of
a few decades ago have the same
values. Or do you follow me, sr?"
Bruce regarded his host with
mounting curiosity.
81 believe I do" Bruce said,
swept Involuntary into Hector's
stately mood.
Hector waved a fine brown hand
toward the Spierinx tapestry on the
wall to their left. 1.-The accom-
plished fact Of the past" he con-
tinued, may be compared to a tap
estry like that-upon which we can
look with disinterested sympathy
and compassion and admiration at
the quaint desires and ambitions
and tragedies and loves of our fore
fathers. To the rational mind even
a generation ago is such tapestry,
my boy"
Hector was leading studiously to
something. His oratory was not
without a definite object, of that
Bruce was sure. He settled himself
In his chair and resolved to wait
patiently for the disclosure of his
purpose.
do you remember that line from
The Tempest? What's past is pro-
logue.' You viii excuse me-" he
apologized suddenly, 81 am an old
man-and given to romantic indul-
gences."
Bruce smiled. go ahead, Hec-
tor! I've had some such ideas In
my own mind, though I've never
been able to put them into words"
Hector favored him with shrewd
glance. ''Of course you have, my
boy. Of course you havel You have
thought of the past that lies be-
hind you, no doubt-your own IA
Tiers death, for example"
Bruce tossed his cigarette into the
fire. 1T was that I had In mind,
Hector" he admitted.
There was a brief silence In which
Hector leaned forward and turned
his brandy glass thoughtfully about
in his fingers.
Would you mind it very much If
! asked you something about that"
he said finally.
There is nothing much that can
tell you, Hector" Bruce replied.
"You probably know more about it
than / do"
Have you any very clear opin-
ion concerning how your father
came to his death?" Hector asked
abruptly.
II have understood that he took
his own Ife-because of his love for
for another woman" Bruce re-
turned.
"You know that?"
81 have put two and two together,
Hector" Bruce replied bluntly. ST
know they were IN love-the rest
have guessed"