The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1940-02-08

array of edibles.
Bruce had here, always, a dis
concerting feeling that he was about
to see the wraiths of antiquity
emerge from the draperies on the
walls and repossess with jealous
hands these treasures that furnished
Hector's home.
He stood by while Hector filed
two glasses, one of which he handed
his guest with courtly bow.
ITO good fellowship, my boy!"
Hector proposed, and held his glass
for Bruce to touch it with his own.
They drained their glasses at once
and Bruce held his forward with a
smile.
Zone more, Hector-to the spirits
of the past!" He waved hand to-
ward the tapestried walls as he
spoke.
Hector looked at him quickly, then
filed the glasses again with an ex-
citement in his movements that
caused Bruce to wonder. But he
smiled across the top of his glass
as he bowed once more to Bruce
and drank.
"Wen," he said, when the glasses
were empty again, ''you must be
ready for supper, my boy. Let's sit
in"
81 hope / shall never be hungrier,"
Bruce replied and took the chair to
which his host invited him with q
wave Of the hand.
The wine was excellent, as were
the cold meats and the salads. Hec-
tors first excitement seemed to SUBJ
side as the meal progressed, and
he talked in a leisurely fashion.
They talked of Jarvis Deans death
and the impressive funeral that had
followed, of the Dean estate and of
Autumn's plans to live in England
but always in an inpersonal 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 DenlnQ MIN.
"The skeletons will be at the
feast" Bruce thought, smiling to
himself.
The evening having turned cool,
Hector had kindled 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 china closet-"who
knows but what the death of some
gallant courtier may have been
drunk from it's brim? But does it
make the cup less beautiful. less
precious to our timer"
Rather not" Bruce replied. ION
the contrary"
"The past" Hector said, warming
to his subject, lis a dim avenue
down which we may walk and find
the diverging paths of terror and
beauty and passion. If 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
few decades ago have the same
values. Or do you follow me, sir?"
Bruce regarded his host with
mounting curiosity.
'I believe / do" Bruce said,
swept involuntarily into Hector's
stately mood.
Hector waved 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 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 will 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 have! You have
thought of the past that lies be-
hind you, no doubt-your own fa-
ther's death, for example"
Bruce tossed his cigarette into the
fire. It was that | had in mind,
Hector" he admitted.
There was brief silence in which