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Show T THE PAYSONIAN, PAYSON, UTAH, FRIDAY, APRIL 2, 1920 oooooooooooooooooxx o' .By VICTOR ROUSSEAU. (Copyrght, 1919, by George II. Dora n Co.) oooooooooooooooooooooooooooc ooooooo (Chapter XV continued.) Go to Find It I yelled Brousseau. the devil with your money ! I tried to help you out of friendship. I havent time to work out your stock exchange accounts for you. If anybodys cheated you Its the stockbroker. Go to him for it I" He started toward Madeleine. You dont believe these lies against me? he cried. You have insulted my father, but you have not answered him." Ill pay hip. It Is true, then? It is true? Yep, its true, interposed Lafe. It cant be anything else. Everybody knows what a rotten, swindling thief the fellow Is. Ah, keep your hand down, Mr. Rosny. Im telling you what I think of him. Thats what I came Ijere for. And if youll excuse me for referring to your mortgage, which everybody knows, if he doesnt turn that In to you by tomorrow Mr. Askew will sue him criminally as well as civilly for what hes done to us, because weve got the confession of the man that sawed the boom for him. Brousseau swung on his heel suddenly and strode toward the door. He turned and shook his fist at Lafe. Ill pay you for this, you and that other blackmailer! he swore. Ill smash your rotten concern. Ill He broke off with a derisive snort and made toward the entrance. But Lafe strode past him and blocked his way. Mr. Just a moment, he said. Rosnys got something to say to you. Brousseau tried to fling himself past, but Lafe, standing like an iron sentinel, completely filled the open- j think he wasnt true to you? What man in his senses wouldnt ho? I wont hear you! cri-- d the girl, summoning her defiance to her aid. "He should have spoken for himself. What right have you to speak for him, wnt or unsent? Why, I thought Id explain that, Just because Im his a ml, said Lafe., , It aint true. Not .orfl of that storys true. Im going i ell you the truth. But first Im go-tsay what I got to say, because "s true. You havent acted rightlyt own'd him no, you havent, mam- i The pa isbmuto gesture, the sincerity ni'- ,0.0 dom. aaled her. She tried if. and could not; she io find I'm ... on and could not. darie together to . to see wliat CtSeiti i if j j i - sort of place Simoon Duval was running. The girl was there. It was the night of the raid, and we helped her away.' She got home, and her father never knew. Little Baptiste knew, and others whod seen her with us. They told Brousseau, and he started those lies about Mr. Askew, who never knew about it never know anything. That fellow Pierre, Brousseaus man, had his eye on the girl. You know the sort of work hes done along this coast. Maybe you dont, but its devils work, mnmzelle, and he and Lebiapc lured Marie into a boat by means of their decoy, Nanette Bonnat, and took her to the island. We found them there, and saved her, and brought the girls back. Thats all. Now you know. Now you understand how youve done Hilary a wrong. If you dont believe me," Lafe continued doggedly, just tell me how much you dont believe, and Ill prove it. Ill prove every word; you dont have to take me on trust. Do you think I am capable of seeking evidence that a man is true to me? cried Madeleine. Do you think I am going into St. Boniface to pry into your friends actions? You love him, mamzolle, said Lafe with patience that would not be I can read that in your thwarted. face. You love him, and youve done him a wrong. Well, niamzelle, you cant lie down under that. You cant hear it. Youve got to right it. 1 She burst Into helpless tears. lioped that he would come to me, she whispered. Hilary Askew aint that kind of a man, said Lafe. He refused to defend himself." Hed promised Marie to say noth- ing. Monsieur Brousseau, said the Seigneur, there are just a few words to say before you go. When Monsieur Connell came here he did not meet with encouragement. He proved his case, and you have proved it by your actions. When you were a boy I advanced you, I interested myself in you. You climbed high, and you tried to repay me by ousting me from my lands and stepping into my shoes. You sought to dishonor us through my daughter, who was wiser than I in her recognition of what you were. I thought that you were only but you have proved yourself a scoundrel as well. . You . will repay , me everything you have stolen or go to monsieur. jail. Good-daThats all, I guess, said Lafe, and opened the door. Brousseau dashed through and along the corridor. Lafe followed him at an interval ; but Brousseau did not wait for him. He pulled the front door open and slammed it behind Jiim. When Lafe reached it Brousseau was already dragging his horse, already harnessed to his sleigh, out of the stables. Lafe watched him drive away and turned back into the hall. He hesitated to return into the room, but as he stopped uncertainly in the corridor behind the entrance Madeleine came toward him. My father thanks you, Mr. Connell, she said, and though the tears rained down her face she smiled. It is like the lifting of a nightmare, she whispered. said Lafe. But Yes, mademoiselle, It was you I wanted chiefly to see. You saw me. What else is there to say? Mr. Connell, if you have come here on any other mission it is hopeless. Why did you let him send you for for that? she continued, reading his face. Because hes my friend, said Lafe. But he didnt send me here. Hes talking of going away. Thats why I He saw her start, then control herself. Im forty years old, said Lafe, and conscious of the ineptness of the be Im forty years ginning, hesitated. Not old enough old, he continued. to be your father, mademoiselle, but old enough to be a sort of uncle, though I aint got your education. That dont matter. Its experience that counts, and knowledge of the world. And I seen a good bit more of life than you, mademoiselle. I seen enough to learn one thing, and that is that misunderstandings are the cause of nearly all the trouble in the world. When Mr. Askew come here I wasnt altogether too much pleased. Id been meshed into the crooked work that Morris and Monsieur Brousseau was doing with the seigniory lumber. Then when I got to know Hilary Askew I saw that he was clean straight through. He let his hand fall lightly on the girls shoulder. The gesture, which might have been an offense In some, was instinctive, and, like most inLafe, unstinctive actions, fitting. couth, unlettered, standing before Madeleine Rosny, seemed like a be nevolent guardian. When he came to like you I was glad, continued Lafe. But when you came to like him I was just about as happy as when I was leading Clarice my wife, I mean out of the First Methodist church at Shoeburyport, Mass., on August 17, 1002, with her white veil hiding her, and them orange flowers she was carrying scenting up the place . . not quite so glad, may be, but not far shy of it. And you she-coul- Let me pass. I have heard you. But Lafe stood in the way. Youre going to tell him its all right, he said. Ill arrange it so it wont hurt your pride, if thats worth keeping How dare you insult me? Let him come to me! Let him come and plead!" He Was Staring Into Her Eyes as if to Read Her Secret Thoughts. lie was staring into her eyes, as if to read her secret thoughts. said Tonight I go to Quebec, I shall be aboard all day. Dupont. I may not return. Mamzelle , He had said the same thing beI shall never go to him ! fore his last voyage, and she had And Lafe had reached the end. listened, unbelieving, but Indifferent outraged justice, had led him to if it were true. Now the words terri; goal but It was the wrong goal, fied her no less than his demeanor, was helpless, he was beaten, iind for the first time she wondered stepped aside, and she ran past him, whether he knew of her journey with hurrying up the stairs, whose faded lierre. carpet was held by tarnished rods lie would never believe her that gleamed between her moving feet. It would have aroused all thestory. old hall looked Lafe along the gloomy madness in him, if he had known. But at tlie portraits in their gilt frames, lie could not know. and he felt the unreasoning, stubborn You will come back, she stamRosny spirit that looked out of the mered. You will be back before tne eyes of each, as it had looked out of river closes. Then we shall be toMadeleines and spoken by her. And here througli the winter. We it had met such another fcpirit in Hil- gether shall be happier than in the past. And ary. we I guess youre wrong, all of you, The name! he cried, seizing her I guess you manuLafe muttered. the shoulders. Tell me now! I by factured your code and thought It was wait no ! longer breeding and pride, and you cant help The old obstinate look came on her it. You got your foundations crooked. face. Her remorse and pity instantly You cant help it; thats all. died. She her lips and And with the same dogged patience, was silent. compressed but with an added air of hopelessness, "The name ! Thou shalt tell me ! I he put on his snowshoes and plodded should have beaten thee when thou from the Chateau. wast a child. But I shall not beat thee now, for I can compel thee to tell me. CHAPTER XVI. The name! The name! She remained silent and utterly quiRemembers. Dupont So strong had the inhibition escent. Brousseau was seated in the library she could not have told, that grown of the gaudy house when a tall old had she been willing to do so, save man came to the door. He reconunder the impulse of some overpownoitred, recognized Captain Dupont, ering mental shock. And, armed by anl? admitted him. the years, she grew calm as he grew Since the exposure Brousseau had violent, and her mind passed under hardly left his room. He sat there, the domination of the old habit. haggard, crushed, planning, scheming He let her go and stood beside her, to get back that which seemed slipping at his gray beard and smiling. inexorably from his grasp. Consumed pulling with furious hate of Hilary, he seemed Marie had never seen her father smile inhibited from action by the very ve- at such a time before. And there came into her mind an idea which had hemence of his will. seemed possible, that some day Hes sailing for Quebec tomorrow never she might yield up her secret. The am to I the said captain. evening, inhibition of a lifetime was take him with a schooner load of lum- mental breaking uder the stress. ber. Dupont strode toward the door, Askew? queried Brousseau sharpthere, and looked back. stopped ly. I go now to the schooner, he said. Yes, monsieur. He came to me late this afternoon. His horse was all in a I shall be aboard tillwe sail this evesweat. He must have driven like the ning. If thou come to me before I sail devil. He told me to sail tomorrow and tell me the name, I give thee his life, one life for another. night, whether the holds full or What life? What other? cried the empty. Brousseau was staggered. If Hilary girl wildly. He glared into her eyes, and the was going to Quebec immediately, it look in his own was that of a man he which must be to lay those papers, had sought vainly in his desk, before Dost thou think I do not know, he the police. He saw the prison walls of Monsieur Askew and thee, cried, And to the great closing about him. hate he bore Hilary was added the lust or that Mademoiselle has broken her betrothal with him because of thee? for. liberty, . 1 devil-haunte- j He turned toward her with a menacing The name! he thundered. gesture. She cowered under his words, and the name now trembled upon her lips. But-- before she spoke it Dupont was gone. of the ladder that led down to the forecastle. As he did so he felt a stunning blow upon the back of the head. He staggered, slipped, and fell down the ladder Into the little open space before the cabin. Half dazed, he was barely conscious of seeing the grinning faces of Pierre and Leblanc stare into his. His overcoat was tom from Ills back, his pockets emptied. He waited for the knife thrust, but only kicks followed. He was lifted and thrown into the cabin. The outlaws ran back to assist Dupont In getting up the sails. It was not Brousseaus plan to dispatch him within hearing of the shore. He heard the sails being hoisted, and felt the schooner moving from the wharf. Then he heard a low cry and saw Madeleine upon her knees before He was gone, and she was alone in the gray of the morning, watching the gray sea heave under a brightening sky, as she had watched it all her life. And her fathers appearance in her room seemed unreal ns a dream. All day she watched him from the cottage, busy about his ship, piling the logs on deck. All day she wailed, stunned, and incapable of action, repeating over and over in her miiul her fathers words, whose meaning was unintelligible to her. Yet St. Boniface remained unchanged In that ruin that had come upon her. Men laughed him. She bent her face to his, whispering noisily as they strolled from their work at noon, children shouted at tlmt she loved him, pleading for forplay; the hum of the mil) was a soft giveness, and beseeching him to rise. undertone accompanying the horror in And Hilary opened his eyes to disher heart. It seemed Incredible that cover that the vision was reality. St, Boniface could know nothing, when He staggered to his feet and stood the whole universe was crying out swaying In the middle of the cabin, while she kept her arms about him. against her. It was late in the afternoon when He began ' to remember. He knew she saw two figures slouch toward the where he was now. Madeleine thrust vessel. She recognized Pierre and Lethe revolver Into his hand. blanc. And in a moment she underThey have planned to murder you stood the meaning of their appearance. slie cried. I learned of It and Murder was bping planned, against brought this. You must not die, HilHilary, who hail saved her. She ary, now that we love each other. watched them go on hoard, paralyzed He broke the revolver. It was with fear. empty, and the bore so eaten away Then the power of action, returning, shattered the paralysis of will that held her. She ran bareheaded from the cottage, through the streets of St. Boniface, toward the Chateau. She must get help there; her thoughts turned instinctively thither, ns St. Boniface had always turned for aid toward its Seigneur. Madeleine, seated in her room, with her memories of her dead, heard the door bell jangle. She went down, to see Marie in the hall. At the sight of the girl a feeling of repulsion, wild and unreasonable, stiffened her, but when she looked into her face, she spoke gently. What is it? she asked. "Mademoiselle, stammered the girl, they are planning to kill him. "Whom? Monsieur Askew, who saved me from Pierre that day. Mademoiselle, I have only now learned what they say of him and me. It is not true. And they are going to murder him. I came to you to save him. Where Is he? He Is going on board tonight. Perhaps he is there now. Pierre and Le- And Hilary Opened His Eyes to blanc are- waiting for him ther- eThat the Vision Was Reality. Wait here! cried Madeleine. She ran back into the Chateau, put with rust that to have fired It would on her coat and hat, and took a re- have been more dangerous to the volver which had lain for many years shooter than to his object of aim. He unused in a drawer of a cabinet. She saw the horror on the girls face as hurried to the stable, harnessed the she made the discovery. I did not think about the carhorse, and brought the sleigh to the door. She motioned to Marie to enter, tridges, she cried. I heard you were in danger and I seized it and came to leaped in, and took the reins, and the two girls started along the road .vou. What shall we do? I am going to die with you. through the forest We are not going to die, he ana difficult was It journey through the deep snow. Often the horse floun- swered. But he felt a trickle of blood in the drifts, and the In his eyes. He pulled himself todered knee-deegether to face the situation, thinking ; but near the vilseemed endless way with all the concentration of which lage the snow was tramped, hard, and the sleigh went like the wind. Neither his mind was capable. He heard the sails being run up, and of the girls spoke, but before the eyes of each was the same dreadful picture. the creak of the cordage in the wind. grinding her At last they emerged from the for- Then the schooner, est and crossed the bridge. The hum course through the drift Ice, began to of the mill had ceased, and had been roll and pitch as the force of the gulf current struck her. And through the succeeded by another sound, well known to dwellers along the St. Law- portholes Hilary saw the lights of St. rence shores when winter arrives : The Boniface reel into the enwrapping fog and vanish. stirring of the ice floes as the impendWith Madeleines arm about him he storm to them drives their ing together with desperate concentration thought long winter anchorage. The sleigh went madly along the Doubtless the ruffians had gone to asin taking the schooner out sist wharf, which groaned and creaked as into Dupont confident that their midstream, Madeon the ice battered it either side. leine sprang from the sleigh and ran fie t ini was at their mercy. Once the on board the schooner, which was al- vessel had passed the dangerous ice and deadly sunken rocks Dupont ready moving. As Marie descended to follow her alone could keep her on her course. she saw that it was too late. There And Dupont had planned his death. was an increasing space between the He remembered the hate on the old wharf and the deck. She hesitated, mans face; but he could not imagine connect and then it was impossible to follow. the cause of it, for he did not For a moment she thought she saw it with the story about Marie. They would return, they would disMadeleine threading the narrow pascover that the revolver was useless; sage between the piles of lumber ; his life was worth about ten minutes then the darkness closed about her. The pulleys creaked. The mainsail purchase, and of Madeleines fate he not think. He must fight for and foresail swung upward and bellied dared her and live for her. He got his shakin the wind. The two gafftopsails ing limbs under control. gleamed like white birds against the Tm all right, he whispered. Ive night. Then only the sails remained. They got my plan now. Keep behind me turned and shifted, disappearing and and be ready to help. The doors appearing again elusively, until they locked, I suppose? A quick attempt to open it showed blended with the fog and the darkness him that it was. But he had a and vanished finally. The horse, left uncontrolled, swung chance, if he could break down the round and galloped homeward, trail- door, for the sound might pass unheard in the gale, with the crashing ing the empty sleigh behind stood shuddering at the end of the of the ice against the sides of the wharf. For a while she stared out in schooner, enabling him to pass into, terror toward the invisible schooner, the hold unseen. in the darkness. He hurled himself against the cabin lost In the distance. She could see fists, shoulders, body, with every door, she but still hear could the nothing, roar of the wind in the rigging and the muscle set tense. It broke upon Its hinges, and Hilary fell, sprawling into flapping of the great sails. the passage between the piles of a with low she turned cry, Presently, and began running homeward. She stacked lumber, which rose to a height staggered into the cottage and sank of twenty feet on either side of him, down before the stove, crouching running to within a few feet of the cabin and the deck ladder. there. He crouched there for a few secWhen Hilary reached the wharf it onds, hearing Madeleine behind him was already dark. He had been rec- and looked upward. The wind was ognized by no one on the way. He roaring through the rigging with a went straight aboard the schooner, noise far louder than that made by the falling door. No one had heardthe and found Dupont on deck. crash. Above him swung the great When do you start? he asked. Immediately, monsieur, replied mainsail, obscuring the gibbous moon that scurred like a pale ghost among the the captain quietly. The schooner contained a tiny cabin drifting clouds, haloed in the fog. Hilin the forecastle. Between this and ary could just discern the hazy figthe poop, in the open bottom, was piled ures of three men, hard at work to the lumber, secured with chains, and gain the middle channel, and the lantern that hung from the mast above, stacked high above the sides. Im going below, said Hilary, turn- faintly illuminating them. He had seen, but had not consciousing away. He did not want to look St. Boniface ly observed, till the remembrance upon again. He put his foot upon the top rung came to him then, that a pile of lum 1 Dis-cov- ing. came. , o i He must have the papers. Lafe Connell knew besides, but Lafe could be laughed at, once the papers were his own. His plan began to take shape. Tf Hilary were out of the way and the documents destroyed he could yet win Madeleine, achieve his dream of becoming Seigneur, his life ambition. Dupont, he said, you and I have not always been on good terms. You refused to break your contract with the St. Boniface company. But I guess you see differently now.,. Dupont clenched hts fists. Ive sworn to kill him, he whispered. Ive held my peace. I talked with him face to face tonight, and he never knew the devil that was sitting In my throat, telling me to make an end. Can you keep that devil of yours silent till you have him on board? asked Brousseau. Dupont pulled at his tangled board and nodded. Brousseau, watching him, knew that the madness which hId him Who would carry him to the end. are your crew? hd asked. Drouin, Lachance and Georges Martin. Two men ahe enough. I have two good men for you in place of them. Listen carefully, Dupont." Marie, sleeping overhead, heard her father drive up in a sleigh that night, and there was whispering at the door. That frightened her. Another thing that alarmed her was his way of entering. Usually he would stamp into the house, as if on hoard ; but now he came in turtively, and hardly hear his stealthy movements below. She wondered What was portending. Of late he had watched her more keenly than ever, and had been more silent. She slept by starts, and awakened at dawn to hear a stealthy step outside her door. In the dim light sne saw her father bending over her bed. Siie sat up, stretching out her arms as if to ward off something. In her confused condition between sleep and waking she had fancied for a moment that he held something In his hand a knife or a revolver. But she saw that he held nothing. p hlm.-Mari- ber, placed In the ship bnf not yet se-- 4 cured, lay about the center of the open space In front of the cabin. It could not shift with the rolling of the schooner, so as to destroy her equl-- J librium, on account of the stacks on' either side. It consisted of the last? load of logs, which had been dropped ' there from the end of the flume. Hll-- , ary raised two in his arms and car-ried them in front of the broken door. 5 It was impossible to make his voice? heard, for the ship was staggering? I through the clashing Ice floes with a Madebut like of that noise artillery, lelne saw his purpose, and in an ln-- f stant was at work helping him. They began swiftly building a barricade and, as Madeleine deposited her logs I by the side of Hilarys, Hilary wedged f the ends against the chained stacks on either side, so that the whole would? form an immovable barrier. He tolled! furiously, for their scanty time was' precious beyond value. Soon Made lelne was behind the barricade, ad- Justing the logs that Hilary brought, and it stood the height of his waist It was Improbable that either Du-- , pont, Pierre or Leblanc carried a re-- l volver; but, even If they did, the barf rlcade was bullet-proo- f. Hilary for got his aching head, the retching nan sea. The barrier was shoulder-higHe clambered behind It and took hisg station there just as the grinding oil the floes ceased, and the schoonei p caught the clear water. A ray of moonlight, straggling! through the fog, disclosed old Dupont at the wheel above the poop, and the great mainsail sweeping over it and two forms that crept along the passage between the lumber piles. They started hack in sudden consternation at the sight of the unexpected barri cade, and Hilarys club, aimed at Pierres head, descended upon the outlaws arm, which dropped limp at Ids side. With n yell Pierre started back, but Leblanc leaped forward, knife in hand. So sudden was the attack that i drove within an inch of Hilary throat. Madeleine screamed, rushed forward, and pulled Hilnry back. As Leblanc caught sight of her he uttered an exclamation and followed Pierre back into the darkness of the lumber plies. Silence followed. That wait was tense and Hilary tried to get Madeleine to return into the cabin, but she kept her place at his side. Then, to Hilarys utter surprise, he heard Brousseaus voice, and dis cerned him moving out of the darkness of the lumber. Monsieur Askew, I want to speak to I am coming to you! he called. you. I can trust you. Hilary returned no answer, but Brousseau, apparently confident of Hilarys honor, pushed forward and came up to the barricade. Ah, mademoiselle, you have done a foolish thing! he said quietly to MadNo harm was meant to Moneleine. sieur Askew. I want those papers thats all. I heard he was coming aboard and adopted this ruse to get them. They are lies, written by a discharged employee, and I cant afford to be lied about. I want to clear my honor in your eyes, mademoiselle. But as neither answered him he dropped his pose of blandness and addressed Hilary. "Ive got more at stake than the seigniory and the asbestos mine, he cried. Thats only a drop In the bucket. I admit Its been a fair fight between us and youve won. I didnt want the seigniory. I wanted the fight. Im willing to drop it now and give you best. But I want those papers. They aint yours, Monsieur Askew. Morris forged them, but yem kept them, and thats why I trapped you here. It was me stopped Dupont from killing you, because of his daughter. Madeleine laughed contemptuously at the lie, and Brousseau snorted like a lashed horse. I want those papers, he went on doggedly. They aint in your clothes, and they aint in your bag. Give them to me and well cry quits, and Ill put you and Madeleine ashore at Ste. Anne. I can trust you and you can trust me. Are you going to agree?" No! shouted Hilary. He had had the sense that Brousseau meditated some treachery, but he was not prepared for what followed. Madeleine cried to him and pulled him back, just as Pierre and Leblanc leaped down from the forecastle roof, to which they had climbed during Brousseaus fictitious parleying. Each had his knife ready, and they wen-upoHilary together. h nerve-grippin- e Dantzig Rich in Memories. The old fortress of Dantzig is rich in Napoleonic lore. It was here that the man of destiny failed to heed the Intimations of a grand council of his marshals Murat, Ney and the rest that his star had passed perihelion ; it was here that he upbraided them for having grown soft in prosperity, and for opposing the invasion of Russia ; and It was from Dantzig that his legions jumped off for the Moscow campaign. In a later day Dantzig was the background and base for the northern shear of Maekensens cers that took Warsaw. gray-gree- n pin- The Gridiron. But you have no field of honor in said the French visitor. zls countree, Oh, yes, we have, replied the American citizen. Oui? Oui, oui. We have a field of honor with two goal pqfits at each end, and our husky young Americans take a delight In plowing it with their noses. Birmingham Age-Heral- |