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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1940-05-02, Page 6PAGE SIX .41'l'„Y.*4l ihAb1 '�i'T7 �fd o From he .t742.iiia,'. •t s...114 r,'i> e." f• Ytti Wr1t:ry kw?;Y( , 9 .. ue.elae Say COU 11, ..nU 13112 1 geW r 0e air, 41. j 1 ley dila 11.1e lit lllle,ll. toy .V03141e1011 ..Isle 1104 _:luny<i,n, r, .0.11, 111My 3)e arta, ere 1103 coveting.. 1 t13U stet .,U11el' 1e11 14011 110111 1111 ))031110.'--3)131, ie stillness that troubled vie lige at .113 11 .. lay still. Atter au pules' Ol' s0 trust c dsse is Jur 11 is Marti to tteep count vi time when one s thoughts are sue ally tiniekeeper--1 tell .]sleep. 1 know not now lung 1 slept, but 1 woke refreshed. I stretched for lit :3)y uninjured arm, Moving It about, in spite of will a sort of hopeleseness• 'tent through vie, fur 1 could feel .ung blades of corn growls up about my couch, an unnatural meadow, springing from the earth floor 01: my dungeon. I drew the blades between my fingers, feeling towards them as if they were things of life out of place like myself. 1 wondered what color they were. Surely, said 1 to myself, they eau not be green, but rather a yellowish white, bloodless, having only fibre, the heart all pinched to death. Last night 1 had not noted them, yet now, looking back, 1 saw, as in a picture, Gabord the soldier feel- ing among them for the knife that 1 had taken. So may we see things, and yet not he conscious of them at the -time, waking to their knowledge afterwards. So may we for years look opon a face without understanding, and then, suddenly, one day it comes !lashing out, and we ferrel its history story like a book. l put my hand nut farther, then brought it hack near to my couch, reeling towards its foot mechanically, :Ind now 1 touched an earthen pan. A -mall board lay 31 3021 its top. and :nnving my lingers along it 1 found a1I piece of bread. Then I felt the jar, ( nd knew it was tilled with •.cater. ' littitis; batik I thought hard for a nut- 7:1o1d. 01 this I was sore: the past land 'iread were slut there- when I Went to i deep, for this was the spot where my • yes fell1 naturally while I lay iii beat Woking towards Loltairr ; and I '.^.cull have remembered it now, evert f I lead not noted it them My jailer 11 ad brought three while I slept, But it .Cris still dark. I waked again as 'hough out of sleep, startled: I was in t_ dungeon that lead no window ! Here 1 was, peeked away lit the '-urthest canner of the citadel. 111 a. 'deep hole that maybe had not been ,ised for years, to be. no doubt. denied ail contact with the outer world --I was going to say friends, but whoa could I name among them save that dear soul who, by last night's mad- ness, should her brother be dead, was forever made dumb and blind to me? Whom had I but her and Voban!---and Voban was yet to be proved. The Seigneur Duvarney had paid all debts he may have owed me, and he now might, because of the injury to his Nan, leave me to my tate. On Gabord the soldier I could not count at all. There I was, as Doltaire had maid, like a rat in a trap. But 1 would not. let panic seize me. So 1 sat and ate the stale but sweet. bread, took a long drink of the good water from the earthen jar, and then. stretching my- self out, drew my cloak up to my chin, and settled myself for sleep again. And that I might ]seep up a kind delusion that 1 was not quite alone in the bowels of the earth I reached out my hand and affection- ately drew the blades of corn be- tween 111y fingers, Presently I drew my chin down to my shoulder, and let myself drift out of painful consciousness almost as easily as 0 sort of. woman can call up tears at will. When I waked again, it was without a Start or moving, with- out confusion, and I was bitterly hungry. Beside my couch. with his hands on his hips and his feet thrust out, stood Gabord, looking down at me in a quizzical and unsatisfied way, A toreJ1 was burning near him. "Wake, my dickey -bird," said he in his rough, mocking voice, "and we'll smuggle youinto the pot. You're been long hiding; come out of the hush— aho!" I drew myself up painfully. "What is the hour?" 1 asked, and meanwhile I looked for the earthen jar and the bread. "Hour since wheel?" said he. "w spec it was twelve o'eloe'k last night," I answered. "Fourteen hours since then," said he. The emphasis arrested illy atten- tion. "I mean," I added, "since the lighting in the Courtyard." "Thirty-six horn's and more since then, li'sieu' the dormouse." was iii11 reply. 1 had slept a day and a half slice the doors of this cell closed on ane. It was Friday thea, now it was Sunday afternoon. Gabord had collie to me three limes, and seeing how sound asleep I was had not disturbed me, but had brought bread and water --my prescribed diet. He stood there, his feet buried in the blanched t'or'n—I could see the long yellowish -white blades—the torch throwing shadows about hint, his back against the wall, 1 looked care- fully round my dungeon. There was Ito sign of a window; 1 was to live in darkness. Yet if I were but allowed candles, or a lantern, or a torch, some books, paper, pencil, and to- bacco. and the knowledge that I had not killed Juste Duvarney, I could abide the worst with some sort of calmness, How much might have hap- pened, must have happened, in all those hour's of sleep! My letter to Aliso should have been delivered long ere this; my trial, nu doubt, had been decided on, What 11ac1 Voban done? 1lad he any word for me? Dear Lord: here wag a 1111125 of questions tumbling one upon the other in 2311' b•.itd. while n)y heart thumped 1201111111 1113' waistcoat like a rubber ball to a prizwtI33211. ':: list. Mist' ort may' be so great alai litany Mat one may find runt humour and grotesqu.'uess in their impossible eonjunetiou and multiplicity. i 1.) 111eulbered at that moment a friend of mine in Virginia, the Most unfortunate lean I ever 101'•ty. 1ns1111. desertion, money susses, political defeat, flood, came one upon the other all in two yours, and coupled with this was loss of health. One, day 110 said to me: "Hobert, 1 have kt perforated sting, Illy liver is a ..welling sponge, eating crowds my waistband like a balloon. I have a swimming in my head and a sinking at Illy heart, and I can not say litany for happy release frons these for my knees creak with rheu- matism. The devil has done his worst. Robert. for these are his—plague and pestilence, being final, are the will of God—and. upon my soul, it is an ab- surd comedy of i1Is!" At that he had afit of coughing, and 1 gave Flim a glass of spirits, which eased flim. "That's better," said I cheerily to hint. "It's robbing Peter to pay Paul," he answered; "for I owed it to my head to put the quid refect there, and here We gone to my lungs to hurry up my breathitsg. Did you ever think, Rob. ert." ile added, "that this breathing of ours is a labor', and that we have to work every second to keep ourselves alive? We have to pump air in and out like a blacksmith's boy." He said it so drolly, though he was deadly ill, that. I laughed for half an hour at the stretch, wiping away 111y tears as I diel it; for his pale gray face looked so sorry, with its quaint smile and idea odd, dry voice of his. As I sat there in my dungeon, With Gabord cocking his head and his eyes rolliug, that scene flashed on me, and I laughed freely—so much tliat. Gabord sulkily puffed out his tips, and flamed like hunting on 0 coast -guard's hut, The more he scowl- ed and sputtered, the more I laughed, till my wounded side hurt me and my arm had twinges. But my 1110od changed suddenly, and I politely beg- ged his pardon, tolling him frankly then and there what had made me laugh, and how 1 had come to think. of it. The flame passed out of his cheeks, the revolving fire of his eyes dimmed, bis lips broke into a sound - THE SEAFORTH NEWS Less laugh, and tlleii, in his big voice, he said: "You'vegot your knees to pray on yet, and emelt my bones, but you'll need to con your penileutials if tattle in the town be true." "Before you tell of that," said 1. "how is young Monsier Duvarney? Is _ is he alive?" I added, as I saw 1115 loop lower. "The Beast was at door again last night, wild to be off. and foot of Young Seigneur was in the stirrup, when along comes sister with drug got from an Indian squaw who nurs- ed. her when a child, She gives it him, and he drinks; they carry him back, sleeping, and Beast must stand thele tugging at the leathers yet," "His sister—it was his sister," said I, "that brought him back to life?" "Like that—aho! They said she must not come, but she will have her way, Straight she goes to the palace at night, no one knowing but—guess who? You can't—but vol" A light broke in one me. "With the woman—with Mathilde," I said, hoping in my heart that it was so, for somehow I felt even then that she, poor vagrant, would play a part in the history of Alixe's life and mine, "At the first shot," 11e said. '"Twas the crimson one, as quiet as a baby chick: not hanging to ma'm'selle's skirts, but watching and whispering a little now and then—and she there in Bigot's palace, and he not ]snowing! And ootids do not tell hint, for they knew poor wench in better days— aho,,' I gut up with effort and pain, and made to grasp his hand in gratitude, butt he drew Masts, puttiug his arms behind hili. "No, no," said he, "I am your or. er. They've put you here to break your High spirits, and 1'01 to Help the breaking." "But 1 thank you just the same," I answered trim; "and 1 promise to give you as little trouble as may be while you are my jailer—which, with all my heart, I hope may be as long as I'm a prisoner'," He waved out his bands to the dun- geon walls, and lifted his shoulders as if to say that I 111ig111 as well be docile, for the prison was safe enough. "Poem!" said he, as if in genial disdain of my suggestion. I smiled, and then, after putting my hands on the walls here and there to see if they were, as they seemed, quite dry, I drew back to my couch and sat down, Presently I stooped to tip the earthen jar of water to my lips, for 1 could not lift it with one hand, but my humane jailer took it from me and heltt it to my mouth, When I had drunk. "Do you know," asked I as calmly as I could, "if our barber ,gave the letter to Mademois- elle?" '31'sien', you've travelled far to muds that question," said lie, jangl- ing his keys as if he enjoyed it. "Anti if 11e had -----T' I caught at his vagi• suggestioni and my heart leaped. "A reply," solid. 1, "a message or a AUK up Daylight Saving Time and Eve time zones suet yot1 have a prob- lems that twill crack any radio brain. Here fs a candid shot o; \hut Young, of the CHIC Vancouver prl':rntat1)11 "Stag Party", trying -to l'1 fur: out 1t'hen his ,program eat reacts sort. Alfie is apparently bewildered, slit' if your community observes 1]ty1J-:'t1 Saving ya1u may hear "Stars; Party" at the same Buie, 11.30 p.m. EDST. 1.1 you remain can standard Time, the broadcast 'will reach you one shout' earlier. Daylight Seeing Time arrscd in Ai)ri1 so be prepared to watch your rarlio listings for the tittles of year favourite programme. letter," though I had not Glared to let myself even think of that, FIS whipped a tiny packet from his coat, "'Tis a sparrow's pecking—MO great matter here, est?"—he weighed it up and down on his fingers—"a little piping wren's par pitie," I reached out for it, "I should read it," said he. "There must be no more of this. But new orders came after I'd got her dainty a m'sieu'! Yes, I must read it,' said he—"but maybe not at first," he added, "not at first, if you'll give Wo1'd of honour not to tear it." "0n my sacred honour," said 1, reaching out still. He looked it all over again pro- vokingly, and then lifted it to his nose, for it had a delicate perfume. Then he gave a little grunt. of wonder and 111002ure, and handed it over. 1 broke the seal, and my eyes ran swiftly through the lines, traced in a firm, delicate hand. 1 could see through it all the fine, sound nature, by its healthy simplicity plastering anxiety, care, and fear. "Robert." she wrote, "by Cod's help my brother will live to repent with you. I trust, of Friday night's 111 worts. He was near gone, yet we have held him hack from that rough-rider, Death. "You will thank God. will you not, that my brother did not die? Indeed, I feel you leave. I do not blame you; I know—I need 1101 tell you how—the heart of the affair; and even my mother Gen See through: the wretched thing, My father says little, and he line not spoken harshly. for which I gave thanksgiving this morning in the chapel. Yet you are in a dungeon, covered with wounds of my brother's making, both of you victims of others' villiany, and you are yet to hear worse things, for they are to try you for your life. But never shall I be- lieve that they will find you guilty of dishonour, I have watched you these three year's; I do not, nor ever will, doubt you, clear friend of my heart, "You would not believe it, Robert and you may think it fanciful, but as I got up from my prayers at the chapel I looked towards a window. and it being a little open, for it is a sunny day, there sot a bird o1 the sill, a little brawn bird that peeper] and nodded. I was 50 W011 by it that I came softly over to it. It did 'not fly away, hot bopped a little here and there. I stretched out my hand gently on the stone, and putting its head now this side. now that, at last. it tripped into it, and chirped 131021 sweetly. After I had kissed it 1 placed it back on the windowsill, that it might fly away again. 'Vol no. it Quebec Expects Banner Tourist Season 33 'T he Great Gates of Quebec's 1 ancient city wall—originally designed to discourage hostile visitors—will be thrown open this summer for a large scale tourist invasion, expected to top all previous records. With most of Europe's Old World charms affected by wartime conditions, increased numbers of •Canadians and Americans will taste advan- tage of Quebec's historic sur- roundings and fine sporting facil- ities. Combining the charm of the past with the luxuries of the present the Chateau Frontenac is the centre of the city's 'social and sports activities, Dominating the city's skyline,' the majestic Cana - dean Pacific hostelry is within easy distance of the city's out- standing points of interest — an ideal headquarters for the visiting tourist, DUfferin Terrace, adja- cent to the hotel, offers an ideal view of the historic "Lower Town" and the broad St. Lawrence. Though possessing ideal facili- ties for practically every modern sport, Quebec's chief fascination to the tourist lies in its Old World charm. Its narrow, winding streets, lofty spired churches, convents and quaint do'mored dwellings are reminiscent of me- dieval Normandy. Its not -so - peaceful years are recalled by battlefields, ;grim stone forts and ancient cannon. Nearby points of Interest in- clude the Loretto Indian Reserva- tion,the Isle of Orleans, unspoiled by the rush of civilization, the Shrine of Ste. Anne de Beaupre, and the 'Montmorency Falls. Po' the sports enthusiast there are fine facilities for golf, tennis, and badminton, whilo miles of colorful highways beckon the motorist. Laurenticle National ' Park, 30 miles from the ('ity, is a paradise for fishermen 'canoeists, , camera fans and nature ]rivers. Quebec, City i., easily accessible over Canadian Pacific lines, and is conveniently connected with. inmost RD t 11'ei tree in eastern ('an - ads, enol ts)e. i'nited .States. THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1940 PROFESSIONAL CARDS MEDICAL SEAFORTH CLINIC Dr, E. A. McMaster, MB., Graduate of University of Toronto, J. D. Colquhoun, M.D., C.M., Grad- uate of Dalhousie University, Halifax, The Clinic is fully equipped with complete and modern x-ray and other up-to-date diagnostic and thereuptic equipment, Dr. Margaret K. Campbell, MD., L.A.B,P„ Specialist in Diseases in Infants and Children, will be at the Clinic last Thursday in every month from 3 to fi p,m. Dr. F. J. R. Forster, Specialist in Diseases of the Lar, Eye, Nose and Throat, will be at the Clinic the first Tuesday in every month from 4 to 6 p.m. Free well -baby clinic will be held on the second and last Thursday In every month from 1 to 2 p.m. JOHN A. GORWILL, B.A.,M.D. Physician and Surgeon In Dr. H. H. Ross' office. Phone 5 J W. C. SPROAT, M,D:, F,A.C.S, Surgery Phone 90-W. Office John St, Seaforth DR. F. J. R. FORSTER Eye, Bar, Nose and Throat Graduate in Medicine, University of Toronto, Late Assistant New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute, Moorefield's Eye, and Golden Square throat hospitals, London, Eng. At Commercial Hotel, Seaforth, third Wednesday in each month from 2 to 4 p.m. Also at Seaforth Clinic first Tuesday in each month, -63 Waterloo St, Stratford. Telephone 267. MARGARET K. CAMPBELL, M.D. London, Ontario Graduate Toronto University Licentiate of American Board of Petit. atrics, Diseases of Children At Seaforth Clinic, last Thursday af- ternoon, each month. AUCTIONEER • GEORGE ELLIOTT, Licensed Auctioneer for the County of Huron. Arrangements can be made for Sale Date at The Seaforth News, Charges moderate and satisfaction guaranteed F. W. AHRENS, Licensed Auction- eer for Perth and Huron Counties Sales Solicited. Terms on Application. Farm Stook, chattels and real estate property. R. It, No, 9, Mitchell. Phone 1134 r 6. Apply ,at this ofnce. HAROLD JACKSON ldceusc'd in I-hron and Perth Conn- nt's, 0ricee reasonable; satisfaction guaranteed. Por information, write or plane Harold Jackson, 6581.12, Sea. forth central; Brueefield R.R.1. Watson & Reid REAL ESTATE AND INSURANCE AGENCY (Successors to James Watson) MAIN ST., SEAFORTH, ONT. All kinds of Insurance risks effect- ed at Lowest rates . in First -Class Companies, The McKillop Mutual Fire Insurance Co. HEAD OFFICE—SEAFORTH, Ont. OFFICERS President, Wm, Knox, Londesboro; Vice President, W. R. Archibald, Seaforth; Secretary Treasurer, M. A. Reid, Seaforth. AGENTS F. McKercher, R.R.1, Dublin; John E. Pepper, R.R.1, Brucefteld; B. R. G. Jarmoutb, Brodhagen; James Watt, Blyth; C. P. Hewitt, Kincardine; Wm, Yeo, Holmesville. DIRECTORS Alex Broadfoot, Seaforth; William Knox, Londesboro; Chris Leonhardt, Dublin; James Connolly, Goderich; Thomas Moylan, Seaforth; W. R. Archibald, Seaforth; Alex Mel -wing, Blyth; Frank McGregor, Clinton; Hugh Alexander, Walton, Parties desirous to effect insurance or transact other business, will be promptly attended to by applications to any of the above named officers addressed to their respective poet - offices. would not go,' but stayed there, tip- ping its gold -brown head et me as though it would invite mo to guess why it came. Again I reached out my handl, and once more it tripped into it. 1 stood wondering and holding it to my bosom, when 1 heard a voice behind me say, 'Tile bird would be with thee, my child. God hath many signs.' (To Bo Continued.).