Galveston Tribune. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 82, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 2, 1921 Page: 4 of 12
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GALVESTON
TRIBUNE
FOUR
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1921.
3
GALVESTON TRIBUNE
Poetry and Persiflage
ESTABLISHED 1880-
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He noted, essayed a quiet chuc-
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LET’S GO.
Do you oft-
He ' heard her forgotten me, was pleased to pluck me
...
Every man,- woman and child in the
fA
has waited for the propi-
popular outdoor sport.
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One kiss thrown
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State Journal.
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light, my sad
March came in like a dandelion.
SANCTUMSIFTINGS
sit
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know that when
burnt like coals.
That last sentence of his
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To be Continued
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memorial
Galveston
installed
brought
existence.
wards
him.
was
She
was
ants,
kle
ed him.
passion
I saw her bright reflection
In the waters under me,
Like a golden goblet falling
And sinking into the sea.
gnawed at his heart,
speak.
Member of the Associated Press.
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to
ths use for republication of all news dispatches
eredited to it or not otherwise credited in this
paper, and also the local news published herein.
you
are
it is
Member American Newspaper Publishers’ Ass’n., Southern News-
paper Publishers’ Ass’n., and Audit Bureau of Circulations.
The court house janitors now have
a much easier job since attendants upon
the courts do not find it necessary to
leave their empty flasks in the court-
house corridors.
And far in the hazy distance
Of that lovely night in June
The blaze of the flaming furnace
Gleamed redder than the moon.
out of hell, and set me on his earth
again.”
back as she drew the hanging. aside,
and she had gone.
Francis stood at the foot of the steps
for a minute, his eyes still filled with
(
And like those waters rushing
Among the wooden piers,
A flood of thoughts came o’er me
That filled my eyes with tears.
)
u
nut garages will be expected to pay an
income tax.
But underneath my window stands
The street-lamp, tall and fine,
Just like a great big eye, that looks
Directly into mine.
’ I
M
%
"I
I pull the window shade aside
And look down at the light:
It winks at me, as though to say,
“I’m here—sleep well—good night!”
—Iris, in Chicago Tribune.
The Friendly Light.
My room is high above the street,
And up a long, long stair.
And when I’m left to go to sleep,
I’m often lonely there.
How often, O, how often*
In the days that have gone by,
I had stood on the bridge at midnight
And gazed on that wave and sky!
■—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
My Dear, How Terrible.
(From the Woodstock Sentinel).
Joe Harris, wife and children ate a
little stranger, recently an addition to
their family. We did not learn of the
arrival until several days old.
Problems were solved,
seemed to cease;
My heavy heart was
peanuts are selling at a dollar a bushel । no man should walk here,
on the hoof, hereafter, owners of pea- ‘ en come here?”
Cynicus is of the belief that every
• male child born on the first day of
the month should be named Bill.
cedar was not far away. In its gloom tom not to sleep. I spend the hours in
a man stood, brooding, gnawing at his . solitude, and reflect on the goodness
thumb while something he dreaded of God, who, when I thought He had
a
j]
4
T
1
4
It is getting so now that a hen will
be compelled to lay two eggs a day in
order to pay for her board and keep.
No Trouble At All.
(From the New York Sun). .
“Hello, is this the public library?”
“Yes, madam.”
“Would you mind giving me a brief
synopsis of the ‘Einstein Theory of
Relativity?’ Yes, over the phone please,
You see Ive got to read a paper on
the subject at our club meeting this
afternoon and I’ve been so frightfully
busy that I haven’t been able to spare
a minute to read up on it.”
Among the long, black rafters '
The wavering shadows lay,
And the current that came from the
ocean
Seemed to lift and tear them away;
I
fettered, as mine were fettered,
5
MAMh.
She retreated back-
lifting herself above
would take you
station as that.”
soul gay;
I shed this “muddy vesture of decay”
And in a visioned paradise found peace!
Urrsemmmsammezmmnmumzmmammamema
She looked him over steadily. “This
is the Duchess’s garden, and at night
A Chicago man, while intoxicated,
killed his wife. When is prohibition
going into effect?
The Dream.
I had a dream that was a blest release
From all the petty troubles of the
day;
No more I felt the trouble and dis-
may
That mornings gather and that noons
i increase.
3
J
Eastern Offices.
New York Office. 341 Fifth Ave.
D. J. Randall.
Chicago, St. Louis and Detroit Offices,
The S. C. Beckwith Agency.
Now that the cabinet' has been com-
pleted it may be. expected that the
quantity of timber for commercial use
will show increased production.
for a man above a
In common with a large number of
other localities, Galveston has accepted
the services of the young men of the
community in going to the defense of
the nation, and incidentally to make
( the world safe for democracy, with lit-
' tie Indication of the sentiment which it
is known runs deep and strong in the
hearts of the people who claim this
place as their home. While other local-
Tp T p P H A NFG Business Office and Adv. Dept. 83, Circulation Dept. 1398
1L — IL r n Editorial Rooms 49 and 1395, Society Editor 2524
yBy ERNEST GOODWIN y
mmmmzmme
was in
Why should anybody shy at suggest-
ed blue laws. They have paid n.o at-
tention to the Ten Commandments for
the past three thousand years.
A Kansas City thief took a bag con-
taining $1 in pennies and nickels which
had been collected for the starving
children of Europe. We think he has
qualified for the title of orneriest man
in America.
a step,
It is quite probable that the Demo- nodded to him, once more embraced her
cratic party will never consent to be . , , 1 ,
reorganized as long as William Jen- ! lover, and went happily away, up the
nings Bryan insists on being master ' steps to the terrace,
of ceremonies.
This Party Must Be A False Alarm.
(From the Marinette Eagle-Star).
In Saturday evening’s paper there
was an announcement that Miss Goldie
Villeneauve of this city was about to
marry a Leo Janowitz of Menominee.
Miss Villeneauve wishes not to have
any such rumors as this in circulation,
and furthermore she wishes to let the
public know that she wants nothing to
do with this party, and never had any
intentions of marrying him, and does
not wish to hear any more of this per-
son or anything concerning this.
Miss Goldie Villeneauve, Marinette.
198
I
and worries
“Then laugh at me.” He threw his
hands out, and laughed himself, sneer-
ing.
She was gentle. “No, I’ll not laugh.
I pity you.” That was true. “Tell me
—I wondered, who are you, what are
you? Sometimes I have thought—”
His spirit leapt within him and hug-
ged itself. He knew it. Sometimes she
had wondered—Yes, yes, Duchess, you
think of me when you are alone, and
wonder—and here you own it. What a
child it was! Shame, Pedro!—yet he was
trembling.
She was standing now on the third
step from the bottom, one hand resting
on the stne balustrade. He put one
to himself—and
Herbert Hoover is the only member
of the Harding cabinet who is not
either a lawyer or a banker. But Her-
bert is used to standing alone.
An Expection to the Rule.
(From Life).
Hokus—A man never gets anywhere
by just letting things slide.
Pokus—How about the trombone
player?
It begins to look as if most of Eu-
rope had adopted the American Le-
gion slogan, “Let’s Go,” and were head-
ed for America first.
He came closer. A genuine
Because of the high price "paid for
the fruit, California has gone inten-
sively into raisin’ grapes.
Copyright, 1919, by Ernest Goodwin. All Rights Reserved.
Printed by permission of, and by special arrangement with
Houghton Mifflin Company.
not so much his body as his soul you
lash? You can cut into that—and draw
blood with every stroke. With a whip,
men do this to each other. But a wom-
an—a woman can do it with a word,
a look.”
He was too near. She heard his breatn
come hard, his eyes fixed on her face,
THE BRIDGE.
I stood on the bridge at midnight,
As the clocks were striking
hour,
And the moon rose o’er the city
Behind the dark church tower.
Not Time for Everything.
(From Passing Show, London).
First Constable—Did yer get that
car’s number?
Second Constable—No! too blinkin’
fast for me. That was a good lookin’
girl on the back seat, wasn’t it?
First Constable—Aye! that she was.
an accusation. She felt its .truth,
had lashed him, she knew. She
United States who is not learning to | of Francis, and, coming over, put her
drive a car is engaged in some of the , „ , ,
daily drives being pulled off in this hand on Pedro s arm. 'You saved my
country. The drive has become the 1 lover for me ,now I will do something
“Thing of to-ay. You let him
The emergency tariff places a duty
of 90 cents a bushel on peanuts. As
A Czech scientist is in the United
States in an endeavor to have this
country manifest a greater interest in
anthropology. He appears to be a lit-
tle late, congress is already consider-
ing the limitation of immigration.
Song in March.
Now are the winds about us in their
glee,
Tossing the slender tree;
Whirling the sands about his furious
car,
March commeth from afar;
Breaks the sealed magic of old Win-
ter’s dreams,
And rends his glassy streams;
Chafing the potent airs, he fiercely
takes
Their fetters from the lakes,
And with a power by queenly Spring
supplied,
Wakens the slumbering tide.
With a wild love he seeks young Sum-
mer’s charms,
And clasps her in his arms,
Lifting his shield between, he drives
away
Old Winter from his prey,
The ancient tyrant whom he boldly
braves, ,
Goes howling to his caves;
And to his northern realm compelled
to fly,
Yields up his victory;
Melting are all his bands, o'erthrown
his towers,
And March comes bringing flowers.
•—William Gilmore Simms in the Ohio
light, with this still air, and the scent
of the flowers, this garden, lapped in
these grim walls, seems”—he paused—
“seems like the thought of God’s mercy
at the heart of a sinful man.”
She stared at him. Again she felt,
knew, “No lackey, this.”
Her silence questioned him further.
He felt it, and laughed inwardly—and
started to feel himself glow inwardly
too. He went on, quietly, still with
his air of cold and calm resignation.
“This night in every year it is my cus-
The Average.
A Nebraska economist estimates that
a farmer’s wife earns $4,004 a year.
Frequently she gets the $4.—New York
Herald.
could not fathom. “Good-bye, woman
—good-bye, terrible woman—”
Into the gloom of the garden shot a
great gout of warm . light. Clear-cut
against it stood Giolina. She held the
silken hanging back, and, turning her
head, spoke clearly to some' one within
the room. You might have guessed
that her words were meant to reach
ears below in the darkness.
“Come into the cool air, Your Grace.
One can breathe here.”
Into the light came another figure.
Giolina held the curtain back, and
the Duchess came slowly out on to the
terrace. She had undressed for bed.
She was in her bedgown, a light robe
over, it, but left open in front. The
moon showed the slender grace of her
figure in its thin draping, the small
slippers in which her feet were shod.
About her shoulders znd tumbling down
her back almost to her knees poured
the great mass of her wonderful hair,
vaguely dark save where the light from
her room caught it and showed the
glory of its red. As she emerged into
the garden her hands went up to her
head—leaving the privacy of her room,
even for the privacy, as, she did not
doubt, of her garden, she prepared in-
stinctively to modify the abandonment
the free flood of her hair about her
suggested.
Giolina checked her. “Nay, leave your
hair down—only the moon can see.”
Cunning, cunning! Her own heart
filled with the rapture of love returned
in full, Giolina guessed what the glory
of that hair must mean to the man
she knew was watching in the dark.
“Chance in my youth put me for a
time in the company of the great. I
have wandered so far, seen so much—•
some things appealed—and I took hold.
Then, too, fortune has played queer
tricks with me.”
He was sure of his ground now, and
into his voice, finnoticed by him, noted
on the instant by her, there crept a
hint of the strength that lay in him.
This note, strength, reached and set
gently trembling the responsive chord
in her woman’s nature. She leant down-
wards as she answered.
“Tell me more. Sometimes I have
thought—have you not had ambition?”
In that she confessed her estimate
of him—no common man. Oh, my poor
Duchess, direct, unfearing, speaking
the thought that is in you, this man’s
swift and subtle mind is divining all
that lies unspoken behind the simple
barrier of your words.
“Ambition? Yes.”
“Then, why have you failed?”
“Failed?”—he was working again for
his effect.
“You are poor—a swordman for hire,
a servant,”
“I own a sword, I own—myself. Serv-
ice or command, I can assume either.
All’s one. to me. Is that failure?”
Like a falsh she saw it true. He was
a servant, yet he could command. Who
could doubt that? She looked at him,
and even in the dark she could see
that the subtle change in the timbre
of his voice had come a change just as
subtle in his attitude. The voice was
quiet, restrained, yet strangely confi-
dent/ the figure—what did it remind
her of? Had she seen it before?. Some-
where in her girlhood she sought to
place that memory.
buildings into
Some one has been storying about
John D. Rockefeller’s fortune. He has
been compelled to deny that it is
$3,000,000,000. «
tlous time to arrive, and that time is
here. «
The local post of the American Le-
gion has concluded that it wanted a
home, a place where every man who
wore the uniform of an American
soldier might feel that' he was wel-
come, a place where there could be held
the frequent reunions which serve so
largely toward keeping alive the heart
sentiments to which the war gave birth,
"and in pursuit of this desire, the pur-
chase of a building and grounds was
made. It is at first contemplated that
the entire proposition should / be fi-
nanced by the ex-service men, but it
was later found that many of the
members of the organization, willing
as they might be to make sacrifice for
the purpose, were not able to follow
the desires of their heart, and this,
coupled with the expressed wishes of
a number of citizens to be' permitted
to aid in the splendid enterprise, in-
duced those in charge of the financial
campaign to propose that the citizen-
ship of Galveston be invited to join
effort with the legionaires toward
completing the payment for the prop-
_ erty which has been acquired for a
home.
ities have erected arches,
public drinking fountains,
CHAPTER XI
Suddenly she stopped. Something
moved by the cedar, the form of a man
was faintly visible in the shadow. “Who
is that?” she said. “Who is it? Is that
you, Count?” She expected yes for an
answer. The presence of the young
Count there beneath the terrace, seem
a natural thing. The figure was si-
lent. “What is that?” raising her voice
a little; “tell me your name,, or I call
my guard.” She did not retreat, but 1
her body stiffened asshe drew herself
up, folding her robe round her with a
women’s instinct of self-protection.
Pedro moved forward slowly. No sud-
den or abrupt act on his part should
startle her, no tone in his voice alarm
her. In the faint light, his attitude
plainly enough was all deference—head
stooping forward, shoulders drooped,
back bent, very proper for a lackey
answering the imperious questioning of
a great lady.
“Madam, it is I, Pedro, the Count’s
man. My master is in bed. He is
worn out with the anxieties of this
last few days, and if he is to bear him-
self with spirit to-morrow some rest
he must have.”
Nothing in this to alarm her. Every
line of him, every tinge of tone in his
voie, gave assurance of humility. He
would not presume. She might answer
him safely.
“Does he take it so hardly, then?”
“How else?”
“Yet—-he knew—when first he came.”
“Oh, yes, madam. But how could he
know at the outset how much he ven-
tured—how high he aimed?”
“At least I did not lead'him on.”
“No, thas true, but, Excellency, you
might have spared him much.”
“How should I have spared him?”
and the thrill which can possess a gen-
erous woman in the beauty of another j
of her own sex ran happily through
her. |
The two women came down the steps
into the garden, slowly, the Duchess ;
leading'/ giving herself with luxrious
ease to the refreshing coolness of the
night air.
She came a step or two down the i
path from the foot of the steps. The
But waking, I dare not wish back
again
That'happiness; even I must avoid
Description of it. Something now has
hushed
The narrative that I would sing. For,
when
I woke, I read a book by Dr. Freud.
Found what the vision signified—•
and blushedl!
—Ted Robinson in Cleveland Plain
Dealer.
The American Legion local post is
not asking that funds be donated for
the purpose, they merely ask that the
people of Galveston subscribe to a suf-
ficient amount of stock to enable the
organization to complete its payment
for the property and to finance the
necessary repairs to the building so
as to make -it the sort of home it is
( desired to be. In making known to the
j people of Galveston, the aim of those
in charge of the matter, it is ex-
plained that the local post has out-
grown its present quarters; that its
membership is largly composed of
young men in moderate circumstances
and that these young fellows have sub-
scribed one-third the cost of the prop-
erty and with this showing do not feel
any reluctance in asking that the peo-
ple among whom they live and - who
know them best, come to their assist-
ance at this critical time.
Says the circular: “The purpose of
the American Legion, the organiza-
tion that stands on the solid principle
of 100 per cent Americanism, is well
known and has already met the de-
voted approval of the entire country.
The American Legion stands, in times
of peace, for what the American army
stood in times of war.” In concluding
its modest statement, the circular
reads: “As an organization we feel
that the Galveston public is only too
anxious to give us this opportunity
for growth end expansion, which will
make the local American Legion post
a force in everything good in the City
of Galveston for all time.”
Largely because of the multiplicity of
matters clamoring for the attention of
the people, it might be soon forgotten
that Galveston’s young manhood did
hot hesitate to make the sreme sac-
rifice when the call came from across
the ocean, and it were more than fit-
ting that there should be erected in the
City of Galveston, on one of its most
prominent thoroughfares, an edifice
which would be ever a reminder that
not only the community, but the na-
tion, had assumed a debt of honor to-
ward its young men and that even the
passing -ages should not dim our recol-
lection of that debt. There should be
a quick and cheerful response to the
request of the local American Legion
post. It would however, be .more in
keeping with the sentiment of the home
people that the modest assistance asked
for should be ignored and there come a
popular movement which would place
on the ground a magnificent building
which would serve as a slight token
of appreciation for the service render-
ed humanity by the young men of the
American Legion.
Information for winter tourists.
Strawberry shortcake is now in season
in South Texas.
THE SWISS MAY QUIT.
From San Antonio Light:
The other day, Switzerland served
notice on the league of nations that
she would withdraw from the league i
■the' allies insist on sending troopls
across her soil bound for the Vilna
plebiscite zone.
This is highly interesting. When it
is analyzed, it brings to- light in forci-
ble manner one of the great defects of
the league of nations idea. Moreover,
it exposes the weakness of the entire
plan when reduced to a working ba-
sis.
Oh, Very Well!
(From the Kewanee Star-Courier).
Notice—I have been getting numer-
ous calls for nursing. I wish not to
be called as my health does not permit
me to overdo. Especially I have two
canaries and house flowers to care for.
I may when weather gets warmer take
a few cases. Mrs. Lizzie Hague, 638
Pine.
“Such years, Duchess. Such cruel
years. The cold at nights, the burning
heat by day. We starved, we thirsted.
We rotted, fevered, madened, perished.
The toil, the bitter toil—and the whip!
Think of that.”
She thought of it and shivered.
“Three hundred naked Christian
slaves—and they lashed us like horses.
We were fettered, each man to his
oar, in gangs of three, and they drove
us with the whip.” His lips were dry,
he was shaking. The man’s memories
were keen enough here, and the writhe
he made as he stood before her was
involuntary, a wrenching of the muscles
of his back as if again the thong reach-
found himself
“Ah, ah,” he
A noiseless typewriter is being ad-
vertised. But the title is indefinite;
what is wanted is a talkless, gum-
chewless one.
embarrassed. “I did not—a woman
might not know, might not under-
stand,” she answered.
He drooped his head again, and spoke
more quietly. “Well, there God’s mercy
found me. I was in hell, I cried that
there was no God, and yet in the depths
of the Pit his hand sought me and
found me, and drew me out of it. And
i
~ L • ■ • . T» . By Carrier or Mali. Postage Prepaid,
□ubscription Kates Per Week, Month, 50; Per
JL X ear, 6.•0, in advanee. e
for you. Some one shall walk in the
garden.” '
She felt under her hand the muscles
of his arm grow rigid as he suppressed
a start. He was agitated, “Lady Gio-
lina—”
The fact that rains are referred to
as refreshing, does not bring them
properly into the once well-defined
class of liquid refreshments.
Switzerland stated in effect, that
while she was a member of the league
and very anxious to participate in any
protection the league might have to of-
fer small nations, she emphatically
didn’t desire to-participate in any mili-
tary features of league. In other words
Switzerland wanted to- preserve her
neutrality strictly in so far as military
action was concerned although presum-
ably she might participate with the
other members of the league of fiations
in any economic measures to enforce
the league’s orders.
The stand taken by Switzerland while
in no sense identified with the stand
taken, by America, yet serves further
to show the wisdom the United States
displaye'd in declining to meddle with
the league as at present constituted.
In Switzerland, as in America, there
are people descendant from many na-
tionalities. Some of them have views
at variance with the Vilna plebiscite.
Some of them doubtless are in accord
with it. But at all events, they are
not a unit on the matter. If the Swiss
government permits the passage of
armed forces over Swiss territory to
put that measure into effect, Switzer-
land then commits an act of war or its
equivalent.
In the event the project does not
work out as proposed, Switzerland will
be in rather a sorry predicament.
Moreover at home, a division of politi-
cal opinion will have been created so
that the little mountain country will be
beset from within and from without
by critics if not by armed forces.
There is, however, another feature to
the situation. The communist or So-
cialistic agitation in Switzerland is in-
tense due to extensive unemployment
and hard times. Any act 8f military
opposition to the bolsheviki of Russia
not required to defend Switzerland’s
frontiers against invasion, would
strengthen the hands of the communist
or Socialistic elements in Switzerland
which is something that neither he
Swiss government nor the allied gov-
ernments care to bring about.
yet formulated.
“You may speak. What do you
here?”
How easy it had been to bring the
conversation on to this plane! Where
now was the Count? Forgotten. The
talk now was entirely personal to
these two. She questioning, he ans-
wering. Minute by minute the garden
• resolving itself into their whole
world, with these two its sole inhabit-
Published Evenings Except Sunday at the Tribune Building.
Entered at the Postoffice in Galveston am Second-Class Mail Matter.
The Democratic party in Prussia sus-
tained an overwhelming defeat in le-
cent parliamentary elections. This
would indicate how poorly we succeed-
ed in making the world safe for
democracy.
As, sweeping and eddying through “
them.
Rose the belated tide.
And, streaming- into the moonlight.
The seaweed floated wide.
trembling instead.
“I have been here,” he admitted.
“At night?”
“Why do you ask?” he answered.
She continued to look searchingly
at him.
“Pedro,” she said, most surprising-
ly, “shall I- make her walk in the gar-
1 den?”
Even in the moonlight, a flush of
color showed itself faintly under the
dark of his face. “Who do you mean?”
She answered him with a grave smile,
eyes still reading him. “You know
what I mean.” She dropped the hand
With a little laugh of gratification
and triumph she stepped away. “Wait
, here. Some one shall walk in the gar-
' den. Do you think I can’t see?” She
AND BLESSED THEM —
A And he led them out as far
as to Bethany, and he lift-
A ed up his hands, and
blessed them. Luke, 24:50.
“This beautiful garden! How love-
ly in this light, and how strange! The
moon’s an enchanter I think, Giolina,
and down his beams there rides a
witchery we women should be on our
guard against.” She looked back where
the turrets of her castle towered black
and fantastic against the vast cavern
of the sky irwhich the moon rode in a
kind of pitiless, arrogant blaze of its
own glory. “Giolina,” she asked
thoughfully, “am I so different from
other women?”
“How different?” the girl answered.
“They say I am cold.”
“Are you not?”
The Duchess did not seem to hear
her. She stood, looking at the moon,
then, “Am I?” the man under the cedar
heard faintly— “I wonder.”
Quietly and cautiously Francis whis-
pered to his companion. “I must go.
Shall you come?”
Pedro drew a long breath. “Yes—yes
—Wait a moment— No, I’ll stay. Away
boy. Soon I'll see you—”
A grip of the hand and the boy’s light
figure had slipped away. -
The Duchess moved slowly down the
path.
foot on the bottom step and near hers,
hand on the balustrade, not near hers.
His face all aglow, eyes gleaming up
at her, he drew her question. -
“You are not Italian?”
“I am Spanish. My mother was a
Spanish gipsy.”
“But at times, from your speech, one
“Tell me of this.”
He naif turned from her, as if afraid
that his dark face might betray some
emotion he was unwilling she should
suspect. “Clever, clever, Pedro!” he
said in his, heart-—and felt his heart
leap within him.
He had caught her! Sne was inter-
ested now. Not merely curiosity, but
a touch of sympathy was in her voice.
This strange man, quite respectful—in
the garden—no right there—plucked
by God from hell—he says so, acknowl-
edges God’s goodness—an anniversary
—her command was instinctive.
“On this day, four years ago, through
the instrument of a good woman who
sought to make some offering to God
for the soul of her dead lover, I and a
dozen others were set free from the
galleys.”
That last word was unexpected. It
startled her as might a cold raindrop
suddenly on her bosom. She drew back,
one foot on the bottom step.
“The galleys! You were a galley
slave?”
“Yes, Your Grace.”
She froze. Pah! Fool that she had
been to .talk to him—ani yet he spoke
of it so simply, wtihout apology. She
must know.
“What was your crime?”
Lovely! She had fallen into his trap.
He had set it so skilfully. With a mere
statement of literal fact he had caused
her to accuse him, not merely to her-
self, but openly, by question. Now he
would confound her.
“Crime? Oh, Your Grace”—a touch
of faint reproach mingled with his
resignation—“did you think I was a
thief? No, not that. I served on a
ship in a fight off Cyprus against the
Moslemis, and, being taken prisoner
with the rest of our company at the
close of that disastrous day, I was
sold-with others to a Smyrna pirate.
In his galley I pulled at an oar for
three years. ! Such years, Duchess—”
He gave a shudder. It was genuine
enough.
She was aglow with shame. He had
been a slave, a Christian slave, toiling
in the hell below deck, laboring in
the . rowers’ bank under the yoke of
the infidel. And she had thought him
a criminal, had accepted his statement
of sufferings as a confession of
crime—she flushed with shame in the
dark, abased at the injustice she had
done him. Her voice told him all this
as she spoke. “Tell me.”
Aha! He would have her soon! He
had touched her pity, and that was a
string he could play a real tune on.
He had the matter in hand. No need
for invention here. He stepped towards
her. He lifted his face 'towards her,
put out his hands. She saw him shud-
der.
‘the vision of the girl he loved, then,
turning to Pedro, saw only the empty
garden. But running across the lduwn,
all eys, he found his man under the
cedar. He showed dimly in the dark-
ness, but Francis could make him out
sitting on the seat there, head in hands,
elbows on knees, a brooding figure.
Francis slipped on to the. seat by him,
and put his arms round his neck.
“I must go. But shall I see you
again?”
“Oh, God knows—yes; no; I don’t
know; why not?”
“What’s wrong?” Immersed in his
neW-found happiness the boy could
sense something gone awry here.
Pedro took his hands from his face
and sat with them clasped between his
'knees, staring all the while up at the
■'terrace where very faintly a shimmer
of light from the Duchess’s bedroom
edged its way round the covering of her
doorway.
He put his hand on Francis’. “If I
were a sane man I’d come with you,
Francis. What folly keeps me here,
when every instinct within me bids
me fly this—this haunt of black mag-
ic, where a man’s will melts like a
/hailstone in summer. Necromancy,
necromancy—who said that witches
were old? Nay, I’m raving,” he broke
off. '“Away, lad! I’ll meet you again,
some day. Get you back to Missona.
Get you your sleep as a good soldier
should.” He stood up, the boy rising
with him, -and kissed him on both
cheeks, then held him at arm’s length.
“Would to God that you could bind
me hand and foot, and drag me away
from this damned castle where if I stay
I shall meet with my undoing.” The
boy stared at him, frankly puzzled.
Pedro laughed. “I’m raving, I say—
Wait, Francis, I’ll come with you.”
The boy, bewildered, was neverthe-
less delighted. “Now? Tonight?”
“Aye, tonight. ’T is my last chance.
I’ll run no more risk.” He stepped out
from under the cedar, looked up at the
terrace, flung both hands out in a
movement of renunciation the boy
near you, take your hand. What more
should a lad want from you to ) set
him afire? Because he is a gallant
lad you have gone out of your way
to be kind to him. That was cruel.”
“I had no thought of that.”
“Ah, but think what your kindness
has meant. Knowing my sword is
sharp. I keep it’ in its scabbard. But
you—think what you ' are, and you
have stooped from your heights and let
this lad dream that you were within
his reach. Was that kind? No, it was
cruel. Better for that boy had you
treated him as you treated me—the mob
and the moat. I have never thanked
you for that. I do so now.”
Still all respect. The words presumed,
but the manner—that of a man who
suffers injustice bravely. It accused
her without passion. It put her on her
defence. Yet she could not stoop to
defend herself. The thing was too
absurb. But she could not ignore him
either. Positively there was nothing
left but to show him his place.
She answered coldly, a very duchess.
“You speak with too much freedom.”
Depreciation, submission, uncom-
plaining acceptance of whatever injus-
tice she chose, to lay upon him—all this
his bow expressed. “Do I so? Pardon,
Your Grace. I am your humble ser-
vant. I will go.” He made as if to go.
Spite of herself she must speak
again. The strange questioning the
air held seemed to engulf her. The
mystery of the garden, the moonlight,
had communicated itself to this dark
and sombre men, whose pale face
bowed before her, whose eyes seemed
to be answering questions she had not
so, on this day in every year I fast,
and on this night I forego sleep, and
commune with myself and give thanks.
And tonight I will give double thanks
—for the kindness and charity of
the woman that saved me from
the yoke of the Turk, and tRe scorn
and the cruelty of that other, woman
that freed from the.slavery of loving
her.”
This was unpardonable. Plainly the
fellow presumed her. He mustbe dis-
missed. Enough of his story, a painful
one, and in some way explaining him
—even excusing. Excusing? Poor
wretch—can we after all, be too hard?
But a rebuke, certainly a rebuke here,
to remind him. .
“My poor Pedro’/you have suffered.”
A thought too condescending, that.
Still, on the spur of the moment one
cannot always find the exact word.
Besides, it was true, the man had suf-
fered. “You must be a little mad, I
think.” That would rebuke him, of
course. He would understand that only
this evident lack of mental balance
excused the presumption of his speech.
“I should be angry with you, but I
cannot.”
his voice. “Do
a man’s hands
thought, “careful Pedro.”
His answer: “Excellency, I wanted
solitude. I should ask your pardon
i for being here. At night, in such a
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Galveston Tribune. (Galveston, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 82, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 2, 1921, newspaper, March 2, 1921; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1579661/m1/4/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Rosenberg Library.