"THE FOOL" OF THE FOUR CORNERS.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9024, 9 February 1895, Page 2

"THE FOOL" OF THE FOUR CORNERS.

By G. B. BuKQitf. r . I . . . -■ ■ 1 I. Folk at the Four Corners were strougly divided as to the advisability of witnessing the forthcoming performance of " Faust' , by Vlolette Lajeunesse and Cotnpauy. The consensus of public opinion at last decided against patrouUlng the performance. "You see, boye," said Waydown Miller —"you see boys, 'cwas only Mother week old Parson Strange chipped in for a fresh wrastle with the Devil for all he was woefch; and it's playin'it low down on the parson to go and see a show in which, from all accounts,' Old Nick dou't come dif eecond-best. It's encouragin' the boys to git runnin' wild jest to show they ain't afraid; but I dou't hold with it nohow. If thisyer place i 3 goin' to git religion, it's goiu , to git it square and fair, and we don't wane no g*udy play-actin' to come and euchre us afore we've got our doxology sound. Thar's some of us now" (he gazed sternly rouud at the younger men in the store)—•• Tuar'e some of us now as is precious weak-kneed and waverin*; and play-actin' 'ud start 'em on a regglar jamboree afore they know'd they'd, begun. No, airs. I'm jest agoin' to tear down the bills from the public pump and sorter intimate them travellin'jaybirds 'ill have to pass us by on t'other side same as, 'cordin' to Parson Strange, the Good Samaritan did in old times." . j

But when it became known that Violette Lajeunesse was simply a stage name for that fascinating damsel, Marcella Wix, who had disappeared from the Four Corners at the early age of sixteen and joined a travelling opera company, public opinion unanimously decided that the .gifted daughter of the late lamented Wix should noc be churlishly received. A committee, in spite ot Parson Strange's earnest protest, was organized to secure funds for a public reception, which took the shape of an elegant arch of petroleum cans and empty tar-barrels in the square. The arch was ignited,on the evening of Mies Wix's arrival at the Four Corners, anditietoba feared that the opposition became a rapidly decreasing minority af«£§*<ss hud'bfea seea oa the wharf, guarded on the one side by the leading tenor of the company, and on the other by a portly basso, who scowled a melodramatic - defiance at M&rcella's former playmates. Another circumstauce in connection, with Miss Wix's reappearance aleo excited much comment. "You'd hardly b'ljeve it, boys," Ifcey Marston said that evening; as the elite of the village gathered round Wajdewn Miller's hospitable store. "You'd hardly biloveit, boys; bat when old Way down read oft that speech he's been sorter scratchin* at for the last two days, jest as he was in the middle of it, and she .showiu'all of her pretty white teeth in a smile, ble3C if The Fool didn't come up and hand her a bundle of wild flowers. Low down, j ornery wild flowers from t'other side ot the crick," tne speaker continued;" none of your city boukays at ten dollars a stalk, but a lot of darned grasses and things as a cow wouldn't touch.; He jest brought her a bundle as if he was fodderin' down cattle." " And what happened then ?" asked a man who had not been at the public reception. "Didn't some one yank The Fool to Jericho?" " Wai', you see," said Ikey significantly, "'taiu'e so easy to yank Tive Fool anywheres he don't want to be yanked. He's limber in his limbs is The Fool, and draws pretty quick' when he ain't had any practice for a day or two. Yea,.sir. But i old Wajdown got him by the back of the neck, and was jest goin , to drop him into the Ottawa to sorter cool hint down when that gal smiled,- her little white teeth locking like milk. 'Thankyou. I'm glad to see you haint forgotten old days,* she ■ says, quiet and gentlelike, aud sticks some of them weeds in her belt. You should ha' seen the look ehe give him, boys. It, made old Basso Profondo swear himself hoarse in Eyetalian. But the Fool jest gazed at her in a dazed sort of way, until the old man caught him by the slack and ' chucked him outea the road." " Now I come to think on it," said Pete Lctflllond, " when Marcella was to horn Willi old Wix she and TheFool'was always mighty thict. I was generally with 'em too. She's a heap sight punier now than she was theu. Thar'il b* trouble," and he frowned ominously, "if she stops here long. The Company's due at the Springs in a fortnight before it goes to Ottawa. You boya jest keep your eyes skinned over thisycr game. If so be as Marcella allows to settle down here agin, it's our doty to chuck them Ejetalians into the river when they're in the way.' .

"In course/ said Ikey. "I don't hold with f arrlnera. P'raps if we was to wrap 'em up in tar and feathers first'afore we dropped 'em in 'twould be more neighbourly and they'll float better. Seems harsh to drop 'em in with nothing on."

. Ie was decided, however, that it would be well to do-things decently and in order, and avoid all appearance of undue preeipltancj. Farther, it was also determined that the "Eyetalians" were to be given another chance, but that Ikey Marston's old feather bed should be kept In a corner of the store ready to be ripped open in an emergency. With characteristic and patriotic generosity, Waydown Miller also silently provided a puncheon of tar.

1 But astbe time drew near for the performance of" Faust," the tar and feathers were forgotten. ' The Fool (he was a beautiful and picturesque' youth with melancholy blue - eyes and a drooping moustache) made such headway with his old companion Marcella that the foreign singers became objects .of contemptuous pit} or derislou. Another former friend of HarceUa's appeared on-the scene In the shape of yonng Pete Lorillard, who was a man of brawn and muscle not to be dealt with lightly when .he had set. his mind on a thing. The Fool, being the sou of that influential citizen, Waydown Miller, commanded a very strong fallowing*bat, on the other tratid, Pete's father kept the , tavern in the town where lodged the important members of the " Fautt " company. The

curious part of the affair was that Mareella, with feminine perversity, appeared to be unable to make up her mind. One day she permitted The Fool to row her across the river in search of arbutu*; the same evening she went for a baggy drive with Pete; and, later on, the members of the Company entertained her at supper. Both The Fool and Pete were bidden to the feast as the only adequate representatives of Four Cornere\arUtocracy. Strange to say, they found mutual support and strength in the fact. Had one of them not been there the other would hare felt hi*, manners primitive when compared with the florid ease of the " Eyetaliane." " What are theaeyere little towel* for ?" Pete whispered, furtively showing his serviette 60 The Fool. "Idunno," said The Fool. "Maybe they're ankerchers." "Old Basso Profondo's slingin' his round his seek," whispered Pete presently; "and that other chap with the red nose has tucked his into his shirt." •'Well," said The Fool, with a vague remembrance of the wisdom of Solomon, " tuck one end into your shirt and t'other rouud your neck, and watch what the others do with theirs. Is this fizzy stuff strong? I feel sorter wanfcln' to fly through the roof. What's it called?" "Champagne, you durned idiot," retorted Pete in a whisper. "Thar ain't no harm in a quart of it." "That beii/ so," The Fool cheerfully remarked, "I'll stick to thisyer bo tie; there's j&9t about; a quart, and it's real pretty the way ib sparkles." In after years, the more sophisticated Pete declared this operatic supper to be the mo3t gorgeous festival ac which he had ever assisted. Marcella herself did not cat much, but sat on a kiud of improvised throne at one end of the table. The rude walls of the tavern were white- \ washed over. The Italians, with that j fondness for colour which distinguishes them as a nation, had draped the room in flery-hued robes, and shawls, and other "props." Marcelia herself was clad in a soft white dress open at the throat. In her hair The Fool delightedly noticed a spray of the arbutus which they had gathered that afternoon. It seemed to him that it became her Infinitely better than the jewels covering her neck and arms.

Presently Marcella stole away from the supper table to the verandah. The Fool (he had been christened by this opprobrious nickname because he wrote somewhat rude and untutored verses for The Four Corners Gazette) found her there gazing tenderly at the distant Laurentian Mountains, the dark crests of which, bathed in the moonlight, looked strangely softened and etherialised. At their feet the Ottawa River flowed turbidly along, an unbarked log swaying and drifting with the current. The distant roar of the Long Sault; Palla broke the stillness with a tierce, hoarse murmur, and, here and there, a light gleamed redly from some huge timber raft floating down to Quebec, whilst the throbbing beat-beat t>f a night steamer making its way up against the current was interrupted by the distant barking of a dog. The road loading to the wharf gleamed like a white snake in the moonlight, as Marcella leaned over the balcony and began to play with the ends of her wrap. —« The Fool leaned on the railing beside her, his handsome boyish face flushed with champagne, his utterance a trifle thick from the same reason. "There's the ciick down there," he said, pointing to a little thread of silver as it emerged from a patch of Bush to the left of the hotel. "There's the crick, Marcella," he said softly; " and here's you, and here's mc." " Well," she said with an amused smile, " I don't see any thing striking in that, Mr Miller." "Mebbe not,",said The Pool. "Mebbe not. Once," and he turned his face away from her, "I used to carry % little bare leg-gad girl across that crick, and teach her how to handle a catfish when we'd hauled him out; once I used to make little Marcelly Wix a bed of maidenhair under that old tree over yonder and keep the flies off, and she'd sing purtier'n any mockin'-bird; and when Pete came along and wanted to fight mc 'cause he was jealous, why," he continued mournfully, "I jesb downed him and shied him Into the water, and held his head under until he gave in."

" Pleasant for Pete," Marcella interrupted with a laugh.

"And I'd do it again," continued The Fool, turning bis handsome, melancholy face to the unquiet flood. "Somehow, Marcelly, I know it wouldn't last. You went on gefctia , fiercer and fiercer.. What made mc happy didn't do for you. You got tired of mc, and led mc auch a life it's a wonder I didn't knife every fellow as come near you. And I know," he continued in the same matter-of-fact tones without looking at her, , "I know it'll be the same to the end. I've always had to give in to you all my life. When you went away I'd have followed you to the world's end, only you told rue to wait where I was and you'd .come back to mc. Now I've waited all these years, and I—l want to know, Marcelly. I Want to know if you ain't thed of this life in cities and dou't pine for the tmell of the bush and flow of the river, and a sight of the hummingbirds a rifllu' the fuchsia blooms on the old verandah. There ain't notbin , like this anywhere else You've had your little fly round the world. Come back and settle down with mc."

"If I did," she asked curiously, " what would you do i n

"The. first thing," The Fool said with emphasis, " I'd get you to strip off all these." He motioned to her somewhat resplendent attire, still without looking at it. " I'd git you to strip off 'all these, put on your old cotton frock, and let your back hair down—that hair so soft, and thick,, aud fine; and we'd play at bein' boy aud girl again, and let the world go by."

" And if such a life didn't cob tent mc?" she asked.

" You'd soon have the feel of ib into your bones again/ , he said. " You'd git up in the soft summer mornings afore the rest of the worldjwas awake, and go out into the freshneee and sweetness of the J3ush, and bathe tn the dew, and be young again. People don't live in them fevered cities; they scarcely breathe. You want to git among the smell of the pines, and the ferns,, and the flower*, and sing as you used to eing up to the sky through the tree-topa."

"Ah," Bhe said curionsly, "I don't think you hare heard mc f ing much since then. People say I hare improved a good deal. You wouldn't know my voice now. I'm what they call a prima donna."

The Fool looked at her. " Seems sort of sinful to live in all that glare and gas* light," he said simply, " when you might be free as a bird. I wa*t your arnser, Marcelly; Pete'll be plaguin' you, too, to make up your mind, but; he 'lowed mc, beln' * sort of older triend who'd licked him so of too, as X waa to have first chance."

."Butif I refuse you and aeeept him,* she asked. " What then I" >■

"ge'll.t»it such another lickin'," said The Fool in matter-of-fact tones, "aslllay over all the other lickin's bee ever had in his life."

Marceila looked round and saw Pete stumbling through the entrance. With an audacious movement, she turned her head to The Fool and kissed him lightly oo the eheec. The next moment the two men vrere struggling together.

The struggle was of brief duration, for The Fool lightly dropped Peie «v«r the balcony, and resumed the couvenation as tf nothing had happened. "I want to know," he said simply.

"You shall fcnow all to-morrow night," she said* "After you have heard mc

■ . . - ■ : Ir « ' . The next evening there was a gathering of the clans from near aud far. The townsmen of LochSel, of Proston, of Caledonia Springs, and every hamlet for twenty miles round, came In on horseback, In buggies, buckooardn, and other uondescript vehicles, until the Four Cornets' hotels overflowed. Most of the people who rambled in from the Buah had Very primitive ideas as to what, the? were to see. ~ln many cases thu Opera wat looked upon a> something superior to a circus, end the fact that Marcella had the chief part fostered ihe delation that she would appear in short skirts, mounted on a milk-white Arab, and jump through paper hoops between intervale devoted to the singing of comic songs. However, the eigual bad Rone forth, from far and near, that Marcella was a rarity worth seeing in any capacity. The Town Hal), which had been hired by the Company for the occasion, was hastily fitted up with an improvised stage and scenery. A huge cedar log fastened to the bottom ol the curtain steadied ie, and enabled two men to roll it up when required. ■ None of the seats in the house were less than a dollar. A few hastily constructed boxes- fetched, when put up to auci ion, ten dollars each, so that on the eventful evening of the performance;, Marcella's inauager was very well satisfied with the house, although he bad bitterly resented having to stop at euoh "a one-horse place." "If you don't, I wont «ing anywhere else," Marcella had insisted, with an ominous contraction'of her white brow. " We're not duo at Caledonia Springs for a fortnight, and this ia just as good a place to rest in as anywhere else. If you dou'c like to stop here, say so, and I'll get some one who'll do as he is told." Wuercupou the manager had declared that Marcella's feelings in desiriug to perform at her birthplace did her infinite credit, and that he would exert himself to the utmost to make the performauce a success.

Of course, The Fool had a box level with the at ago on the prompt side, and Pete Lorillard another facing him. The former friends, but present rivals, eat and glared at each other, inwardly glad they had been compelled to leave their weapons at the door, for the Four Corners' elders had decreed that there was to be no shooting. Gentlemen with private grievances wore requested to subordinate all quarrels to the greatness of the occasion, and allow them to remain in abeyauce until fitter opportunity should servo for the wounding and maiming of each other. In accordance with this mandate, each man was searched at the door as he came in, and made to deposit his weapons in a little side room.

It ia ueedless to say that Marcella was a success. No one in these rustic regions had over seen such a Marguerite. A few simpletons at firat were unable to penetrate the secret of her stage "make-up." They remembered Marcella as a girl with black hair. Her long, fair braids, twisted and tied with ribbon in the traditional manner, puzzled them; they could not understand how such a transformation was possible until the word went round that it was the proper thing to wear a wig for such a parti. Then they leaned back in their eeats with an air of untutored enjoyment, and followed the varying -fortunes of the heroine with undisguised sympathy, persistently hissing Mephiatopheles with virtuous indignation every time he appeared. In truth, the gentleman styled " BasioPf ofondo" was agreat deal too etout to make a very fiendish Mephistopheles. In vain he shrugged and grimaced, ■ sang and declaimed, bis part with great vigour, lit* pursy form excited universal amusement; the more he waa " guyed," the angrier he became. It was noticed as the evening wore on that Marguerite grew more and more uneasy. Once or twice she seemed on the poiut of leaving off in the middle of her part to I address a deprecating word or two to the audience, but apparently thought better of it and did uot dp so. It was evident that she was thinking less of the ovation she received than of the merciless treatment accorded to "Bawd Profondo," whose rage nearly choked him. As the perform* ance drew to a close, a rotten egg struck ' Mt phlitopheles full in the face, and the ! stage manager hastily gave the signal to ring down the curtain, unwitting that Marguerite, Iα the act of singing her last solo, had advauced to she very edge of the footlights in a vain -attempt; to interpose her person between Mephistopheles and his persecutors.

The heavy csdar roller came down with a run, hitched a moment when half-way, then resumed its course, and was about to crash the life out of the preoccupied Marcelia, when two men sprang from their boxes to the rescue. One hesitated on the edge of the box for a fatal second.' The next moment The Fool sprang on to the stage, pushed back Marcelia, and was crushed beneath the weight of the falling log. • ■ • • • • •

To every one's astonishment, when the leg wan raised The Fool still lived. ..His tight leg had. to be amputated at the knee, aud one ot bis hands was crashed and maimed; bat beyond these injuries, and a severe shock to hU system* fchere was little the matter with the young fellow* Six weeks later,- when he wa*able to sit up and read the panegyrics on his conduct in that eloquent and influential journal, The Four Corners Gazette, Marcelia had long since departed for Caledonia Springs, leaving a note behind her in the custody of Mr Pete Lorillard, with lαatructibnti that it was to be aiveti to the invalid when lie was well enough to'hear its contents.

One .fine summer morning. Fete sauntered over to- Waydown Miller's «ud asked to see The Fool. He found. that youug gentleman propped up in bed, eating a tremendous breakfast. The Fool grinned cheerfully at Pete and motioned him to eit down."

"I'llnever be able to give you another llekin'," lie said, surveying Lorillard'e stalwart frame. /'You've got the.bulge on mc now. Pete." Pete eat down on the edge of the bed. "I shouldn't cay that till you'd tried," he answered critically. "A .wooden leg comes in eurprisln , - handy in a scrimmage. There was a man down to East H&wklesbury could clear folks oaten hie store by jest β-unbaeklin , and a-awiogin' hie wooden leg eoffcly round hie head, and then lettin' her drive. If she missed the window or cracker bar'l she was mighty sure to fetch jap agin some one. They do 6ay the coroner need to give him half fees' whenever he killed s> man, but 'tain'c generally believed." He blushed and faltered as if he had something on his mind, atrd looked round the room with an elaborate affectation of unconcern which would nob have imposedon a blind man, <• - - The Jbool regarded him cheerfully. "You're a bad band at ljin\ Pete," he eafd. " Oat with it, bat shake first." . Pete extended a brawny hand and laboriously shook The Fool's thin white one. „ "geetn* as we've only got three leg? atween us now," he said whimsically, "I reckon we'd better go into partnership in a store, and 111 do the collectlrt'. I never Jtnew'd a woman yet worth flghtio.'for all your life, though Marcella pretty nearly fills the bUI." The Fool assented to this statement, and finished hie breakfast. *'Oh, you've found it out too," be ekid, blkck pipe and motidnine; to ptsie to arrauge the pillow* more comfort-, Jhbly. *'I guess I kuow ac much as you do, though nobody aiti'c told mc nothiii*. .

Pete draw a scented note from Ills breast pocket. •'Aiore g!vin' you this (o read from a certain party," he avid, "I'm wl«hCal to sorter break iB gently. Which thrt party

was also wishful it Yojv wou'c rear vvdZ'SE***!.'" asked auaciously. "ft m,i,., » 0? to sorb of a ~ chance in a certain qnarter i * n * which that quarter hadn't™ 'f* 800 * and I hadn't a show Iα c h4t sal °« for the «a:uc reasons, yo,, 0 l Ua *ter ehooter go in for any durn tLuu *° a Wouldn't ilk. some one f£ to ff* 3, •IH y« sorter get at it ? * 6 Oa Jβ The Pool HtiU regarded him with....,, " Oat with it," he said. ««"? * 8mlI «. Hie letter, Tell mc what you know f ai Murcelly." now a *>aut Pere cleared his throat oainfuliy "You remember makln' a kind «, declara.iou to her that night el ff^J* " Of course I do."

" Well, so did I." "You did? After I dropped that balcony? Why • yoa °«fea ••Prezdctiy," said Pete . did it from the ground *£^& l *} but thai- ain't no need to go into thiiS^ 5 seem' as.th fi party « «Jd both the ne« night was alayia'To^ ,,, "I know," said The Pool "Sf I'll have to light a fire under ,3 p , Or to git you started." J0 «»

•• Was a layia' for both of us "urn t>. with laboured inspiration. ■«•*£? J? 1 He paused to note the effect nt «..

Was already married to Mister 8a.,« Profondo,"resumed Pete, wlnlnghS? spiring brow. « And they .£3? because they thought if itLkJd boys would hustle the old chap round and make tht»R. lively for him when thJjM been betUn on us and g aasseu the ,. d JJ "J their money." g "

«♦ \ k. *Uout,". M u The Fool "that nlßhb when I see her trvin'»„ shield him, she thiukln> WekK? £ coi" , and werelsJitt ' fw 2«!

"And you don't miad!" asked Peteiacredulously. !..■•"»»»

?ll F °° l , held oathU *«*«•* theiftte "Thats 'fcweeume and her" he mm in the store. Mc Pete LotilUrd, makln' this a subject of conversation, you mlehb let on sorter keerleas and pormlafcue like as I've etUl got a hand to ahoot with, and* bein' a bit uncertain Iv my balance hat to draw quick."

When Pete delicately withdrew to coa. vey this message to the Four Corner*' wiseacres, The Fool mechanically opened the note, and stared through the et»n window into the bush, as it he saw Mm. cella, crowned with wild flowers, eittiog : on her maidenhair throne and singing to the blue sky above the tree-tops. H w favourite ring, eet with sparkling stones, rolled out of the envelops and lay üb< heeded on the coverlet. A bluebird twittered hard by the window-till, an & , the drone of honey-aeekiug bees in the bushes beneath broke confusedly oa hit ear. After a moment's hesitation, hf picked up his revolver from a table it tbe bedeide, hurled it Into epace, hopp?d feebly to the window, and inhaled a long breath of air, as if there were something still worth living for in God'e wide universe.

"A woman's lova'e a good deal/? hft muttered fervently, "but thfsyer beautlful world's eomethin' too. IVo lost one, but I've got the other still. '—Good Civttr*