People's Pilot, Volume 2, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1892 — AMERICAN PUSH. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

AMERICAN PUSH.

EDGAR FAWCETT.

V' (fiPYRIGHT. 189! ’ By the Author aujancb.

1 CHAPTER V.— Continued. “And this,” ho at length faltered, “Is Saltravia. You have often told me of its beauty, but—” “Oh, this is nothing,” broke in Erie’s •cool and pleasant voice. “One gets these effects in other places. Our sensets here are apt to be a little sensation«L I’m envious of them. They interfere with my architectural improvements. Dear boy, don't lose your head; •your positively gasping.” “Oh, let. me gasp!” exclaimed Alonzo. “It’s such a keenly novel feeling in such » cause.”

“Ah, but that emotion is premature,” objected his friend. “You have not yet •seen Saltravia in all its fine reality. I resent that sunset. It destroys values, as you artists would say. What a pity that one cannot suppress a sunset when it becomes too sanguinary, just as if it -were a rebellion.” “But you never have rebellions in Saltravfa,” said Alonzo. “No; they’re quite too fond of the Jang. I can imagine a revolution here, but it would be conducted on principles -wholly artistic.” “Oh, Eric, Eric!” cried Alonzo, ■“you’re not a bir. changed. You’re precisely as if we had met yesterday. Who but you could have thought of an artistic revolution?” Eric, who had a pale, calm, strongfeatured face, and who often said his most surprising things without the vestige of a smile, now answered in very Aerious tones: “I assure you, my dear Lonz, that the picturesqueness of massacre, without its unpleasant qualities, such as the •actual taking of human life, could be cultivated in a sort of fete with striking ..'success. The Athenians performed -their tragedies in the open air; why ■iShould not we Saltravians, in a larger way, repeat bloodlessly some of the .sgreat epochs of history? Let us talk to the king about it. He is coming to meet you. He is very receptive, you •will find, to all original ideas. If you .and he do not swiftly like one another shall be pierced with disappointment.” “The king coining to meet me!” stammered Alonzo. “So soon? I —l am not -■prepared for an audience with his maj--esty.” ' rfo The last blaze of the setting sun now Abruptly ceased, and in a second the utmost verge of the valley grew a dusky -green. In this altered light the river took a chastened luster like that of wet ..-silk, and here and there along its edges, or on the flanks of the robust and darkening mountains, multicolored villas gleamed forth -in fairy-like profusion, each with -its engirding garden a riot of bloom. Directly before him, and only a few hundred yards away, Alonzo perceived a throng of ladies and gentlemen approaching. In the dimmer yet clearer .air he could discern that the feminine shapes were winsome, rich of garb, and that the masculine ones betrayed in -their way an equal elegance. Confident that this dainty multitude .meant the sovereign and his attendant courtiers, Alonzo drew backward, and ’in a turmoil of sharp embarrassment «grasped the arm of his friend.

CHAPTER VL Eric’s voice, however, struck reassuringly on his ear. “Yes, my dear Alonzo, it is the king, T had no idea that he would pay us this ihonor. But he is so exquisitely gracious that c-ae never knows what new ■ act of kindness he will commit. The ;persons who surround him are quite harmless beings, I assure you. They ■'perhaps possess all the native ill-breed-ing of high-bred aristocrats, but are well aware that the faintest act of dis- ■ courtesy toward anyone whom Clarimond favors would promptly end in 'their exile from the court. I pray you have not the least sense of awkwardness. The king never pet m its it to live ..In his presence.'^He has areally wondrous gift—that of destroying idle ceremony. Do not address him as ‘your majesty.’ He greatly dislikes that form, so separative and so constantly "* reminiscent of his royal rank. I am /sorry enough, dear Lonz, that you see him so soon. 1 had wanted •that we should talk for hours about him •.together before you and he were ■•brought face to face. He is so remarkfable, so preeminently distinguished. I „am sure there was never a king like /him tn al. the world liefore. I sometimes think there has never been a king cither so great or so good, though - that, of course, is saying much. But if century <u productive of anything

interesting and extraordinary it should ! be her kings, which are both anomalies and absurdities. I think Clarimond plainly realizes this fact. I could have consumed hours in talking of him to you before yon and he met, if it had not been for his caprice to come and greet you as he has done. He has just left the palace, you know. You con get a good view of it yonder on the spur of the mountain, now that the sun has sunk. I called it my bee in the bonnet, that palace, until it was quite finished. Do you care for it?” “Care for it, good Heavens, Eric.” Alonzo felt his blood beat, as only the blood of an artist can when he gazes upon work that seems to him noble and grand. The faded daylight had now brought out new tints, dark and rich, in sward and foliage. From a slope of the dim and majestic mountain towered King Clarimond’s abode. As a masterpiece of building it was no less delicate than sublime. Wrought entirely of white marble, it loomed against the undulant lawns and terraces that compassed it in an intricate maze cf turrets and spires. It was enormous with respect to the space that it covered, and yet so lace-like in its ethereal proportions that you might have named it the very filament or cobweb of architecture. To Alonzo that king’s deep regard for Eric was instantaneously plain? Such commingled airiness and solidity and flower-like blossoming in stone,- such frost-like beauty and grace blent with dignity and power, could be but the work of genius alone. It flashed through the gazer’s mind that perhaps Ludwig, of Bavaria, mad though he possibly was, admired and revered Wagner no more than Clarimond, of Saltravia, admired and revered the creator of this enchanting edifice. “It’s a magnificent bee to have had in one’s bonnet, my dear Eric,” presently murmured Alonzo. “In this light, seen as we see it now, its loveliness appears miraculous.” “Those are words that drop right down into my heart’s core," said Eric. And now as the group of people drew nearer, one figure quietly parted itself from the others. “The king,” whispered Alonzo’s friend, and with an outstretched hand and a face that seemed to radiate sun-. shine,Clarimond- of Saltravia, advanced. “Yquare most welcome,” he said in very fluent and perfect French. “You see,” ba continued, “I do not wait to

be presented to you, but take the liberty, like this, of claiming your acquaintance.” This form of phrase from royalty might well have been called graciousness, not to say condescension. But the young king who now spoke somehow contrived to make it appear like neither. His voice was rich and sweet, his manner affable without the vaguest trace of patronage, and his person irresistibly charming. Alonzo quickly felt that he could not be called by any means a man physically faultless, and yet in his tall, compact figure, his waved golden locks and his radiant gray eyes, dweltaw’orld of attraction. Almost before he knew it the stranger found his sense of strangeness oddly vanishing. Clarimond made him acquainted among the ladies and gentlemen of his little court with no more seeming difficulty than by a wave of the hand, a happy sentence, or even a fleeting smile. The manners of those who composed his train were certainly an aid to this easy method of introduction. Indeed, as tho minutes now slipped by, Alonzo began to have the sensation that he had entered within a circle of delicious sorcery where human nature, like that other nature which towered and undulated so picturesquely on every side of him, teemed with only the fairest lures. He soon found himself walking in the direction of the palace, solely accompanied by the king. Ail the others, including Erie Thaxter, had drawn a little backward, and their • gay conversation floated so buoyantly and fearlessly on the scented evening air as to dissipate every hint of that austerity which we are told usually surrounds a monarch. “You have been away but a short time from America?” asked Alcnzo’s companion, regarding him softly, and yet with what he suspected to be veiled keenness as well. “Yes, monseigneur,” replied Alonzo, wondering if Erie’s English veto as regarded “your majesty” might be thus translated into French. But the title failed to please. Immediately Clarimond placed his hand on the speaker’s arm. “Let it be ‘monsieur’ between us,” he said. “I like tha t better. But you were in Paris for a little while coming here, as I think Eric tolß"'me," ran his next words. “And you like Paris? Or are you in that one respect un-American?” “I like it beyond nil other places,” Alonzo answered. And then he added: ‘Except Saitravia.” . "Saitravia is perhaps tho iuost ; opposite place so Paris,” smi.ed Ciare- • mond, “that the world contains. Ba- ! sides, you do not know it yet ” “Ah, but I have been able to see bow ' beautiful it is.'*

“That is become your friend A» made it so.” “Tlese airy villas ere his work, monsieur, no less than your astonishing palace?” “Nearly all are his work. As soon M I felt how remarkable was his genius for architecture, I said to him, in so many words’ ‘Transform my little kingdom for uta’ And he has done so.” “But surely with great expedition.” The king laughed, shrugging his shoulders. “Our Eric declares himself lazy. Is it not absurd? True, I have assisted him with large funds and hordes of workmen- But he has labored with fine industry.” “A labor'of lovn, surely.” “Of art, .which never succeeds in its achievements unless love spurs and guides it. One can do nothing well without loving to do it-vor so 1 imagine. This particular sweep of country represents Eric’s masterpiece of effort. Westr ward are the homes of people who have neither the fortunes nor the culture to live artistically. And on the further side of the palace Saltravia assumes an aspect which is inevitably more commonplace. There are the two large hotels, the four ce’cbrated springs and the casino. Eric improved rather than rebuilt all that. It is more populous, far less rural than the prospects which now greet us, and may remind you of certain places like Carlsbad, or Homburg, or Baden. Eric has his own little abode, however, in which I believe you are to inhabit a suite of chambers. It is near the palace, and commands a view of just these heights and dells for which you have already declared a liking. In a short time we will reach It, and there, monsieur, I will venture to leave you. To-morrow, after you and your old friend have had time for a memorial chat, and when a few hours of refreshing slumber have followed the excellent glass of wine which I am sure you will get at dinner, I shall be greatly pleased to receive you at the palace. We will walk through the picture galleries, talk a little over what is there already, and then ask one another what sorts of unsecured canvas would prove the most desirable. Eric tells me that ho trusts no one’s perception of thorough worth in art so implicitly as he trusts your own.” Alonzo felt himself reddening with doubt of self. Here, in this incomparable spot, almost under the shadow of

that glorious marble poem which filled him with new for the soul from whence it had sprung, to hear words of expectant confidence in his own powers of esthetic insight! It seemed almost like a merciless mockery. He shook his head, and in very faltering tones responded: “My dear friend has overrated me to a sad degree, monsieur, I assure you.”

“Hush,” said the king, with a gesture of playful unconsciousness. “If you want me to respect your abilities you must not begin by depreciating Eric’s critical gifts. Remember that I have reason to swear by them. And if you doubt your own capacity to dive into the big European sea of art and fetch me up some of the finest pearls that lie there, such lack of faith will merely increase my own in yourself, since it is never hard to associate distinction with modesty. But here we are, almost at Eric’s very doors. You are doubtless tired, and I have come to meet you, I am well aware, with a kind of pitiless unexpectedness. ” As the king paused he put his hand about that of Alonzo, letting it rest there with a transient yet earnest pressure. Nothing could have been more simply royal than the way in which he performed this quiet act, while standing at the arches and ivy-muffled gateway which led to JSric’s monastic residence of dark gray stone. To Alonzo his departure and that of his merry court were as graceful as had been their coming and their salutations but a brief while since. When they had all passed away toward the grand approaches of the Neighboring palace, he turned to Eric with an agitated sob in the throat. “For a poor devil like myself, old fellow, such goodness is positively painful,” Eric kindly took his arm and they walked together below the Gothic gateway up toward the little round towered medieval abode which rose just beyond. “My dear Lonz, this is one of the happiest moments I have ever known since I camo to Saitravia, and saying that certainly is saying much. But for you to call yourself a ‘poor devil’—you, whom I once envied as the luckiest of mortals, with your talents, your good looks and your millions! It’s like dreaming a grisly dream.” > “I never had any real talents, Eric. Like my good looks, they’re something you’ve dreamed.” “Preposterous! You’re slow, I’ll admit.” “Slow? I’m the merest plodder.” “But some day you might produce a masterpiece. And some day I believe you wilt As it was, all that wealth stood in the way of it. Now your [luxury slips from you like * parole

robe, anA below it is the drees of plain taffetas titan an occasional paint stain will rather adArn than harm. Besides, you will have another potent incentive." “You mean— ’’ “Leisure. Most men who lose their money are in a turmoil of distress about their butcher’s bills. But, after all, though the salary allowed you by the king is not precisely enormous—” “He is exceedingly liberal, Eric." “Still, for Saltravia, it can’t be called meager. And you will find, dear Lonz, that it possesses one pungent charm—you can so often draw it with an entirely guilty conscience.” “I see. You mean that I shall not have much to do.” “You will have a great deal to do in one sense, little in another. The king, you know, is enormously rich, and has (notwithstanding his many charities) * passion for purchasing and possessing what is beautiful in art. He will require you at the end of every three months or so to show him a certain proof of faithful stewardship.” “I quite understand, Eric. I must account to him for the sums of u money that I have expended.” “Good heavens!” cried Eric, giving one of his laughs which smote the bland evening air with an almost flutelike sweetness, “you must do nothing of the sort. If you fail to convince Clarimond that you have made your purchases with avoidance of all rash and reckless economies—that you have, in other words, been prudently and discreetly extravagant—l am not at all sure what adverse views he may adopt regarding your proper endowments for the position you have assumed. Ha would prefer to take for granted that you have brought him treasures of art which have been rather chosen for their excessive ideal value as bits of true beauty than because fashion or salsa tradition had touched them with any vulgar spell. But I babble on, and you are fatigued. Ycrti long for your bath, for a change of llhen, and then for a quiet little dinner at which you may wash down more of my inanities with some really choice wine, a gift from the king himself.”

They presently passed within doors, but before they did so Alonzo begged to linger a few moments on the terrace which they had now ascended. The huge hills had deepened from violet to the mellowest azure and the hard white roads glimmered below a heaven whose crystal was but newly invaded by the silver shyness of earlier stars. Lights had begun to shine in tbs palace casements and in those of thn glooming villas besides. From the heart of the dimmed sunset beamed a pale pool of sky that the two sable mountains flanked like coasts, and midway between either, like a water Illy of throbbing fire, burned the evening star. Freshing each instant with tho advent of darkness, a breeze played at so brisk a speed along the valley that you might wonder how it could bear such heavy odors of pine, of garland flowers and qf wild flowers a* well, in its viewless but dewy clasp. [to be continued.]

AS THE KING PAUSED HE PUT HIS HAND ABOUT THAT OF ALONZO.