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CHINA MAIL CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT
The Two Promises
(Continued from Page 14)
It is the mystery of the two pro- mises."
"The two promises?”
The chemist became animated. His scandal-loving soul shone in his little black eyes.
"The problem is this: Madame Gossain has made two promises, one to her dear father, one to her dear husband. To fulfil one promise she must break the other.
"And which....7
“Ah.” Trique" shook his head "We do not know. For eleven years we have tried to find out But we know nothing.
"It was like this, mademoi selle. Madame Gossain's father inherited the chateau from his father, who got it from his father, and so on back for generations. Madame Gossain's father, ah, he loved the land, and while he lived the chateag was full of busy life, the fields gave their harvests in abund- ance, everything flourished.
“When he died, the old mon- sieur made his daughter" pro- mise that whatever happened she would keep the land. Never must the land leave the family. Madame promised.
20
eau
*MO
"She married 1 handsome dreamy man, whose passion was for furniture, a fine artist, and He was an incurable collector. He had no money of his own; but he filled the chat-
with treasures.
He took oat mortgages on the land, the chateau, everything. He sacri- fed all for his valuable furni- ture. And, just before he died, be made Madame promise that she must never give up his fur- niture. She loved him. She promised
"That was eleven years ago. From-that-day to this no one has seen the inside of the chateau; the doors are barred to all. Madame lives there with her nephew and one old servant. Somehow, they have kept the land. How, we do not know. All we know is that they are land poor, and that life is a struggle up there at the chateau.**
Monsieur Triquet leaned closer to Rhoda, his black eyes dancing.
*Exquisite, is it not, made. moiselle?. The two promises. Such antagonistic things are in-
volved. Keep the land, or keep the furniture. She cannot keep both. Someday she must give up one or the other. I shall die happy if I have lived to see the outcome, mademoiselle.”
The following afternoon, Mon- sieur Colin was waiting when Rhoda climbed the hill "path. carrying her watercolour box. He greeted her with a smile.
"It is arranged," be announc- ed. "You may paint to YOUT heart's content, but he be came serioas you must not approach the chatean too close-
"
of
"I understand," nodded Rhoda quickly." shall be satisfied to paint from this vantage point." "May I stay and, watch for a while?"
"Certainly."
the beginning. It was friendship. His mother had been French, but his father had been English, and for the first eighteen years of his life Colin had lived in England; sequently, his mind was an Eng- lish mind that had not altered greatly in eleven years French soil He and Rhodà spoke the same language.
сод
On
Every afternoon Rhoda came, and each time he managed to spatch a brief hour from his work so that he might be withi her. Her first efforts did not satisfy her, and it was not until she had painted the third water- colour that she decided she could do no better.
"What are you going to call it?" Colin asked.
Unthinking, Rhoda replied:
"The Chatean of the Two-Pro-
mises."
He started. “Where did you. get that name?" he demanded.
“Village gossip," Rhoda spoke lightly, though she was aware that a Bush had stamed her cheeks.
For 3 moment he was silent, staring towards the chateau.
"It's a queer old place," he said softly. "When I first came here I came unwillingly. Now I love it with the same love my aunt has for it. I want to see this land giving harvests such 25 my grandfather extracted from it. But it needs money, labour; we must færst spend to earn→→→ and that is rather beyond us. I'm afraid.”
Rhoda was careful never to
The Way Of A Sailor-
(Continued from Page 12.) "Of course, the party is off as far as I'm concerned." sighed mournfully.
He
The
The colour in Joan's pink cheeks deepened. For the m>>* ment she had ́ forgotten their quarrel It was a habit of hers to forget them when carried away by one of her many en- thusiasms. Should she greet his tacit thrust in dignified alence, or smile it off latter was really the better, for Laurie could be very stubborn st times, and might forgo the party if the mood was upon him.
She smiled her sweetest. "Well if you promise not to stroke me the wrong way again, perhaps, Ill forgive you."
As she dressed, she could hard- ly contain her excitement. She must look her best for Favi Probably, the local belles would all be there, and she must cut- shize them
Vividly she recalled the past Easter, when he had been visit ing Long Shore. Laurie had been at ses, at the time, and she " had ample opportunity of meet- ing the actor. They had strolled together on the beach at dusk, bad picnics at Craigie Point, talked...how they had talked?
Paul was so different from, zug man she'd ever met, so utterly different from the seafaring folk of Long Shore. Her vivid imagination had conjured for him
birthplace: 2. Tumantic
mention the two promises again. Her slip of the tongue had caused an unpleasant mo- ment, and somehow she did not want any unpleasant moments to creep in between Colin and herself.
There came another after- noon when Colin again spoke seriously and told what was in his heart, but this time he un- covered a different subject.
"I am very poor, Ehoda-of course, someday I shall inherit the chateau and the land. but even then I would still be poor, there would still be the danger of losing all this....I cannot offer you very much, and you- would have to make sacrifices— for instance, with regard to your art-but I have crown to love you."
He saw her hesitancy, quickly he spoke. *-
and
"Don't say anything, now, my dear. Think it over. Then, to- MOTTOW— !**
Rhoda found it difficult to think clearly. She wandered alone back to the village, and, "reaching the inn, stayed in her room til evening. Even when she at length slipped into bed there was no decision sharp at attention in her mind.
It was a tremendous, a rather frightening: question. Her whole future life was involved.-- Marriage to Colin meant giving up her studies, meant separa- tion from her family, her friends, her nationality. The south of France had delighted her, but she had regarded her visit here purely as a holiday. The possibility of living here permanently had never occurred to her.
In the morning she was-still- uncertain. She began to doubt. if it was love she felt for Colin, wondered if her modernity bad. been acquired at a dear price, so that such qualities as hard- Nëss and selfishness had had to be acquired also.
She strolled past that chemist shop after breakfast, Monsieur. Triquet bounded to the door and called her name. She saw that he was in the grip_of ́ex- citement.
“Mademoiselle, it has hap- pened at last! I think we shall soon know which of the two promises Madame Gossain kept." He halted dramatically. "You see, Madame Gossain is dead!""
"Dead Rhoda put a hand to
Castile, Vienna, or perhaps, some Bunny Pacific island His Life, with glamour of the theatre in- the back-ground, was, colourful, azciting....In comparison, her own, Laurie's life, seemed hope lessly commonplace.
His departure had left her with a curions sense of loss, like seeing something beautiful and having it hastily snatched away. And he had come back....to see her again!
You've been hours," Laurie greeted her, when she joined him in the sitting-room He was not ~--
But yet ready to forgive her. his face softened into a smile as she came towards him,
"Friends again?” he whisper- ed, slipping his arm about her waist.
"Of course," she responded, thinking with a little stab how
as if to still the
her throat, pulse which suddenly began to hammer there..
"She died peacefully in her sleep last night” explained Triquet. "The news has just reached the village.”
Rhoda found herself walking up through the village towards the hill path In sight of the chatean she did not hesitate; but continued straight on to the green gate in the wall. It open- ed at her touch, and a moment later she was knocking at the front door.
atood
Colin appeared. staring at her as if id not know-her. Quickly she put her hands on his shoulders and kissed
"Rhoda... ́dearest.———
He drew her into the hall, and for the first time she was inside the chatean. She saw the ball was bare He guided her into a big living-room,” and save for a table and a few chairs and pictures of no vaine, this too. was bare
"You see now why she want- ed no one inside the chateau?" said Colin. "The whole place is bare like this. All Monsieur Gossain's treasures are gone. For eleven years my aunt has been selling them one by one. She broke the promise to her husband, and kept the promise to her father. The antiques went; the land remains. Now It is the Chateau of the One Promise."
Rhoda held his hand, stroked
A it gently.
"Poor Colin. I know how YOU feel...."
"Yesterday she sold the last remnant of the collection. It paid off the last of the land debts. She died happy, I think She tried hard to keep both pro- mises; she sold each little thing grudgingly. Brt the laid was life, the other-art. And it was a saying of hers that life comes ~before art
Phoda was silent. A picture...... of Madame Gossain revolved slowly in her mind, and she realised how Madame had suf- fered. Abruptly she knew that Madame had chosen right from wrong. It was right life should come first
“Colin-" As she spoke, he looked down into her eyes, he felt the warm clasp of her fin- gers, and he knew that she had made her choice and that she had chosen right from wrong.
[THE END]
different her reaction would be if it were Paul's arms that en circled her waist.
Once outside, walking to the Cliff House, she felt repentent for her moment of disloyalty. It was Laurie's- arms about her waist she wanted, and not Paril's, she told herself stoutly.
Most of the guests were pre- sent when they arrived, and having gore from one to the other with a little word of greet- ing Joan's eyes were suddenly drawn to a dark man, sitting at the end of the lounge, his hand- some profile tumed effectively towards anyone who might ap proach.
She advanced shyly, her heart hammering.
For remember me, don't you, (Continued on Page 21)
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