Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1854-07-27

SO, stlli pale and excited.
Il must tell it quickly. or I shall not
tell 1t at all" murmured the old man.
'for Du Chastel's steel has found my
| life"
He motioned to his friends,-to those
who had brought him thither,-and thew
came forward and raised him higher mn.
he thanked them with a grateful look
then he bowed his head moment as if
IN deep pain-and then he raised his weak
ening eyes once more to the face of the
trembling monarch.
CHAPTER XXVII
CONCLUSION.
Montarrago had been once the heads,
man of ayarre-the public executioner
lie had served for two kings, and during
the term of that service he had been call
ed upon to do many work of blood his
name had indeed become curse. No won,
DER then. that the people in the castle
court gathered eagerly about him, for it
had been many years now since he had
been heard of in the kingdom, and he was
thought to be dead The old man east
his eyes for few moments about him.
and then he turned them once more up
on the king
Sire" he began, with strange solem-
nlty IN his tone and manner, years ago
there was man in Navarro who took to
himself a wife That wife was the fair
est daughter of the kingdom Others had
loved her beside the man who made her
wife. Well, she was married, and for
while all went on well; but at length, in
an evil hour, devil began to whisper in
the husbands ear At first, he listened
/ not; but the devil whispered on. and the
husband began to listen The angel wife
was accused of infdelity-she spurned
the base insinuation-bu her protesta-
tions availed her not Time rolled on.
and she bare to her husband child but
with. that husband the devil had done his
work. He believed that his wife was
criminal, and that his child
Hold hold old man. shrieked the
KING, and then, while his voice sank to a
hoarse whisper, aud his hands worked
nervously upon his bosom, be added
"Who was that husband ?"
"Never mind, sire here my story first
don't interrupt me- That father never
smiled upon his infant, for he believed
that it was not his child his heart was
all turned to the gall of bitterness, and
he was as miserable as man could we'll
be for he yet loved his wife Are YOU
listening, sire 2n
80, great God |" groaned the king.
! "But | will not dwell here" resumed
the old man. That husband had listen
ed too long to the words which the incar-
nate tiend had whispered to him, and he
resolved to put from his sight forever
those two beings whom he thought to be
the living evidence of his own shame. He
sought the executioner-it was me. [
was the blood d-master, the deatl-man Of
/ Navarro. He told me [ must take his
wife and child, and slay them That
wife, who had been as faithful to him as
Heaven itself, he put away-he gave her
to the bloody headsman, and from that
time he looked not upon her again =
"Old man p gasped the king, with a
most frightful expression, ''you have lied
to me most foully That wife was guilty
She was as black as the grave with
crime I"
"Listen, sire, till I have fnished," said
Montarrago,
'But do not lie to me !" whispered the
monarch, grasping the old man by the
arm.
Those who stood around were startled
by the terrible look of their king. They
were riveted to the spot, and not move
ment told that they breathed, save that
their eyes wandered anxiously from one
to the other of the actors in the strange
scene.
Sire" resumed the old man. as soon
as the king let 80 of his arm, ''after this
t dead u-oS n IL l..
the boys In the streets shrauk from me
and men trembled when they met me At
length | began to tremble at myself The
ghosts of hundred headless men haunt
ed me; and, sick at heart of the bloody
life had led, | gave up my CORY Office,
and started on pilgrimage to the Holy
Land, and there [ meant to have ended
my days in prayer and penitence. But
fate ordered it otherwise | there came
across pilgrim like myself For several
years we kept company there, and he had
sought that holy spot to wash away a
crime but | knew not what it was until
death came to snatch him away. While
he lay dying upon my knee, be poured in
to my ear the story of his crime chad
come from Navarro, and the scene of his
story lay in Pampeluna. 1t ran in this
wise:
"a certain man in Navarro had become
the husband of most beautiful girl; but
there was another man who loved that
girl, and she had scornfully rejected him
The rejected lover vowed revenge. lie
was young man-a very young man.
but he was of noble blood, and that blood
was hot and fierce He gained place of
trust by the side of the husband. and then
began to whisper against the fair fame of
Z the wife--but his own words was not
enough Near the town of Saint Jean
Pied de Port, there lived young hunter
who often came to the home of the hus-
band with game He was handsome
man, and once or twice the young wife
had smiled upon the youthful hunter, and
bestowed her bounty upon him The re-
iected lover saw this, and he resolved to
profit by it; he sought that hunter. and
by the payment of large sums of gold, he