Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1889-01-17
CHAPTER XII.

L.
The storm was now raging in its full.
force. The rain, in perfect torrents, was
driving against the chateau walls The
wind howled about the house-corners and
down the chimneys. Peal after peal of
deafening thunder rang through the
heavens and the lightning in binding
flashes seemed never to cease. The en-
tire house was in q state of wild confu-
sion and alarm, and each servant was
rushing aimlessly around, questioning the
other.
Ddmitri and Catherine swore that the
Princess quilted her painting only
few minutes before they themselves left
the terrace. They exhibited the picture,
moist with freshly-laid colors, as proof of
her work during the afternoon.
Neither man nor maid had seen nor heard
any thing unusual. On the drive home
they passed no persons, excepting some
carriers and a wayfaring pedestrian
all men well known in the neighborhood.
i II these persons had witnessed any thing
strange they surely would have spoken
of it.
Stay Dimitrin said Catherine, with
sudden inspiration; do you remember
noticing something queerl"
Dimitri reflected a moment. Said he:
DO you mean that whistle!"
YES was her reply; ''and do you re-
member that | spoke to you about it and
asked what it wass"
You are right" said he, and the first
whistle sounded only few moments after
the Princess went"
. Yes continued the eager girl, g and
the second was blown after we left the
carriers and that farmer, this side of the
pool. They were all fellows living about
here, going to ST. Malo with vegetables for
the market tomorrow. / think they must
be at the inn for shelter from the rain.
You'd better jump on your horse and run
down and question them
Suitng the action to the word. Dimitri
hurried off
Lydia's common sense told her that in all
probability Natalie was now Far beyond
rescue. Something in the fran1ness and
general tenor of the two notes led her 10
feel that noharm would befall her friend.
That it was no ordinary brain which had
achieved the deed she was fully convinced.
Every thing went to prove this-the very
boldness of the scheme itself, the notes,
their general tone and language. Although
nearly broken hearted over the affair." she
believed it quito useless even to institute a
search.
The others Of the household were for send
ing out Immediately to search the neighbor-
hood and discover some trace of the lost
Princess. All the available males were
! accordingly pressed into the service, and
sent ont 10 scour the country in every direc-
ton. The first objective point of course,
was the road in the vicinity of the pool.
But not the slightest clue could there be
discovered. The heavy rains had obliterated
all the wheel-tracks made by the wagon
been carried Searching far and wide, they
could find positively nothing in the way of a
trace Of their lost mistress.
Meanwhile, Dimitri returned from an in
terview with the carriers, and these individ-
uals all agreed in saying that they had seen
| a horsewoman emerge from the cliff road
and ride rapidly toward the village on the
public road. From their description of the
woman and her horse, it could be none other
than the Princess herself
They met with no stranger, excepting
huutsman who hailed them near the cliff
road and got them all into some angry
dispute with regard to the land whereabouts
They, too. observed the loud whistle, but
supposed it that of some hunter calling his
dogs.
Ere Dimitri left the inn, farmer, also
living in the neighborhood, entered,
drenched through and through by the
storm. On his way 10 St. Malo, he had be-
come alarmed at the severity of the storm,
and, surprising it an all-night affair. turned
back to the inn of the village.
Dimitri remembered meeting with him,
| just after Catherine and himself passed the
pool.
| Here now was clue
The wagoners were not to be diverted
| from their idea that they saw the Princess
| going toward the pool.
Had this farmer, on the opposite side of the
/ pool. seen herr No, he had not. He saw
no one, excepting a stranger whom he found
| sitting by the roadside. This man and him
self enjoyed long talk about crops-a talk
| of perhaps one quarter of an hour in length
| No woman passed them. Of that he was
sGre-at least no woman excepting the one
with that man, pointing to Dimitri and
| referring. of course, to Catherine He, too,
observed the sharp calls Of the whistle.
| Lydia listened quietly to Dimitris story.
| Here, at last, was trace 10 Natalie-the
only clue, perhaps, to her disappearance.
"Send for all the wagoners and the farm
| er, Immediately said she, authoritativcly.
| The dripping band of peasants soon APP
| pearcd in the hail, little rivulets triclzling
/ down from their drenehed garments and
/ covering the floor with miniature ponds.
They stood huddled together, awe-struc1
and awkward.
Questioning them, Lydia found that Nata-
| lie must have been lost between the wagon
4 ers on one side of the pool and the farmer
on the other side: and, therefore, in the
neIghborhood Of, and very probably at, the
pool itself; and that the stranger who
conversed with the farmer, and also the
huntsman who disputed with the carriers,
were, undoubtedly, accessories to the abb
duction-for they both disappeared almost
Immediately after the second whistle.
The wagoners said that the first cali was
+, heard Just before they saw the Princess.