Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1893-11-09

| AS Alexo fastened homeward he once or
| twice glanced at tho Princes nsslve, long.
ing to break its huge red ses, slaha tear it
open. He wished to know tnst was
written there, to see whetha Awords were
he was designing to place s..,eh,. The
pages feet scarcely touched tie ground as
| he thus hurried onward, fill of malicious
! Joy and anticipated vengeance.
Alexo entered the palace by one of its
| private doors, and ascending a narrow
staircase, reached a corridor leading to the
this corridor the page was now repairing,
conscious that the Count was close at his
| heels. Now was the moment. Alexo drew
forth the Princes letter, and purposely
dropping it, calmly pursued his way up to.
wards his MISTRESS boudoir; rejoicing that
he had left mischief behind him.
The count paused, picked up the billet
dropped by his wife's page and read khe
superscription.
The demon ofjealousy was in his soul;
he broke the seal of the letter, and read
"And so thou dost understand the ar
dent gllancess Of mine entranced cyes-en;,
tranced by the splendor o. thine own--and
thou dost respond to the throDbings Of
mine heart, beloved? Tonight. when weak
| minds are keeping measure to musical
sounds thou wilt steal away and wander
forth into the orangery, there to meet thine
own "PREIDERLAUs."
The Count de Brandenburg crush
his palms, and moaned aloud. He
felt as if huge mountain had been sudden
ly placed upon his shoulders and, instead
of proceeding to his wifes apartments as
he had intended, he turned about, and
sought the opposite wing OF the palace. He
crazed besides. He read and re-read the
tlorid. senseless scrawl, until its letters fair
ly danced before his eyes and yet he could
not bring his mind to fully comprehend its
meaning. Corona false to him. there never
yet was woman true.
this painful and agonizing affair. His heart
was beating wildly and his whirling brain
made him giddy and sick. AT one NOM
ent he thought of rushing to Corona with
the letter, of accusing her then and there of
perfidy and baseness; and at another he de-
avenge himself on the fell destroyers of his
peace He had no doubt whatever of Cor
onas guilt. No man, he thought, would
presume to write to Il married woman on
the subject Of love unless she had given hi II,
some encouragement to do so.
For upwards OF an hour the Count sat,
darkly broodng over his supposed wrong,
while Corona was wondering at hls pro-
longed absence from her side-for the ard
ent lover had not yet subsidized into the neg
ligcnt or indifferent husband.
Unable to longer endure her Loneliness,
Corona rang tor her page, and Alexo at
once appeared in answer to her summons.
Where is the COUNT questioned the
lady.
The page looked embarrassed for a sec.
ond or two, remembering the piece OF
fendsh mischief he had just perpetrated,
but presently recovering himself, he calm
ly took up his tablets, and on them stated
that he had not seen Monsieur lie COmte
for some hours, and did not know where
he was.
1t was nowgrowing dark. Corona threw
q large Spanish veil over her head and
shoulders, and tlinging open the long case
ment, stepped out upon the terrace to
seek for her husband.
(COSTINTED NEXT WEEK.