Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-06-29
CHAPTER III

manuscripts. They stretched their
limbs. licked with their tiny pink
tongues their pretty lips, and opened
their eyes where meekness and do
cility wero blended. He let the
more forward play with q dangling
hand poor hand OF the great man
who burned his blood in vigils over
an endangered kingdom. from which
J their deepest scratch could have
drawn not n drOp--and mum bled the
ring OF power akin to that OF Sol
! ONION, whilst smiling to them. but
frowning inwardly. he proceeded in
soliloquy inaudible beyond his reach,
so weak was his voice after the late
animated colloquy.
1.-The flames are mounting" said
he. The salamander of Francis the
First might be at home here. but my
scanty locks crisp up in premonition
! of being singed But salvus in igne-
Rlcheleu may succumb yet Tenown
will never die, as saith the ancient
ballad. \ silly audience, so unap-
preciative. it lets the groundlings
hurl stones at their principal his
torian of this dusty thcater of the
world"
He read. corrective pen in hand,
tho manuscript volume on one side
of his place; but all at once Lc
started violently.
Il had forgotten the cream tempt
ing the cats. Julie! all vlrtuous
creatures but blanche couleur est tot
] tachee-the crmine is 0oonest
smirched. l thought my name
would guard her even among the
t.beset maids-of-honOr. But no."
/ His eve dwelt upon the papers left
by his shadow" the leaden sphinx,
! if he were the brazen one. "Not
content with seeking my life, they
would play my ward on the hook Of
their state angle. Her father,
! Mortemar, was my friend when |
wore a sword and before had flat
tercrs; and when he died. young
! in years, not in service TO our coun-
/ try, he had nothing to bequeath but
! that girl to me. But | will find her
/ a dowry TO mato with the mightiest.
"Meseems, though. she is droop.
ing at the court Can she love
love one of those painted flies? There
is Cinq-Mars, though he is enamored
OF politics.; SourdIac; St Simon, fro
ward boy; Baradas-no, he is a
! guileless youth. deceitful, and deceit
/ has short legs, ami can never climb
20 the level where her fancy floats in
the empyrean. Such my daughter
dear instinctively fears and shuns
him. | have heard her cite him as
even more tiresome than his melan-
choly majcsty, Louis, styled the just.
The just, because, " he commented
smilingly, as one who knew the Sc
cret history not only OF his own
time, but of that where Suily pre-
coded him. "hc allowed his father.
the Concini, to be slain without
judgment. | do not forget myself SO
far as TO allow me to become the
center of a ring of swordsmen!
Neither this kinglet nor the
courtier. and yet some one. Her flut'
terings to escape at confession point
TO the fact. Pray heaven she loves
some man, and not Il barba"'s block.
like Lady Montague; a headsman's
block like Lady Maugiron, and n
money-chest like Marion Gloats upon
my sweet, my witty Marion, most
valuable of m spies in petticoats
| need some active youth to supplant
the favorite, balk the king, and baf-
ne all their schcmes-one who with
honor and courage, qualities that
cagle-plume mems souls, and fit them
for the fiercest sun that ever melted
the weak, waXen minds that nutter
in the beams OF CANDY power! That
sounds weli!-prose that, with
little trimming. will befit my trag-
cdy." lie paused to write on SCRAP
of paper, and placed it with similar
notes in tho portfolio, inclosin3 tho
large manuscript. That Mauprat
has taste, b. tho way, rare in sol
der. | remomber when my first play
was acted to dull tiers OF llfeless
gapers, who had no soul for poetry,
saw him warmly applaud, and in
the proper places. A man OF such
unco nmon promise ought not to be
my foe. Have ! not foes enough?
perchance | can weld him into a
friend, Tor great men gam dOuoly
when they make foes friends. My
grand maxims are first to employ all
methods to conciliate. and, failing
these, all means to crush" he added,
fiercely.
"Harl1! there is noise in the
court. 'Tis Huguet with his cap
turc Farewell. good sword! States
can be saved without you. Open
and enter."
But instead of the surly mien o.
his man-at arms, there entered by
tho usual door a young lady in court
attire.
julio" said the cardinal, with 6
delightful smile. which no ono would
have expected to surprise upon the
features of the artful and maliciou:
governor OF the distracted kingdom
"My sweet julie"
cardinal" she said, throwing her
self at his violet slippers, and let
ting her many curls ripple arounC
: her lovely face. Are you graciou
this early morning. May | say
QFs