Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-06-29
Cardinal RicheIieu.
Founded OH the Play of "Richelieu," by
Lord Lytton.
CHAPTER H-CoNTINuEp.


ear, Ito you alone / confide it; nom
inally our figurehcad is the duke
royal, but once at sea we pitch over
board tho gaudy doll which served
to pass us by the forts and show our
true colors-our real captain"
"Ah! And hc?"
THAT Is to Undetermined Come.
TO our meeting"
Gas long as Prince CASTOR be not
the chief" began Mauprat, rising.
al pledge you so much"
an 60 with you, and will strike
with you"
"Bravcly said" cried the count.
leave forever thoughts that
"Speak not to me thus. l am
yours! But speak not. There's u
voice within my soul whose cry
could drown the thunder. Oh, il men
will play dark sorcery with the heart
of man, let them who raise the spell
beware the fiend"'
And he made way, striding through
the plumes and satin doublets with
enough rudeness to have won him a
hundred challenges were they all
thirty years younger, before Richie
lieu had prohibited dueling unde:
pain of death.
Since some time there had been
gradually formed in secluded
chamber, guarded, though not ostcn-
sibly, as crystal collects around a
nucleus. a conclave OF principal
guests OF Marion Delormc, those who
had played and drank merely as a
blind to their true errand No lady
was there; the hostess was excluded
as much from prejudice against a
woman as the keeper of state Sc
cret as any particular reason.
The knight OF Mauprat held him
self back from the inner circle, from
his double feeling of disgust for the
prince of Orleans, shining there in
the most sumptuous apparel. like q
beautiful snake. and his Indifference
to details as long as his dispenser of
life and death, the cardinal, was the
target of the enterprise.
He stood erect, with firm mouth
and kindling eye, like a soldier
whom nightmare held in trem-
! bling, but who had shaken of his
tremor and was eager for the morn
ing's fray. He put his name to the
scroll OF allegiance with the clearest
handwriting he had ever traced; but
though his sight was equally as
clear, he forebore the precautlon OF
reading the lines to which he gave
adherance. He was the last save Il
few others, more hesitating than he.
The business of the night was
over, and the party broke up-some
TO pass the remaining hours in tho
rooms where the neat was sutfocat'
ing, others to hasten home with
growing apprehehsions, the rest TO
saunter the streets and pick quar-
rel with the watch. in order TO lessen
the strain on their brains by Il little
blood letting without payment of the
surgeons fee.
Adrien de Mauprat, alone, sailed
out. grimly joyous, for at length he
was no longer a solitary combatant
against the terrible old man who
dwelt In the palace he had to pass on
his way to his lodgings.
In spite OF the hour, there was
movement at those gates. Several
guardsmen appeared, armed to the
teeth. A sound of stops behind him
caused him to glance over his
shoulder; instead of a group OF
revelers from Marion Delorme's, six
guardsmen. in the same uniform as
those in front. were treading in his
steps. And from the other side oil
the way, deep shadow yelling some
preparatory materials for building
on waste ground, colossal figure
strobe straight toward him where he
had halted with his back to the
palace for defense il he were tho OBJ
ject of this triangular advance.
The three forces closed in upon
him, all the swords drawn, and al
the cloaks thrown back to leave
right arms free.
"The knight Adrien OF Mauprat
methinks?" said the giant guards
man, extending a square of parch
ment in his left hand. "A warrant
for your arrest signed by his emf
hence for the king. Wit come under
the lamp in our gateway to read it?'
he continued sarcastically at the hu
NOR of venturing 10 far into the tral
with any hope OF a return.
"Receive my sword" said the sol
dier, too experienced in war TO ex
pect any gain by resistance agains
J such odds; "and my tribute OF self