The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-15
THE TWO PAGES.
BY STANLEY }. wEYMAN.
Copyright. -. by the Author.

] 81 BartnOlOmeW-the king received All
in his bedchamber, and there every even
/ ing played primero with his intimates,
until It was time to retire; Rosny and
| Biron, and the great men of the day,
! standing or sitting on chests round the
chamber. If he would be more private he
| had his cabinet; or, IL the matter were
I Of prime Importance, he would take his
confdantes to an open space in the gar
den-such as the white mulberry grove,
/ eneircled by the canal at FOntainebleau;
where. posting a Swiss guard who did not
understand French, at the only bridge
that gave access to the place, he could
talk without reserve.
In those days the court rode. or if
sick, went in filters. Coaches were only
coming into fashion. Henry. who fear
ed nothing else, having 50 invincihle a
distaste for them that he was wont TO
turn pale if the coach in which he trav-
eled swayed more than usual. Ladies
rode sideways on pads, their feet sup
ported by little board; and side saddles
were rare. At great banquets the fairest
and nOblest served the tables. We dined
at 10 in the country and II in Paris; in
stead of at noon. as is the custom now.
When the king lay alone his favorite
pages took it by turns to sleep at his
feet; the page on duty using low truckle
bed that in daytime htted under the kings
seldom, however, and more often if the
times were troublous, he would invite one
OF ms councillors to share his couch, and
talk the night through with him; a course
which in these days might seem
undignihed. Frequently he and the
queen received favored courtiers be-
Years morning it was the duty
of the finance minister to wait on them,
and awaken them with a present of med
And 1 recall mann other changes. But
one thing which some young sparks, with
a torWardness neither becoming in them
~ suggest, even in my presence-that we
VINO lived in the old war time were
rougher bred and a less dainty and chival-
fouS lnan the BucklnghamS and Bassom-
pierreS of to-day roundly deny. on the
contrary, would have these to know that
he who rode in the wars with Henry of
Guise-or against him-had for his ex-
ample not only the handsomest but the
most courtly man of all times; and has
nothing, to learn from set Of poor fell
lows who, unable to acquire the stately
courtesy that becomes a gentleman, are
faln to air themselves in a dandihed sim
pering trim of their own.
That such are stouter than the men Of
my day, no one dare maintain. I have
seen Crillon whom veterans called the
brave; and 1 have talked with La Noue
Oh the iron Arm: for the rest, can tell
]
old known to me in my youth who had
1t not in him to fear.
He was page, with me, to the King of
Navarro; a year my junior. and my rival
Al riding. shooting and fencing he was
the better; at paVme and tennis he al
ways won. But naturally, being the elder
had the greater strength and when the
sharp sting of his wit provoked me, could
| drub him, and did so more than once. No
extremity OF defeat, however, no, nor any
| severity of punishment could wiring from
Antoine word of submission; PROSTATE
| with bleeding face, he was as ready to fly
at my throat as ever And more though
| was the senior, he was the life and soul
| of the ante-chamber; the first in mischief
/ the last in retreat; the first to cry a nick
/ name after burly priest who CHANGED
\ to pass us as we lounged at the gates
/ and the first to be whipped when it turn
/ ed out that the king had a mind to please
/ Father Cotton.
1t followed that from the first 1 viewed
| him with strange mixture of rivalry and
! affection; ready one moment to quarrel
with him and beat him for a misword, and
! the next to let him beat me if it pleased
| him. At this time the King of Navarro
| had his court sometimes at Montauban
! sometimes at Nerac: and there were ru-
morS OF war between him and the King
/ of France; TO be clear, il was this year
| that In the hope of maintaining the peace
! the latters mother, the Queen Catherine,
came with glittering train of ladies to
| Nerac, and here were balls and pageants
and gay doings by day and night But the
! Huguenots We're not easily moved and
] y.
| and not without reason; one night during
| ball, GATHERINGS friends seized a strong
! town, and but for Henry's readiness-who
! TOOK morse that moment and before day
/ light had surprised a town of France to
! set against it-would have gained the adj
vantage So in the event of Catherine did
little, no one trusting her, and in the end
she returned to Paris; but for a time the
| court gayeties continued, and there We're
Mosques and dances, and the thought of
war was seemingly abandoned.
Now in the rom which urac +,ar +bo
| kings chamber at Montauban, are two
| windows at a great hight from the
ground, ravine lying below them. Be-
d tween the two is a projecting buttress
4 and outside the sill of each is a etone
I ledge foot wide which runs round the
/ buttress. l do not know who first Thought
absent and we pages were lounging in
! the room-which was against the rules
since we should have been in the ante
| chamber-some one challenged Antoine
| TO walk on the ledge round the buttress
going out by one window and returning
by the other. 1 have said that the ledge
was but a foot wide, the depth below
| infinite. Ii turned me sick only to look
down and see the hawks hang and. cir
Gle in the gulf. Nevertheless, before
any one could speak, Antoine was out
side the easement posing himself on the
airy ledge; moment and with his face
| inquire outlined against the sky. he began
to edge his way round the buttress
l called to him to come back; l ex-
| fall; the others, too, stood staring with
pale faces; but he did not heed An in
stant and he vanished round the but
tress, and still we stood and no one moved.
! no one moved, until with a shout he
showed himself at the other window and
sprang down into the room. His ewes
were bright with the triumph of it; his
! hair waved back from his brow as if the
| breeze from the gulf still stirred it. He
! cried to me TO do the feat in my turn, be
/ pointed his finger at me, dared me- and
| before them all called me Coward, Cow
! ardr'
But I am not ashamed to confess n
weakness / share with many brave men
i could never face a great hight; and
! though burned with wrath and shame
| and ragged under his taunts / could have
confronted any other form of death-or
/ thought so-though 1 even went so far
| as to leap on the seat within the window
/ and Standard stand irresolute-I stopped
/ there. l could not do 1t. The victory was
! with Antoine; he whom I had thrashed
| for some impertinence only the night be-
| fore, now held me up TO scorn and drove
| me from the room with jeers and laugh
! ter.
None of the others had greater cour-
age; but l was the eldest and the big
! geSt, and the iron entered into my hearr