Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1896-08-06


fast for me-"stay!" His monstroul
conception, though II marched som'
way with my own suspicious, outrar
them farl saw no sufficient grounds
Tor It. "The king-the king would moi
permit such q thing, M. de Pavannes,
/ argued.
"Boy, you are blind!' he rejoined
impatiently, for he now saw all and
nothing. "Yonder was the duke Of
Anjou's captain = monsieur's officer
the follower OF Frances brother, mark
you! And he--he obeyed the dukes
ring! The duke has free hand to-
night, and he hates US. And the river.
Why are we not to cross the river? The
king indeed! The king has undone us.
lie has sold us to his brother and the
Cuises. Va chaser / Idole'-for the
second time l heard the quaint phrase,
which I learned afterwards was an an
agram Of the kings name, Charles de
Valois, used by Professionals rs pass
word-"va chaser / Idolc has be-
trayed usl remember the Yery words
he used TO the admiral: Now we have
got you here we shall not let you go so
casily!' Oh, the traitor! The wretched
traitor!"
He leaned against the wall, overcome
by the horror OF the conviction which
had burst upon him, and unnerved by
the imminence Of the peril. At all
times he was an unready man, l fancy,
more fit, courage apart, for the college
than the field; and now he gave way to
despair. Perhaps the thought Of his
wife unnamed him. Perhaps the ex-
element through which he had already
gone tended to stupefy him, or the sud-
denness Of the discovery.
At any rate was the first to gather
my wits together, and my earliest i'm
pulse was to tear into two parts white
handkerchief had in my pouch, and
fasten one to his sleeve, the other in
his hat, in rough imitation Of the
badges | wore myself.
1t will appear from this that | no
longer trusted Nine. DO. | was not
convinced, 1t is true, of her conscious
guilt, still did not trust her entirely.
DO not wear them on your return"
she had said and that was odd; al
though | could not yet believe that she
was such o siren as Father Pierre had
warned us Of, telling tales from old
poets. Yet doubted, shuddering as !
did SO. Her companionship with that
vile priest, the strange eagerness to Sc
cure Pavannes return, her mysterious
directions to me, her anxiety to take
her sister Monochrome, where she would
be exposed to danger, as being in
known Huguenot's house-these things
pointed to but one conclusion; still that
one was so horrible that | would not,
even while | doubted and distrusted
her, l would not, could not accept 1t,
Iput 1t from me, and refused to believe
II, although during the rest Of that
night 1t kept coming to me and knock
ing for admission at my brain.
All this flashed through my mind
while was fixing on pavannes' badges.
Not that | lost time about it, for from
the moment I grasped the position as
he conceived it, every minute we had
wasted on explanation seemed to me an
hour. / reproached myself for having
forgotten even for an instant that
which had brought us to town--the
rescue of Kits lover. We had small
chance now Of reaching him in time,
mislcd as we had been by this miserable
mistake in identity. If my compan-
ions fears were well founded, Louis
would fall in the general massacre Of
the llugucnots, probably before we
could reach him. II ill-founded, still
we had small reason to hope, Beers
vengeance would not wait. ! knew
him too well to think it. A Guisc might
spare his foe, but the Vidame-the
vdamc never. He had warned Nine.
de rayannes, II was true; but that abb
normal exercise of hcnevolence could
only, | cynically thought. have the
more exasperated the devil within him,
which now would be rayening like 0
dog disappointed Of its yictUals.
Iglanced up at the line OF sky visible
between the tall houses, and 10! the
dawn was coming. 1t wanted scarcely
half un hour Of daylight, though down
In the dark streets about us the night
still reigned. Yes, the morning was
coming, bright and hopeful. ard the
city was quiet. There were no signs,
no sounds Of riot or disorder, Surely,
Thought. surely payauncs must be