Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1897-11-04

Il
faith in me. as l have in him; or he
would not be here at this time of night.
end alone with me. But remember this
also. When you meet Pavannes do not
say you come from me. Keep that in
Your mind; l will explain the reason
afterwards. Say merely that his wife is
found, and is wild with anxiety about
him. If you say anything as TO his
danger he may refuse to come. Men
are obstinate"
l nodded a smiling assent, thinking
understood At the same time per-
United myself in my own mind little
discretion. Pavannes was not fool,
and the name of the vi6ame-but, how
ever, should see. had more to say
to him than she knew Of Meanwhile
she explained very carefully the three
/ turnings / had to take to reach the
river. and the wharf where boats most
commonly lay, and the name of the
house in which | should find NJ. de
Pavannes.
"He is at the Hotel de Bailli," she
said And there. l think that is ALL"
''No, not all" said hardly. There
is one thing have not got. And that's
a sword,"
She followed the direction ofmyeyes,
started, and laughed--a little oddly.
But she fetched the weapon. Take it,
and do not" she urged, do not lose
time. Do not mention me to Payannes.
Do not let the white badges be seen as
you return. That is really all. And
now good luck!" She gave me her hand
to kiss. Good luck, my knight-errant,
good auckland come back to me soon!"
She smiled divinely, as it seemed to
me, as she said these last words, and the
same smile followed me downstairs;
for she leaned over the stairhead with
one of the lamps in her hand, and di-
rected me how to draw the bolts. / took
one backward glance as / did so at the
fair STOPPING figure above me, the shin
ing eyes, and tiny out-stretched hand,
and then darting into the gloom 1 hur-
ried on my way.
was in strange mood. A few min
utes before / had been at Pavannes'
door, at the end of our journey; on the
verge of success. l had been within
an ace, as l supposed at least, of execut-
ing my errand. / had held the cup Of
success in my hand. And it had slipped.
Now the conflict had to be fought over
again. the danger to be faced. Itwould
have been no more than natural if /
had felt the disappointment keenly; if
1 had almost despaired.
But it was otherwise-far otherwise.
Never had my heart beat higher or
more proudly than as l now hurried
IL, 4 ! 4.
groups as were abroad in them, and
intent only on observing the proper
turnings. Never in any moment of tri-
umph in after days, in love or war, did
anything like the exhilaration the en-
ergy, the spirit, of those minutes come
back to me. / had a woman's badge in
my cap-for the first time-the music
of her voice in my ears. / had magic
ring on my finger; talisman on my
arm. My sword was at my side again.
All round me lay misty city of adven-
ture, of danger and romance, full of
the richestand most beautiful POSSIBLE
tiles; city of real witchery, such as l
had read of in stories, through which
those fairy gifts and my right hand
should guide me safely. did not even
regret my brothers, or our separation.
/ was the eldest. 1t was fitting that the
cream of the enterprise should be re-
served for me, Anne de Caylus. And TO
what might it not lead? / fancy saw
myself already duke and peer of
France-already held the baton.
Yet while l exulted boyishly, did not
forget what l was about. l kept my
= ~
number of people passing to and fro in
the dark streets had much increased
within the last half hour. The silence
in which, in groups or singly, these fig
ures stole by me was very striking.
heard no brawling. fighting or singing,
yet if it were not too late for these
things, why were so many people up
and about? began to count presently,
and found that at least half of those /
met wore badges in their hats and on
their arms, similar to mine, and that
they all moved with business-like air
as if bound for some rendezvous.
was not fool, though was young,
and in some matters less quick than
Croisette. The hints which had been
dropped by so many had not been lost
on me. There is more afoot tonight
than you know of" Nine. d'O had
said. And having eyes as well as ears
fully believed it. Something was
afoot. Something was going to hap
pen in Paris before morning. But
what, I wondered. Could it be that a
rebellion was about to break out? If
so was on the kings service. and all
was well. l might even be going-and
only 18-to make historyi Or was it
only brawl on a great scale between
two parties of mobiles? / had heard of
such things happening in Paris. Then
well l did not see how l could act in
that case. must be guided by events.
did not imagine anything else which
it could be. That is the truth, though
it may need explanation. was accus-
toned only to the milder religious diff
ferences. the more evenly balanced