The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-10-10
CHAPTER XIV.
The Hand of Babette.

madness of those moments, ala not
pray to the God who had so often and
so repeatedly helped me; yet in His
mercy and goodness was freed from
my straits, as will be shown hereafter
In the meantime [ was so securely
bound that it was all but impossible TO
move, and the bandage over my eyes
prevented me from seeing anything. [
writhed and twisted like a serpent on
the wet flags where [ lay, and in the
violence of my struggles gradually
moved the bardage, so that my eyes
were at last set free, and then, eX-
hausted by my efforts, and half choked
by the gag, l became still once more,
and looked around me- For all 1 could
see l might have been as before-I was
In blank, absolute darkness. Into the
said De Gomeron, and 1 await your
void [ peered, but could make out Moth
ing, although 1 could hear my own
1abored breathing, and the melancholy
drip, drip of water as it oozed from
above me. and fell in sullen drops or
the slime below.
AS strained into the velvet black Of
the darkness, it came to me, some
6end must have whispered it, that L
AS blind. Ny mind almost ceased
10 work at the thought, and l remain
ed in kind Of torpor, trying in weak
manner to mentally count the drops Of
water by the dull sp,ashing sound they
made III falling Ages seemed to pass
as 1 lay there, and the first sense Of
coming to myself was the thought
81 Claude, whom 1 had lost, ard the
Of nj he,
sufferings seem as nothing. There is
misery that words, at least such words
as I am master Of, cannot picture, and
1 will therefore say no more of this.
A little thing, however, row hap
pened, and but for this I might have
lain where l was until 1 died, so en-
tirely impressed was l with the idea
that | was sightless. In utter Weari-
ness l turned my head to one side, and
saw two small beads of fire tWlnkllng
about a yard or so from me. They
were small as the far-aWay stars, and
they stared at me fixedly. This is
some deception of my mind L thought
to myself when suddenly another pair
of fiery eyes appeared; then there was
a slight shutting, and all was still.
But it was the saving of me. Sight
and hearing could not both deceive. l
knew what they were, and knew, too,
that / was not blind From that mo-
ment l began to regain possession OF
my faculties and to think of means OF
escape. In my vest pocket was small
clasp knife If 1 could but get at that
I could free myself from my bonds.
That at any rate, had to be the first
step. I began to slowly move my arms
up and down with view to loosenlng
the cords that bound me; but after
some time spent in this exercise re-
70
cut through me, but that they would
not loosen. Then it struck me, in my
eagerness to be free, that 1 might get
at the knots with my teeth; and by
mighty effort l raised myself to SIT
ting posture only to remember that L
was gagged, and that 1t was Oh no
avail to think of this plan. There are
those who will smile perhaps, if their
eyes meet this, and put me down in
their estimation for a fool for my Tor
getfulness. That may or may not be;
but | have written down exactly what
happened.
Although the new position I had at
tanned did not, in any way, advance
me toward freedom, yet it gave me a
sense of personal relief. was able to
raise my knees a little, and sitting
down thus, with my body thrown ut
tie forward, to ease the strain OF the
cords, l began to think and go over IN
MIND the WnOlS SCeIle VI lllC
tragedy from the beginning to It's Dit
ter end. 1 had no doubt as to the per-
sonality Of Babette. l was not likely
to forget her voice. | had heard 1t
under circumstances that ought to
have stamped it on my memory for
all time; and if 1 had the faintest
doubts on the matter they were set at
rest by the fact that she was so we'll
known to De Gomeron-she probably
had been a camp follower on our side
and also by the still more damning
fact that her house was known as the
Toison dor The name had been dis
tinctly mentioned by her and its
meaning was clear to ne when L
thought of the dreadful scene over De
Ieyva's body.
As for De Gomeron, knew him we'll
enough to understand his game. The
whole affair, as far as he was con-
cerned, was a sudden and rapid resolve
that was clear. argued 1t out in
this way to myself, and as 1 went on
thinking it was almost as if some one
was reading out statement of the
case to me. 1t was evident that the
free lance was to the last moment in
hopes that the king would yield to
Biron's intercession on his behalf.
When that was refused he may have
had some idea of gaining his end by
force but was compelled to. hurry his
coup by the knowledge that he had OBJ
tanned from his confederate or spy,
Ravaillac.
1t had worked out we'll enough for
him. My disappearance, my dead
horse-poor Couronne!-all these would
point to me as the author of the abduc-
ton, and give De Gomeron the time he
wanted to perfect his plans. The man
/ had run through would never tell
tales, and so far the game lay in the
Camarguers hands.
And then about madame. AS [ be-
came calmer l saw that for his own
sake De Gomeron would take care that
her life was safe, at any rate for the
present: and whilst there was this con-
tingency there was hope for her, if
none for me, as | felt sure that what
with the king and madame's relatives
Of the Tremouille on one hand, and
Sully and De Relin on the other, things
would go hard, sooner or later, with De
Gonleron whatever happened to me-
BY the time my thoughts had reached
this point l was myself again, and the
certainty with which l was possessed
that Claude was in no immediate dan
ger Of her life, gave me strength to
cast about for my own liberation as
the first step toward freeing her
But my despair almost returned as I
thought and thought, until my brain
seemed on fire, without my efforts
bringing me ray Of hope. 1 shuddered
as I reflected that it was q part Of De
Generous scheme to let ME die here.
1t could easily be done and a few
bricks against the wall would remove
all traces Of the living grave Of d'Aur-
fac. In my mental excitement I seemed
to be able to project my soul outside
MY prison, and to see and hear all that