Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1897-06-26
PIE MFVALIER D'AURIAC
LEMETT YEKTS
AUrncD OF TEE HONOUR OF sAVELLE
S.LEMETT YEATS
Copyright 1897 By LOngmons, Green, < Co.
CHAPTER I.
Aurncg OF TEE HONOUR OF sAvELL

THE JUSTICE OF NJ DE ROME.
~,rue diables. Lost again. The
devil runs in those dec and de Com
er9n. with an inpatient sweep OF his
hand. scattered the little spotted cubes
on TO the floor Of the deserted and half
ruined but wherein we were begullins
tbs WEAKNESS Of our picket duty before
Ia Fere with a shake Of Our elbows
and q few hagons Of wine, captured
from Monsieur the King Of Navarro, as
ws in our folly. called him still
A f.w days before we had cut out a
corvov which the Bsarnais was send
inc into the beleaguered town. Some
OF the good things the convoy bore
found their way TO the outposts; and
on the night / speak Of. we had made
sucb play with our goblets that it was
ne if q swarm Of bees buzzed in my
head. As for de Gomeron. he was IN
no better case. and his sun-tanned face
was burning a purple red with anger
al his losses and the strength Of the
dArbois both OF which combined to
give o more than usually sinister look
n his grim and lowering features. In
short. we were each Of us in condition
r.De for any mischief; I hot with wine
and the FIRE of ive-and-twenty years,
and dc Gomeron suIenly drunk. re-
strained fury smouldering in his eyes.
We had been playing by the light OF
a horn lantern. and as thee flame of it
flckered TO and FRO in the wind. which
hustled i'm unchecked through wide
Gan in the wall Of the hut, where the
remains OF a door chung 10 bent and
twisted hinge the shadow Of de Comeron
o., the wall behind him Moved its huge
outlines uneasly. although the man
himself sat silent and still, and there
was no word spoken between us. Hid
eous and distorted. this phantom on
the wall may have been the soul OF de
Comeron. stolen out Of the mans body
and now lowering behind him, instinct
with evil: and this conceit Of mine be-
gan TO appear a reality, when turned
nv glance ar the stiIl figure Of my
companion. showing no sign Of life, eX-
cent i'm the sombre glitter of the eyes
that eazed at me steadily.
knew little Of de Gomeron, except
that he was Of the Camargue, and had
followed the fortunes of d'Aumale from
from Argues TO Ivry. from Ivry TO the
Exile in the Low Countries and that he
held a commission from the duke as
captain in his guards. He carried a
de before his name, but none OF us
could say where mis- lands lay or Of
what family he came and it was
shrewdly suspected that he was one
OF those weeds tossed up by the storms
Of the times from the deep where they
should have rotted for ever. There
were many such as he. canaille who had
risen from the ranks: but none who bore
de Gomeron's reputation for intrepid
courage and pitiless cruelty, and even
the hardened veterans Of Nelasco
smoke withlower tones when they told
Of his deeds at the sack of Dourlens and
the piIlage Of Ham. OF our personal
relations it is enough 20 say that we
hated each other. and would have
crossed swords ere now but for the iron
discipline maintained by de Rone-a
discipline the boQuet Of which had
already scented having escaped by
the skin Of my teeth after with de
Conner. who uod on my toe at the
Generals levee. aud was run through
the ribs at sunrise the next morning.
near the pollard elms, hard by the Red
Mill on the left bank Of the Serre.
Up TO the time this occurred 1 had
been attached to de ROne's staff. with
ten or twelve other young gentlemen
whose pedjgree's were as long as their
swords; but after the accident to de
Gonnor-my foot slipped and l thrust
ahalf inch too low was sent with the