Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1897-12-23

l Shuddered. | well might feel that
precipice was opening at my feet.
There was something in the plan so
deyilish, yet so accordant with those
stories l had heard of the wolf, that
1 felt no doubt of my insight. 1 read
his evil mind, and saw in a moment
why he had troubled himself with us.
lie hoped to draw mademoiselle to
Cahors by our means.
OF course l said nothing of this to
Louis. l hid my feelings as well as
could. But I vowed a great vow that
al the eleventh hour we would balk the
vidame. Surely if all else failed we
could kill him, and though we died our
selves, spare Kit this ordeal. Ny tears
were dried up as by fire. My heart
with great and noble rage-or so it
seemed to mel
| | do not think that there was ever
any journey so strange as this one of
ours. We met with the same incidents
which had pleased us on the road to
Paris. But their novelty was gone.
Gone too were the coy chats with old
rogues of landlords and good-natured
! DANES. We were travelling now in such
force that our coming was rather
/ terror to the innkeeper than a boon.
| How much the lieutenant governor of
| Quercy, going down to his province,
requisitioned in the kings name; and
for how much he paid, we could only
| Judge from the gloomy looks which fol-
/ lowed us as we rode away each morn
ing. Such looks were not solely due,
1 fear, to the news from Paris, although
! for some time we were the first bear
ers of the tidings.
/ Presently, on the third day of our
i journey, / think, couriersf from the court
passed us; and henceforth forestalled
us. One of these messengers-who l
+ learned from the talk about me was
bound for Cahors with letters for the
lieutenant governor and the count
bishop-the vidame interviewed and
stopped. How it was managed 1 do
not know, but fear the count-bishop
never got his letters, which I fancy
would have given him some joint au-
thority Certainly we left the messen-
ger-a prudent fellow with a care for
his sllin-in comfortable quarters at
/ Limoges, whence I do not doubt he
presently returned to Paris at his
leisure.
The strangeness of the journey, how
ever, arose from none of these things,
but from the relations of our party to
one another. After the first day we
/ four rode together, unmolested, so long
as we kept near the center of the stray
Cling cavalcade. The vidame always
rode alone, and in front. brooding with
bent head and somber face over his re-
/ venge, as / supposed. He would ride
in this fashion, speaking to no one and
giving no orders, for day together.
At times came near to plying him.
| He had loved Kit in his masterful way,
the way of one not wont to be thwart-
ed, and he had lost her-lost her, what
ever might happen. He would get moth
| ing after all by his revenge. Nothing
but ashes in the mouth. And so I saw
in softer moments something ineXpres-
sibly melancholy in that solitary giant
/ figure pacing always alone.
He seldom spoke to us. More rarely
to Louis. When he did the harshness
of his voice and his cruel eyes betrayed
/ the gloomy hatred in which he held
him. At meals lie ate at one end of the
table; we four at the other, as three of
us had done on that first evening in
Paris. And sometimes the covert
] looks, the grim sheer he shot at his
rival-his prisoner-nade me sIIiwer
even in the sunshine. Sometimes. on
/ the other hand, when | took him I'M
awares, | found an expression on his
/ face | could not read.
/ told Croisette, but warily, my sus-
picions of his purpose. He heard me,
/ less astounded to all appearance than
7 had expected. Presently l learned
the reason. He had his own view.
DO you not think it possible, Anne"
/ he suggested, tinidly we were, of
course, alone at the time-''that he
thinks to- make Louis resign made
moiselleg'
Resign her!" | exclaimed, obtpsely.
"How?"
by giving himsa choice-you under
stand?"
| did underestimate saw it in mo-
ment. l had been dull not to see it
before. Beers might put it in this
way: Let NJ. de Pavannes resign his
mistress and live, or die and lose her.
"I see," l answered But Louis
would not give her up. Not to him"
He would lose her either way" Crois-
cite answered, IN a low tone. THAT is
not, however, the worst of it, Louis
is in his power. Suppose he thinks to
make Kit the arDiter, Anne. and puts
Louis up to random, setting Kit for the
price? And gives her the option of ac-
eepting himself, and saving Louis life:
or refusing, and leaving Louis to die?"
st. Croix!" 1 exclaimed, fiercely.
''IIe would not he so basel" And yet
was not even this better than the blind
vengeance / had myself attributed to
him?
Perhaps not" Croisctte answered.
while he gazed EDWARDS through the
twilight. We were at the time the fore
most of the party, save the vidame;
and there was nothing to iDterruDt orr