Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1897-10-28

NnlAh W hat ANN IccOiue OF neE. i he
suspense which felt, but did not I'M
derstand, was so great that at last 1
moved. and the bed creaked.
In a moment her face was turned our
way, and she sided forwards. her fea-
lures still hidden by the hood of her
cloak. She was close TO us now. bend
ing over us. She raised hel. hand 10 her
head-to shade her eyes, as she looked
more closely, l supposed, and / was
wondering whether she saw us
whether she took the shapelessness in
the shadow of the curtain for her sis
ter, or could not make it out was
thinking how we could best apprise
her of our presence without alarming
her = when Croisette dashed my
thoughts TO the winds! Croisette, with
a tremendous whoop and crash,
bounded over me on to the floor.
She uttered gasping cry--a cry of
intense, awful fear | have the sound
in my ears even now With that She
staggered back. clutching the air l
heard the metallic clang and ring of
something falling on the floor
heard an answering cry Of alarm from
the window: and then Nine. dc Pa
vannes ran forward and caught her in
her arms.
1t was strange to find the room late
IL 50 silent become at once alive with
whispering forms, as we came hastily
to light. l cursed Croisette for his
folly. and was immeasurably angry
with him. but l had no time to waste
words on him then. / hurried to the
door to guard it. l opened it a hands
breath and listened. All was quiet be-
low; the house still. took the key out
of the lock and put it in my pocket and
went back. Marie and Croisette We're
standing a little apart from Mime. de
Pavannes, who, hanging over her sis
ter, was by turns bathing her face and
explaining our presence.
In a very few minutes Mime. do
seemed to recover, and sat up. The
first shock of deadly terror had passed,
but she was still pale. She still trem-
bled and shrank from meeting our
eyes, though / saw her, when our at
tention was apparently directed else
where, glance at one and another of
us with strange intentness, sh' d.
dering curiosity. No wonder, l
thought. She must have had terrible
fright-one that might have killed a
more timid woman!
What on earth did you do that for?"
/ asked Croisette, presently, my anger
certainly not decreasing the more 1
looked at her beautiful face. You
might have killed her!"
In charity l supposed his nerves had
failed him, for he could not even now
give me straightforward answer. His
only reply was: Let us get away from
this horrible housed" and this he kept
repeating, with shudder as he moved
restlessly TO and fro.
with all my heartl" / answered,
looking at him with some contempt.
''That is exactly what we are going to
do!''
But all the same his words reminded
me { something which in the excite
ment of the scene had momentarily
forgotten, and that was our duty. Pa
vannes must be saved. though not for
Kit; rather 10 answer to us for his
sins. But he must be saved! And now
that the road was open, every minute
lost vas reproach to US. Yes" l
added, roughly, my thoughts turned
into a more rugged channel. you are
right. This is no time for nursing
We nust be going. Nine. de Pavanncs,
] went on. addressing myself to her,
you know the way home from here
to your house %
ooh. yes!" she cried
THAT is we'll" l answered. Then we
will start. Your sister is sufficiently
recovered now. / think. And we will
not risk any further delay"
| din not tell her of her husbands
danger, or that we suspected him of
wronging her, and being, in fact, the
cause of her detention. | wanted her
services as guide. That was the main
point, though / was glad to be able to
put her in IA place of safety at the same
time that we fulfilled our own mission.
She rose eagerly. "You are sure that
we can get out?" she said.
Sure" l replied, with a brevity
worthy of Beers himself.
And l was right. We trooped down
stairs, making as little noise as possi-
BILE; with the result that Mirepoix only
took the alarm, and came upon MS when
we were at the outer door, bungling
with the lock. Then | made short
work of him, checking his scared words
Of remoustrance by flashing my dag
ger before his eyes. ! induced him in
The Same "a biqp-ha ,.-oe fairIxr fel-au