Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1897-04-22

stairs with bounding hearts, heard as
we reached the outer door the roar of
many voices, but stayed not to look be-
hind-paused indeed for nothing. Fear,
| to speak candidly, lent us wings. In
three seconds we had 1eapt the PROSTATE
gates, and were in the street A
cripple, with two or three dogs, a knot
of women looking timidly yet curious
", in horse tethered to the strap-we
saw nothing else No one stayed us
No one raised hand, and in another
minute we had turned corner. and
were out of sight of the house.
''rhey will take gentleman's word
another time," said with quiet smile
as I put up my sword.
81 would like to see her face at this
moment" Croisette replied. You saw
Mime. dor.
I shook my head, not answering. L
was not sure, and had a queer, sicken-
ing dread of the subject. If I had seen
her, had seen-oh! it was too horrible,
| too unnatural! Her own sister! Her
own brother-in-law!
l FASTENED to change the subject.
''The Pavannes,' I made shift to say,
| must have had five minutes start"
More Croisette answered. eff ma
dame and he got away at once. if all
has gone well with them, and they have
not been stopped in the streets, they
should be at Mirepoix's by now. They
seemed to be pretty sure that he would
take them in
''Ah!'' sighed. What fools we were
to bring madame from that place! If
| we had not meddled with her affairs
! we might have reached Louis long ago
| our Louis, i mean
''True." Croisette answered. softly;
"but remember that then we should
not have saved the other Isouis-as /
trust we have. He would still be in
Pallavicini's hands. Come, Anne, let us
think it is all for the best,'' he added,
his face shining with a steady courage
| that slammed me. Ito the rescue!
Heaven will help us to be in time YETI
cay. to the rescued" replied, catch
ing his spirit. First to the right, /
think, second to the left, first on the
| right again. That was the direction
given us. was it not? The house oppo-
site a book shop with the sign of the
| Head of Erasmus. Forward, boys! We
may do it yet
But before I pursue our fortunes
| farther let me explain. The room We
had guarded so jealousy was empty!
| The plan had been mine and L was
proud of it. For once CroiSette had
fallen into his rightful place. My flight
| from the gate, the vain attempt to close
| the house-these were all designed to
draw the assailants to one spot. Pavan-
mes and his wife-the latter hastily dis
guised as II boy-had hidden behind
| the door of the hutch by the gates
| the porter's hutch, and had slipped out
| and fled in the first confusion of the at
| tack.
For the servants, as we learned aft
| crwards, who had hidden themselves
| in the lower part of the house, got away
| in the same manner, though some of
| then-they were but few in all-were
stopped as Huguenots and killed be-
| fore the day ended. 1 had the more
reason to hope that Pavannes and his
wife would get clear off, inasmuch as
l had given the dukes ring to him,
thinking it might serve him in a strait,
and believing that we would have little
| TO fear ourselves, once clear of his
house; unless we should meet the vi
| dame indeed.
! We did not meet him, as it turned
|
quarter of the distance we had to go
we found that fears based on reason
were not the only terrors we had to re-
| sist. Pavannes' house, where we had
| hitherto been, stood at some distance
| from the center Of the blood storm
which had enwrapped unhappy Paris
that morning. It was several hundred
| PAGES from the Rue de Bethisy where
+ /,
| his comparative re1noteness and the ex-
citement of our little drama, we had not
| attended much to the fury of the bells
The shots and cries and uproar which
| proclaimed the state of the city. We
had not pictured the scenes which were
happening so near. Now in the streets
the truth broke upon us, and drove the
| blood from our cheeks. A hundred
wards, the turning of a corner, suff1ced
We who but yesterday left the country
who only week before were boys
careless as other boys. not rocking fol
death at all, were plunging now into
the midst of horrors 1 cannot describe
And the awful contrast between the
sky above and the things above us!
Even now the lark was singing not fan
from us; the sunshine was striking
the topmost stories of the houses: thu
fieecy clouds were passing overhead
the freshness of summer morning
! was
All! where was IL! Not here in ths
narrow lanes, surely, that echoed ant
reechoed with slIrieks and curse.
and frantic prayers; in which bands O
furious men rushed up and down, ant
where archers on the guard and the
more cruel rabble were breaking il
, doors and windows, and hulrying Will
bloody weapons from house to house
seeking, pursuing, and at last killing
inesome horrid corner. some place o