The Saint Paul globe., 1897-10-31

and that it's lookout was on a place
where never a soul seemed to come,
could not but think that, If madame
were in the Toison dor, in all
probability her room was there, and
1 swore bitterly to myself at the
thought Of how impossible it would be
to reach her. then craned out and
looked upwards, and saw that my
house was a half-story lower than the
Toison dor, and that, whilst the lat
ter had high, sloping roof, the por-
ton of the building in which l was
appeared to be a long and narrow ter
race, with a low machicolated parapet
running along the edge. Thus If there
were a door or a window in the Toison
dor that opened on the roof, it would
be possible to step out thereon, and
then l drew back, my blood burning.
If it was possible to step out from
the TOison dor on to the roof of the
house | occupied, it might be equally
easy to get thence into the Toison d'Or:
Taking my sword [ measured the dis
tance of the ledge from the window
sill, and then, holding onto the null
liens by enc hand stretched out as far
as l could and found [ could just
touch the top of the parapet with the
point of my blade. In short, the po-
sition was this: that, so hard and
smooth was the outside Of the wall
it was impossible for anything, save
lizard. to get along it to the window
behind which l supposed madame was
prisoned, yet it was feaSible,' with the
aid Of a rope thrown over. the. grin
ming head of the gargCyle a little above
me, or else over the low battlement of
the parapet, to- reach the roof and
the odds were in favor of there being
some sort of a door or window that
would give ingress thence into the To1-
son dor. [ began after this-te be
little more satisfied with my quarters,
and determined to set about my eX-
plorations about the dinner hour, when
most people would be within, and the
chance of discovery reduced to
minimum. / did rot feel Justified IN
putting the matter off until nightfall,
as I often have observed that there
was no time so good as the one L had
chosen for affairs which depended
much for their results upon a surprise.
[ now stepped out of my room, and
walking along the passage, looked out
from the little turret along the face
of the street. It was more alive than
1 had ever seen before, but the occu-
pants were principally women and
children, with a man or so here and
there. | saw that whilst the sunlight
fell in patchwork and long narrow
stretches on the street. 1t was bright
enough where [ was, and l perceived
[ had a good excuse for spending such
time as 1 intended to behind the en-
brasures of the turret. And this ex-
cuse [ had to bring into play at once,
for as I stood there 1 heard a foot
step on the passage, and turning, OBJ
served the woman of the house.
'I see," she began, you are already
in your turret."
'I like the sun, my good woman, and
have had a long Journey"
Something in my tone made her look
at me oddly, and 1 began to wish l
were well away from the keen scru-
tiny of her eyes. She dropped the tu-
foyer and asked:
'If monsieur is tired, he would
probably like his dinner earlier
'Morbleu! The very thing, madame.
and as long a bottle of Beaugency as
you can get with it,"
1T shall be done, monsieur''-and
she turned as If to go.
1t struck me as little odd that she
should have come up in this aimless
manner; but rejecting that perhaps
after all it was due to nothing more
than desire to crafty feminine curl