The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-05-28
PART Ill.

This seemed a very simple resolution
in theory: but when the Able entered
the dark woods of st. Cloud after his
conversation with the three testers in
the masks, the practice of it began to
be difficult He remembered that the
last time he had been to Paris, they
had led him such a life in the great
house that he had been truly thankful
to get back to his little hamlet and to
his own poor people. He had just a
lurking suspicion that his authority
might be laughed at again. Besides, he
was not in Paris yet; and there before
him lay the dark woods against which
the three strangers had warned him.
Bah" said he as he quilted the high
road and plunged into the darkness of
the silent thicket, strange sights and
sounds, indeed. Am / a child to be
frightened by old women's tales? New
er let it be said. Thank God, there is a
ducking stool still for witches; and
snail know where to complain if / am
Irolested. We must be in Paris before
midnight-that is certain"
The reflection conforted him. 1t was
very dark in the woods, and so ST.
lent that the sound of distant church
bells or the barking of dogs sounded
like voices from a far-off world The
sun had sunk below the rim of the
western hills now. and only a deep
blue-gray light blending with pink at
The peaks of the clouds, marked the
lingering day. In the thickets them
selves the mystery and spell of the
night was already omnipotent. The
Ebbe could not put off certain dread
ard foreboding. His two servants did
not attempt any such task. They told
each other, cOnsolingly, that they
would be dead men before morning;
and so they rode hand in hand, each
devoutly hoping that the other would
be the victim of the night, and that
the Able, their master, would precede
them to the grave. No superstition was
too gross for them to believe They
. swallowed every goblin and witch and
demon dwarf that tradition had named
for a hundred years or more. There
was not a ghost in all France that
they would not have staken their life
upon. And here at st. Cloud-where
every village lad could tell you of the
scarlet witch who rode upon the wings
of the wind when the sun had set and
the elves were abroad in the forest
what miracle, they asked, could save
Them from the perils of an encounter
with her,
-. have heard it said" muttered
Francois to Jean, as they drove their
stubborn asses still deeper into the
woods; II have heard it said that you
have but to Took upon the woman to be
forever blind"
p" Jean eroaned.
r9t GOD grant that our master sees her
first" said he.
And worse than that" said the val
20 let, If you are young and good-looking
she Will kiss you upon the forehead, and
then you are branded like one who has
been sent to the galleys.'
Jean sighed.
saint Denis" said he, ''I knew how
it would be. We shall die here, COM
rade-and for what? Because we fol-
low our master. Is that our duty? /
tell you he is no longer himself. Did
you hear how yon fellows called him ?
BE sure of it-they have betwitched
him already. l am ready to die for the
Able Of Nvette but a plague upon
me IL l ride another league for the
Lord Bishop of Blois."
He stopped his ass with the word
and Francois, the valet, made haste tC
initiate him. They were at this mo,
ment in a glade so deeply bordered by
chestnut trees that you could scarce
see patch of gray sky above. The
moss beneath their feet was soft anC
yielding, and the asses sunk in it al
most to the hooks. The figure of tht
Abbe was scarce to be discerned, al
though but twenty PAGES before them
1t was a gloomy spot-dark, threaten
ing, lonely. A stag, which leaped uI
at their coming, set the hearts of thu
cowardly pair beating like pumps. An(
just at the supreme moment of theii
alarm, what should they see in the hol
low but e great flash of crimson ligh
which lit up the brake about them unit
every twig seemed to have been dippet