The herald., 1898-12-25

madame will excuse me, I know: It
was all SO quick and I had so little
time"
we were, including Madame de
| Termes' servants, who were we'll
armed, party of about twelve, small
enough to face the danger Of the road
In those unsettled days, but no thought
or this struck me, and as for Madame
| de Termes, she would I do believe.
have braved the journey alone, so anx
lous was she to be by the Vicomte's
side, for between herself and the stout
old soldier who held the lieutenancy of
Perigord there existed the deepest af-
| fection.
| AS we rode down the Bourdonnais. 1
| could not help thinking to myself how
noble spirit it was that animated my
| friend. Not for one moment had she
allowed her own trouble to stand in the
| way of her helping me- Her husband.
whom, as have said, she dearly loved.
was Ill. perhaps dying and yet in her
sympathy and pity for mo, she had let
no word drop about him except the
cneery assurance of his protection
Nevertheless, as we rode on she ever
Kept turning toward Lalande, her
! equerry, and bade him urge the lag
Grand Chatelet. we crossed the arms
of the river by the Pont au Change
and the Pont st. Michel and kept
steadily down the Rue de la Harpe to-
ward the Porte st. Martin. We gained
this not q moment too soon, for as the
last of the. baggage animals passed 1t,
we heard the officer give the word to
lower the drawbridge and close the
gates. The clanking of the chains and
the creaking of the huge doors came to
me with something of relief in them,
for 1t seemed to me that 1 was safe
from further tyranny from the Hotel
de scissors, at any rate for this night.
AS We passed the huge silhouette of
the Hotel de Luxembourg we heard the
bells of st. Sulpice sounding Complne,
and then from behind us the solemn ,
notes rang out from the spires of the
city churches. Yielding to an impulse
l could not resist, turned in my sad
die and looked back, letting my eyes
run over the vast dim outlines of the
city, so softened by the moonlight that
it was as if some Opaque, fantastic
cloud was resting on the earth. Above |
curved the profound blue of the night, |
with here and there star struggling
to force it's way past the spIendor of
the moon. All was quiet and still, and
the church bells ringing out were as a |
message from his creatures to the Most |
High. 1 let my heart go after the
voices of the bells as they travelled |
heavenward and had it not been for
Mousette's shrill tones that cut through |
the quiet night and recalled me to my |
self, 1 might have let the party go on
ward, I do not know how far. AS it I
was, had to hustle my little horse to !
gain the side of Madame de Termes
once more. 1t was not, Of course. our
intention to travel all night. That
would have been impossible, for it |
would have entailed weary horses and |
a long halt the next day; but it was
proposed that we should make for |
small chateau belonging to Monsieur de
Bouchage, the brother Of the Due de |
Joyeuse, which he had placed at Mad
anne de Termes' disposal, and there rest |
for the remainder of the night, making
start early the next morning, and |
then pressing on daily as fast as our
strength would allow. Lalarfde had
sent courier on in advance to an
nounce our sudden coming. We did not |
expect to reach de Bouchages house
until about midnight, and the equerry
was now fussing up and down the line
of march, urging a packhorse on here,
checking a restive animal there, and |
ever and again warning the lackeys to
keep their arms in readiness, for the
times were such that no mans teeth
were safe in his head unless he wore a
good blade by his side.
We were, in short, on the eve of that
tremendous struggle which, beginning