Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1898-12-01

~ne manner Of TremOuiIle, Win tne arms
~ Rocbemars OF Bidache quartered
thereon. spread out its folds to the
morning. and madame was come home
once more.
We dined an hour or so later than
usual-madame d'Ayen, Palm and. my
self at the high table, and the rest of the
household with all Bidache at the next.
Madame. who seemed in nowise fa-
tigued with her long ride, was in the
gayest of spirits and rippled with talk.
AS if thinking she had punished d'Ayen
enough she directed all her conversa-
tion towards him, and the old beau
was in his element in discussing the in
trigues of court life, and let me add
interesting. for his memory vent far
back.
At last the dinner came to close,
and Palm, nising. opened his lips in a
long Thanksgiving, to which all, madame
included, listened devoutly. Our host
ess then retired, and we three were left
:. together in an absolute silence. Had it
been any other place. would have felt
4 DOuQU 10 GILL ~ ny Cll w At@0AiAf <AANi
ask him to name proxy If he was I'M
able to meet me by reason of his age.
F, But as it was, this was impossible, and
| contented myself with Q frigid re-
serve, in which l was joined by the
Huguenot. He looked from one to the
other of us with a satirical smile on
his thin lips, and then rising made
slight bow. and left us to ourselves. As
we returned to our seats from our re-
Spouse to his greeting, Iblurted out the
questions:
"Who is NJ. d'Ryen? Why is he here2"
"Who is he? is enough to say he is
one of those men who live on the follies
of kings. And it is enough to say that
his company is forced upon us
81 have heard that before; but ma
dame seemed to like Linn well enough at
dinner" ! felt ] was wrong as l said
this: but the words came out
"He is here by the kings orders-by
the order of Henry the Great" said
Palm, with bitterness: monsieur. you
seem man of honor. What do you
think of a king who would force mar
riage on a woman to-" and he whis-
pered words in my ear which struck me
speechlcss.
credible. Was this the hero king-the
gallant soldier-the father of his peo-
Pile? 1t could not be true.
Palm saw the doubt on my face.
even vou," he said, twill go to Paris
and see"
Il shall go---I am going to-day"
st will be at the risk of your life."
"Maitre Palm. there Is the kings
peace and even if it We're not so | will
CO.
lie looked at me long and attentively.
LET it be So" he muttered TO him
self, and then loudly: We'll, chevalier,
have warned you--if you go you will
want safe lodging-seek out Pantin in
he Rue DIES Deux Mondes, and mention
my name. The house faces the Pont
Neuf, you cant miss IT,"
Thank you. ! VIII do So
Then aftera few minutes more of talk
we wished each ether good-by and
parted.
IS for myself was on the cross with
what had heard My mind was raclced
with doubt. and 1T last. in despair, ]
sought my own room to think over the
matter. could make nothing of it,
turn which way would. To me Palms
story was incredible. But yet it ex-
planned and made clear so muchl 1t
l.
that would now go to Paris. 1t would
be to save The woman loved, if posi-
BILE. How l was to do this, / had no
definite idca-the one thing at present
IN my mind was Paris-Paris. / there
fore gave the necessary orders to
Jacques to make ready to start at once.
and, descending the winding staircase
of the tower wherein my room lay,
sought the great hall with the view of
either finding madame there. or of
sending some one with the request to
permit my waiting on her to say good
by. The staircase ended in a long dark
corridor. hung on each side with
trophies of the chase, old armor, and
frayed and tattered banners. At the
end of this was an arched doorway. hid
den by a heavy curtain. lifted the cur
ain and passed into the great hall. At
FIRST thought it was empty, but sec
ond glance showed rae madame, seated
at small table in the recess of the bow
window that overlooked the park Her
face, leaning on her hand. was half
averted from me, and l caught
glimpse of small foot resting on one
of the lions heads in which the legs of
the table finished. The foot was beat
ing up and down as if in unison with
the impatience of madame's thoughts,
but | could see nothing of her face be-
yond its contour. She was, as usual.
robed in black, wearing no jewels ex-
cept a gold collar round her neck. For
a moment l stood in silence looking at
her, half thinking that here was
chance to speak QUE what was in my
heart. and then sitting the words by