Evening star., 1898-07-23

to the Nanterre fort. so you must not be so
SAD, my darling Look up at me, little sis
ter ! am not selfish and heartless, after
all, Cecil must CO."
In safe quarters began Bourke, but Hide
sat up on the bed and forbade him to 60
IT Is enough that one life is in danger"
she said. Your place is here with Yo-
lette. You can do nothing for him. He is
In the casemates and under medical at
tendance. What could you do?' Il shall
go when | see you and Yolette secure" re-
peated Bourke. Secure? How?" asked
Hide, bitterly your embassy has no
room for US; and do you think NJ. Bismarck
VIII order his cannoneers to respect any part
Of the city? The people in the street say
tnat converts and hospitals have been
struck repeatedly. Have the Prussians not
sent their shells into the crowded streets
of the poor?"
ever heard Hide speak with bitterness.
Bourke. too. looked at her sharply wonder
ing at the change in the gentle, reserved
girl he had known
No" continued Hide rapidly, no! no.
no!-the Prussians spare neither young nor
old, man nor woman, You cannot CO. Ce-
ell; Yolette needs you now If ever"
she rose. putting her arms around Yo-
lette saying, Dearest, he must not go to
the Nanterre fort. 1t is wrong for him to
his life
"Confound it!' said Bourke. helpIessly,
put can't leave Yolette in danger; my skin
Is no longer my own to risk"
Nor was his said Hide, gravely: and
door. ~
The night was bitter cold; the frost COW
ered the window panes with mosslike
tracery, silvered by a pale radiance from
without And Hide, opening the window,
looked on over the dark city and saw the
midnight heavens blazing with stars Her
cneeks were burning now; the icy air SEEM
ed grateful. After a little she closed the
WlnooW, fearing the cold might harm the
o1hers. But there was short ladder in
the hallway, leading to the scuttle and
she found 1t and climbed up and out onto
the roof Her hot cheeks and aching ewes
grew no cooler in the freezing wind She
white throat
The heavens were resplendent the tre-
mendous sky vault, far reaching fathom-
less' was busted with myriads of stars
among Wh1ch, deep set, the splendid planets
sparkled, and the gigantic considerations
traced their signs in arcs and angles and
sem-set circles that spanned the diamond
stSSNered heavens from horizon to horizon.
opife on splre the city lowered domed
battlemented magnificent in the starlight
the beautiful, sinful city, whose laceIike
spires and slender pinnacles rose from
squares and streets where mon Law 6,,iro
by the score from lack of bread Tbars
was starlight on the bridges on the ouays,
oh the carved facades of palaces on the
otLdHSe towers OF St Sulpice.
The jeweled spire of the st. ChanelIe tba
sliVery dome of the Invaiides the GRO
teSque Gothic tower of St JACQUES loomed
cistlnctiy from the endless mass of house
anu anu palace, monument and church. In the
east an enormous bulk detached itself
against the sky-the PantheonI In the
nofth the stupendous twin towers of Notre
Dame dominated the shadow shapes of roof
sanu chIHney And through the world of
shade and shadowy silhouette wound the
star-tinted, ghostly rivera phantom tide
spanned by score of fairy bridges imnaI-
paoie, vague, ghostly as their own refiec-
'ions IS, IN tne frozen, ice-bound stream.
ana now, far beyond the walls, Hide
couid c see the forts. The tiny flashes ran
from east to west, then south, then back
again, a running chain of sparks. The
cahhohs SOLID thunder rolled and surged
naJestically, wave after wave harmonious
lntermnable. On the heights of Meudon'
Slamart and Chatillon the flicker of the
russian guns ran parallel to the flashes
from the tcrts of the south and west: their
Shells were falling on the Point du Jour
Hide could see the bright reflections of
nres along the frozen river. the red smoke.
the nearer blasts from the great guns on
the ramparts. Overhead raced the shells,
streaming by with kindling wakes of
sparks dropping and fading one by one
Then, from Mont Valerien the rockets
lowered to the zenith, and drifted and
raded while the Point du Jour answered.
rocket on rocket, and the bastions re-
echoed with the double thunder of the
shotted guns.
Could that be real war; This Venetian
tete of colored fires, rockets. illumina1ions,
dull reports? Harkl The jar of a great
IRON bell came quavering over the city. The
faint rattle of drums broke out across the
riVer-the tocsin and the alarm, Hide did
not hear them. She was talking to her
self, under her breath, counting the forts
on her slender fingers, Issy, Vanves, Mont
Nalerien, st. Denis o, then there must
lie the Nanterre fort-there where the
darkness is shot with streak after streak
of tamei At last she knew
The fort was silent now, but within her
breast a voice spoke. And she listened
leaning from the iron railing, She knew
that Gods justice was passing-passfng in
fire through the heavens above the city
the fair city, brought low in shame. For
the night of atonement was at hand
(To be continued)