Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-07-11
Monsieur de Laval is at LIE Puy?"

Monsieur de Laval is at LIE Puy?"
THAT he has been there? Yes, mad
anne; but I cannot be certain that he
is there STILL
| you can leave me-" Jeanne said alb
ruptly. Il need not detain you longer
| The sight of the woman was hate
! full to her, for she felt unreasonably
| angry. Laval had treated her like a
| child or fool; he had made her think
he was bound for Lyons, and yet even
mere chance people knew that he had
gone to LIE Puy.
| Good Heavens!' the girl cried. II
would he were here! / would tax him
with his deception"
| The woman's refusal to do her bid
ding had made her too angry to think;
| but now she wished she had asked
who were the men she had seen first
| in the wood, and then downstairs.
| Something told her that her hostess
strange perplexity was connected with
| them; she resolved to keep in her
| chamber all day, and to watch from
| her window and see whether they re-
| there be this mystery about them, that
they could not sit in the long eating
room, but must be hidden away IN
| the hostess's private chamber?
Her veXation with Laval, and now
| this puzzle, so exercised Jeanne that
she sent her midday meal away almost
untasted. The piece of embroidery
with which she usually coupled her.
self when indoors, lay idle in her lap,
and when Mathurine came in to ask
counsel about some stitchery on which
| she was busy, her lady told her she
could not be disturbed. For a strange
feeling had gradually shaped itself out
of the uneasiness that possessed her;
| it seemed to her that some pressing
work-she could not tell what it was
| lay ready to her hand, and that she
| must be heedful, or she would pass it
by. What could it be? she asked
| herself as she sat watching the wood.
| Time passed on; the shadows length
ened, then became lost as clouds
gathered over the sunset; almost at
once darkness had begun. There was
sspre sfneaa and gtahfategp dssg lXfs III
the trees and herbage-the tint that
Jeanne had been used to in Brittany;
she noticed, too, that though it was
only September, the foliage looked dry,
and as if it were ready to wither. Yes,
darkness had begun, UT with its ad-
vent light snone from within on the
girls perplexity. 1t seemed to dazzle
! her. Almost without her will, she
clasped both hands over her eyes.
Could it be-was this mystery con-
| nected with the story she had been
told at Moulins? Ah!-She cried out
in the suddenness of surprise; had she
| indeed been so dull, so unutterapiy
! self-absorbed that the fact had not
| sooner occurred to her? had she ac-
tually seen the Constable and his
| friend De PomperGnt, and mistaken
| them for robbers?
Heavens! l disbelieved the story
I was told, because have learnt TO IKE
Laval and his fiattery, and the tale
| nainted him as Infamous. | disbelleved
because am a woman, and only care
to believe what suits me-" she thought,
in the humility brought by her dis
coyery. She had promised the hostess
of the Occur Loyal that she would
warn the Duke against Laval. ana yet
she had not been willing to own that
| Bourbon might at any moment arrive
at the inn where the fugltives were,
she now felt sure, in hiding. And yet
she could not truthfully warn them
| against the Count, for she did not yet
believe he would be disloyal enough
To betrav the Duke to the King. She
sat thinking thinking lho2Ahp there
was danger, Laval might shut his
ewes. but there were soldiers to be
reckoned with; that man Gaspard
Ieanne believed to be evil-minded and
| dangerous Besides, she supposed,
that if Laval knew the Duke 10 De IN
hiding it would be his simple duty to
capture him and take him to Lyons.
She trembed with agitation.
.fNv fathers Oldest friend, his best
friend: and | am leaving him to perish,
when few words would warn him
away from this place
She Redeemed with shame as she re-
call her harsh judgment on the woman
who had evidently tried to save the
Constable from capture. Jeanne now
remembered her hostess's refusal TO
lodge the soldiers on their arrival, in
spite Of her evident poverty.
"And |. who used to long TO be
Jeanne dare. or some other heroine. =
We'll. she must not daily now. She
rose to summon her women, foc she
meant to send one of them for the
hostess.
| A sound made her pause, and then,
instead of seeking them. she passed out
Of her chamber to one close by hel
own. Through its open door she had
that morning noted that its window
looked out on the road.
| All, her ears had not deceived her!
1.-TWO cloaked figures were riding away
from the house; il seemed to her that
they were going to LIE Puy. She lean
against the lattice in despairing silence
but her eyes never left the fugitives.
1t was lighter here than in her cham
her. for the wood blocked the way on
that side, and made darkness come
earlier: even here she could not dis
tinguish after a certain distance, bu
she fancied that the blur into which
the figures had resolved themselves
suddenly quilted the road on the left
and struck across cOuntrys
II It was intense relief that they hat
left the house before Laval arrived,
but Jeanne could not pardon herself
that she had not given the warning.
Before she lay down to rest she SEM
FIR rho hostess. she would at least dC