Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-07
CHAPTER XLSI.
Tha CnnntrX of the DrecN.

The three remaining Scottish palmers
wer- riding due west into sunset which
hung like a broad red girdle over the At
Iantic. All the sky above their heads was
blue-gray and lucent But along the hori-
Zon as it Sc med for the space Of two hand
breadths, there was suspended this bando-
lier Of flaming scarlet.
The adventures were not weary Of their
quest. They We're only sick at heart with
the fTuitle-SneSs of it.
First upon leaving Paris they had gone
TO the castle Of Champtoce and had sur
Vcyed the noble range of battlements
crOwuing the heights above the broad pop
lar-fsuarded willOw-grown levels of the
Loire. The Chateau de Thouars also they
had seen, a small white-gabled house most
like q Scottish baron's tower, which the
Marshal de RetZ possessed in virtue Of his
neglected wife Catherine In it her sister
the Lady Sybilla. had been born. Solitary
and tenantlcss. save for a couple of guards
and their uncovenanted wOmankind. il look
ed down on it's green island meadows. while
on the horizon hung the smoke of the wood
fires lit NJ morn and eve by tn. good wives
Of Nantes.
To that place the three had next jour
neyed and had behcld the great Hotel de
Sue, set like an tnemy'S fortress in the
midst Of the turbulent city, over against
the castle of the king. But the hotel,
though held like a place of arms. was un-
tenanted by the marshal, his retinue or the
lost Scottish maids
They found the strong Castle of Tiffauges
above the green and ripping waters of
the Serves. void also. No light cleaned
out of that window of sinister repute, high
in the cliff-lke wall. from which strange
shapes wese known to look forth at high
noon.
North, south and east, tn, three had rid
den through the country of Retz. There
remained but MacheCOul. more remote and
also darker in repute than any of the other
dwelling places of Giles de- Retz. AS they
rode westward toward it they became day
by day more conscious of the Gardening
dawn of that atmosphere of fear ard sus-
picion which. murky and lowering over
hung all that fair land of southern Brit
tany.
The vast pine forest from which rose
the lonely towers of this the marshars
most remote castle could now be seen
s"rrated darkly against the broad belt of
the sky. The somber blackness of their
spreading branches the vet blacker dark
ness where the gaps between their red
trunks showed a way into the wood in
creased the gloom Of the weary travellers
Yet they rode on, Sholto eagerly, Malise
Grimly and the Lord James with the dog
ged resignation of a good knight who MAJ
he depended TO see an adventure through
however irksome it may have proved.
JAMES of Avondale thought with some
truth within himself that the others had
greater interests in the quest than he
the younger MacKim having at stake the
| honor Of his sweetheart Maud, the elder
l-tHe llIe OF MS young mistress, the last of
! the Galloway house OF Douglas.
Yet 1t was with that jolly heart of his
| LeatinS strong and loyal under his brown
palmeTs cloak that James Douglas rode
toward MacheCoul, only whistling low to
| himself and wishing that something would
happen TO br-ak the monotony Of their
journey.
Nor Aad he long to wait For Just as the
sun was setting they rode all three abreast
| into the little hamlet of St. Philbert and
saw the sullen waters of the Etang de
| Grande Lieu spread marshy and brackish.
/ IS far as the eye could reach, edged nv
| black peat boys and overhung periIouslv by
/ gloomy pines nodding over pools blacker
| than scriveners ink.
As the three Scots looked into the stock
/ AIDED entrance of the village they could see
| the children playing on the long irregular
/ street and The elder folk sitting about their
! doors in the evening light.
! But as soon as the ciatter of the horses
| hoOfs were heard, borne from far down the
| aisles of the forest, there arose a sudden
| clamor and crying. From each door rush
| ed forth woman who snatched a baby
| here and there and drove little herd of
| children before her indoors CHANGING
| around and behind her as she did SO with
the anxious look OF motherly barn door