The Winslow mail., 1900-05-31

l.
him l answered, gravely: 81 promise"
81 know that l will not live beyond to-
morrow. When | die bury me as l am
lere-here in this ruin-and- you will
not forget me, will you?
As he said this his voice took cadence,
his face took an expression that suddenly
brought back hundred old memories, no
longer vague and misty, but clear and dis
t;nct In a moment the scales fell from my
eves. md [ saw. / seemed to be once more
hawking on the banks of the Chiana with
madame; l was once more in the aisles of the
church at Arezzo, treadihg down tempta-
tion and bidding farewell to woman who
was trying to be strong.
"God in heaven!" gasped to myself, as
I leaned back against the parapet and drew
INV hand across my forehead, as if to wake
tnvself from dream. st. Armande did not
notice INV exclamationj he did not even OBJ
serve nv movement. His own excitement
carried him away.
"Promise," he said, and shook my arm in
his earnest entreaty.
"As there is God above me promise"
al believe you," he said, simply, "and now
am going in"
made no offer to bear him company, and
his slight figure drifted into the moonlight.
saw it clearly again, making o dark bar
against the red glare in the open door of
the hall, and then it vanished from view.
was utterly thunderstruck by the discovery
I had made. A hundred actions, hundred
tricks of gesture, of speech, of manner.
should have disclosed st. Ar1hande's identi-
ty to me. Now l knew it, it was all so sim
Die and clear, that 1 wondered at my dense
ness in not having guessed through the dis
puise before. Now that had discovered it,
however, now that my blindness was cured,
what was to do? resolved on keeping the
secret / had probed, and never once letting
st. Armande know he was other than what
he pretended to be- A great pity came up
in my heart, for there was time when
almost thought loved this woman, and it
required little conceit to see, after what had
happened that madame was prepared to
make almost any sacrifice for my sake.
was sorry, more sorry than l can tell, for
knew nv own hands were not clean in this
matter, and 1 paced up and down, finging
bitter reproach at myself, and utterly at
loss to plan out some way of escaping from
the difficulty in which was placed. made
ND nv mind that St. Armande, as | will still
speak of the disguised chevaler, should be
placed in no danger, resolving that as soon
as the affair on which we were engaged was
over that | would send him, or rather her,
with a message to the cardinal, and the mes
sage was to be one that, hoped and trusted,
would have the effect of making madame
cease her foolish prank had it at this
moment almost in my heart to be angry with
her; but could not, for the small voice that
kept whispering to me
"Thou art not free from blame" was
not but nothing would induce me to add
another wrong to the one | had committed.
That in itself was sufficient to haunt ME to
the grave, and / shivered as l thought of
the abbes words: "It is what one carries
beyond the grave that the signor cavaliere
should think Of"
So alternately reproaching myself and
praying for aid prayers that brought no re-
lief, l passed the night, and in the small
hours Of the morning stole back into the cas-
tie. Round the fire in the great hall, the
figures of my followers were stretched, all
but one, who kept watch, but recognizing
Inc did not challenge. | passed by softly,
and entered the other room. The able had
dropped asleep over his breviary, the lamp
burning low beside him.
RGlfd in ef9a s and alf Vas FeeaPane ff ping
found sltirnfer- took lamp my hand,
and holding it aloft, surveyed the sleeping
QHG HOIdIHs 10 mOIc; nm'clcd ono uooblns
that 1 mistaken, that perhaps L was
jumping too quickly to conclusions. But no,
there was not doubt of it, There could
be no mistaking that fair face with its deli
cate features, the straight nose, the curved
bow of the lips, half hidden under its dis
guise the small shapely head with it's natural
curls of short golden hair-oh! knew all
these too well. 1t was Doris d Entrangues
without shadow of doubt, and no blind beg
gar, who groped his way through lifelong
darkness, was binder than had been. I
set down the lamp softly, and with a sick
heart stepped back into the hall, where /
found room for myself until the morning,
which indeed it was already. With the
sunrise, l awakened from fitful sleep by
hearing Bande Nere's voice
what news" l asked as drew the old
soldier aside.
Il have been as far as Sinigaglia, excel
lency, and all goes well. The party left
Sinigagia the morning | arrived, and fol.
lowed in their track, letting them keep we'll
ahead of me to avoid suspicion. Last night,
however, / passed them. They will be here
about noon, maybe little before"
'"The numbers"
"Ten lances, excellency, for escort. 1t is
those we have to deal with. Then there are
about score of mounted servants, four
laden mules, and Monsignore Bozardo."
"Um That is rather strong, if the serv-
ants carry weapons"
"But they march as through friendly
country, signore, the servants going on
ahead to prepare for monsignore's arrival.
lie himself keeps close TO the mules, with
one or two men, and of course the escort"
"Do you know who commands the escort?"
"No, excellency-I did not wish to risk
anything, and asked no questions"
"You are right, and have done we'll
here are ten crowns
"Your excellency is generosity ITSELF"
at is not more than you deserve. Go and
get something to eat now, and take as much
rest as you can within the next hour"
"Excellency," and Bande Mere stepped
bacl, to join his fellows, who surrounded him
with eager questions, and there was a
bustling and buckling-to of arms and ar-
mour.
When we met little later my face showed
no signs of my discovery to St. Armande,
and whilst we breakfasted together / told
him that the time was come for which we
had been waiting.
Remember your promise" he said with
an affected gayety, but his voice nearly broke
down and saw the able glance at him with
deep compassion.
II will not forget" l answered, ''but God
grant there may be no need to keep it."
81 should say Amen to that" he an
swered, "only l cannot"