The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1900-02-22

him A sn.wcrcd cravclv. "I nroyn;eer
"I know that I will not live beyond t,.
morrow. When I die hurry me az I an
I.r,--bcr, In tj,;s ,u,n--anJ-and vou will
NO, forgct me will you,'
As be .aid This b;s voicc took n cadence.
his fac, took an cxpress;on that suddenly
bro,gbt l,,ck a hundred old memories. no
longer vague and misty. hut clear and dis.
tinet. In a moment the scalcs fell from my
cvcs and \ saw seemed 10 he once more
hawking ON the hanks Of the Cbiana with
modnme. / was once more IN the aislcs of the
church AZ krcz,o. treadinp down tempta.
,iop and b;JJin, farewell 10 A woman who
was irving to be strung.
"Coj in be,yep," I rasped 10 myself. a,
I leaned hack against the parapet and drew
INV hand across nv forehead. az IL 10 wake
r,yself from , dream. 81. Arrnande did not
notice my exclamation: he did not even oh.
seryc INV movement. His own excitement
carried him nway.
"prom,se." he said. and shook my arm in
his earnest entreaty.
"As there ia n God above me promise"
81 believe YOU" he said. simply. "and now
I am coina in %
male M offer N boar hin, cornpanv. and
hi. sl;cb. figure Jr;f,cd into the moonlirh,.
/ an n
,,,;rs, ,he rej si,rc in ,bc omen door oi
,b. hal, aud ,bcn !, vanished from view.
w,. utterly ,bno,,ers,ruck Inv tbc discovery
I had n,de a hundred actions a hundred
,r;cLs Of gcs,urs. of sncc,b. of manner.
sbould have disclosed -. Armandc's ;dcn,i.
,v 40 ,c Nov lnev !, !, was ali so sim.
plc and clear. tba, wondered a, ms dense.
ness in NOT having guessed through the dis
t q.
however. now that INV blindness was cured.
what was / TO do? resolved on kccpinc the
c,orc, I had nrobcd and peycr once letting
81. Armande knov, he was other than whn,
he pretended TO be. A great pity came up
in nv heart. for there was n time when
alnoat Thought loved this woman. and i,
required little conceit 10 see. after what had
happened. that madame was prepared "a
make almost any sacrifice for my sake.
was sorry, more sorry than can tell. for
knew ms own hands were not clean in this
matter. and I paced up and down. ilinsinr
bitter rcproach at myself. and utterly at a
loss TO plan out some way OF escaping from
the difficulty in which was placed. made
up NV mind that ST. Armandc, rs will still
speak OF the disguised chcvalicr. should be
placed in no danger. resolving that a. soon
as the affair on which We were engaged was
over. that I 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 il at this
moment almost in my heart to be angry with
her; bu, 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 ne 10
the grave, and I shiysred as thought oi
the abbe's words: 1T is what one carries
beyond the grave that the sisnor cavaliers
should think Of.
So alternately approaching 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. Hound the fire in the great hall, tn,
figures OF my followers were stretched, al
but one. who kept watch, but recognizing
me did not challenge. ! passed by softly
and entered the other room. The abbc had
dropped asleep over his breviary. the lami
burning low beside him.
Rolled in a cloak, and half reclining
against saddle. st. Armande was in r-o
found slunbcr. took the lamp IN my nand
and holding II nioit, surveyed the slecpln;
figure. A last hope had come to my 'nird
that ] was mistaken, that perhaps ! Wa
jumping too quickly TO conclusions. bu' ho
there WIS not doubt OF It. There could
be no mistakins that fair face with its deli
cate features, the straight nose. the curved
bow OF the lirs, hall hidden under ITS dis
guise. the small shapeiy head witn us nature,
ourls OF short golden hair-oh; ! khe" al
these 100 well IL was Dor's En,fahGu's
without shadow oi doubt. ana no PING u.s
gar, VINO Gropei III. way throush ihS'on
darEncss' was binder thah ! hau ,eeh.
set down ne lamp soitty. ana Win sicS
heart stepped back INTO the hai' where