Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-08-24
The House of The Wolf,,,,,,
BY STANLEY j. wEYMAN

~ hhNO az oiOOAht u Ahet
ried on my way.
i was in a strange mood. A few min
utes before i had been at Pavannes'
door. at the end Of our journey; on the
verge or success. i had been within an
ace, as l supposed at least, of execut-
ing my errand. l had held the cup of
success In my hand. And 1t had slipped.
Now the conflict had to be fought over
again; the danger to be faced. 1t would
nave been no more han natural IL 1
had felt the disappointment keenly; IL
| had almost despaired,
But 1t was otherwise-far otherwise.
Never had my heart beat higher or
more proudly than as now hurried
hrough the streets, avoiding such
groups as were abroad in them, and
intent only on observing the proper
turnings. Never In any homer Of
triumph in after days, in love or war,
did anything like the ex%hilaration the
energy, the spirit, of those minutes
come back to me. / had a woman's
badge In my cap-for the first time
the music OF her voice in my ears. I
had a magic ring on my finger; a tails
man on my arm. My sword was at my
side again. All round me lay a misty
city OF adventure, of danger and ro-
nance, full of the richest and most
beautiful possibilities; a city Of real
Wltchery, such as / had read of in
stories, through which those fairy gifts
and my right hand should guide me
safely. / did not even regret my broth
ers, or u separation. / was the eld-
est. 1t was fitting that the cream Of
the enterprise should be reserved for
me, Anne de Caylus. And to what
might II not lead? / fancy l saw my
SELF already a duke and q peer OF
France-already l held the baton.
Yet while l exulted boyishly, / did
not forget what / was about. Kept
my eyes open, and soon remarked that
the number OF people passing to and
fro In the dark streets had much In
creased within the last half hour. The
silence In which, in groups or singly,
these figures stole by me was very
striking. | heard no brawling, fighting
or singing, yet IL il were not too late
FOR these things, why were so many
people up and about? | began to count
presently, n found hat at least half
OF those | met wore badges In their
hats and on their arms, similar to mine,
and that they all moved with a bust
ness-like air, as II bound for some rem
devious.
was not a fool, though / was young,
and In some matters less quick thar
Croisette. The hints which had been
dropped by SO many had not been lost
on me. There IS more afoot tonight
than o know off, Nine. d'O had
said. And having eyes as we'll as ears
| fully believed 1t. Something was
aioot. something was going to happen
IN Paris before morning. But what, l
wondered. Gould It be hat a rebellion
was about to break out? If so / was
IN the kings service, and all was we'll.
l might even be going-and only IS
To make history! Or was II only a
brawl on a great scale between two
parties OF mobiles? / had heard of such
things happening in Paris. Then-well
did not see how / could act in that
case. 1 must be guided by events.
l did not imagine anything else which
IT could be. That Is the truth, though
IL may need explanation. I was accus-
toned only TO the milder religious diff
ferenCes, the more evenly balanced
parties OF Quercy, where the peace be-
tween the Catholics and the Huguenots
q been welcome to all save a very
few. / could not gauge, therefore, the
fanatlcism of the Partisan p%opulace,
and lost III OF the factor, which
made possible that which was going to
happen-was going to happen In Paris
before daylight as surely as the sun
was going to rise! knew that the
Hugeunot mobiles were present in the
city in great numbers, but IT did not
occur TO me that they could as a body
be in danger. They were many and
powerful, and as was said, in favor
with the king. They were under the
protection Of the king of Navarro
frances brother-in-law OF a week, and
the prince of Condo: and though these
princes were young, Coligny, the sa-
Sacious admiral, was old, and not much
the worse | had learned for his wound.
He at least was high in royal favor, a
trusted counselor. Had not the king
visited him on his sick bed and sat by
him for an hour together?
Surely, i thought, if there were dam
ger, these men would know Of II. And
then the Hugeunots' main enemy, Henri
lie Balafre, The splendid duke Of Guise,
Our great man. and Lorraine" as
the crowd called him-he, 1t was ru-
mored, was in disgrace at court. In a
word, these things, TO say nothing of
the peaceful n joyous occasion which
had brought the Hugeunots 20 Paris.
and which seemed to put treachery out
OF the question, were more han enough
to prevent me ~forecasting the event.
If for a moment, indeed, as l hur-
ried along towards the river, anything
like the truth occurred to me, / put
1t from me. l say with pride ] put Il
from me as a thing impossible. For
God forbid-one may speak out the
truth these forty years back-God for
bid, say /. hat all Frenchmen should
bear the blood-guiltiness which came of
other than French brains, though
French were the hands that did the
work.
/ was not greatly troubled by my
~forebodings therefore; and the state
OF eXaltation to which Nine. dos con-
hdence had raised my spirits lasted un-
III n OF the narrow streets by the
Louvre brought me suddenly within
OF the river. Here faint moon
light bursting momentarily through
the clouds was shining on the placid
surface of the water. The fresh air
played upon, and cooled my temples.
And this, with the quiet scene so
abruptly presented to me, ave check
to my thoughts, and somewhat sobered
me.
At some distance TO my left | could
distinguish In the middle OF the river
the pile of buildings which crowd the
lie de la Cite, and could follow the
nearer arm of the stream as it swept
LANDMARKS of these, closely hemmed In
by houses, but unbroken as yet by the
arches of the Pont Neuf which l have
to see built. Not far from me on
my right-indeed. within a stones
throw the bulky mass of the Louvre
rose dark and shapeless against the
sky. Only a narrow open ~space-the
foreshore-separated me from the wa
ter; beyond which / could see an ir-
regular line of buildings, that no doubt
formed the Faubourg st. German.
/ a been told that l should find
leading down to the water, and
boats moored at the foot of them, at
this point. Accordingly l walked quick
across the open space to a spot,
where | made out q couple of posts set
on the brink-doubtless to mark the
landing place.
had not gon ten PAGES, however,
out OF the shadow, before l CHANGED to
around, and discerned with an un-
pleasant eerie feeling three figures de-
tach themselves from 1t, and advance
In a row behind me, so as the better TO
cut OFT my retreat. L was not to sue
coed In my enterprise too easily. then.