Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-06-27

} The House of The Wolf,,,,,,$$
x BY STANLEY j. WEYMAN


last night from Toulouse; and go to-
morrow to Paris. have but rested
and washed off the stains of travel
that I may lay my-ah!"
He seemed to see us for the first
time. and negligently broke off in his
compliment; raising himself and sa-
luting us. An" he continued, indo-
5lently. two of the maidens of Caylus,
l see. With an odd pair of hands
apiece, unless l am mistaken. Why do
You not set them spinning, mademoi-
selle" and he regarded US with that
smile which-with other things as evil
had made him famous.
Groisette pulled horrible faces be-
hind his back. We looked holly at him;
but could find nothing to say.
You grow red!" he went on, pleas
antly-thc playing with us as
cat does with mice. ut offends your
dignity, perhaps, that l bid mademoi-
selle set you spinning? / now would
spin at mademoiselle's bidding, and
think 1T happiness.
We are not girls." I blurted out,
with the flush and tremor of boys
passion. You had not called my god
father, Anne de Montmorencl. a girl,
M. lie Nidame!' For though we count
ed 1t joke among ourselves that we
all bore girls Names we We're young
enough to be sensitive about It,
He shrugged his shoulders. And
how he dwarfed us all as he stood
there dominating our terrace! M. de
Montmorenci was man. he said,
scornfully. M. Anne de Caylus is
And the villain deliberately turned
MIS- great back upon us, taking his seat
ON the low wall near GATHERINGS chair.
1t was clear even to our vanity that
he did not think us worth another
word-that we had passed absolutely
from his mind. Nine. Claude came
waddlfng out at the same moment, Gil
carrying chair behind her. And we
well, we skunk away and sat on the
other side of the terrace, whence we
could Still glover at the offender.
~, Yet who We're we to glover at him?
TO this day l shake at the thought of
him 1t was not so much his height
and bulk, though he was so big that
the clipped, pointed fashion of his
beard-Fa fashion then new at court
seemed on him homogeneous and effem-
mate. nor so much the sinister glance
of his gray eyes-he had slight cast
In them; nor the grimy suavity of his
manner, and the harsh, threatening
voice that permitted of no disguise. 1t
was the sum OF these things, the great,
brutal presence of the man-that was
overpowering4-that made the great
falter and the poor crouch. And then
his reputation! Though we knew lit
Tie of the worlds wickednesss, all we
did know had come to us linked with
his name. We had heard of him as a
duelist, as a bully, an employer of
braves. AT Jarnac he had been the
last to turn from the shambfes. Men
called him cruel and vengeful even for
those days-gone by now, thank God!
and Whispered his name when they
spoke of assassinations; saying COM
monty of him that he would not blench
before Guise, nor blush before the
virgin.
Such was our visitor and neighbor,
Raoul de Mar, Vidame de Beers. AS
he sat on the terrace, now cycling US
askance. and now paying Catherine a
compliment, l lil,ened him to a great
unwttingly fiirted her prettiness.
Poor Catherine. No doubt she had
her own reasons for uneasiness. more
reasons. ! fancy, than / then guessed.
For she seemed to have lost her voice.
She stammered and made but poor re-
plies; and Nine. Claude being deaf and
stupid, and we boys too timid after the
rebuff we had experienced to fill the
gap, the conversation languished. The
Nldame was not for his part the man
to put himself out on q hot day
1t was after one of these pauses
not the first but the lopgest-that /
started on finding his eyes fixed on
mine. More ! shivered. 1t is hard tn
describe, but there was look in the
Nidame's eyes at that moment which
had never seen before. look of
pain almost: of dumb savage alarm at
amy rate. From HE they passed slow
ly to Marie and ,nutely interrogated
him. Then the Nidames glance tray
cir ,,|nIr 10 ',it1, a
her
Only a moment before she had been
but too conscious of his presence. Now,
as it CHANGED by bad luck. or in the
course of Providence, something had
drawn her attention elsewhere She
was unconscious of his regard. Her
own eyes We're fixed in far-away
gaze. Her color was high. her lips
were parted, her bosom heaved gently.
The shadow deepened on the VI
DANES face. Slowly he took his eyes
from hers and looked northwards also.
Cayus Castle stands on rock In the
middle of the narrow valley OF that
name. The town clusters about the
lodges of the rock SO closely that when
was boy l could fling stone clear
of the houses. The hills are scarcely
500 yards distant on either side, rising
In tanner colors from the green fields
about the brook. 1t is possible from
the terrace to see the whole valley, and
the road which passes through it
lergthwise. GATHERINGS eyes We're a,,
the northern extremity of the leflir,
where the highway from Cahors de-
scends from the uplands She had
been sitting with her face turned ,hn:
way all the afternoon.
/ looked that way too A solitary
horseman was descending the steep
track from the hills.
Mademoiselle." cried the Vidame.
suddenly. We all looked UP. His tone
was such that the color fed from Kits
face. There was something In his
Voice she had never heard in any voice
before-something that to woman
was like blow "Mademoiselle." he
snarled. is expecting news from Ca
hors, from her lover. / have the honor
to congratulate M. de Pavannes on his
conquest
All! he had guessed 1t! AS the words
fell on the sleepy silence, an insult in
themselves. 1 sprang to my feet
amazed and angry. yet astounded by
his qulckness of sight and wit. He
must have recognized the Pavannes
badge at that distance. M. lie Vi
dame" said. indignantly-Cath
was white and voiceless-'M. lie VI
dame" but there ] stopped and fall
tered. stammering. For behind him ]
could see Croisette; and Croisette gave
me no sign of encouragement or sup.
port.
So we stood face to face for mo-
ment; the boy and the man OF this
world, the STRIPPING and the roue, Their
the vidame bowed to me in quite a new
fashion. M. Anne de Caylus desires tc
answer for M. de Pavannes?" he
asked, smoothly; with a mockine
smoothness.
] understood what he meant. But
something prompted me-Croisette
said afterwards that it was a happy
thought, though now / know the crisi.