Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1901-10-12

passed us; and henceforth forestalled
us. One Of these messengers-who l
learned from the talk about me was
bound for Cahors with letters for the
lieutenant governor and the count
bishop-the vidame interviewed and
stopped. How 1t was managed I do
no know, but I fear the count bishop
never got his letters, which l fancy
would have given him some joint au-
thority. Certainly we left the messen-
ger-a prudent fellow with a care for
bis skin-in comfortable quarters at
Limoges, whence 1 do not doubt he
presently returned to Paris at his
leisure.
The strangeness OF the journey, how
ever, arose from none of these things,
but from the relations OF our party to
one another. After the first day we
four rode together, unmolested, so long
as we kept near the center of the stray
Cling cavalcade. The vidame always
rode alone, and in front, brooding with
bent head and somber face over his re-
venge, as l supposed. He would ride
In this fashion, speaking to no n and
giving no orders, for u day together.
At times / came near to plying him.
He had owed Kit in his masterful way,
the way of n not to be thwart-
ed, and he had lost her-lost her, what
ever might happen. He would get moth
Ing after all by his revenge. Nothing
but ashes in the mouth. And so l saw
In softer moments something inexpres-
sibly melancholy In that solitary giant
figure pacing always alone.
He seldom spoke TO us. More rarely
to Louis. When he did the harshness
of his voice and his cruel eyes betrayed
the gloomy hatred In which he held
him. AT meal he ate at one enc of the
table; we -four at the other, as three OF
us had done on the lrst evening In
Paris. And sometimes the covert
looks, the grim sneer he shot at his
rival-his prisoner-made me SILVER
even in the sunshine. Sometimes, on
the other hand, when / took him un-
awares, l found an expression on his
face 1 could not read.
/ told Croisette, but warily, my sus-
picions OF his purpose. He heard me-,
less astounded to all appearance than
l had expected. Presently 1 learned
the reason. He had his own view.
do you not think 1t possible, Anne"
he suggested, timidly-we were, OF
course, alone at the time-"that he
thinks to make Louis resign mad
emoiselle?"
Resign her!" I exclaimed, obtusely.
How"
by giving him a choice-you under
stand?"
/ did understands saw 1t In q mo-
ment. l had been dun not to see II
before; Beers might put 1t in this
way: Let M. de Pavannes resign his
mistress and live, or die and lose her.
Il see," l answered" But Louis
would not give her up. Not to him!"
He would lose her either way" Crois-
cite answered, in a low tone. THAT Is
not, however, the worst Of 1t. Louis
is In his power. Suppose he thinks TO
make Kit the arbiter, Anne, and puts
Louis up to ransom, setting Kit for the
price? And gives her the option OF ac-
cepting himself, and saving Louis life;
or refusing, and leaving Louis to die?"
"St. Croix!" 1 exclaimed, fiercely.
HE would not be SO basel" And yet
was not even this better than the blind
vengeance / had myself attributed to
him?
Perhaps not" Croisette answered,
while he gazed EDWARDS through the
twilight. We were at the time the fore
most OF the party, save the vidame;
and there was nothing to interrupt our
view of his gigantic figure as he
moved on alone before us with bowed
shoulders. Perhaps not" Croisette
repeated, thoughtfully. Sometimes
/ think we do not understand him, and
that after all there may be worse peo-
pie In the world than Beers"
l looked hard at the lad, for that was
not what / had meant. "Worse?" /
said. Il don't think SO. Hardly"
Yes, worse he replied, shaking his
head. do o remember lying under
the curtain in the box-bed at Mire-
~poix's?"
"Of course l do! Do you think /
shall ever forget it?"
And Nine. do coming IMP"
with the Goa iutor3v 7 said with a
shudder. Yes"
mo, the second time" he answered.
when h came back alone. 1t was
pretty dark, you remember, and Nine.
de Pavannes was at the window, and
her sister did not see herr"
We'll well, l remember" / said i'm
patiently. l knew from the Tone of his
voice that he had something to tell me
about Nine. d'O, and l was not anxious
to hear IT. / shrank, as a wounded man
from the cautery, from hearing
anything about hat woman; herself so
beautiful, yet moving In an atmosphere
of suspicion and horror. Was ii shame,
or fear, or some chivalrous feeling hav-
ing It's origin in that moment when /
had fancied myself her knight? l am
sure. for l had not made up my
mind even now, whether l ought to pity
or detest her; whether she had made a
lOOl VI lHe, Vi Il Udu DetU ldlSe W HtT.
She came up to the bed, you remem-
Der, Anne?" Croisette went on. you
were next to her. She saw you indis-
and took you for her sister.
And then / sprang from the bed"
Il know o did," / exclaimed sharp
ly. All this time i had forgotten that
You nearly frightened
her out of her wits, st. Croix. l cannot
think what possessed you-why you did
It?"
ITO save your life, Anne" he an
swered solemnly, "and her from q
crime-an unutterable and unnatural
crime. h had come back to- can
tell 1t to you-to murder her sis
You start. You do not believe me.
1t sounds too horrible. But / could see
better than you could. She was ex-
actly between you and the light. 1
the knife raised. ! saw her wicked
face. II / had not startled her as 1
lid, she would have stabbed you. She
dropped the knife on the floor and l
picked 1t up and have It. See!"
/ looked furtively, and turned away
again, shivering. Why" I muttered,
why did she do it?"
She had failed, you know, to get her
sister back to Pavannes' house, where
she would have fallen an easy victim.
Beers, who knew Nine. do, prevented
hat. Ihen that nend slipped back
her knife; thinking that in the
butchery the crime would be
overlooked, and never investigated, and
hat Mirepox would be SILENT"
l said nothing. 1 was stunned. Yet
believed the story. When 1 went over
he facts In my mind / found that q
lozen things, overlooked at the time.
almost forgotten in the hurry of
sprang up to confirm it. M. de
oavannes'-the other M. de Pavannes'
suspicious had been we'll founded.
tina Beers, was she? Ave-,
worse a hundred times. AS much worse
Is treachery ever Is than violence: as
he pitiless fraud of the serpent is
,aser than the rage Of the wolf.
II thought" Croisette added softly.
Tot looking at me, when / discovered
hat you had gone off with her, that I