The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1901-08-08

" eiis Sd.u SoItly glanclng at the
unfortunate lady. What do you think,
Cro;sette?"
| Think" she cried, With fiery impa-
| tence. What can anyone think ex-
| cept that that villain Payannes has
himself planned his wifes abduction
| OF course it is so! His wife out of the
/ way, he IS free to follow up his in
trigues at Caylus. He may then marry
Kit Or Curse him!''
No" ! said, s.ernly, 'cursing is no
sooG We must do something more.
And yet--we have promised Kit, you
see, that we would save him-we must
keep our word. We must save him
| from Beers, at least
| Marie groaned.
But Croisette took up the thought
with ardor. From Bezers?" he cried,
his face aglow. "Ay, true. so we
must! But then we will draw lots, who
| shall fight him and kill him"
eXtinguished him by look. eve
| shall fight him in turn I said. until
one OF us kill him. There you are
flght. But your turn comes last. Lots
lnueed! We have no need of lots to
learn which is the eldest"
was turning from him-having very
properly crushed him-to look for some
| thing Which we could use to force the
door, When he held up his hand to
~ Aits e'IICiitloli w t llSlSilGQ, look
ing at one another. Through the Win
dow came unmistakable sounds of
voices They have discovered our
, night, said, my heart sinking
| Luckily we had the forethought to
craW the curtain across the easement.
BeZers people could, therefore, from
etielr WINDOWS, see no more than ours,
dl!hiy llghted and indistinct. Yet they
would, no doubt, guess the way we had
| escaped, and h9 10 off
treat below. For moment looked at
the door OF our room, haif-minded to
attack 1t, and fight our way out, taking
lhe chance of reaching the street before
Bezers folk should have recovered
from their surprise and gone down.
but then L looked at Madame. How
could we insure her safety in the strug-
gle? While / hesitated the choice was
taken from us. We heard voices in
the house below, and heavy feet on the
stairs. 90 @-1e
We We're between two fires, 7
glanced irresolutely round the bare
garfet, with its sloping roof, searching
i !, d ,petter weapon. l had only my
Dagger. But in vain. 1 saw nothing
mat would serve. What will you do"
NINE. de Pavannes murmured. stand
ing pale and trembling by the hearth.
ana looking from one to another
Crolsette plucked my sleeve before I
eouid answer and pointed to the box
peo with Its scanty curtains. eff they
see .5,shi US IN the ROOM, he urged softly,
While they are half in and half out
they Will give the alarm. Let us hide
ourselves yonder. When thew are in
side-you understand"
He laid his hand on his dagger. The
muscles Of the lads face grew tense. I
did understand him. Madame /
said quickly, you will not betray
uS?"
She shook her head The color re-
turned to her cheek and the brightness
to her eyes. She was a true woman
The sense that she was protecting
Others deprived her of fear for herself.
Inc footsteps were on the topmost
STAR now, and key was thrust with a
rasp1ng sound into the lock But be-
fore 1T could be turned-it fortunately
lifted live three had jumped on the
bed and We're crouching in a row at the
mead OF IT, where the curtains of the al
cove concealed, and only just con-
cealed, US from anyone standing at the
end OF the room near the door,
was the outermost, and through a
chlnk could see what passed One, two.
three people came in, and the door was
closed behind them. Three people, and
one of them a woman! NY heart
Which had been in my moutll-returned
to its place, for the vidame was not
one. [ breathed freely; only / dared
not communicate my relief to the 9TH
ers, lest my voice should be heard. The
nrst to come in was the woman, closely
cloaked and hooded Nine. de Payani
mes cast On her single doubtful
glance, and then to my establishment.
threw herself into her arms. mingIing
her sobs with little joyous cries of tOh,
Diane! oh Diane!''
Wy poor little one!'' the newcomer
exclaimed, soothing her with tender
touches on hair and shoulder. lyon are
safe now. Quite safe!''
You have come to take me awayo"
'Of course we haYe!'' Diane answered
cheerfully, still caressing her. Eve
come to take you to your husband. He
He is distracted with grief, little one.'
Il. Poor Loufs!" calculated the wife.
Poor Louis, indeed" the rescuer an
sWered. But you will see him soon.
We only learned at midnight where
you We're. You have to thank M. lie
Coadjuteur here for that. He brought
me the news, and at once escorted me
here to fetch you.',
And to restore one sister to an
other, said the priest silkily, as he adj
yanced step. He was the very same
priest whom had seen two hours be-
fore with Beers, and had SO greatly
disliked. hated his pale face as much
8sASV9 40 - AAod IlACli. GtSll INS GrTanQ
I of good on which he had come could
not blind me to his tIlin-lipped mouth.
TO his mock humility and crafty eyes.
Il have had no task so pleasant for
many days" added he, with every ap-
pearance Of a desire to propitiate.
But, seemingly, Nine. de Pavannes
had something of the same feeling to-
wards him which I had myself; for she
started at the sound of his voice, and
sdisengaging herself from her sisters.
arms-it seemed it was her sister
shrank back from the pair. She bowed
indeed In acknowledgement of his
word, but there was little gratitude in
the movement, and less warmth. saw
the sisters face-a brilliantly beautiful
face II s-brighter eyes and lips and
more lovely auburn hair have never
seen-even Kit would have been plain
and dowdy beside her-I saw it harden
strangely. A moment before the two
had been in one anotller's arms Now
they stood apart somehow chilled and
disillusioned. The shadow of the priest
had fallen upon them had come be-
tween them.
At this crisis the fourth person pres
ent asserted himself. Hitherto he had
stood silent just within the door-a
plain man. plainly dressed sorney.h a + 4