The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-03
PRELUDE
ST. BATS

The boy said nothing.
my name Is Eagle" she repeated.
eagle de Terrier. What is your name?"
Still the boy said nothing.
She looked at him surprised, but checked
her dispeasure. He about 9 years
old, while she was less than 7. BY the
dim light which sifted through the top !
of st. Bats church he did not appear
sullen. He sat on the f1agstones as if |
dazed and stupefed, facing b!acksmith's
forge, which for many generations had
occupied the north transept smith |
and some apprentices hammered meas
ures that echoed with multiplied vol !
ume from the Norman roof; and the
crimson fire made spot vivid as blood |
a low stone arch, half walled up, and |
blackened by smoke. framed the top Of
the smithy, and through this frame could
be seen a bit of st. Bats close outside, |
upon which the doors stood open. Now |
an apprentice would seize the bellows
handle and blow up flame which briefly
sprang and disappeared. The aproned
figures, Saxon and brawny, made fas-
cinating show in the dark shop.
Though the boy dressed like plain
French citizen Of that year, 1875, and his
knee breeches betrayed shrunken calves !
and his sleeves, wrists that were swollen
as with tumors, Eagle accepted him as
her equal. His fine wavy hair was Of
chestnut color, and his hands and feet
were small. His features were perfect as
her own. But while life played unceas-
ingly in vivid expression across her face,
his muscles never moved. The hazel eyes,
blush around their iris rims took cogniz-
ance of nothing. His left eyebrow had
been parted by cut now healed and
forming it's permanent scar.
You understand me. don't your" Eagle
talked to him. But you could not under
stand Sally Blake. She is an English
girl. We live at her house until our ship
sails, and 1 hope it will sail soon. Poor
Ia w In h,,rt
your arms?"
She soothed and patted his wrists, and
he neither shrank in pain nor resented
the endearment with male shyness.
Eagle edged closer to him on the stone
pavement. She was amused by the black
smiths arch, and interested in all the
unusual life around her, and she leaned
forward to find some repose in his eyes.
He was unconscious Of his strange en-
vironment. The ancient church of st.
Bartholomew the Great, or st. Bats as
it was called, in the heart Of London, had
long been hived village. Not
only were houses clustered thickly
around its outside walls and the
space Of ground named its close; but tho
inside, degraded from its first use, was
parceled out to owners and householders.
The nave only had been retained as a
church bounded by massive pillars, which
did not prevent Londoners from using it
as q thoroughfare. Children Of resident
pleased them, during service, from an
Overhanging window in the choir
Two women leaned out Of the Norman
arcades, separated only by pillar watch
ing across the nave those little figures
seated in front Of the blacksmith's win
dow. An atmosphere Of comfort and
thrift filed st. Bats. It was the abode Of
labor and humble prosperity, not an asy
lum of poverty. Great worthless indeed,
such as John Milton, and nearer our own
day, Washington Irving. did not disdain
to live in ST. Bartholomew close. Tho
two British matrons, therefore, spoke the
prejudice of the better rather than the
baser class.
THE little devils!" said one woman.
'They look innocent" remarked the
other But these French do make my
back crawl"
How long are they going to stay in
st. Bat's?"
1.-The two men with the little girl and
the servant intended to sail for America
next week. The lad, and the man that
brought him in-as dangerous looking q
foreigner as ever I saw!-are like to
prowl out any time. I saw them go into
the smithy, and I went over to ask the
smiths wife about them. She let two
upper chambers to the creatures this
morning.
What ails the lad? He has the look
Of an idiot"
Of the crazy French! If they all broke
out with boils like the heather of Scrip
ture, it would not surprise a Christian.
AS 1t Is, they keep on beheading one an
other, day after day and month after
month"; and the time must come when
none of them will be left-and salts
faction that will be to respectable folks"
First the king, and then the queen
unused one speaker. And now news comes
that the little prince has died Of bad
treatment in his prison.. England will
not go into mourning for him it did
for his father King Louis. What a pref
ty sight 1T was, to see every decent body
in bit Of black, and the houses draped
they say, in every town! A comfort il
must have been to the queen Of France
when she heard of such Christian re.
spect!
The women's faces, hard in texture anG
rubicund as beef and good ale could make
them, leaned silent a moment high above
the dim pavement. st. Bats little bel
struck the three quarters before 10; light
ly, delicately, with always a promise O.
the great booming which should follow. or
j. the stroke of the hour. Its perfection o
sound contrasted with the smithy clango
Of metal In process Of welding. I
butchers boy made his way through tn
front entrance toward a staircase, hi
feet echoing on the flags, carrying exposed
~ a joint Of beef on the board upon hi
head.
And how do your foreigners behav
themselves. Mrs. Blake?" inquired tn
neighbor.
" Like French emmy Grays, to be sure
I told Blake when he would have then
to lodge in the house. that we are re
spectacle family. But he is master, AM
their lordships has money in their purses
French lordships!' exclaimed tn
neighbor. whether they calls them
selves counts or markises, what's thei
nobility worth? Nothing!'
THE Marks de Ferrier," retorted Mrs
Blake nettled by a liberty taken with he
dodgers which she reserved for herself
sis gentleman If he is AL emmy gray
and French. Blake may be master in hi
own house. but he knows landed gentr
from tinkers-whether they ever comes t
their land again or not"
Minute followed minute, and the littl
bell struck the four quarters Then tn
great bell doomed out 1O--the bell whic
had given signal for lighting the funers
piles of many a martyr, on Smithfielt
directly opposite the church. Orga
music pealed; choir boys appeared fro1
their robing-room beside the entrance
pacing two and two as they chanted. Th
celebrant stood In his place at the alta1
and antiphonal music rolled among tn
arches; pierced by the dagger voice of
woman in the arcades, who called ate