Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1902-12-20

free hand, kissed her noisily. The
girl squealed a little "a his roughness;
. the other pairs laughed and clasped
after his example, only the singer, un-
needing, lifted her voice again, and this
time there was a SAVIOUR OF gall in the
sweetness of the honey:
For soon the golden hair Is grey,
And all the body's lovely line
In wrinkled meanness slipped astray;
The limbs so round and ripe and line
Shrivelled and withered ~;quenched the shine
That made our eyes as bright as day;
So, ladies'. hear these words of mine,
Love, ere love flutter far away
The drift of the music seemed sad
der than before, and there was a lit
tie silence when the last words foated
away into the blackened r%afters, a 81
lence broker by n Of the girls.
"Enne, that was a sad song Abbess."
Isabeau sighed, and her face seemed to
have paled beneath It's false colors and
the lines about her mouth and eyes to
have grown older in surrender to in
evitable thoughts. She whom the girl
called Abbess laughed, and her mirth
sounded harshly after the dreamy
sweetness of her song.
Master Francois Villon made Ii for
me t'other day" h answered. You
will grow old, IDOL he said, and |
make o this song to teach you true
things"
Guy Tabarie, whose red hair punched
out like little flames from the fiery u
of his countenance, clapped his hands
to the girls waist and thrust his face
near to hers. Kiss me inc forget It,"
he hiccoughed. The girl gave i'm
portunacy a little push which sent him
staggering back to his scat. Il nave
no kisses for any Jack Of you all but
49, - - = ,at1 .,L.1. IT. AtlNA-
roared at the mans discontinue. "Ah,
there is ] one of you that can write
songs like him. or make one sad as he
ear In the midst Of gladnesS."
The girl whom purple-coated Rene
had kissed so rudely shivered a little.
"A strange reason for liking a man."
she whispered, that he make you sad"
She glanced wistfully round at her
companions-to the faces of the women
the influence of the cong a lent an
unwonted softness, but had brought no
touch of tenderness to those OF the
men. Jehan lie Loup banged his fist
heavily on the table in furious pro-
testation till the cans and nagons rat
tied.
rs this a court of love?" he grunt-
ed, barring his yellow tusks in a swim
ish rage. There are other rooms for
love making" and he jerked his thumb
towards the roof. I'VE are here for
drinking; we are here for dicing; to
the devil with smocks and sonnets."
He jumbled the worries Justify as he
growled and the familiar jingle ban
ished unfamiliar ~fancies. He slapped
the spotted cubes on the table and as
they rolled into equilibrium eager eyes
counted them, and fingers eager or re-
luctant pinched or pushed at coins. The
spell Of the music was broken. The
melodious Abbess, with eye. now gilt
tering and fearless, swung her supple
body from table to bench, thrust her.
self a place among the players, shouted
to Robin Turgis 10 bring more wine,
and spreading some silver on the dingy
board surrendered to speculation. No
body needed the faint cllnk which told
that q hand troubled the latch of the
street door; nobody needed the faint
creaking which showed that it was
being softly opened; nobody needed the
man who put his head gently through
the opening and looked ~thoughtfully
around him. The newcomer was a
grim visaged fellow, somewhere near
the edge of middle age. lie was
dressed in the sober habit of a simple
burgess, and he used the long fold that
hung from his cloth cap very dexter
ously to hide his face. He peered into
the obsCurity OF the room with a dis
uuieting smile that deepened in its un-
pleasing expression as it's owner sur
Veyed the noisy fellowship in the cor
ner, and nodded his head as he seemed
to identify its members. Confident
that nobody marked him he stealthily
entered the room, and holding the door
ajar, he motioned to one who still
stood without to enter. The summons
was answered by the entrance of an
other figure, capped and habited like
the first, who slipped in swiftly and
furtiveIy, and made at once for the
farthest and loneliest angle OF the
room without looking to right or left
while his herald, after closing the door
as nOiselessly rs possible, followed
quickly in his footsteps. If Master
Robin, dancing attendance upon his
Clamorous customers, could have d.
vined the identity Of the newcomers
whose advent he regarded SO indiffer-
emily, his purple face would have paled
and his stomach failed him at the
thought that the Fircone sheltered the
baleful presence of the king and OF his
malign satellite, Tristan rHermite.
The two strangers seated themselves
at a small table in the very pole OF the
room to the place where the AbbCss
and her friends were busy, and the
second of the pair, drawing a little
apart the da.k-colorcd fold Of cloth
that almost concealed his features
looked around him curiously.
us this The eyrie?" he whispered
and his companion answered him In the
same low tone, This is the Fircone
tavern, sire" The others finger was
lifted to his lip at once In warning
Hush, gossip, hush" he muttered
mo title now, | beg of you. Here
am not Louis Of France, but a simple
-. .sfsu.,, IsfrA asH,,tRrllF f,aa
we must take something for the good
of the house?" His henchman prompt
ly replied that such action vas indis-
pensable. But Louis still looked doubt
full. "Will the liquor be very detest-
able?" he asked, inserting two thin
fingers in the black pouch at his belt
Tristan shook his head. Nay, you caT
get good wine here If you know how
to ask for it-and how to pay for it,"
N one knows better thar | how tc
ask for anything" chuckls the king
'Or worse, how to pay for it," Tristan
sneered. The king scowled at him
Then, why do you keep my service?'
he snapped. Tristan shrugged his Shout
ders. Some dregs OF devotion, l sup
pose. Here stands Master Innkeeper.'
For by this time Robin Turgis was a
their elbow. scanning them ma owly
with his small, piG-like eyes that coult
! make little, however, OF the Well-muI'
fed faces. He waited for their order
with a kind of ferocious submission
draining his rank forehead with a SWEEP
of his dirty palm.
Friend" said Louis, shifting sardon
ically at the too odoriferous personality
OF the taverner, you behold here tive
decent cts who have turned a penny
or twain in a bargain, and have a mint
to wet their whistles in consequence
Have you aught to offer hat is gooC
alike for purse inc palate?"
Robin Turgis nodded his round heat
and fondled his round stomach. "WC
nave q white wine OF Beaune,' he sale
~unctuously, as If he were tasting the
wares he commenced, "at two soils thu
1agon that is noble drinking"