The Washington times., 1902-08-17
PRELUDE-ST. BATS.
X a E Y NAME is Eagle" said the
The boy said nothing


repeated. Eagle de Ferrier. What is
your name?"
Still the boy said nothing.
She looked at him surprised, bh,
checked her displeasure. He was abou;
nine years old, while she was less than
seven. By the dim light which sifted
through the top of st. Bats Church he
did not appear sullen. He sat on the
fagstones as If dazed and stupefied, fac
ing blacksmiths forge. which for many
generations had occupied the north tran
sept. A smith and some apprentices
hammered measures that echoed with
multiplied volume from the Norman
roof; and the crimson fire made spot
vivid as blood. A low stone arch. halt
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 appren-
tice would seize the bellows handle and
blow up fame which briefly sprang and
disappeared.
The aproned figures, Saxon and
brawny, made a fascinating show in the
dark shop.
Though the boy was dressed like q
plain French citizen of that year, 1875,
and his knee breeches betrayed shrunken
calves, and his sleeves. wrists that we're
swollen as with tumors, Eagle accepted
him as her equal. His fine wavv hair
of cbacfnu color ap5 hic hopdc
and feet were small. His features were
perfect as her oxn. But while life play
ed increasingly in vivid expression across
her face. his muscles never moved. The
hazel eyes, blush around their iris rims,
took cognizance of nothing. His left
eyebrow had been parted by cut now
healed and forming its permanent scar.
you understend me. don't your
Eagle talked to him. But you could not
understand Sally Blake. She is an Eng
lish girl. We live at her house until ou,
ship sails, and I hope it will sail soon
Poor boy, Did the wicked mob in Paris
hurt your arms"
She soothed and pattcd 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 10 find some response in his
eyes. He was unconscious Of bis strange
environment. The ancient church of st.
Bartholomew the Great, or st. Bats as
it was called. in the heart of London,
had long been a hived village. Not
only were houses clustered thickly
around its outside walls and the
space of ground named its close; but
the inside, degraded from its first use,
was parceled out to owners and house
holders. The nave only had been re-
tanned as church, bounded by massive
pillars, which did not prevent London
ers from using it as thoroughfare.
Children of resident dissenters could.
and did, hoot when 1t pleased them.
during service from an overhanging
window in The choir. The Lady Chapel
was a fringemaker' shop. The smithy
in the north transept had descended
from father to son. The south transept,
walled up to make respectable dwell
ing, showed through its open door the
CHASTITY marble tomb of a crusader,
which the thrifty London housewife had
turned into a parlor table. His crossed
feet and hands and upward staring
countenance protruded from the midst
of knick-knacks.
Light fell through the venerable cler-
estory on upper arcades. Some of these
were walled shut, but others retained
their arched openings into the church
and formed balconies from which up
stairs dwellers could look down at what
was passing below.
Two women leaned out of the Nor
man arcades, separated only by a pill
lar, watching across the nave those lit
tie figures seated in front of the black
smiths window. An atmosphere of
comfore and thrift filled St. Bats. II,
was the abods of labor and humble
prosperity--not an asylum OF poverty.
Great worthless, indeed, such as John
Milton, and, nearer our own day, Wash
ington Irving, did not disdain to live in
ST. Bartholomew's close. The two Brit
ieh matrons. therefore, spoke the pref
rdice of the better, rather than the
baser. class.
"The little eevils." said one woman.
They look innocent" remarked the
ether But these French do make my
back crawl"
How lorg are they going TO stay in
ST. Bat's?"
The two men with the little girl and
The eeryant intend TO sail for America
next week. The lad. and the man that
brought him in-as dangercus-Iooking 4
foreigner as ever | saw!-are like to
rrowi out any time l saw them 60
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
We'll, then, God knows what ails any
OF the crazy French, II they all broke
cut with boils, like the heather OF
Scripture, IL would not surprise Chris !
tjan. AS 1t is. they keep on heheading
cne another, day after day and month
after month: and the time must come