Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-11


| with more strength than he had expected
| her to possess she held away. His great
love for her almost overcame him. and all
| the prudence he had gathered was scat
| tered suddenly to the Winds
Dear, dear lass, one touch of our lips
| and see If all doubts do not dissolve before
| the contact go
Now she wrenched herself free and would
| have escaped but that he sprang forward
| and caught her by the wrists a grip she
| was to remember later in the night. In
| spite of this prisoning her hands were
| raised to the sides of her face and a look
| of such terror shot from her eyes that he
| feareI some madness had come upon her.
NOT that. Not that" she shrieked. THE
kiss OF Judas! 1t would kill mer'
His arms dropped paralyzed to his sides
and he stepped back pace anna zed at the
expression she had used and the terror of
her utterance. Next instant he was alone
and the closed door between them. Still he
| stood where she had left him.
| THE kiss Of Judas!' he muttered 1.-THE
| kiss Of Judas! She loves him. thinks me
his friend trying to take Judas advantage
Courcy spoke truth. Woe is me, she loves
him, and I, blind foolA. Oh, God, pity that
poor girl and this insanity Of passion
| wasted on rank a curr'
| Frances fed to her room and threw her
| self on the bed in an agony of tears This
| storm subsidized into a gentle rain of sub
dued weeping, and finally ceased as she
| heard the heavy tramp of riding boots in
! the adjoining room. She sat up in the
| darkness, listening intently. He closed the
| wooden shutters of the window shaking
them to be sure that their fastenings were
| secure Then the bolts Of the outer door
| were thrust in their places but this appar-
| emily falling to satisfy the doubts of the
inmate, there was sound of some heavy
! arucIe or furniture being dragged across
the room; then the tramping ceased and all
was still. She sat there thinking of moth
| ing; her mind seemed to be dulled by the
ordeal awaiting her and the fear of it. but
hnr xxyoo
trying to avoid it, Dimly she was sorry for
herself and for him, sleeping in his fancied
security, yet N set trap, but on her action
this night depended her brothers life and
that outweighed all other considerations
even II her brain were alert enough to
cast them in the opposite scales Unheed-
Ing, She heard the clock In a neighboring
tower toll the hour! now it struck again
ana she counted the notes. Eleven! 1t was
still too early. People slept heavier as the
night wore on She thought of their Jour-
ney; OF the halt at York; of their talk in
the niche in the hotel of the TempIars: of
various incidents along the road; the tramp
past of Cromwells troopers, four and four
all looking straight ahead and as she re-
membered them they seemed to be passing
her now; passing, passing, passing; then
Cromwell stopped and smots his steel
breast-plate with resounding clang. She
nfted her head with a start and the clang
OF OF the >, breastplate changed to the toll of
the bell In the tower. Heavensi she had
been asleep; her brothers life hanging on
her dropping eyelids! One, two three. forr
i've, six, seven! 1t must be midnight and
the first five strokes had been on Crom-
wells breastplate. She reused herself and
attempted to take off her Shoes but her
hands were trembling so she was forced to
deslst. she sat up again. telling herself it
was better to wait until all effect of the
long Ginning had ceased, for the striking
or twelve sometimes disturbed or aWak-
ened the soundest sleeper
The clock tower seemed dangerously
q
by hour At last the shoes came off. and
in stockinged feet she stood by the secret
door, waiting till the frightfully rapid beat
ing OF her heart should moderate. 1t threat
ened to choke her. Then she slid back the
bar anG drew open the door all so smooth
ly oiled that there was not the whisper of
a creak. She tip-toed into the cavern of
oiackness and silence, holding her spread
hands in front of her, moving slowly with
the utmost caution, step by STEP In her
| mind she had estimated, from her earlier
survey of the room, that nine steps would
take her to the bed; now she realized she
had taken dozen and yet had not come
| to 1t. The panic of pusa ton in her throat and
in her ears at first rendered any attempt at
listening futile, but at last she heard his reg
uiar brea thing, peaceful as that of an in
| FAINT, and 1t came from the other side of the
| room. For moment this terrified her, and she
wondered II she were really awake or in
the mazes OF some battling nightmare. but
| the solution came to her mind and auieted
her growing agitation. 1t had been his
| bed that he had dragged across the floor,
and he was now sleeping against the out
| side door,
And all his preparations were as naught,
| because Of this midnight specter moving
| upon him! She changed her direction and,
| with her former stealth. came ghost-like to
| the edge of the couch
His doublet was open at the throat. tina.
| was so much to the good. Like q snow
| fake in its coldness and It's lightness her
| mana stole down underneath his vest. fiut-
| tered by the slow, steady, subdued beating
| OF his heart, running no such wild race as
| her own at that moment. 1t seemed in
| credible that at last her fingers closed on
| the parchment. but there 1t lay, and gem
| tiy she drew 1t forth: Was the robbery to
| be SO easily accomplished after all? All.
| she had congratulated herself too SOON 1t
| stuck fast; either the silken cord that
| bound 1t was caught, or the document was
never thought of. and yet what more nat
| ural? Twice she tugged it gently, then
| third time more strenuously. when 1t came
unexpectedly away and her knuckles struck
! the sleeper under the chin instantly like
| the snap of steel trap, his fingers closed
upon her wrist, and his voice rang out as
wideawake and clear as ever he had spoken
| to her:
| Frances"
Now the racing heart stopped dead
| Lucky for her that at this supreme mo-
| ment all action was impossible, and that
| sire was stricken into frozen marble She
|
| then the cold horror Of her situation
numbed thought at it's source. "Frances!'
| The voice came more sleepily this time
| and he repeated thrice very rapidly.
| Frances! Frances, Frances" Sodden with
| drowsiness, his voice rambled on, and came
| to an indefinite conclusion.
| My darling, you are in danger. We
must get out of Oxford. Everything, every
your safety. my dear. The king Then
| the words became indistinct and died away,
but alas! the grip of iron remained on her
wrist For a long time she stood there
| motionless, then tried to disengage his
! fingers gently, but at the first movement
| the grasp frightened again. One O'Clock
struck. He slept SO silently that it began
to appear to her agitated brain that she
| was a prisoner of the dead. Two
o'clock tolled from the tower. Sometimes
She fancied she slept standing there, but
| her five jailers did not sleep. She kept
| wondering in which direction lay the open
| door, for at times the room seemed to swim
around her. thus disturbing all sense of
| locality She almost laughed aloud when
she thought of herself free, but gropns
| helplessly for the open door, falling to find
| 1t. and she shuddered that even the re-
| membrance of laughter should come to her
at such a time: surely a sign of approach
| ing frenzy. Then 1t seemed the fingers
| loosened, but hand and wrist had lost all
! feeling and she could not be sure. She tot
| nraG ar,1 IT, Fnl1 ol.o