The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-21
CHAPTER VI.-contInued.
Betrayal.

Your heart is not broken and If it was
ia mend 1t for you. Absurd! Why you
knew the man for scarce day, and that
time is full short for the growth of any
large Affection
Il shall never love any as / have loved
him."
''Tush How little you know of your
self. You are a very goddess of love, and
will
He was off his guard for moment. In
that moment she whisked herself free of
him, and darting to the other side of the
room, whipped down a thin rapier from the
wall.
You will be well advised to put an end
to this fooling. I am now in no humor for
1t, and, with you, never. If you have not
the gift to see it, would have you know
that I detest you and despise you, and
have done so since first I saw you.''
Indeed" cried De Courcy with a laugh
as he possessed himself Of a similar wea-
pom to that which threatened him, 'are
you for duel, then?" :, --'@a'. r.
If you are coward enough to lift blade
to woman IL"
Il meet kiss with kiss, and steel with
steel; always ready for either. Guard
yourself, madam"
His pretended antagonism was but a
feint to throw her off the guard he advised
&-f to maintain for being one Of the best
sWordsmen Of his time, he knew by her
holding of the blade that she was ignor-
ant Of Its practice. He brushed her sword
ASIDE, dropped his own and sprang in upon
her grasp1ng again her helpless wrists
her arms pinioned thus transversey across
her body, her right hand still clinging ia
the useless htlt, with the blade extending
past her shoulder and behind her His
sneering, Srinntng face so close to hers
that his breath famed her cheek he
pressed her back and back against the
wall, the sword bending and bending be-
hind until the blade snapped off some six
inches from the hilt and fell ringing to the
floor.
There, sweetest of Amazons, you are
stingiess now, and naught but the honey
Is to be gathered" -
The very case with which he had over
come her hoodwinked him to his danger
The proud, dominant blood Of the Went
worths flushed her face with an anger
that steeled every nerve in her 1.-the body
AS, with victorious laugh, he released
her wrists and slipped his arms around
her, she struck him twice with lightning
swiftness, first across the brow, then down
the face. Nothing could we'll be more ter.
r1ble than the weapon she had used, fol
the Jagged iron tore his flesh like the
stroke of a tigers claw. The red cross
showed for a brief moment, then was OBJ
liberated In q crimson flood.
"Cowardly poltroon, wear the brand OF
Cain" =, :,
He had warned her not to scream, but
now his own cries filled the room as he
staggered back, his hands to his face Yet
grievously wounded as he was, he seemed
resolved she should not escape him, and,
after the first shock, CROPPED blindly for
her. She flung the broken weapon to the
further side Of the room, and the noise o,
Its fall turned him thither, striking against
the table, and then against chair. She
tiptoed cautiously to the door, turned the
key and threw 1t open, before he could re
cover himself, for he had lost all sense of
direction and could see nothing. She took
the immediate risk of pulling the key from
the door, to ward off the greater danger Of
pursuit, and calmly locked him in. II
screams were as Intellectual as he had in
sisted, he would take little good from his
battaring Of the door for some time to
come. Frances now threaded her way
thru the mazes Of passages, meeting nc
one, for the gloom Of death pervaded the
palace, at least In the direction she had
taken.
She dared not hurry, in spite of the ur-