The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-04-03

scene. She shaded her eyes and peeret
at 1t, asking:
For whom do you build his gal
lows ?"
The glum hangman answered gloom
lily:
oddly enough. we don't know
Make me a gallows here says the con
stable, in the open place, and sieges FOL
the king and his courtiers.'"
Mother Villon, her simple curiosit,
easily satisfied, dropped her inform
ant a curtsey and hobbled slowly VI
the steps into the church.
Politician stretched himself agar
and yaWned.
'rI go to sleep and dream of hang
-Eschelles put lean finger te
his lean hin.
Treason, friend, II Tristan heard
you"
Politicians eyes twinkled.
We'll. let's say an archbishop" he
said.
Trois-Escbelles nodded a~pprovingly
AN archbishop ought to make a good
end"
His min pleased itself with the pic
ture OF SO high a dignitary of the
church in his full ~canonicals coming
under mis- tender care and being ex-
horted by his pious counsels.
The two hangmen climbed on the
platform of the grisly erection. and,
calmly Indifferent to the nature Of
their bed, were in a few moments fast
asleep and snoring as merrtly IS If
every man In the world had been hung
and there was nothing. else for them to
do but to take it easy for the rest of
their days.
The hard WEAKNESS Of work and the
easy WEAKNESS Of wine had made them
so heavy-headed that their SAUNDERS
We're not by the ound of
footballs, though the footballs echoed
strangely loud in the deserted place
the footballs Of a woman. swift and
impatient. the footballs of a man swift
ly pursuing. In another moment the
woman and the man came into the open
space, now bright and shining with the
risen sun. The woman was Katherine
de Vaucelles; the man was Noel lie
Jolys.
AS Katherine entered the silent
square, she paused for a moment a few
PAGES from the church. and turning,
looked al her silent follower.
why do % follow me?" she asked.
and Noel lie Jolys, who a logged her
footsteps from the palace, answered her
briskly:
You should not walk unguarded.
Therefore I shadow you"
Katherine Scorned him.
You may well play the shadow, for
you cast no shadow of your own The
streets are very idle-the streets are
very quiet. l would 0 have my
loneliness than your company. Let me
pass to my prayers" For Noel had
glided between her and the church,
and stood barring her passage defer
0ntlally.
For your lover?" he asked, and
Katherine flashed at him:
You have a small mind to ask, yet I
have a great mind to answer. My
prayers are for a brave gentleman
whom / shall never see again."
AS she spoke. the cup Of her heart
seemed to run over with red tears, and
h bitter waters trembled In her eyes.
Her thoughts wandered over the long
white night and her sleepless sorrow,
and her vigil by the window, looking
out into the rose garden, and her tired
eyes straintng in vain through the dark
for any sight, and her tired ears strain
ing in vain for any sound of the battle
in which The lord of her heart was risk
Ing his life. For she knew 1t now; she
had Learned it through those age-long
hours of agony, that he whom she
called her enemy was the lord of her
heart, that in spite Of all her rage at
the cheat that had been put upon her,
she loved. not the great noble who had
done so much to save France-no, nor
the ragged poet who had lent her his
SWORD arm and his sword. but just the
man, by whatever lame he might be
called and in whatever way of life his
wheel of fortune might spin, whose
hand had proved to be of the right size
TO hold her heart in its hollow. The
Katherine of yesterday seemed lead
and buried, to have died q fiery death
of fierce thoughts, fierce agonies, fierce
Civilizations. and from that travail a
new Katherine had come into being
with leansed eyes to see the world
truly and with a cleanse soul to know
a great souls truth.
Noel watched her In silence, blu it
meant nothing to him. and he tripped
into her high thoughts cheerfully.
II am a. brave gentleman he said,
patting hsnself approvingly upon the
breast. Il slew Thibaut d'Aussigny
last night. The king has taken me back
into favor. If I played the FOOLS part
yesterday, l can play the wise mans
part tomorrow. / was a bubble and a
.sull M a Ounce. If you like, but I
mean no harm to the king, and the
king smiles On me. Cunnot you do the
like?"
Katherine came out OF her dream and
stood upon the earth again, and dis
dained him.
mo, for you envy a great spirit n
your envy makes you a base thing"
Noel protested pettishly:
He is no man-angel. He is made
OF Adams clay X the rest of u.s.
Katherine's thoughts had wandered
away lIclll her SSCoTl, lcT NINA S eyes
were busy with waving banners, the
shock of meeting lances. the glitter of
steel coats and the heating Of steel up
on steel. Through all the melley, her
fancy spied one shining figure in bright
arrnor like, SO it seemed to her, Arch
angel Michael or Archangel Gabriel,
riding in the pride of the fight with a
smile on his lips, sorrow in his heart,
n a token of white ribbon between
his breast-p!ate and his breast.
She answered, not Noel's words, but
her thoughts:
My pride has the right to hate him,
but l think he is still my souls man"
Noel was about to speak again, when
he suddenly fell back and DOTTED his
bonnet. Perched on the steps of the
church stood the stopped sable figure,
of the king, just coming from his ma
final devotions. In the shadow behind
him stood his shadows-Tristan and
Olivier.
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