Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-24
May "a, 1903.

II have not changed my mind" said
Flower-O'-the-Corn, las you know very
well-but-I wish it were over and done
with"
You are not the first in your circum-
stances who has wished as muchl'
Il am the first in my circumstances!'
said Frances Wildwood. quietly. And I
hope the last alsOl"
But" she said to herself. under her
breath, God, who knows all, will for
give!"
There was a noise without. Over all
arose the keen, far-reaching hillman's
shout, halfa Coo-ee, half yOdel of the
Cevenol.
He has GOMEZ cried Yvette, suddenly
alert and radiant. lat LAST" She was all
in red. like a maple leaf turned suddenly
to a flower by one night of autumn frost,
and in her hair. nestled among the weighty
black braids, was a single blossom Of the
pomegranate. the most gorgeous scarlet
God has made. F1ower-o'-the-COrn was all
in white. without color, a v a couple of
spots the size of a form which burned
steadily on her cheeks, high UP, where the
hearts blood leaps up under the fine firm
skin. Her ripe-wheat hair, which had given
the girl her name, rippled and swirled alter
nately, like honey In the comb or red gold
in the bar, as you may see them unload
ing it from Spanish galeons at the quays in
Carthagtna.
Yes, Billy Marshall had come at last.
He was in waiting. unshaven and unshorn,
in front of the paviIion-a strange pivot for
all this ~splendor to turn upon. But the
bride had been firm in this, if in nothing
else. She would not be married-she would
not go to the altar till from the hands
of Billy Marshall, the Kirkcudbright gypsy,
the letter of Maurice Rath had passed into
hers.
She stood up-tall pale, emotionless, her
attitude tense with listening to the tumult
without. .
Bid him come in," she said, and then as
one of the temporary maids of honor went
to call the messenger into the lesser of the
two tents of festival, she added, And
where is-the man Cavalier"
1t was Yvette who answered her.
do you not hear?" she cried, c~lapping
her hands with pleasure. His people are
bringing him up in triumph. Do you hear
the hillman's shout?"
And through the gay rataplan of drums
and the blare of rumpets there pierced the
strange ftful chant of the Camisard psalm.
Yvette smiled. She had heard it a thou
sand times. Night and morning she had
been summoned from her most interesting
occupations, from books which made the
blood flush hot to read. from agreeable
company. from the composition of letters
by means of which she had lived the duh
days by-letters to her maiden aunts-only
to take part in that chant. Her father
liked her voice, he said. She hummed a
bar or two now, accentuating the char
acteristic grace notes and the nasal whine
and then laughed bitterly.
Except the Lord do build the house,
The builders lose their pain.
Except the Lord the city keep,
The watchers watch in vain.
The words were French, of course, but
of a like rude simplicity with the Scots
version, and the effect was the same. The
tune was the march of Spirit Seguier. to
the music of which be went, the soul
within him like a well-watered garden"
to the torture and the stake.
AS yet Yvette laughed, the flap of the
tent lifted, and the girl who had gone
out, snatehed her skirts and lace-edged
draperies out of the way of contagion, let
into the marquee a figure at once ire
mendous in it's power and ridiculous by its
faI ping rags of garments-BfIly Marshall,
the Scottish gypsy, and promised mes
senger of Maurice Raith.
Flower-o'-the-CoTn set her hand in
stinctively to her heart, and the red form
pieces on her cheek faded utterly away.
She removed the hand that had been
pressed upon her breast and held II out.
The hand of the gypsy met hers fairly.
rested there a long moment and fell again
to his side. Yvette would have given half
of her kingdom to have made sure what
IT was that passed between them. But she
knew that this Billy Marshall was not a
man to trifie with, standing there free. his
weapons ready to his finger grip and no
other man within calling distance, to c0ercs
him. So she had to be content with prom
Using herself that he should be made to
speak-afterward. 1t did not strike her that
1t might be somewhat too Iate-after-
ward.
The music ceased. There was that wait
ing hush which is often more trying to the
rx.a NBan fko u4Ia.-A 80