The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-10-10
herself to answer calmly moment

be-What? To-day you defenQeQ
yourself well and it was a good lance
jester, the king would have praised
him. Because it was you, no word
has been spoken. If anything, your
success has annoyed him. Several of
the court spoke Of it; he answered
not; it's the signal to ignore it, and
your LIS
public opinion and hold converse with
me-" he replied, with smile.
public opinion!' she exclaimed
with flashing eyes. What would they
say Of jestress? Who is she?, What
is she?" @-,#
She ended abruptly; bit her lips,
showing her cleaning white teeth.
Then some emotion, more profound,
swept over her expressive face; she
looked at him silently, and when she
spoke her voice was more gentle.
thoughtfully, that the duke told his
trooper to do that. TITS too Infamous.
The man must have acted on his own
responsibility. The duke could not,
would not, countenance such base
| ness"
you have good opinion of him,
gentle Mistress" he said in tone that
exasperated her. ' &,
who has not?" she retorted sharp
ly. HE Is as brave as he is distin-
guished. FAREWELL. If you served
him better, and yourself less, YOU"
end?" he interrupted, satirically.
Thanks, good Jacqueline. A woman
makes an excellent counselor"
Disdainfully she smiled; her face
grew cold; her figure looked never
more erect and infiexible.
"Why," she remarked, there am
wasting time talking when the music
| iS n19Vinp and iS 1ancincr
Even now see a courtier approach
ing who has thrice importuned me-"
And the jestress vanished in the
throng as abruptly as she had APP
peared. .-.
Thoughtfully the dukes fool looked,
not after her, but toward far end
Of the pavilion, where he last had seen
the princess and her betrothed.
"Caillette should now be we'll on
his way" he. told himself. "No one
has yet missed him, or if they do no
tice his absence they will attribute it
to his INJURIES" u AZ .#
| This thought lent him confidence;
the implied warnings of the maid
passed unheeded from his mind; in
deed, he had scarcely listened to them.
Amid stronger passions, he felt the
excitement of the subtle game he and
the free baron were playing; the blind
conviction of a gambler that he should
| measure more violent thoughts.
He began to calculate other means
to make assurance doubly sure; an in
tricate realm Of speculation, consid-
ering the safeguards the boar of Hoch-
fels had placed about himself. To Off
set the triumphs of the kings guest
there occurred to the jester the COM
forting afterthought that the greater
the others successes now the more
ignominious would be his downfall
The free baron had not hesitated te
use the means to obliterate his one
: foeman from the scene, and he re:
peated to himself that he would NEE
, force with cunning and duplicity with
: stealth, spinning such a web as lay
within his own capacity and resources
But in estimating the moves before
him, perhaps in his new-found trust
: he overlooked the strongest menace tt
5 his success-a hazard couched within
! himself. :'
Outspreading from the pavilion
: walls were floral bowers with myriad
lights that shone thru the leaves an,
/ foliage, where tiny fragrant fountain
, tinkled or diminutive, fairy-lik
.. waterfalls fell amid sweet-smellinl
+ had been the colors chosen in thes
e dainty retreats for such of the vo
d taries Of the Court of Love as should
from time to time, care to exchang
= the merry making within for the Ian
!, curious rest without. 1t was yet to
3 early, however, for the sprightly devo
9 tees to abandon the lively pleasure
Of the dance, so that when the duke
q fool abstractedly entered the balmy
q crimson nook, at first he thought him
:. self alone. -
+ Around him, carmine, b1ood-warr
n flowers exhaled a commingling redo
n lence; near him a toy-like fountai
lyyh Soft1x nd io1
If ly. Thru the foliage the figures move
" and moved; on the air the music fe
q and rose, thin in Orchestration, We
e. brightly penetrating in sparkling de
If tail. Buoyant were the violins; spor
= tive the flutes; all alive the gitterns
d blithsome the tripping arpeggios ths
e crisply fell from the strings Of tn
# joyous harps., .- ..-.., = ~
a The rustling of a gown admonishe
d him he was not alone, and, lookin
: around amid the crimson flower
ID to his startled gaze, appeared the fac
- above the broad, white brow shon
- the radiance of hair, a gold thu
"a was almost bronze in that dim light
IL thru the green tangle Of shrubber!
- a silver slipper.
~, e. "Ah, it is you, fool?" she said lar
y, guidly. It may be, he contrasted tn
: Indifference Of her tones now wit
= the unconscious softness of he
y, voice when she had addressed hil
"a on another occasion-in another gal
Ae den; for his face flushed, and he woul
have turned abruptly, when s1
81 ooh, you may remain" she adde,
u carelessly. 1.-THE duke has but le
me. He received a message that til
man hurt in the lists was most anxiol
= to see him." E
ct Into the whirl Of his reflections he
u words insinuated themselves. WI
I, had the free baron gone to the trool
W er? What made his presence so in
le perative at the bedside Of the soldis
q. that he had abruptly abandoned tt
ne festivities? Surely, more than mel
lg anxiety for the mans welfare. II
er jester looked at the princess for tt
answer to these questions; but her fat
was cold, smiling, unresponsive.
ou the basin of the fountain tiny ifs
1g played and darted, and as his ey
lg turned from her to them they al
On peared as swift and Elusive as his oN
r surging fancies.
'The-duke, Madam, is most s.
n icitOuS about his men, he said. in
voice which sounded strangely calm.
Il "A good leader has always in mir
ed the welfare Of his soldiers she r
piled, briefly.
tn Her hand played among the bio
SONS. Over the flowers she looked
er him. Her features and arms we
nd Of the sculptured roundness
re marble, but the reflection Of the ros
bathed her In the warm hue OF lit
o.. AS he met her gaze the iilumint
re pages Of book seemed turning befo
lis his eyes. Did she rem ember2 7
ey She could not but perceive his TIM
=, q tiOn he f,.ih11ta of %