Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-09-06
CHAPTER XYI.-(Continuedl

answered, with her eyes still fixed upon
the street, though he noticed that she
burned her face away from him.
Was she discovered at last? Could
he suspect, she thought.
81 had thought he continued, then
he stopped.
''Mademoiselle, you weep" he said.
Eyes monsieur"
''Who passes in the street? Those
lights, what are they?"
Monsieur, a funeral"
''Whose funeral, mademoiselle?"
"Alas, monsieur, l think it is the
burial of New France!"
"Mademoiselle?"
otis the funeral of the Marquis de
Montcalm, monsieur. He is being
borne to his last rest"
"He was a brave man, Mademoiselle
de Couedic, and he died as soldier
would faip die, in the front of the
battle line"
He was my grandfather's friend,
monsieur, and mine. He was so good
to me. know his wife, his children
He loved them and longed to go
back to hem. But he loved his coun-
try, his duty. his king, more than ali.
monsieur, and so he stayed. and now
he will never go back any more"
She gut her face Gown in her hands
and sobbed bitterly. People are as
little children when they weep. Where
had he seen that bowed head? Heav-
ems! vas it not upon his own should
err? Why, the picture was the same!
The moonlight was stealing through
the easement just as before. She wore
something tilmy and white. 1t might
have been that night-rohe that had
enshroudcd the slender girl. His heart
beat so that it nearly suffocated
him, and yet-de Couedic? 1t could
not be!
"Mademoiselle, he said, all the pas
sion surging in his SOUL qu1ver1ng in
his voice, do not weep. By heaven,
| do not know how or why it is, but
to see you weep tears my very heart!
Can it be that saw you but yester-
day and loved you, mademoiselle?"
She turned and faced him The feel
Ing in his voice, the look in his eyes,
as she stared at him, so perfectly
matched her own she had no will nor
power to Withstand any longer. De-
liberately she fetched light from be-
hind the curtain and set it down on
the table at the head of his bed; then
she stood where the full light would
fall on her face, andr drawing herself
up threw out her arms wide before
him. ~
Nor: deur!" she cried. ooh, DO you
not gdow ne?"
rs it thou, Little France?" he ex-
Claimed, dazed and bewildered by his
thoughts. who could have thought
it? How beautiful"
She dashed away the tears with her
hand. She thought he had not yet
recognized her, as he lay spellbound
gazing on her matchless beauty Her
scarlet lips quivered moment, then
shaped themselves for sound, and from
her full, soft throat came the notes of
the little Breton cradla-song which he
had heard her sing in the garden of
the Hesperides, 'Toutouic, la, la!' But
no mother ever sang it to child as she
sang it then.
"Anne!" he cried. THE Lady Anne!
Fool that was! How blind! l should
have known you! should have rec
ognized your footstep even had lain
dead at your doorstep"
Sir Phiip! Sir Philip" she ex-
claimed. "How could you forget? But
l knew! Oh, my love. my love!'
She sank on her knees at the bed
side again and leaned over him.
But you are betrothed to de Vitre?"
he cried in jealous anguish.
"Ah, Philip, my knight" she MUIR
INJURED, what matters it? IT'S you
love, l love!"
She threw her arms around his
neck; their lips met in one long kiss
charged with dreams and ideals of
years. The joy, the surprise, were al
most too great for him. He closed
his eyes; in his weak state he thought
he would have tainted. 1t had all come
upon him suddenly with such a shock.
She had known it for two, days. He
had been so desperately wounded.
She was the stronger of the two
then and she recovered herself the
sooner. Something assisted her per-
haps. Her throbbing breast as it lay
upon his own was met by the pres
sure of something round and hard.
The little locllet! 1t flashed into her
jealous mind in an instant.
Monsieur Grafton she said, draw
ing away from him with a sudden
change of mood. you not only forgot
me, you not only did not know me, but
YOU That locket, sir?"
Yes, mademoiselle," answered Graf
ton simply, for it was impossible for
him to deceive this woman, or to evade
the question.
"Ah Carrying another woman's
face over your heart and speaking love
to mel"
20 Anne!" he cried, there may be
another woman in the locket, there is
only yourself in my heart"
Whose picture is there?"