Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1904-04-16

NPoh AAh ~ 10 NHS oiC id
beside ourselves here who knows-who
knows, anything" the duke went on
with growing trepidation.
We'll, make yourself comfort, my
lord, / took the responsibility to de-
tain Ward in Paris"
"Iou?" he sprang from his chair in
establishment. you? Why? How 2"
II thought your safety demanded it.
My lord Is too generous, too confiding,"
she threw toward him a glance of con-
Germ poor de Valence would have peril
ed his soul to win. 4" You see, when we
entrusted him with this business, it
was 50 delicate a mission, / set a
watch upon him-some of my own peo-
PIE Of ~Anjou-and when he acted negli-
gently they reported to me. He began
drinking, too, and freely, so l feared
his discretion. / now have the man
safe in Paris. What would my lord
/ with him ?"
Du Maine fixed his cold eyes upon her
for a short space, then,
1T would be prudent to put him
quietly out OF the way" he suggested,
the thin lips closing cruelty. mo, hold
him, we may have further need for his
sword. But "a a care that he talks
to no one"
Madame had raised no objection to
the dukes cool command that an end
be made of Ward, yet | did her the
NiNAiN W SuRpOSC II was pClduSe SIlt
we'll knew she might do as she liked,
and he be none the wiser.
He now settled himself upon a divan
near Madame, with all the complacency
of a man whose own foresight has
saved him a serious trouble, and said
after mature elaboration, gazing
thoughtfully at the sportive cherubs on
the ceiling:
We'll, it could not have been so bad
after all. for l observed the caution TO
prepare a warning for our friends
across the frontier. and had arranged
for a friend of ours to be entrapped by
Orleans, b%etraying misleading dis
patches to him. A fine plan, think you?
Menezes you know is devoted to me,
and | have promised him a patent.
Who did your grace say was to be
his friend?"
"MenezeS."
why Menezes?"
II have done much for the fellow;
he is not over clever; clever enough
for the purpose, o know, but"
Does my lord not remember
Menezes is a brother of the Perrault
whom you had hanged some years ago?
l fear you have been badly advised
No! | do not recall him."
The rogue who cast a stone at your
horse?"
"Ah, I bring him to mind. Short,
thick-set fellow. who whined some
thing about hunger, children, and the
cold. Ugh! What concern have / with
the rabble? But how do you know this,
Celeste?"
Il have long misdoubted him, and had
the rascal overlooked. He is of Picardy
and his father was attached to st.
Andre. who likes not his grace, the
Duke of Maine"
mo, by my faith, he hates me. All,
7 Gao { Ill H. $50. - 49,
been a man, a mans wit almost you
have. Really, so much brain is wasted
in hat pretty head of yours. Madame
will come to comprehend she does not
know 1t all-yet she torments me till
| give In. l think ! shall take frmer
hold, n manage my own affairs to
better advantage than she. Ugh!
What a scrape she was like to get
me in"
He gradually regained the express
sion of complete satisfaction with him
self, and prepared now to show the
masterpiece of his work, the contract
with Antonio of Modena, the money
lender.
Here are our financial plans; the
usury is high, but there is great risk,
so thinks Antonio; egad! perhaps he is
right, though it is possible we may pay
him. Altogether a most excellent plan,
my own work."
Madame interrupted him, thinking
perhaps it was wise that she should not
be committed too far that he could not
throw the blame On other shoulders.
She took advantage Of a pause to ex-
anime the document with apparent
care.
Yes, excellent, but let us
see. Three, SEVEN, twelve,
fourteen, twsnty-three-here is some
mistake. Let us go over it again. Yes,
here it is. This is not your accounting.
The miserly Lombard would cozen you
of your honor If he could but sell 1t
again. Hero is an error of near 10, 900
livres; let me correct it for YOU"
And while he stared at her she deftly
copied the correct amounts from the
slip she held concealed in her hand.
h knew the figures were his own, but
gaye no token.
Il doubt not you would have looked
over it more carefully before you
signed it, n these matters would
have been detected by your own eyes,
Yes, yes,' he replied ~nervously,
reaching out his hand for the paper lest
she observe-what her quick eyes had
at first seen-that the contract already
bore his signature M seal. She gave
it him and he replaced 1t carefully in
his breast.
II will give those careless secretaries
q lesson they sOrely need" and in this
disturbed condition of mind he blus-
tered out CT the apartment, forgetting
his usual gallantries, which madame so
ALPHABETICALLY put aside without CIV
ing too serious offense.
JerSme leaned against the window
facing, his unseeing eyes resting on the
park beyond the yttle garden at our
feet. His brow lowered, not as Of q
storm, but with the murkiness of a
settled and dismal day. Perchance his
thoughts wandered with his c%hildhood's
sweetheart amid the fertile wales of far
away Anjou.
Nothing was more distant from him
than the gilded furnishings. the fres-
Goes, the marble Venus at his elbow.
Beside her table, alone, and distracted
as Jerome, the toyed with a
dainty fan; her impassive beauty, born
of rigid training, betrayed not the in
ner d~esolation. Her face was calm and
serious enough, the skin lay smooth
and glowed with all those delicate tints
that women love.
Her quietude reminded me of the
slumbering ocean, CLASSY and tranquil.
whose unmarried surface conveyed no
hint of sunken ships beneath, of cold
dumb faces tossing in the brine, of
death-abysses where wrecks ADAM
doned lie.
I slipped away without ~rousing a pro-
test from Jerome, and closing the door
softly left them to their m~editations
and to each other.
CHAPTER XIV.
NEW HOPES.
Now, that / was we'll out of their
wa " If came tn ma fn NUnndap Whot