Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1904-09-03

hess When ne mad been held a prisoner
at the chateau. and the changed uni
form and dress, together with the
lapse Of time, had prevented his be-
ing recognized. Anne had been very
careful not to call the names of her
TWO servitors in his presence after she
had recognized him, and during the
day he had not seen either of them
LUCK, too, was against him. Indeed,
how could he have recognized In this
glorious specimen of glowing woman
hood, the thin, undcveloped little girl
of other days?
Anne de Rohan was now 1s years of
age and In the first flush of beautiful
womanhood. OF medium height, with
a figure which combined the lovely
proportions Of her American ancestry
with the daintiness and delicacy of the
women OF France; with clear, cool,
pale yet not pallid face, exquisite
features, scarlet lips. proudly. ay. even
disdaipfully elegant in their graceful
curves; deep blue eyes, so deep that
they were almost violet when filled
with feeling or glowing with passion,
and the whole framed in her midnight
hair; she was indeed rarely beautiful
woman. The performance of her ma
turity was indeed greater than her
childhood's promise had been Only
a prophet might have seen the one in
the past, OF q seer recognize the other
in the present.
A strange concentration of circum-
stances had brought the girl to New
France. After Grafton's departure
from the chateau de Josselin she had
dropped and faded. She was growing
| too rapidly, thought the marquis and
those who advised him, who never
suspected the real reason for her i'll
| health. She actually had pinned for
the young man who had left her be-
hind and vet had taken her childish
/ heart with him. But of this, of course,
she said nothing, SO the wise men con-
cluded that she had studied too hard,
had been too closely confined, and so
on. The physicians who were con-
suited, after the simple remedies of the
time had proved unavailing, finally
recommended sea-yoyage.
As il happened, the marquis had
| just then been summoned to the King
TO take part as commander in one
of the campaigns of the Seven Years
| war, his experience and ability being
too valuable to allow him to be neg
lected. The old man, therefore, had
taken advantage of the departure of a
heavy French squadron, carrying gen.
eral, the Marquis de Montcalm, his
suite, and some troops, to send his
granddaughter to Canada under the
charge of the general an old friend,
who had been appointed to the supreme
command in New France. An ancient
relative of the house of Rohan lived in
affiuence and ease in Quebec, and to
her the marquis consigned the young
countess
She had remained in New France
with this estimable lady ever since her
arrival, for two reasons: One, it had
been difficult-well-nigh impossible
indeed, on account of the number OF
English ships cruising to intercept the
traffic between Canada and France
to get away; and the other, as the
marquis was still engaged In the French
army, she would have no place to which
to go, no place where she could have
lived SO comfortably and safely if she
returned to France. The marquis was
determined that he would not throw
her into the hotbed of dissipation and
intrigue of which Louis XIV. was the
focus In Paris or at Versailles.
1 Her health, much benefited by the
voyage. was soon completely restored
and with her great beauty, her ancient
name, her powerful grandfather, the
great estates to which she was sole
hetress, she became. as childhood gave
way to womanhood, the undoubted
belle OF New France. The officers Of
the army, the sea officers from the var.
ious ships or squadrons which from
time to time arrived from France, the
young Canadian noblesse, all laid thei,
hearts at her feet. She could have
chosen any one from among them
but as yet none of them had succeeded
In touching her heart. Most of them
she liked and the society of many of
them she enjoyed.
Among the many she had met who
had paid court to her, the man she
most liked, and who was, in fact, per-
haps the finest among them, was the
young sailor to whom, in fear of her
love for Grafton, she had just engaged
herself. She had refused his suit many
times before, but with undaunted gal
lantry he had persisted in his at
tentions.
How her grandfather, the marquis
would regard the engagement upon
which she had so suddenly and cap
riciously entered was problematical
In fact, she felt that he would disap-
prove; but while she was wholly
French in her training and in her ideas
she was not for nothing the daughter
of an American mother. She combined
q determination to exercise certain
liberty Of choice as to the disposition
of her heart and person with the stub.
born, inflexible will power of hel