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

hospitality, the consideration due a
SICK man whom fate had thrown upon
her hands, constrained her at least to
inquire as to his health and to super
wise In person the meager arrange
ments which the straitened circum-
stances necessitated by the rigorous
siege OF Quebec permitted her to make
Tor his comfort.
Her visits had been brief, however.
and while they lasted she had DELHI
erately stood in the shadow OF the
| Ded-curtains, SO that no opportunity
1or fair look upon her face had been
Vouchsafed him-a thing he was
thlrsting for and yet which he felt ut
terly unable to bring about. Indeed,
his thoughts had been so busy with
her personality and her image, that
the time, which might have dragged
as only time can linger. leaden-footed
In the sick chamber, had passed be-
fore he noticed it.
Yet he was very dissatisfied with
the situation. There was something
about the young demoiselle which
moved him powerfully, something he
could not explain. The thought Of her
betrothal to de Wire filled him with
a certain jealous dismay-he could not
exactly tell why. It was hardly pos
sible he could be in love with her MIN
self. girl he had seen but day
since! He seemed to have known, or
to have met her before, though. How
was 1t? De Couedic! And yet
| But what could he do? Nothing.
He was master of himself now--in the
full possession of his faculties, with
no excuse of weakness, wounds, or
fever, that Island there could be no
possible reason for SO personal an ap-
peal to her as he had made when in
fevered confusion he had asked her
if she loved de Wire.
During the day he was attended
by strange servant. and saw neither
Jean-Renaud nor Josette, either Of
whom might have enlightened him
had not both been kept from him by
| the orders of their mistress. The con-
| versation between the two, therefore,
| on the occasion of these two visits was
necessarily brief; confined on her part
to inquiries as to his well-being, his
needs, and desires, and upon his part
to expressions of gratitude for her
kindness, and earnest deprecations OF
the trouble he was giving her and her
household
AS for her, every time she APP
preached him she longed to declare
herself. With the passionate aban-
don OF French woman who loved lit
orally for the first time, who found
herself in the actual presence of a
long-cherished ideal, before realiza-
ton Of her girlish and maidenly
dreams, she would fain have thrown
herself upon his breast--into his
arms. She longed to gather him to
her heart and lavish upon him those
treasures Of affection which all the
gallantry, courage and devotion OF de
Vitre could not evoke. And all this
in the face of the keen jealousy she
suffered over the locket he wore, and
the resentment she felt, in despite of
| the precautions she took to prevent it,
that he had not recognized her-which
was unreasonable but essentially fem
| mime.
But she had controlled herself like
an American. The marquis himself
could not have been more coolly and
coldly polite than she. AS for Graf
ton. he had not yet, to use his own
expression, "got his bearings" Never
In his life had he been so moved by
the presence of woman as during
the last two days He could hardly
reason about it clearly in his present
condition. But at last he thought
that the explanation Of this infatuatoin
must lie in his weakness and her
beauty, for with singular faulty he
had not succeeded in discovering any
other reason for his interest
| In the first place, owing to the pre-
cautions she had taken. he had not yet
had that clear, full sight of the girl
for which he longed. She had always
been in a half light, or concealed in
some shadow, or with face turned
away, when she had been with him.
he might have looked upon her care
fully in the hall of the Chateau st.
Louis, but his mind was bent upon
other things then, and his physical
weakness and the resulting collapse
mad possibly impaired his Judgment
as well as his vision.
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