Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-12-15
CHAPTER xLvI.-contlnued.

ing neutrality-suspicious.; but as yet nell
ther half OF my errand was done. Come
what might, i must see Margery again
and have her tell me where and how to
find the priest: and twas borne in
upon me that she would come back TO
seek me as soon as she could be free
Of her partner in the dance.
The forecast as to my lady had its
fulhllment while yet the spinetter was
striking out the final chords or the
minuet. A lady dropped her kerchief,
and | was before her swain in STOPPING
TO pick II up. AS | bowed low IN re-
turning the bit of lace to Its owner, a
voice that / had learned to know and
love whispered in my ear.
Make your way to the clock landing
of the stair; | must have speech with
you,' 1t said; and for a wonder was
cool enough to obey with no more imam
a sidelong glance at my lady passing
on the arm OF another epauletted dan
gler.
She was before me at the meeting
place, and there was no laughing well
come in the deep-welle1 eyes Instead
they flashed me 4 look that made me
vince.
what folly Is this, sir?" VIII you
never have done taking my honor and
your w life into your reckless
hands?"
/ bowed my head to the storm. With
the dagger of my miserable errand
sticking in my heart there was no fight
in me. :.
II am but come to do your bidding"
said, slowly, for the words cost me
sorely in the coin of my anguish. II
had your letter, and if o will say
how ! may find Father Matthew"
She broke me in the midst. Mon
Dieu!" she cried. Gould | guess that
you would come here, into the very
moose of the gallows2 oh. how you do
heap scorn on scorn upon me! Once
you made me give silent consent to a
faisehood you told; twice, nay, thrice,
you have made me disloyal to the king;
and now you come again to make me
look the world in the face and tell a
smiling lie to shield you! o, Holy
Mother, pity me-" And with this she
put her face in her hands and began
TO sob.
Now we were measurably isolated on
Now we were only measurably iso-
lated on the stair, and some sense of
the hazard we took-a hazard iuvolv-
ing her as we'll as Richard and myself
-~steadied me with a sudden shock.
Control yourself" / whispered.
"What is done, is done, and the misery
is not all yours TO suffer. Tell me how
| may find the priest, and l will do my
errand and be gone"
1 GU can IOl stay W llili illII llo"~
you must not" she insisted, coming out
of the fit of despair with a rebound.
He is in the town-indeed, l know not
where he is just now. Can you not en-
dure it a little longer, Captain Ireton? p
NO" said |, sullenly. II have been
living a lie all these months to the
friend / love best, and / will not do it
more"
Could / be mistaken? Surely there
was a flash not of S in
the eyes that were lifted to mine,
the voice tina said. Then Dick does
not know?--you have not told him."
NO; / nave told no one"
Poor Dick!" she said softly. IL
thought he knew, and L"
She paused, and in the pause it
flashed upon me how she had wrOnged
my dear lad; how she had thought he
would make braZen love TO her know
ing she was the wife of another. /
thanked God In my heart that | had
been able to right him thus far.
After a time h said: why did
you make me marry you, Monsieur
John? Oh, l have racked my brain so
for the answer to that question. l
know you said it was to save my
honor. But surely we have paid a
heavier penalty than any that could
have been laid upon me had you left
me as l was"
Il was but a short-sighted fool, and
no prophet" l rejoined, striving lard
to keep the bitterness of soul out of
my words. "At the moment il seemed
into which my word % Colonel Tarle-
ton had plunged you. But there was
another motive. You saw the paper |
signed that night, with Lieutenant Ty-
bee and YOU fathers factor for the
Witnesses"
Yes"
DO you know what it WASP"
mo"
Twas the last will n testament
of one John ireton, gentleman, in which
he bequeatfIed To Margery, his wife, his
estate of Appleby Hundred"
Apple Hundred?" she echoed.
"But my father"
Your father holds but a con~f1scator's
title, and il, with many others. has been
voided by the congress of North Caro-
lima. Richard ~Jennifer is my dear
friend, and you
II begin to understands little" she
said, and now her voice was low and
she would not look at me. Then, in
the same low tone; But now-now
you would be free again?"
'tHow can you ask? AS matters
stand, l have marred your life and
Dicks most hopelessly. Do you won-
der that | have been reckless of the
hangn that | care no jot for my
interfering life at his moment, save as
the taking of it may involve YOU and
Richard?"
No, surely" she said, still speaking
softly. And now she gave me her eyes
TO look into, and the hardness was all
melted out OF them. Did you come
here, under the shadow of the gallows,
to tell me this, Monsieur John?"
There shah be no more half-confi-
dences between us, dear lady. | had
my leave of General Morgan on the
score of our need for better Informal
ton of Lord Corvallis designs; but
should have come in any case-want-
ing the leave, my commission as a spy,
OF any ether excuse"
II tell me this?"
T do the bidding of -FOUR letter.
and TO say that whilst | live / shall be
shamed for the bitter words | gave you
when 1 was sick"
Il mind them not; / had forgotten
them" she said.
But / have not forgotten. nor ever
shall. Will you say you forgive me,
Margeryg'
For thinking | had poisoned you?
How do you know did not?"
II have seen Scipio. VIII you shrive
me for that ~disloyalty. dear lady?'
Did l not say | had forgotten it?'
THANK YOU" l said, meaning Ii from
the bottom of my heart, Now one
thing more, and you shall send me to
Father Matthew. It's a shameful tang
10 speak OF, bat the thought of 1t ram
kles and will rankle till | have begged
you to add 1t To the things forgotten.
That morning In your dressing