Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-12-20
CHAPTER XII
Ar THR FINGER POST.

Through all, it will have been mo-
 ticed, mademoiselle had not spoken to 2 me, nor said one word, good or bad.
 She had played her part grimly; had
 taken her defeat in silence, if with
 tears; had tried neither prayer, nor
 defence, nor apology, And the fact
 that the fight was now over, the
 scene left behind, made no difference
 in her conduct-to my surprise and
 discontinue. She kept her face avert
 ed from me; she rode as before; she
 affected to ignore my presence. I
 caught my horse feeding by the road
 side, furlong forward, and mounted
 and fell into place behind the two. as tn the morning. And just. as we had plodded on then in silence. we p1odded
 on now, while wondered at the firi- fathomable ways of women, and Knowing that I had bore myself well, l. marveled that she could take part in such an incident and remain un- changed. @ Yet it had made a change in her. s Though her mask screened her well, 1t could not entirely hide her emotions, E and by-and-bye marked that her head dropped, that she rode sadly and list iessly. that the lines of her figure were
 altered. I noticed that she had flung
 away, or furtively dropped. her rid ing-whip, and I understood that to the old hatred of me were now added { shame and vexation; shame that she { had so lowered herself, even to save { her brother, vexation that defeat had been her only reward.
 where the inn had but one common room, and we must all dine in com pany. I secured for them table by the fire and leaving them standing by 1t, retired myself to smaller one, near the door There were no other guests and this made the separation between us more marked NJ. de Co., fheforet seemed to feel this. He Shrugged his shoulders and looked at me with a smile half sad, half comieal. ,ff3ut mademoiselle was implaeable. She had taken of her mask and her face was like stone. Once. only once, during the meal saw a change come over her. She colored. suppose at her thoughts, until her face famed from brow to chin. l watched the blush spread and spread. and then she slow 1y and proudly turned her shoulder 10 me and looked through the window at the shabby street
 I suppose that she and her brother had both built on this attempt, which must have been arranged at Auch. For when we went on in the after noon saw a more marked change. They rode now like people resigned to the worst. The gray realities of the brothers position. the dreary, hopeless future. began to hang like mist be- fore their eyes; began to tinge the landscape with sadness; robbed even the sunset of it's colors. With each hour their spirits Jagged and their speech became less frequent, until Apresently. when the light was nearly gone and the dusk was round us. the | brother and sister rode hand in hand, silent. gloomy. one at least of them weeping. The cold Shadow of the cardinal. of Paris, of the scaffold. was beginning to make itself felt; was beginning to chill them. As the noun tains which they had known all their lives sank and faded behind us and we entered on the wide, low valley of the Garonne. their hopes sank and faded also-sank to the dead-level of despair. Surrounded by guards. mark for rcurious glances. with pride for com -panion. M. de Cocheforst could doubt less have borne himself bravely; doubtless he would bear himself brave ly still when the end came. But almost alone, moving forward through the gray evening to prison. with so many measured days before him. and noth- ing to exhilarate or anger-in this condition it was little wonder if he felt, and betrayed that he felt, the klood run slow in his veins; if he thought more of the weeping wife and sruined home. which he left behind him. than of the cause in which he had spent himself
 But God knows they had no mOnop- oiy Of gloom. felt almost as sad myself Long before sunset the flush of triumph. the heat of the battle. which had warmed my heart al noon were gone; giving place to a chill dis stisfsetion. a nausea, 8 aespondency, such as I have known follow 8 long night at the tables. Hitherto there had been difficulties 10 be overcome. risks to be run. doubts about the end. Now the end was certain and very near. SO near that it filed all the prospect. One hour Of triumph I might still have. hHEgsd the thought of 1t zz gambler hugs his last stake. I planned the place and time and mode ard tried to occupy myself wholly with IL But the price? Alas. that would intrrde too and more as the evening waned. so that ss I passed this or that thing on the read. which l could recall passing on mF journey south- with thoughts 90 different with plans that now seemed sc very. yerE oId-I asked myself griuly fl thiE were really [. if this were GlI ds Bersnis known as ZatUn's premier tolierr; or some Don Quiehotte from Castle. tiItiug zs wind mills and taking bzrbsrs' bowls for gold
 We resched AEen very late ia the ssenirz sftsr grCrinx thrUuEh by gay near the river ze1 wftn holsz and