Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1905-05-05


| when I should be alone. And when the
| priest had told me all the news al
| large. we came again TO speak Oh MAI
gerry.
Il go and come through all this bor-
derland.'' he said, when ! asked MIN
how and why he came TO Appleby Hun
dred 'but Ii was mam'selle's message
brought me here. She is my eve lamb
in All this region, and l would journey
far TO see her"
/ wondered pointedly at this. for in
hat day the west was hercely Protest
ant and the mother church had scanty
footing in the borderland.
but Mistress Margery Is not a Cain
olic!' said J.
His look forgave the protest in the
words.
Indeed she is, my son. Has she
not told your
Now truly she had not old me so in
any measured word or phrase; and yer
/ might have guessed il, since she had
often spoken lovingly OF this same Ia
ther Matthew. And yet 1t was incred-
ible TO me.
But howl do not understand how
that can be-" | stammered. Surely,
she told me she was of Huguenot blood
on the mothers side, and that is
The missionary's smile was lenient
still. but full OF meaning.
Not all who wander from the Cath
Ollie fold are lost forever, Captain Ire
ton. The mother OF this demoiselle
lived all her life a Protestant, / think.
but when she came TO die she sent for
me. And that is how her child was
sent 10 France and grew up convent
bred. Monsieur Stair gave his promise
at the mothers deathbed, and hough
he liked 1t not, he kept IL"
aha. I see. And for this single lamb
Of your sesnt fold you brave the terrors
OF our hereto backwoods? 1t does you
credit, Father Matthew. The war nils
all horizons now. mayhap, but / have
seen the time I'm M~ecklenburg when
your cassock would have been a chal-
lenge to the mob
His smile was quite devoid OF bitter
ness. THE time has not yet passed,
he said. gently. Il have been six weeks
on he way from Maryland hither. hid
ing in the forest by day and faring on
at night. Indeed. l was in hiding ON
a n~eighboring plantation when u
demoiselle's messenger found me-.
This put me keen upon remembering
what had gone before: how he had said
at first that she had sent for him. |
thought 1t strange, knowing how peril
Gus the time and place must be for
such as he. But not until he rose and,
bidding me good-day, left me TO my
self, did | so much as guess the thing
his coming meant. When / had guessed
il. when / put this to that-her telling
me Sir Francis had proposed for her,
and his her sending for the priest
the madness of my love for her was as
naught compared to that anger which
seized M racked me.
/ know not how the hours of this
black day We're made to come n GO,
grinding me to dust and ashes In their
passage, yet leaving me alive and keen
to suffer at the end.
A thousand times hat day / lived in
torment through the scene in which
the priest had doubtless come to play
his part of joiner. The stage for it
would be the great room fronting
south; the room my father used TO
call our castle. For guests l thought
there would be space enough and some
to spare, for. as you know, u Meek
lenburg was patriot to h core. But
as to this, the bridegroom's troopers
might fill out the tale, and in my heat
ed fancy / could see them grouped be-
meath the candle-sconces with belts
and baldrics fresh pipe-clayed, and
shakos dotted, and s~abretaches well in
front. "A man full grown-a soldier
she had said; and trooper guests were
fitting in such case.
From serving in a Catholic land l
knew the customs of the. mother
church. So l. could see the priest in
cassock, alb and stole as he would
stand before some makeshift altar lit
with candles. And as he stands they
come to kneel before him; my winsome
Margery in all her royal beauty, a child
to love, and yet an empress peerless in
her woman's realm; and at her side,
with his knee touching hers, this man
who was a devil!
What wonder If | cursed n choked
and cursed again when the maddening
thought of what all this should mean
for my poor wounded Richard-and la
ter on. for Margery herself-possessed
me? In which of these hot feVer-gusts
of rage the thought of interference
came, l know not. But that it came at
length-a thought and plan full-grown
at BIRTH do know.
The pointing of the plan was desper-
ate and simple. 1t was neither more
nor less than this: | knew the house
and every turn and passage in it, and
when the hour should strike l said
/ should go down and skulk
among the guests, and at the CRU
cial moment find or seize a weapon and
fling myself upon this bridegroom as
he should kneel before the altar.
With strength to bend him back and
strike one blow, / saw not why it might
not win. And as for strength, / have
learned his in war; that so the rage
be hct rot twill nerve a dying man
to hack and hew and stab as with tho
strength of ten.
Continued Next Week.)