The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1905-04-22

ing herself thus unexpectedly within
the precincts Of the palace, unimpeded.
caused her to overlook the fact that
this was scarcely propitious moment
in which to implore the king to disre-
gard the lusty giant rudely beating at
lis doors. A frightened waiting maid
came hurrying along the corridor, and
to her she directed inquiry regarding
the entrance to the banqueting hall.
Turn to the right and up the stair"
Take me there, beg Of YOU"
II cannot. bear message"
"But l bear a message to the king,
10 yours must wait"
At this the maid turned and conduct
I'd her to the door Of the hall, saying
70 the man at arms:
This lady has a message for hif
majesty"
The first thing that struck her on en-
sering the great painted chamber was
That the nobleman on the stone outside
had not spoken the truth when he said
the king heard the demands Of his peo-
pie. growl as Of an angry lion pen
etrated the closed windows, but the
words spoken were not to be distin-
guished.
The king was sitting at massive
table, his head in his hands. Behind
him were grouped number of bishops
| in their robes, and it certainly seemed
that his majesty was engaged in de-
votional exercises, as had been stated
by the orator. But If this were the
case they were Of a strangely mixed
order, for behind the lady who was
talking volubly to the king stood two
| Capuchin monks with folded arms. Elk
| cepting the bishops none of the Eng
lish nobility were present, but several
! Frenchmen, among whom she recog-
nized De Courcy, held alOof from the
| cluster at the table, so the girl quite
correctly surmised that the lady bear
! ing the whole burden Of the converse
ton was no other than the queen her
self, and that these foreigners were
members of her train.
Her majesty spoke sometimes in
|
| ter with broken accent, and her elo-
| quence was rather puzzling to follow,
! for the flow of her conversation was
/ of extreme rapidity. Palpably she sup
/ posed herself talking in English. but
whenever she came to a difficulty in
the choice of word she made no at
tempt to surmount it by any effort OF
! thought, but swan swiftly round it on
! the easy current Of her native tongue.
Translated, her discourse ran thus:
"These good men have made it per
| fectly plain; for, as they say-and who
shall question the dictum Of the church
| in such matters-you have two con-
sciences, the conscience of the prince
and the conscience of the man; and
where the conScienceS come into con-
| flict that of the prince must of necessity
rule, as is the axiom in all civilized
courts. Is it right that you, a king.
should jeopardize yourself in useless
peers, because your private conscience
as a man urges you to keep promise
which he himself has relieved you
from, holding you guiltless before God
and the nations, and further advised
! by these good men, lords Of their
church, that such action would not
make toward peace Of the realm. 1t
is not a subject to be hesitated upon
for a moment, the good of the ruler
being paramount always
"Oh, my lord, the king, listen not to
such sophistry, be it from the lips Of
priest or woman! The given word is
the man, and he stands or falls by it.
If the foresworn peasant be cring-
ing craven, ten thousand times worse
is the perjured prince. You pledged
your faith to Lord Stanford, and now
in his just heaven God demands the
| fulfillment Of your word"
The disheveled girl had flung herself
at the feet of the frightened monarch,
who started back gazing wildly about
| him, shaking as one struck with palsy,
so startling and unexpected had been
the interruption. Red anger flushed
the face of the no less amazed queen,
speeches. with Indignation at the
words and the tone of them addressed
| to her exalted husband The sage
/ bishops were astOunded at the lack Of
diplomacy on the part of the petition
er who had thus rudely thrown herself
counter to the expressed wishes of the
/ highest lady in the land, but Frances,
with an instant intuition more subtle
! than theirs, saw that the queen was
an enemy not to be cajoled by defer
ence or fattery, so she determined that
the war between them should be open
and abOvebOard.
The king had reason for agitation
| greater than the surprise that had
made breathing statues of those about
| him. The accents that disturbed him
were the accents Of STAFFORD himself,
softened as they were by the lips that
uttered them. The boldness of the ad-
dress was Strafford's, and until he saw
that woman knelt before him it al
most seemed that the dominant spirit
Of the prisoner had burst the bonds of
the Tower and sped hither to reproach
him for meditated treachery.
Frances, gathering breath, took ad-
| vant9 pa of fhp Siloneo hor c,,1do,, "a