Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1906-09-27
CHAPTER XIV.

" oi-
Yes, at the great cardinals levee ]
was the only client. | stared round
the room, a long narrow gallery,
through which it was his custom to
walk every morning after receiving
his more important visitors. I stared,
I say, round this room, in a state OF
stu~pefaction. The seats against either
wall were empty, the recesses of the
windows empty too. The hat, sculp.
tured and painted here and there, the
staring r, the blazoned arms, looked
down on a vacant floor. Only, on a
little stool by the main door, sat a
quiet-faced man in black, who read,
or pretended to read, in a little book,
and never looked up. One of those
men, blind, deaf, secretive, who fatten
in the shadow Of the great.
At length, while l stood COMPOUNDED
and full of shamed thought-for had
seen the ante-chamber of Richelieu's
old hotel so crowded that ne could not
walk through it-this man closed his
book, rose and came noiselessly to
wards me. I'M. de Berault?" he said
eyes," l answered.
ellis Eminence awaits you. Be good
enough to follow me-"
| did SO, in a deeper stupor than
before. For how could the cardinal
know that I was here? How could he
have known when he gave the order?
But I had short time to think of these
things. We passed through two rooms,
in one of which some secretaries were
writing; we stopped at a third door.
Over all brooded a silence which could
be felt. The usher knocked, opened,
and with his finger on his lip, pushed
aside a curtain and signed to me to
enter. I did so, and found myself
standing behind a screen.
SIS that M. de Berault?" asked q
thin, high-pitched voice.
Eyes, Monseigneur," I answered,
trembling.
"Then come, my friend. and talk
to me-"
I went round the screen; and I know
not how it was, the watching crowd
outside, the vacant antechamber in
which | had stood. the stillness-all
seemed concentrated here, and gave 10
the man I saw before me a dignity
which he had never possessed for me
when the world passed through his
doors, and the proudest fawnei on
him for a smile. He sat in a great
chair on the farther side of the hearth,
a little red skull-cap on his head, his
fine hands lying m%otionless in his lap,
The collar of fawn which fell wei his
red cape was quite plain, but the skirts
Of his red robe were covered with rich
lace and the order OF the Holy Ghost
shone on his breast. Among the null.
titudinous papers on the great table
neal him I saw q sword and pistols
lying; and some tapestry that covered
a little table behind him failed tc
hide a pair of spurred riding boots
But HEN spite Of these signs Of trou.
ble-looked towards me as | advanced
with a face mild and almost benign
a face in which I strove in vain to FIND
traces Of last nights passion. So that
1t flashed across me that If this mar
really stood-and afterward I knew he
did-on te thin razor-edge between
life and death, between the supreme
Of earthly power, lord Of France, and
arbiter Of Europe, and the nothing
ness Of the clod, he justified his fame
He gave weaker natures no room fol
triumph.
The thought was no sooner enter
tanned than it was gone. "And so 20,
are back at last, M. de Berault?" h,
said, gently. IL have been expecting
to see you since nine this morning"
"Your Eminence knew then"
muttered.
THAT you returned to Paris by thu
Orleans gate last evening, alone?'
He fitted together the ends Of hill
fingers, and looked at me over then
with incrutable eyes. Eyes. knew
all that last night. And now Of YOU
mission? You have been faithful mi
dlligent, I AM sure. Where "a haf"
RIO Be Continued