The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-07-10

endorsements naa been summoned from
within. and a hand to hand fight en-
sued with the encroachers.
Frances. painting and nigh worn out
in the struggle. nevertheless saw her
opportunity. There were few women
in the throng and such as came near
them the soldiers sought to protect.
She attempted appeal 10 the officer, but
that harassed dignitary could harken
to none and thrust her rudely but eff
fectually through the opening, saying;
You will find egress at one of the
other gates. Take care of yourself. l
cannot help you
Breathing n sigh of thankfulness, she
covered and ran along the end of the
banQueting hall. turned at the corner,
then down the side, entering an arch
way that let her into a passage. She
knew that she must turn TO her right,
but where after that she had not the
slightest notion The tumult ut the gate
was so frightful that she expected ev-
cry moment to hear the victorious as
saulters at her heels. Her joy at find
ing herself thus unexpectedly within
the precincts Of tie palace, unimpa1ed.
caused her to overlook the fact that
this was scarcely a propitious moment
in which to impiore the king TO disre-
gard the luSty giant rudely beating at
his doors. A frightened waiting maid
came hurrying along the corridor, and
to her she directed inquiry regarding
the entrance to the banqueting hall.
"Tnrn to the right and up the STAIR"
Take me there, / beg of you"
81 cannot | bear a message"
But l bear a message to the king,
SO yours must wait"
At this the maid turned and conduct
ed her to the door of the hall, saying
to the man at arms:
This lady has a message for his
majesty"
The first thing that struck her on en-
tering 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. A growl as of an angry lion pen
etrated the closed windows, but the
words spoken We're not to be distin-
guished.
The king was sitting at massive
table, his head in his hands. Behind
him were grouped a 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 We're of a strangely mixed
la
talking volubly to the king stood two
Capuchin monks with folded arms. Ex-
cepting the bishops none of the Eng
lish nobility We're present. but seyera!
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
French, sometimes in English, the lat
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 conscfenees come into con-
fict 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
effort to save one condemned by his
peers, because your private conscience
as a man urges you to keep a 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 moment, the good of the ruler
being paramount always
ooh, 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 a cring-
ing craven, ten thousand times worse
is the perjured prince. You pledged
your faith to Lord STAFFORD, and now
in his just heaven God demands the
fulfillment Of your word"
Continued Tomorrow