The Elbert County tribune., 1906-04-19

They carried the body into the great
hall, where the duchess and the old
servitor met them. There they laid
him onsa table. Joan herelf lifted the
lantern and held it to his face. At
the sight the heart Of the duchess
leaped wildly within her.
Conrad" she cried-that word and
no more. And the lantern fell to
the floor from her nerveless hand.
It was the White Knight of the
Courtland lists. the noble Prince of
the summer parlor, the red-robed pre-
late of her marriage day, Conrad OF
Courtland. Prince and Cardinal, but
to her, "he"-the only he"
When Conrad. Cardinal-designate
OF the Holy Roman church and Arch
bishop of Coui Gland, opened his eyes,
1t seemed to him that he had passed
through warning waters into the
serenity of the life beyond.
A girl. sweet and stately. sat by his
bedside. By the door to which alone
he could raise his eyes. stood tall.
gaunt man. clad in gray from head
to foot, his hands clasped in front of
him. and his chin sunk upon his
| breast.
The Prince-Bishop's eyes rested Ian
| guidy on the girls face, on which fell
the light of shaded silver lamp.
| There was a book in her lap. written
upon sheets of thin parchment. bound
in silver embossed leather. But she
did not read it. Instead she breathed
softly and regularly. She was asleep,
with her hand on the coverlet of rosy
silk.
Slowly the drifting mists steadied
Themselves athwart his brain. The
actual recomposed itself out of the
shreds of dreams. Conrad found him
self in long, low room such as he had
seen many times in the houses of
well-to-do ritters along the Baltic
shores. The beams of the roof-tree
above were carven and ancient Arras
went everywhere about the walls, Sill
yer candlesticks, with princely crests
craven upon them, stood by his bed
head. After each survey his eyes set
tied on the sleeping girl. She was
very young and very beautiful It
was-yet it could not be-the Duchess
Joan. whom he himself had married
to his brother Louis in the cathedral
church of his own archiepiscopal city.
Conrad of Courtland had not been
trained priest. yet, as was common
at that age. birth and circumstance
had made him a prince of the Roman
church. He had been thrust into the
hierarchy solely because of his name,
for he had succeeded his uncle Adrian
in his posts and emoluments as a
legal heir succeeds to an undisputed
property. In due time he received his
red hat.
Nevertheless, Conrad of Courtland
had all the warm life and imperious
impulses of young man within his
breast. Yet he was no Borgia or Della
Revere. cloaking scarlet sins with
scarlet vestments. For with the high
dignities of his position and the sol
emn work which lay to his hand in
his northern province there had come
the resolve to be not less. but more
faithful than those martyrs and CON
fessors of whom he read daily in his
Breviary. So this finest and most chiv-
alrous of young northern knights had
laid down the weapons of his warfare
to take up the crucifix, and now had
set out joyfully for Rome to receive
! his cardinals hat on his knees as the
| last and greatest gift of the vicar of
| Christ.
But scarcely was he clear of the
| Courtland shores when there had
come the storm, the shipwreck, the
wild struggle among the white and
foaming breakers-and then. won
drously emergent. like heaven after
purgatory, the quiet of this sheltered
room and this sleeping girl. with her
white hand lying lax and delicate on
the rosy silk.
The book slipped suddenly from her
fingers. falling on the polished wood
of the floor with a startling sound
Then. from the pillow on which his
head lay, Joan of Hohenstein saw the
eyes of the Prince Conrad gazing al
her, dark and solemn from within the
purplish rings of recent peril.
You are my brothers wife," he
said softly. but yet in the same rich
and thrilling voice she had listened tc
with SO many heart-stirrings in the
summer palace, and had last heard
through the cathedral church of Court
land on that day when her life had
ended.
A chill came over the girls face al
his words.
81 am indeed the Duchess Joan Of
Hohenstein," she answered. IN,
father willed that I should wed Prince
Louis of Courtland. Well. | married
him and rode away. In so much | an
your brothers wife"
He smiled wanly. The light of tn,
lamp seemed to waver again befor,
his eyes. The world grew full O
sleep and rest and refreshment. Their,
was no longer need to care about any
thing.