The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1906-04-21

wind withal. We have found a drown
ed man on the beach,"
They carried the body into the great
hall. where the duchess and the old
servitor met them. There they laid
him on 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.
1t 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-designat
of the Holy Roman church and Arch
bishop of CORTLAND opened his eyes
it seemed to him that he had passed
through warning waters into the
serenity of the life beyond.
girl. sweet and stately. sat by his
bedside. By the door to which alone
he could raise his eyes, stood a 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
guidly on the girls face. on which fell
the light of a shaded silver lamp.
There was book in her lap, written
upon sheets of thin parchment, bound
i,, oil
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-todo 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
phyr IJo hod ;p{1 ~
hierarchy solely because of his name,
for he had succeeded his uncle Adrian
in his posts and emoluments as
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 a young man within his
breast. Yet he was TO Borsia or Della
Rovere, cloaking scarlet sins with
scarlet vestments. For with the high
Gignities 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 crucfix, and now had
set out ioyfully 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 at
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
anu NOlCe SHE udu llSleUeu tO
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 at
his words.
Il am indeed the Duchess Joan of
Hohenstein," she answered. my
father willed that | should wed Prince
Louis of Courtland. Well, l married
him and rode away. In so much l am
your brothers wife"
He smiled wanly The light of the
lamp seemed to waver again before
his eyes. The world grew full of