Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-01-16

Il ~
know why you are here in this guise:
Do you think that do not know fol
| whom that pitcher of broth was in.
| tended? Or who will now have to fast
tonight? tell you know all these
things. Your house is full of soldiers:
your servants were watched anG could
not leave You had to come yourself
and get food for him!"
| She clutched at the hand-rail of the
( bridge and for an instant chung to it fol
! support. Her face, from which the
shawl had fallen, glimmered white in
the shadow of the trees. Al last had
! shaken her pride. AT last! What is
your price?" she murmured family
81 am going to tell YOU" replied,
i speaking so that every word might
fall distinctly on her ears, and sating
my eyes on her proud face. had
never dreamed of such revenge as this!
"About fortnight ago, M. de Coche-
| foret left here at night with little
| range-colored sachet in his posses
| sion"
She uttered stided cry, and drew
| herSelf Stl1hy erect.
at contained-but there, Mademoi-
selle, you know it's contents" went
on. Whatever they were, M. de Coch-
J foret lost it and them at starting A
week ago he came Observation-Disclosures
ly for himself-to seek them"
She was looking full in my face
now. She seemed scarcely to breathe
in the intensity Of her surprise and ex-
pectation. You had search made,
| Mademoiselle," continued quietly,
| "Your servants left no place unex-
plored. The paths, the roads, the very
woods were ransacked. But in vain,
because all the while the orange sachet
! lay whole and unopened in my pocket. -
mol" she cried impetuously "You
lie. Sir! The sachet was found. torn
| open, many leagues from this placed"
| Where threw it, Mademoiselle,"
| | replied, chat might mislead your
rascals and be free to return. Oh! be-
lieve me-" l continued, letting some
thing of myself, something of my tri-
umph, appear at last in my voice. you
| have made a mistake! You
would have done better had you trusted
me. l am no bundle of sawdust, Mad
emoiselle, but man; a man with an
arm to shield and brain to serve,
and-as I am going to teach you-a
heart also!"
She shivered
In the orange-colored sachet that
| Won lost ho1iovo +boro 1yoro 4 O r+o,a.
| of great value?"
| She made no answer, but she looked
| at me as if I fascinated her. Her
very breath seemed to pause and wait
on my words. She was so little con-
scious of anything else, of anything
outside ourselves, that score of
men might have come up behind her
| unseen and unnoticed
| took from my breast little packet
| wrapped in soft leather and held it
towards her. will you open this?"
| said. II believe it contains what
you lost. That it contains all will not
answer, Mademoiselle, because spilled
the stones on the floor of my room
and | may have failed to find some
| But the others can be recovered
know where they are
She took the packet slowly and be-
gan to unroll it, her fingers shaking.
A few turns and the mild lustre Of
the stones made a kind of moonlight
IN her hands-such shimmering glory
OF imprisoned light as has ruined many
a woman and robbed many a man of
his honor. Morbleu! as looked at
them-and as she stood looking at
them In dull, entranced perplexity-
wondered how / had come to resist
the temptation
While | gazed her hands began to
waver II cannot count she NUT
tered helplessly. "How many are
there?"
'In all, 49,"
They should be 49," she said.
She closed her hand on them with
that, and opened it again, and did so
twice, as if to reassure herself that
the stones were real and that she was
not dreaming. Then she turned to me
with sudden 1erceness, and l saw that
4Aei pCdulilul lSCe, SndTpeneQ by the
greed Of possession, was grown as keen
and vicious as before "Well?" she
muttered between her teeth. "Your
price man? Your price?"
am coming to it now, Mademoi-
selle," / said gravely. TT is sim
pie matter. You remember the after
noon when l followed you-clumsily
and thoughtlessly perhaps-through
the wood to restore these things? 1t
seems about month ago. believe it
happened the day before yesterday.
You called me then some very harsh
names, which will not hurt you by
repeating. The only price l ask for
restoring your jewels is that you re-
call those Names
How" she muttered. II do not
understand"
repeated my words very slowly.
The only price or reward 1 ask. Mad
emolselle, is that you take back those
names, and say that they were not de-