Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1908-08-01
CHAPTER xvn.-continued.


/ called out, "Stay" just in time. You
will do no good, madam, by going! l
said. rising. You will not find her.
She is gone"
Gomez
Yes" said quietly. She left the !
house 20 minutes ago. ! saw her cross
the market place, wearing her cloak
will return"
Not return? But whittier has she
gomez" they both cried at once.
shook my head.
'I can only guess" / said in a low
voice. Il saw no more than nave
told you
But why did you not tell me?' the
duchess cried reprcachfully. she shall
be brought back"
1T would be useless" Master Bertie
answered yet l doubt II 1t be as
Carey thinks. Why should she go just
at this time? She does not know that
she is found out. She does not know
a word, mind, was said of 1t before she
left the ROOM"
mo" 1 allowed, that is true"
/ was puzzled on this, point myself,
now i came to consider II. l could not
see why she had taken the alarm so
opportunely, but maintained my opin-
ion nevertheless.
something lTlSHtSll'o iSi, es'a'
though II may not have been the let
ter"
Yes" said the duchess after mo-
ment's silence Il suppose you are
right. 1 suppose something frightened
her, as you say. ! wonder what 1t was,
poor wretch"
1t turned out that was right. Mis-
tress Anne had gone indeed, having
staid, so far as we could learn from an
examination of the room which she had
shared with Dymphna, merely to put
together the few things which our ad-
ventures had left her. She had gone
out from among us In this foreign land
without a word of farewell, without
good wish given or received, without IA
soul to say godspeed! The thought
made me tremble. If she had died. II
would have been different. Now, to feel
sorrow for her as for one who had
been with us in heart as well as In
body seemed a mockery. How could
we grieVe for one who had moved day
by day and hour by hour among us
only that with each hour and day she
might plot and scheme and plan our
destruction? 1t was impossible!
We made inquiries indeed, but with
out result, and so abruptly and terribly
she passed. for the time, out of our
knowledge, though often afterward
recalled sadly the weary, hunted look
which l had sometimes seen In her
eyes when she sat listless and dreamy.
Poor girl! Her own acts had placed
her, as the duchess said, beyond love
or hope. but not beyond pity.
So II is in life. The day which sees
ones trial end sees another's begin
| We, the duchess and her child, Master
BERTHE and l, staid with our good and
faithful friends the Lindstroms
awhile, resting and recruiting our
strength, and during this interval, al
| the pressing instance of the duchess,
wrote letters to Sir Anthony and Pc
tronilla, stating that / was abroad and
was well and looked presently to re-
turn, but not disclosing my refuge OF
| the names of my companions. AT the
end Of five days, Master BERTHE being
fairly strong again, and Santon being
considered unsafe for us as perma-
| nent residence, we went under guarC
to Wesel, where we were received as
people of quality and lodged, there be-
ing no fitting place, in the disuseC
church of st. Willibrod. Here the chilC
was christened Peregrine-a wanderel
the governor of the city and / being
godfathers. And here we lived in peace
albeit with hearts that yearned TO
home, for some months.
During this time two pieces of new
came to us from England-one that tn
parliament, though much pressed to 1t
had refused to acquiesce in the con
fscation OF the duchess estates; tn
other that our joint prosecutor, tn
great bishop Of Winchester, was dead
This last we at first disbelieved l
was true nevertheless. Stephen Gard
liner, whose vast schemes had inmeshe,
people so far apart in station and in
deed in all else as the duchess and my
self, was dead at last; had died towar
the end of 1856, at the height of hi
power, with England at his feet, an
gone to his Maker. / have known man
worse men.
We trusted that this might open tn
way for our return, but we found, o
the contrary, that fresh clouds wer
rising. The persecution of the reform
ers, which Queen Mary had begun
England, was carried on with increas
ing rigor, and her husband, who wa
now king Of Spain and master Of tn
Netherlands, freed from the pruder
checks of his father, was inclined I
) pleasure her in this by giving what al
, he could abroad His minister in tn
Netherlands, the bishop of ARA
brought so much pressure to bear upo
our protector to induce him to give L
up that 1t was plain the duke of Clevt
must sooner or later comply. w
, thought it better, therefore to remoy
T ourselves and presently did so, goin
: to the town of Winnheim, in the Rhir
= palatinate
. We found ourselves not much MOI
Y secure here, however, and all our e1
f forts to discover safe road int
{ France failing, and the stock of none
| whinh the duchess had provided bt
ginning to give out we were in grei
straits whittier to go or what to d
At this time of our need, howeve
providence opened door in quart,
I where we least looked for IT, Lette
came from Sigismund, the king of p,
k land, and from the palatine of Wilr
in that country, inviting the duche,
and Master BERTHE to take up the
residence there and offering the latt,
an establishment and honorable en-
ployment The overture was unlookt
for and was not accepted without mi
I givings, wilma being so far distant ar
there being none of our race in TIL
q country. However, assurance of Il
Polish kings good faith reached US
+ say US, for in all their plans was fl
cluded-through John Alasco, a nobl
- man who had visited England. And
due time we started on this prodigiol
J. Journey and came safely to Win
where our reception was such as Il
@ letters had led us to expect.
do not propose to set down here O,
q adventures, though they were man
:, in that strange country of froz,
q marshes and endless plains, but to pa
over 18 months which l spent n
g without profit to myself In the Pole
+ service, seeing something Of war in h
= Lithuanian campaigns and learniI
- much of men and the world, whi
e here, to say nothing of wolves al
bears, bore certain aspects not cor
, monty visible in Warwickshire. l pa
4 on to the early autumn of 1858, VIII,
|, a letter from the duchess, who W
t at wilma, was brought to me at CIR
covy. 1t was to this effect:
Dead Friend: Send you good spec
. Word has come to US here
: an enterprise Englandward whi
n promises, if it be truly r
: ported to us, to so alter things
home that there may be room for us
Y our own fireside. Heaven so further
hot fcnr.. h.a,.