The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-02-03

ed, the Duke of WesSex firmly, "and was alone with Don Miguel de suarez.' z There was dead silence now. the moon, pale. inquisitive. brilliant. peep ed in through the window to see what was amiss. She saw a number of men. recoiling awe struck from a small group composed of a dead man and of the first gentleman in the land, self confessed as murderer. No one dared to speak. the moment was too solemn. too terrible, for any speech save. half smothered sigh of horror.
 The Captain of the Guard was tie first to recollect his duty. s s
 Your Grace's sword .' he be- gan somewhat shamefacediy
 An, yesi ! had forgot"a said Wes- sex quietly, as he rose to his feet. He drew his sword from its sheath and with one quick. sudden wrench broke the blade across his knee. Then he threw the pieces of steel on the ground.
 T am ready to follow you, friend Captain" he said with all the hauteur, all the light. easy gractousness, so pe- cuiiar to himself N
 The group parted, silently. almost re- spectfully, as His Grace of wessex passed out of the room--a prisoner. CHATTER xxx. Thoughts.
 Tn the loneliness and silence of the Tower the Duke of Wessex had enough leisure to think.
 One fatal autumn afternoon, and what a change in the destinies of his fife! Yesterday he was the first gen. tleman in England. loved by many, feared by a few, reverenced by all as the perfect embodiment of national pride and national grandeur-almost . Kingl
 And today? :.., But of himself his own obvious fate, position, he thought very little. Ever an easy-going philosopher, he had as yet Kept the insoucIance of the game ster who has staked and lost and Is content to retire from the board. One thing more, remember! Life in those days was not the priceless treasure which later civilization would have us believe it. There was . greater sim plicity of faith. a more childlike cer- titude in the great truths of futurity. which we in our epoch are so ready to cavil at. q, sat.s.. .,.. .- l If nations and individuals commit ted excesses of unparalleled cruelty in the name of their respective creedS if men hated each other, tortured each other, destroyed one another. 1t was because they misunderstood the teach ! lu&8 .OL ISlt8lOuY anu nut pSCauSe I1Sy ignored or disbelieved them. | The cruelties themselves are unjus- tifiable: the mind of twentieth cen- tury civilization can but gaze at them in mute horror. history can but record and deplore. But the religion which prompted them-for 1t was religion was not the feeble, anaemic plaything of an effete generation in search of new settlements; it was strong and virile alike in the atrocity of It's crimes and the Subliimty of it's vir- | tues.
 Thus with a man like wessex! Life had been pleasant, of course, a bed of roses worthy even of one of our mod ern sybarites. but to him only the. ep- isode. which higher thoughts and Chris tian belief have ever suggested that 1t should be.
 that faith alone caused him to look lightly upon this sudden. tragic end ing of his brilliant career, but 1t un. doubtedly helped him to preserve that easy and unembittered frame of mind of the philosopher. who, with life, loves that which hath but little value.
 And now. indeed. what worth would life have for him? This Is where thoughts became bitter and cruel, not over death. not over disgrace, but over the treachery of a woman and the flight of an illusion.
 What did it all mean?
 Sometimes now, when he sat looking straight before him at the cold. grey walls of his prison, he seemed to see