The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1908-07-23
CHAPTER xvI-continued.

SVaos tiAS SI&ll iSil iActis va NiN
steep rcd roofs. with their rows OF
easements. and on the sleepy square
In which knots of people still fingered
talking OF the mornings events.
could see below me the guard which
Duke William, shrewdly m~istrustina
the subdean, had posted in front of the
house. ncminally to do the duchess
honor. ! could hear in the next room
the cheerful voices of my friends
What happiness 1T was to live. What
happiness to be loved! How very,
very good and beautiful and glorious a
world seemed the world to me on that
old May morning In that quaint Ger
man town which we had entered so
oddly!
AS I turned from the windows full
of thankfulness, my eyes met those of
Mistress Anne, who was sitting on the
Tar side of the sick mans couch, the
baby In q cradle beside her. The risk
and exposure of the last week had
made a deeper mark upo her than up
on any of us. She was paler, graVer,
older, more of a woman and less, much
less, of q girl. And she looked very
Ill. Fer eyes, In particular, seemed to
have grown larger, n as they dwelt
on me now there was a strange and
solemn light in them, under which l
grew uneasy.
You hav been wonderfully pre-
served" h said presently, speaking
dreamily. and as much to herself as to
me.
II have, indeed I answered. think
fng she referred only to my escape of
the morning.
But she did not.
There was, firstly, the time on the
river when you were hurt with the
oar" she continued, gazing absently at
INC, her hands in her lap. "and then
h night when you saw Clarence with
Dynphna."
"Or, rather, saw him without her."
j ~interposed, smiling. 1t was strange
that she should mention 1t as a fact,
when at the time she had SO scolded
me for making the statement.
And then" she continued, disre-
gardfng my Interruption, there was
the time when you were stabbed in
The passage, and, again. when you had
the sk1rmish by the river, and then
today you were within a minute of
death. You have been wonderfully
preserved"
II have" / assented thoughfully.
The more as I suspect hat I nave to
thank Master Clarence for all these lit
tie adventures"
"Strange-very s~trange!" she NUT
tered. removing her eyes from me that
h might fix them on the floor.
What Is stranger"
The abrupt questioner was the
duchess. who came bustling in at the
moment. What Is strange ?' she re-
peated, with a heightened color and
dancing eyes. Shall / tell your" She
paused and looked brightly at me.
holding something concealed behind
her. I guessed In a moment, from the
aspect of her face. what 1t was-the
letter which ! had given to Master
Lindstrom In the morning. and which,
with a pardonabIe forgetfulness. / had
failed to reclaim.
@ I turned very red, sit was not in
1ehded for Q to now / said shyiy,
story.
sspanh na.p,.
e. | thought. A pretty piece of folly.
NC" she continued as ! opened my
mouth Il am not going to keep your
secret, Sir. You may so Town on your
knees. IT will be of no use. Richard.
you remember Sir Anthony Cludde Of
Cotton End in Warwickshire %
sOh, vel" her husband said rising on
MS elbow. while his face lit up, and i
stood bashfully shifting my feet.
have danced with him a dozen
eyes s~parkling with mischief. .Vell,
sir. this gentleman. Master Francis
Carey. otherwise Won Santonkirch, is
Francis Cludde, his nephew!"
Sir Anthony's nephew 2"
Yes, and the son of Ferdinand
Cludde, whom o also have heard OF,
OF whom the less's-
She stopped and turned quickly, in
terrupted BY q half stifed scream. It
was q scream full OF sudden horror and
ArnaxeIient and fear, and it came from
Mistress Anne. The girl had risen and
was gazing at me with distended eyes
and blanched cheeks and hands
sytretch out to keep me on-gazing. in
portent or some dreadful threat. she
lid not speak, but she began, without
Making her eyes from me, to retreat
toward door.
IS. .Iseity toityl. cried ny lady. stamp
0euCd% to the Rfrl2 Wharf