Evening star., 1908-01-26
IN MARY'S REIGN.

| England is at one with us in a burning
| desire to see WesseN welded to our
| queen But this is where your diplomacy
| from the Lady Ursula. he WILL We hope.
/ naturally turn to the queen. who loves
| him passionately. and-Check.' he added
moving one of his pecesl
Ah. You press me hard. Your lord
ship is skillful player" said the cardinal.
! intently studying the board. ''As for me.
you see seem to move my pawns some-
! what aimessly. For the moment. / wish
| to part his grace of WesseN from Lady
| Jrsula-after that--we shall see
Everingham was silent. A truly bitter
conflict was raging in his simple heart
| Loyalty to his friend. love for his coun-
| Try and an overwhelming anxiety for
| Its welfare cried out loudly within him
| The very thought of meeting Wessex
| face to face at this moment was terrible
/ to him. and yet he would not undo what
| he had already done and would not
| thwart the Span aniard's tortuous schemes
| by betraying them to the duke.
The purpose which lie had in view
| blinded him to everything save the
| hope of its ultimate achievement. At
| this moment he felt that if Nessex
| shared Mary IudorS throne with her so
much that was great and COOL would
come to England thereby that all petty
| considerations of temporary disioyalty
or the reputation OF one innocent wom
4 dl W ohAu HuIIhiS IHlo tt!SI iiill
| canoe.
The very feelings of remorse and of
shame which he was experiencing at
| this moment strengthened hia in his
| faith. for he was suffering keenly and
acutely to the very depths of his honest
heart. and he imagined that ne was
| earning a crown Of martyrdom thereby:
| he believed that by trampling on his
own ,prejudices and jeopardizing his
friendship with the man he loved and
| honored best in all the world lie was
adding to the cause which he held to
be sacred the additional luster of self
/ sacrifice.
| His emineuce no doubt knew all this.
| With his intimate knowledge of the
| foibes of mankind. he found 1t an easy
| task enough to probe the inner thoughts
| of the transparent soul before him. He
| OWNED the young mans doubts and
| fears the battle waged within him
| betwiXt an abstruse political ann and
| his own upright nature. The game was
| continued in silence. Everngham state
of mind being expressed in the one bit
| ter sigh:
| "Ah, ! go away with a heavy neart.
feeling that l have helped to commit IL
| treachery
The cardinal looked benevolently com
passionate. AT heart he was more than
/ glad to think that this blundering En-
/ glishman would be well out of the way.
| Could he have foreseen the marvellous
| turn by which fate meant to aid him
in his intrigue he would never have
made oyertures to so clumsy an ally as
Lord Everingham. But at the time he
| had been driven into a corner through
| the furious jealousy OF the queen, who
had well nigh staggered him.
| His eminence then did not know how TO
act For the first time in his life he had
been completely outwitted by the events
which he himself had helped 10 bring
about They had shaped themselves IN
exact opposition to his keenest eNpecta-
/ tn adv
! Ursula with whom his volatile grace
was probably by then more chan hal
/ in love. became an almost InsoiVable
| problem.
The queens ultimatum was almost a
| fat His eminence saw himself and his
retnue ignominiousiy quitting the Eng
/ lish court and returning-baffled, van
auished, humbled-to the throne of an in
/ furiated monarch, who never forgave and
always knew how to punish.
| In despair the cardinal had turned to an
ally He knew that his grace was quite
inaccessible. Toward all the foreign am
bassadors the Duke of WesseN was al
ways ensconced behind a barrier o. un-
bendable hauteur and of frigid reserve. 1t
would have been impossible to attack the
/ lady of his choice openly, and in offering
! his own help to Everingnam. his emf
nence vaguely hoped to arrive at some
half-hidden mystery, secret perhaps in
his grace's life which would have helped
! him to strike in the dark.
/ Then Fate interposed: exactly ten min
ute too late. and when the cardinal had
/ already saddled himself with an over
! scrupulous. vacillating. ultra-honest ally.
, He could not now throw him over with
out endangering the success of his own
schemes. and therefore brought all his
powers of discrimination into play. to ef-
! fectually hide the impatence which he
| felt
| The entrance of Don Miguel, Marquis de
Suarez created diversion.
| "Ah, my dear marquis said his emil
nence with sigh of relief your arrival
is most opportune. ! pray you help me TO
| persuade Lord Everingham that we are
not scheming black treachery against His
| Grace Of WesseN."
| Don Miguel came forward. a smile of
| the keenest satisfa ction upon his lips.
why treachery?" he said lightly.
But Everingham. having heard all that
/ there was to know. was now in hurry
! 10 depart. Having made up his mind
/ to go through with his purpose TO the
end, he had but one wish. to turn his
ba cI, upon the events which he had helped
to bring about. and let them take their
| course.
| With it all. he felt a keen antipathy
| for these two plotters who had drawn
cert with these Spaniards. he had an
overwhelming desire to insult them, or
throw his contemp. in their smooth, clever
| faces.
Check and mate my lord cardinal. =
he said driy. he took advantage of
| his eminence's absence of mind to bring
! the game to a successful close. Then
! he rose to go. He was already booted
and spurred for his journey northward.
and had unhtched his sword belt when
settling down to play. While he was
| bucklng 1t on again. Don Miguel APP
preached him.
II entreat you. milor DO not talk of
treachery," said the young spaniard
earnestly. Believe me that in this mat
ter your conscience is oversensitive After
all. what does his eminence propose
| Only this, that for a little while-a few
days only, perhaps-His Grace of Wessex
should be led to believe, through the
testimony of his own eyes, that the Lady
| Ursula Glynde is not altogether worthy
to become Duchess of Wessex. The
which Mirrab will play her part uncon-
sciously. and therefore to perfection. No
one but his grace shall be witness of
| the scene which We propose to enact.
and though his disenchantment will be
| complete. do you think that he will great
| ly suffer thereby Surely you do not
imagine that he has fallen seriously in
4 love with Lady Ursula in one hour. His
owl amour-propre will suffer very
transitory pang ct tout sera dit
| The Duke Of Wessex will never break
his heart or quarrel with a friend for the
sake of a woman added the cardinal in
his smooth. gentle voice.
| Like the bee. his grace fingers over a
flower only whilst he finds the perfume
thinks the Lady Ursula false, he will turn
to some other pretty maid with indul-
gent smile at WomanS frailty.'
| All this sounded plausible enough. and
Lord Everingham. at with his own
conscience. was only too willing to be