The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-01-10

Within a few days the announcement of his downfall spread through the capital; but none could gloat over him
 in person for he had departed secretly. For few. days Ruy Bias loitered
 around the court, striving in vain to
 solve the riddle of. Don Salluste's de- signs. He found the little house near
 the palace supplied bountifully with all l that man needed to uphold the charac-
 ter of 2 grandee.
 Each day he went to Caramanchel for the blue flowers, as he had gone when he was only, a lacky. Each night he scaled the wall of the Queens priv ate garden to lay them on her bench. One night he slipped. A pointed spike pierced his hand and wounded him so
 sorely that he left bloody imprint
 on the wall while some of the lace
 of his sleeve remained hanging to the iron point. where the Queen found 1t
 next morning.
 She hid 1t away with the flowers and saved it hs she had saved the uf- signed letter that told her. that in depths of obscurity for beneath her there was man who loved her, a
 man humble and poor. who would give his soul for her happiness. The day after this episode Ruy Bias
 was appointed equerry to the King, through the influence of the Marquis de Santa CruZe. He was ordered to join the monarch at his hunting lodge
 but his stay there was brief. Charles IT. suddely felt gracious and un- wOntedly noble feeling in his breast and decided to send his Queen mes- sage to show her that he thought of her. He dictated note to Ruy Bias and sent him back to- Madrid forth with to deliver it. y'>
 When the Queen was informed with the elaborate ceremony due to so au- gust and splendid a condescension, that
 the King had sent her a letter. she | muttered with gasp of joy: "A let ter from him! It saves mel" In six months the King had spent only twelve days near her side. Un- der the cover of etutte' and ancient rules they had taken away her below ed German books and replaced them with Spanish ones. The birds she had l brought from Germany had died-poi- soned, as she suspected by the Duchess
 d dAlbuerque. Would she play cards with her attendants? The Duchess courtesied humbly and represented
 that the Queen of Spain might play l only with persons of the blood royal. | Would she give a little feast? The old
 Duchess explained promptly that when | the King of Spain is absent the Queen
 dimes alone. Would she go out? Alas! explained the Duchess, it was the rule | that none should open doors before
 her except he be a grandee. and there
 was no grandee in the palace just | then.
 Wearied to death, pining away with
 home sickness, 1t came about naturally that the flowers that she found each
 morning on her bench should become | the very center of her thoughts. They
 spoke to her of all she had left and of | all she lacked. Gradually her reflect | ions occupied themselves with the un- l known donor. She kept the letter and
 read it again and again.
 Her pride as Queen rebelled against her weakness as woman. Many times she determined angrily to toss the mis- | sive and the blossoms into the fire. But
 when she saw the blood on the wall, | and thus knew that the man who loved | her had been wounded for her sake, | she succumbed to a feeling that she | could not analyZe, and treasured the 1 lace as a village girl might have treas
 ured a bow from her lover.
 The news that the King had sent her
 a letter came like a cry to awaken her
 from an ignoble dream Eagerly she
 waited while the train of ladies and | head At the back stood Ruy Bias, who
 had brought it. He was dressed magni- | hcently His tall figure and his keen l nervous face drew the attention of the Queen at once.
 | The Duchess d'Albuquerque present | ed the letter with deep reverence It was opened amid a sacred silence. The Duchess unfolded it and read it to the Queen. It said:
 Madam. the wind is very high here.
 I have killed six wolves"
 Disappointed and humlliated in | equally bitter measure, the Queen look
 ed at her royal husbands love message. | Suddenly she started This is not his handwriting" said she.
 She looked at Ruy Bias and desired
 that he be ordered to approach. He ' stood before her. pale and trembiinS.