The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1909-01-16
Sophy of
kravonia.
g
BY ANTHONY HOPE.
Author Of THE Prisoner Of zsnda-
Copyright 1906. Anthony Hops
Hawkins.
CONTINUED from Last Issue)

u --~-.-% 1870
They mounted ON to the city wall just
by the gate and leaned against the
moldering parapets. Below lay Lake
Talti In the moonlight. and beyond 1t
the masses Of the mountains. Yet while
Sophy talked Dunstanbury's eyes sell
: dom left her face-nay, once or twice
: he caught himself not listening. but
only looking. tracing how she had
grown from Sophy Crouch in her soul
lery to this. He had never forgotten
, the strange girl. Once or twice he and
: Basil had talked OF her. He had re-
scented Lady Meg's brusque and un-
| ceremonious dismissal Of her protege.
In his memory. half overgrown, had
lain the mark ON Sophy's cheek. Now
here she was. In Kravonla. OF all places
Baroness Dobrava. of all peoplel And
, what else, who knew? The train OF
events which had brought this about
was strange, yet his greater wonder
was for the woman herself.
And here we arer' she ended. with
a woful smile. III monseigneur lives
! think we shall win. For the moment
VIC can do no more than hold Volseni.
l think we can do that. But presently.
when he's better and can lead us. we
shall attack. Down IN Slavna they
won't We being ruled by the countess
and Stenovics as much as they expect
Little by little we shall grow stronger"
Her voice rose little. AT last mon
seigneur win sit firm on his throne"
she said. "rhen well see what we can
do for Kravonia It's a fine country
and rich. ord Dunstanbury. and out
side Slavna the people are good ma
terial. We shall be able TO make 1t
very different IL monseigneur lives"
"And II not?" he asked In low
voice.
"what Is II to me except for mon
seigneur? II he dies Her hands
thrown wide in gesture OF despair
ended her sentence.
II she lived and worked for Kravonia
II was for mOnseigaeurs sake. With
out him. what was Kravonia 10 herr
Such was her mood. Plainly she took
no pains to conceal It from Dunstan-
bury. The next moment she turned TO
him. with a smile. "You think | talk
strangely, saying. Wen do this and
THAR Yes, you must. and it's sudden
" become strange to me to say ito
say Il TO you. because you've brought
back the old things TO my mind. and all
this is so out Of keeping with the old
things-with Sophy Crouch and Julia
Robins and MorpinEham. But until
you came II didn't seem strange. Ev-
erythlng that has happened since l
came to this country seemed TO leap up
to ito bring 1t about naturally and ir-
resistibly. l forgot TIL just now how
funny 1t must sound to you-and how
how bad. suppose. Well, you must
accustom yourself 70 Kravonia. It's
not Essex, you know"
eff the king JivesT' he asked.
II shall be with monseigneur N he
lives" she answered.
Yes. II was strange. Yet already,
even now-when be had known her
again for half an hour. had seen her
and talked to her-gradually and In
Eidlously 1t began to seem less strange.
less fantastic. more natural Dunstan-
bury had 10 give himself a mental
shake 20 get back TO Essex and 10 So
ply Crouch. Volseni set old and gray
amid the hills, the king whose breath
struggled with his blood for life, the
beautiful woman who would be with
the king II and so long as he lived
these were the present realities he saw
In vivid immediate vision. They made
the shadows OF the past seem not In
deed dim-they kept all their distinct
ness OF outline In meInory-but In their
turn fantastic and In no relation TO the
actual. Was that the air OF Kravonia
working on him or was IL a woman's
voice, the pallld pride Of a woman's
facef
"In Siavna they call me WITCH" she
said, "and tell terrible tales about this
little mark-my red star-but here In
Volseni they Ike me-yes, and can
win over Slavna. too. II l get the op-
portunity. No. shan't be a weakness
TO monseigneur II he lives"
"You'll be-
"His wife?" she interrupted. yes"
She smiled again-nay. almost laughed.
| i nat seems NOFst OF uil-NOiSe ihdh
anything elseT
! Dunstanbury allowed himself TO smile
too. "Well. yes, Of course that's true"
he said. "Out Of Krayonla anyhow.
What's true In Kravonia / really don't
know yet"
81 suppose It's true in Kravonia. too.
but what | tell you is monseigneur's
will about me-"
He looked hard at her. "You love
him." he asked.
"As my life, and MORE" said sophy
simply.
/ At last Dunstanbury ceased to look
at her. He laid his elbows on the bat
Elements and stood there. his eyes
roaming over the lake In the valley to
the mountains beyond. Sophy left his
side and began TO walk slowly mp and
down the rugged. uneven, overgrown
surface OF the walls.
The moon was sinking In the sky.
There would be three or four dark
hours before dawn. A man galloped up
to the gate and gave n countersin In
return to a challenge; the heavy gates