The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1910-06-23
CHAPTER XVII.
In the Cabin of Madam,

In the Cabin of Madam.
Woman must not belong to herself; she
| is bound to alien destinies.-Friedrichv Won
| Schiller.
With an exclamation of surprise, the
old woman departed from the door.
heard the rustic of a football. | could
have told in advance what face would
, now appear outlined in the candle
glow-with eyes wide and startled.
with lips half parted in query. 1t was
the face of Helena, Baroness Won
Ritz!
'Eh bien! madam, why do you bar
me Out?' l said, as though we had
parted but yesterday.
In her sheer establishment, I pre-
suRe, she let down the fastening
chain and without her invitation |
stepped within. l heard her startled
Mon Dieu!" then her more deliberate
exclamation of emotion my God!"
she said. She stood, with her hands
caught at her throat, staring at me.
laughed and held out hand.
Madam baroness" I said, how
glad l am! Come, has not fate been
kind to us again."
! l pushed shut the door behind me-
Still without a word, she stepped
deeper into the room and stood look
ing at me, her hands clasped now
loosely and awkwardly, as though she
were country girl surprised, and not
the Baroness Helena Won Ritz, toast
or talk of more than one capital of
the world.
| Yet she was the same. She seemed
slightly thinner now, yet not less beau
tiful. Her eyes were dark and brilliant
as ever. The clear features of her
face were framed in the roll of her
heavy locks, as l had seen them last.
Her garb, as usual, betokened luxury.
She was robed as though for some
fete, all in white satin, and pale blue
! fires of stones shone family at throat
and wrist. Contrast enough she made
to me, clad in smoke Drowned tunic
of buck, with the leggings and mecca
! sins of a savage. my belt lacking but
prepared for weapons
Il see, madam" said l, smiling, that
| still l am only asleep and dreaming.
| But how exquisite a dream, here in
! this wild country! How unfit here am
| l, a savage, who introduce the one
discordant note into so sweet a
dream!'
i gestured to my costume, gestured
about me as l took in the details of
! no in oh
swear it was the same as that in
which 1 had seen her at a similar
hour in Montreal! 1t was the same l
| had first seen in Washington!
Impossible? l am doubted? All,
! but do 1 not know? Did l not see?
! the carved Cupids, the candelabra
with their prisms, the chairs, the
couches! Beyond yonder satin cur
tains rose the high canopy of the en-
| brOidery covered couch, it's fringed
drapery reaching almost to the deep
pile of the carpets.
Yet not quite the same, it seemed
| to me. There were some little things
missing, just as there were some little
things missing from her appearance.
For instance, these draperies at the
right, which formerly had cut off the
Napoleon bed at it's end of the room,
now were of blankets and not of silk.
down, but contained, as l fancied from
my hurried glance, thin mattress,
stuffed perhaps with straw. A roll of
blankets lay across it's foot. AS
gaZed to the farther extremity of this
side of the long suite, saw other evil
, dences of change. 1t was indeed as
though Helena Won Ritz, creature of
luxury, woman of an old, luxurious
world, exotic of monarchical surround
ings, had begun insensibly to slip into
the ways of the rude democracy of the
far frontiers.
/ saw all this; but ere had finished
my first hurried glance l had accepted
her, as always one must, just as she
was.
YES" said she at length, slowly,
yes, now believe it to be fate"
She had not yet smiled / took her
hand and held it long. I felt glad to
see her, and to take her hand; it
seemed pledge of friendship; and as
things now were shaping, l surely
needed friend
At last, her face flushing slightly,
she disengaged her hand and motioned
me to seat. But still we stood silent
for a few moments. Have your no
curiosity?' said she at length.
Il am too happy to have curiosity,
my dear madam
you will not even ask me why /
am here?" she insisted.
II know / have known all along.
You are in the pay of England When
l missed you at Montreal, knew you
had sailed on the Modesto for Ore
gon. We knew all this, and planned
for it. have come across by land to
meet you. / have waited. l greet you
now!"
She looked me now clearly in the
face. Il am not sure" said she at