The Washington herald., 1911-03-06
CHAPTER XIV.
The Dupc.

The Dupc.
The next morning Fitzgerald found
| Cathcwe's note under his plate. He
opened it with a sense of disaster.
My Dear Old Jack:
| I'm OF. Pound a pony and shan Jog N Aj1oI,
By the route We came Pleas take my IussaEe tnc
| my trunk sent ashore. too. | shant 60 back u
America with the admiral. bless his kindly OLE
| heart I'm of To MOmbassa- Always keep shoot
| ing-kit there for euleTgVuceA SlpPnSc yUu !
| understand. Be kind 70 her and help her IN any
| way Vol can. ! hope | shan't run into Breitmann
| / shonId kill him CSIt ri hand. HapTiness to you
| my boy. And maybe I'll ship wa trophy Tor un'
! wedding. Explain my departure in any way yOJ
TIeasc. CAFHh"h-
The reader folded the note and slowed
| it away. Somehow. the bloom was gone
| from things He was fond Of CatheWe
kindly. gentle. brave, and ch!valrous
What was the matter with the woman
| anyhow? How to explain? The simplest
way would be to state that Cathewe had
gone back to Ajaccio. Tho why and
wherefore should he left to the magma
| ton But, oddly enough. no one asked
a second question. They accepted Cath
ewes detection without verbal comment
| What they thought was of no immediate
consequence. Fitzgerald was gloomy till
| that moment when Laura Joined him. To
J her. of course, he explained the situation.
Neither she nor HildeSarde cared to go
| up to the forest. They would find nothing
but a hole. And indeed, when the men
returned from the pines. weary. dusty,
and dissatisfied, they declared that they
had gone, not with the expectation of
finding anything. but to certify fact.
NJ. Ferraud was now in a great hurry.
Forty miles to Corte: night or not. they
must make the town. There was no dis
sension; the spell of the little man was
upon them all
Hldegarde rode alone, in the middle
| carriage. Such had been her desire. She
did not touch her supper. And when late
at night, they entered the gates of Corte
and stepped down before the hotel lights,
Laura observed that Hildegardes face
was streaked by the passage of many
burning tears. She lOnged to comfort
her, but the older woman held aloof-
Men rarely note these things, and when
they do it has to be forced upon them.
Fitzgerald, genuine in his regret for Cath
eve, was otherwise at peace with the
world. He alone of them all had found
a treasure, the Incompatible treasure of
woman's love.
Racing his horses all though the night.
securing for fresh ones at dawn and find
ing them, and away again, climbing,
turning. climbing round this pass, over
that bridge, through this cut, thus flew
Breitmaun, the passion of haste upon
him. BY this tremendous pace he sue
ceeded in arriving at Evisa before the ad-
miral had covered half the distance to
Carghese.
How clear and keen his mind was as
on he rolled! A thousand places wove
themselves to the parent system. He even
laughed aloud, sending a shiver up the
spine of the driver. who was certain his
old padrone was mad. The face of Laura
drifted past him as in dream. and then
again, that of the other woman. No. no;
he regretted nothing, absolutely nothing.
But he had been a fool there; heehad
wasted time and lent himself to a despic-
able intrigue. For all that he outcried it,
there was a touch of shame on his checks
when he remembered that, had he asked
she would have given him that scrap of
paper the first hour of their meeting
Somewhere in Hildegarde Won Mitter lay
dormant the spirit Of heroes. He had
made a mistake
Two millions of shining money, gold,
silver, and English hottest And he laughed
again as he recalled NJ Ferraud, caught
in trap He was clever, but not clever
enough. What a stroke! To make pris-
oners of the party on their return, to
carry the girl away into the mountains!
Would any Of them think of treasures of
conspiracies, with her as hostage? He
thought not In the hue and cry for her.
these elements in the game would fall
to minor place. Well he knew NJ. Fer
rand: he would call to heaven for the
safety Of Laura Love her? Yes! She
was the one women. But men did not
make captives OF women and obtain their
love. He knew the futility of such coer-
cion. He had committed two Or three
scoundreiy acts, but never would he or
could he sink to such a. level No. He
meant no harm at all. Brighten her,
perhaps, and terrorize the others; and
mayhap take a kiss as he left her to the
coming of her friends. Nothing more
serious than that
English nstesi He would have his re-
failure; for the cold and callous policies
of state which had driven him to this
piece of roguery. on their heads be It.
Two thousand in Marseflles, ready at his
beck and CALL thousand more in Avig-
non. IN Lyons, in Dion, and so on up to
Paris, the Paris he had cursed one night
from under his mansard. In week he
would have them shaking in their boots. !
The unemployed. the idlers, thieves. his |
to a man. II he saw his own death at |
the end. little he cared. He would have
one great moment. pay OF the score |
France as well as Germany. He would |
1t least live to see them marrying each |
others threats. To deciare, to France /
that he was only Germanys tool. put |
forward for the sole purpose Of destroy |
ms peace b the midst OF great MIL