The Washington herald., 1911-08-19
THE PURCHASE PRICE
By EMERSON HOUGH.

of my presence He was restrained,
none the less, by this raiment here Of
another. SO mysterious. All, II he
''Tais-toi done, Jeannei" exclaimed her
mistress. mo moreI We shall stay un-
til tomorrow, at least"
And SO the day passed. The sleepy
life Of the old plantation went on about
sued. oppressed, but for the time left
alone in some hiding place. gains greater
courage with each moment Of freedom
from pursuit, so Josephine st. Auban
gained a groundless hope with the pass
Ing Of the hours. Even the long night
at length rolled away. Jeanne slept In
her mistress room. Nothing occurred
to disturbe their rest
1t was evening Of the second day, and
the shadows again were lying long
across the valley, when there came slow.
ly filing into view along the turn Of the
road the band Of returning riders. AT
their head was the tall form Of Dun.
wody. the others following, struggling,
dropping in their saddles as though from
long hours Of exertion. The cavalcade
slowly approached and drew up at the
front door. AS they dismounted the
faces Of all showed haggard, worn, and
stern.
There has been combat. madamer'
whispered Jeanne. See, he has been
hurt. Look-those othersw
Dunwody got out Of his saddle with
difficulty. He limped as he stood now.
slender man near him got down un-
aided, a tall German-looking man fol-
lowed suit. The group broke apart and
showed girl riding, bound. Some one
undid the bonds and helped her to the
ground.
All Of these things were apparent from
the vantage ground Of the upper story
window, but Josephine, unwilling to play
at spying, saw none Of 1t. At last, how.
ever, an exclamation from Jeanne caused
her to hasten to the window. Mon
Dieu. madame, Madame, look-it is that
offlcer-it is Monsieur lie capitaine Car
Isle! Looki why then,
With no more than a glance, her mis-
tress turned, flung open the door Of the
room. hurried down the stair. passed
out OF thePhall and so fronted these new
comers at the gallery. They stood silent
as they saw her. She herself was first
to speak.
What are you doing with that wo-
man7' she demanded.
They all stood in silence, looking at
her. at this apparition Of woman
a young and beautiful woman-here at
Tallwoods, where none had known Of
any WOIndu tHeSe u1duS years. SldytOQ
himself made no comment. The Honor
able William Jones smiled broadly.
Dunwody removed his hat. "Gentlemen."
said he, this is the Countess st. Auban,
who has come to see these parts Of the
our country, Madam" he added, 'this
Is, Judge Clayton. He was on the Mount
Vernon with US. Lieutenant Kam-
merer. I think, is the name Of this gem
tlemen who came down here to teach US
a few things. There has been some
fighting. Mr.. Yates-Mr,, Jones. And
this gentleman''-he stepped back SO that
Carlisle might come into view-'T think
you already know"
'T knowed It! I knowed itr' broke II,
the Honorable William Jones. II seen
ali along there was woman In this
house. said
Josephine turned to him swift glance
There Ii lady in this house,
Yes" broke out Carlisle. and all Of
you remember It. Don't knowl Ma
dam, what are you doing herer'
kind words from my former jailer7
&c." She rewarded him none too much
for his quick sympathy. Then. releuting
"But at least you were better than this
new jailer. Are you. too. . prisoner?
I can't understand al this"
"But, you're hurt Madam" BEGAN
carlisIe. How b thatf Have you also
been attacked by these rufaansf / did
not dream Dunwody was actually %
much Z rufaan."