Middletown transcript., 1912-09-14
CHAPTER XXI.
The staIrwaY Of silver.

loaf; with cap drawn down and half
averted face, he lurched a little for
ward in the darkness, and the senti
nel's weapon fell. "Oh, that's you,-is
it, Henri?' he said in a different tone
stepping back. How did you leave
the fellow?"
Eating the bread and calling for
more!" AS he spoke, the other
stopped, swaying uncertainty; above
the arch, the wick, ill-trimmed, bright.
ened and darkened to the drafts of air
through break and slit Of the old
lamp; and briefly he awaited a favor
able moment, when the flame blew out
until almost extinguished; then with
hand near sword-hilt, somewhat over
briskly, but in keeping with the part,
he stepped toward the arch; through
it, and quickly past the sentinel.
"You seem to have been feasting
and drinking little yourself, tonight,
comrade?' called out the latter after
him. 'I noticed it when you went in,
and But aren't you taking the
wrong way?" AS the other, after start
ing toward the barracks, Strengthened,
and then abruptly wheeled into the
road, running up the Mount.
"Bah!" A moment the young man
passed. Cant a soldier" articulating
with difficulty, "go to see his sweet
heart without"
"Eh bien!" The sentinel shrugged
his shoulders. 1T isn't my business. 1
think, though, 1 know where they'll
put you tomorrow, when they find out
through the guard at the barracks"
To this ominous threat the other
deigned no response, only, after the
fashion of a man 'headstrong in inso-
briefly, as well as in affairs Of gal
lantry, continued his upward way; at
first, speedily; afterward, when be-
yond hearing Of the man below, with
more stealth and as little noise as pos
sible, until the road, taking a sudden
angle, brought him abruptly to an
open space at the foot Of a great flight
of stone stairs.
Broad, wide, broken by occasional
platforms, these steps, reaching up
ward in gradual ascent, had designed
ly, in days gone by, been made easy
for broken-down monarchs or corpu-
lent abbots. Also they had been
planned to satisfy the discerning eye,
Jealous of every addition or alteration
at the Mount. My lord, the ancient
potentate, leisurely ascending in &C.
clesiastical gown, while conscious Of
an earthly power reaching even into
England, could still fancy he was go
ing up Jacobs ladder into realms SUI
pernal. Saint Louis, with gaze be-
nignly bent toward the aerial escalier
de dentelle of the chapel to the left,
might well eXclaim no royal road could
compare with this inspiring and holy
way; nor is it difficult to understand
a sudden enchantment here, or be-
yond, that drew to the rock on three
pilgrimages that other Louis, more sin
ner than saint, the eleventh Of his
name to mount the throne of France.
But those stones, worn in the past
by the footsteps of the illustrious and
the lowly, were deserted now, and, for
the moment, only the moon, which had
escaped from the cloud, exercised
there the right of way; looking square
ly down to efface times marks and
pave with silver from top to bottom
the fight Of stairs. It played, too, on
facades, towers and battlements on
either side, and, at the spectacle-the
disk directly before him-the Black
Seigneur, about to leave the dark and
sheltering byway, involuntarily paused.
Angels might walk unseen up and
down in that efulgence, as, indeed,
the old monks stoutly averred was
their habit; but mortal intrusion on
the argent way could be fraught only
with visibility.
To reach the point he had in mind,
however, no choice remained; the
steps had to be mounted, and, lower
ing his head and looking down, delib-
erately he started. AS he proceeded
his solitary figure seemed to become
more distinct; his presence more OBJ
trusive and his ecloing footsteps to
resound louder. No indication he had
been seen or heard, however, reached
him; to all appearances espionage of
his movements was wanting, and only
the saint with the sword at the top Of
the steeple-guardian spirit of the
rock-looked down, as if holding high
a cleaning warning of that unwonted
Intrusion.
Yet, though he Amew it not, mortal
eye had long been on him, peering
from window Of the abbot's bridge |
spanning the way and joining certain |
long unused chambers, next to the |
Governors palace, with my lady's |
abode. Against the somber background |
Of that covered passage Of granite, the |
face looking out would still have re-
mained unseen, even had the young
man, drawing near, lifted his glance. |
This, however, he did not do; his eyes,
with the pale reflections dancing in |
them, had suddenly fastened them |
selves lower; toward another person, |
not far beyond the bridge; some one
who had turned in from passage on
the other side of the overhead archi-
tectural link, and had just begun to
come down. An old man, with flow
ing beard, from afar the newcomer
looked not unlike one Of the ancient
Druids that, in days gone by, had
lighted and watched the sacred fires
Of sacrifice in the rock. He, too guard
ed his light; but one set in the tall.
pewter lamp Of the medieval watch
man.
Twelve O'Clock and all's-" he be-
gan when his glance, sweeping down,
caught sight of the ascending figure,
and, pausing, he leaned on his staff
with one hand and shaded his eyes
with the other.
A half-savage exclamation Of disapi
pointment was suppressed on the
young mans lips; had he only been
able to attain that parallelogram eof
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