Evening star., 1912-02-04

come to some arrangement You have
twenty-five troopers with you. My wolves
yonder will make their fangs meet in some
of your throats. And then it will be very
unpleasant to the sisters here"
Lepaul blew fragrant cloud to the cell
ing
The Prussian flung his case upon the
table
"Many thanks. l will smoke it later on.
| see that you are adamant, and you force
me to be So beg, therefore, that you will
conduct me secretly to this chapel
| The other turned his cigar in his fingers
meditatively.
"Pray, do not delay, Prince! My revolver
has a way of going off without asking my
permission"
The Commandant took a step toward the
door, then stopped. "There is a secret en-
trance" said he curtly. He wrenched the
bed from its position and pushed back
panel, rotten and wormeaten. From the
| black aperture thus revealed came a flood OF
chilling, unwholesome air.
| "You have your choice" said he. "If you
leave by the door, you will find one of my
men stationed at the foot of the stairs. You
will encounter no interruption this way"
| II accept your word. No, will take the
lamp. Go first, and move very slowly"
A T once Dagobert found himself on a mar
row flight of wooden stairs, terribly
gnawed by rats; but neither those sharp
teeth nor two centuries of dampness had de-
stroyed the wood, which was seasoned oak,
black and hard almost as iron.
| The straight flight ceased where passage
with prolonged slope led into the black
ness. The air was so bad that the lamp
burned low and seemed to be surmOunted
| by colored arc. Glancing to right and left,
the Count passed four quadrangular open
ings, two on each side, in the walls, about a
foot square, covered with an iron mesh
| And he heard the rats run and squeak in
those untenanted cells, or prisons, without
| light, almost without air.
The corridor terminated in large, square
vault, with its sides furrowed with broad,
| deep inches. And in most of these inches,
these shelves of stone, rested the leaden
tombs of long -perished sisters, ensepulchered
| there when the convent had the right to bury
its dead, in this great vault behind the altar.
Dagobert shivered. He was afraid of this
charnelhouse of silent women, of women who
still kept vigil, with patient hands folded,
| immovable as the stone, waiting, in that
| dumb alteration, in that terrible wreckage.
Suddenly he felt his hair stir on his head;
cold dew started from his pores.
"Mother of pity, the prayers of the 7corld
plead for thy co,npdSst0n!"
"Mon Dieu! what is that?" muttered the
Count.
The Prussian had already opened small
iron door at the opposite side of the vault,
into which crept gleam of light that did not
come from the smoky lantern. He pressed
forward, anxious for light and air.
"Hush!' whispered the Commandant,
holding up his right hand. He was looking at
spectacle that filled him with amazement.
| ITO 60 back an hour. The wounded
L Frenchman lay on a mattress on the
stone floor of the chapel, which was lighted
by four tapers that burned upon the high
altar with wavering spires of fame. To and
| fro, to and fro, he rocked his body, making a
little moan with each movement
Suddenly his breathing almost ceased.
His heated eyes dilated; he made an effort
| to raise himself upon an elbow; and over his
pale face swept a wave of color that fled as
swiftly.
He saw gliding toward him woman in a
| white silk evening gown, with cloak thrust
back from her shoulders which were bare
and cleaned white as snow. A necklace
of pearls was round her throat, and in the
| coils of her hair an emerald ornament burned