Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1913-08-06
CHAPTER xI.-contlnued.

DO you know the Due d'Aubigny,
Your Grace?" I asked.
He looked at the picture again be-
fore he answered. felt rather shaky
after the question was out.
"Ah, mademoiselle," he replied, "the
n0rk he bears is not the claw OF a
lion such as you see in the picture,
but a saber cut most ignominious, one
scandal He is my friend am
ashamed for him" And when tried
to look surprised: "Mademoiselle, you
have not heard? He is a thief"
"A thief" / echoed, to gather my
senses and wonder what I would say
next; l felt rather foolish having said
anything about the Due d'Aubigny af-
ter he answered so readily. He is
noble, Your Grace. l ecu not COM
prehend"
"Noblemen may be thieves, madem-
oiselle." He smiled, a quick, flashing
smile, then, Enthusiastically French,
he was sad again. 1T makes fuy heart
ache. He was never Trustworthy, but
ah, he was most lovable. Is It not,
mAdemoiselleY"
81 do not know" l replied. 81 do
not know him"
l had gained nothing except the
knowledge that he knew the Due
d'Aubigny, and had saddened the
poor little duke by the mention Of an
erring friend. hastily spoke of 9TH
er things, the pictures, places we both
knew and loved In his beloved France.
We were there an hour, much to my
amazement, a long, most interesting
hour, and / wondered that I'd ever
been guilty of suspecting him of any
thing but being a splendid little
French duke who couldn't help 1t If
he had an ancient title, and all the
heiresses wanted to marry him. l
hated to think that Natalie-but then
that wasn't any of my business.
There was an end to my happiness
when /, was back downstairs again.
Lydia Abercrombie was deserving her
bridge game, and as the others, Mrs.
Higginson, Jane Bliss, and especially
Natalie, wanted to keep on playing,
Natalie beckoned to me and l, per.
force, must come.
Perhaps we won't be so unfortu.
nate this time" she drawled as |
dropped down into the chair opposite
her. We've had splendid cards, Lydia
and l."
But at the end of an hour, when
Mrs. Higginson and Jane Bliss cried
quits, Natalie totaled up her score and
found she was two hundred dollars
loser. I'm sure she didn't care about
the money; she cared about losing
She looked at me sweetly In her
droopy way.
viii you allow me to give you
some polnts?" she cooed. Not that
am an authority, but perhaps then
we can better understand each 9th
err"
I'll be most grateful" murmured
wishing that she and her silly bridge
were at the bottom Of the sea, or some
such noble thought.
IF you'll come to my room, say, II
half an hour" she drawled, "I'll bt
glad to show you my queer way o.
playing bridge"
l smiled sweetly, getting control o.
myself and ignoring the accented slam
in the last of her speech. was be
ginning to hate her, positively hate
her, and was highly pleased with my
self over the discovery; never
thought was capable of hating AM
one.
At the end of half an hour, Away
punctual-thanks to JOS pounding /
into mel was about to knock OF
Natalie's door when Mrs. Hazard ap
peared and asked me to come witt
her. Hap had come home with
proposition for a crowd of '09's owe
the holiday-the next day was a holi
day-and there was no room for them
But he would go in with John Crown
inshield, and II l would share Laura
suite, we could bunk them all easil.
and 1t would be awfully jolly.
"Why, Of course" l agreed
In two minutes Mrs Hazards mas
ter mind was behind the arrange
ments. I was to keep my sitting