Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1913-07-02
cHAPTlER XXI. .
The Stairway Of Silver.

4 followed was tense: then thickly the
young man answered something ir-
q relevant about a clown, a bottle and a
Il Loaf; with cap drawn down and half
I. averted face, he lurched little for
7: ward in the darkness. and the senti-
4 ners weapon fell. Oh, that's you, Is
4 1t, .Henri? Z" he said In a different tone,
I stepping back. How 4 did you leave
II the fellow? Ss55 y !.
Eating the bread and calling for
more!" AZ he spoke. the other
stopped, swaying uncertainty; above
U the arch, the wick, ill-trimmed, bright
a ened and darkened to the drafts OF air
through break and slit Of the old
Il lamp; and briefly he awaited favor
II able moment, when the flame blew out
until almost extinguished;; then with
u hand near sword-hilt,s somewhat over
4 briskly. but in keeping with the part,
\ he stepped toward the arch; through
\ 1t, and quickly past the sentinel.
v GU seem to have been feasting
and drinking q little yourself, tonight.
lcomrade called out the latter after
him, 81 noticed It when you went in,
Sand - IN But aren't you taking the
wrong waN1'''EAs the other, after start
q Ing {ltssasu .s.f.sSb cks, Strengthened.
\ and then abruptly Wheeled Into the
I road, running up the Mount. 4!
i tsa 81 BAH 4 moment the young man
\ passed IS Can't g solder, art circulating
with difficulty 10 to see his sweet
heart without l,I3T &.
Eh Sbiep! !" The sentinel shrugged
his zshou.. ders. MS It isn' t my. business. i
think ~ a. though. II know where they'll
y pvt Flu tomorrow. when they find out
\ through the guard ct the barracks
TO this ominous threat the other
8deigned no response. only, after the
l fashion OF a man theadstrong in inso-
A briefly, as well as IN affairs Of gal
glantry, continued his upward way: at
n drst, speedily; afterward. when be-
syond hearing Of the man below, with
more stealth and as little noise as Dos
Ssible. until the road. taking q sudden
angle. brought him abruptly to an,
i open space at the foot OF a great flight.
;fof stone stairs ~ Il 4 sls ~ rs! .s35
Broad, wide, broken by occasional
platforms, these steps, reaching up
ward in gradual ascent, had designed
ny, 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
Spotentate, leisurely ascending in &C.
Sclesiastical gown, while conscious of
4, ~, ~ v,r,1,y 70 ~ " a. <,1y,, {n%,
Y England, could still fancy he was go,
ing up a Jacobs ladder into realms su-
pernal. Saint Louis, with gaze be-
nignly bent toward the aerial escalier
de dentelle OF the chapel to the left,
migh well exclaim no royal road could
compare with this inspiring and holy
way; nor is it difficult to understand
q sudden enchantment here, or be-
yond, that drew to the rock on three
5pilgrimages that other Louis, more sim
ner than saint, the eleventh of his
name to mount the throne Of France.
Il But those stones, worn in the past
BY the footsteps Of the illustrious and
tho 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
" down to efface times marks and
pave with silver from top to bottom
he flight Of stairs. It played, too. on
,acades, towers and battlements on
either side, and, at the spectacle
disk directly before him-the Black
Beigneur, about to leave the dark and
\ sheltering byway, involuntarily paused.
Angels might walk unseen up and
down In that eftulgence, as, indeed,
sthe old monks stoutly averred was