Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1913-10-24
CHAPTER XXI.
Tho stnIrmax Of slIxar

The Stairway Of Silver.
The stiffness OF the moment that
followed was tense; then thickly the
young man answered something ir.
relevant about clown, bottle and
leaf: with cap drawn down and half
averted face. he lurched little for
ward in the darkness, and the senti-
nefs weapon fell. "Oh, that's you, is
it, Henri?" he said in 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 fame 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 feastinR
and drinking little yourself, tonight.
comrade?" called out the latter after
him. II noticed 1t 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
BAIL" moment the young man
paused. Cant soldier" articulating
with difficulty. "go to see his sweet.
heart without"
"Eh bien!" The sentinel shrugged
his shoulders. "It isn't my business /
think. though. l know where they'll
put you tomorrow. when they find out
through the guard at the barracks"
To this ominous threat the other
foeigned no response. only. after the
fashion OF man headstrong In inso.
briefly. as we'll as in affairs of gal
aantry, continued his upward way: at
nrat. speedily; afterward, when be-
yond hearing OF the man below. with
more stealth and as little noise as DOS
siole. until the road, taking a sudden
angle, brought him abruptly to an
open space at the foot of great flight
OF stone stairs.
Broad, wide. broken by occasional
platforms. these steps, reaching up
ward In gradual ascent, had designed
iiy. In days gone by, been made easy
Tor broken-down monarchs or corpu-
lent abbots. Also they had been
planned to satisfy the discerning eye,
Jealous OF every addition or alteration
mt the Mount. My lord, the ancient
.potentate. leisurely ascending in &c.
ciesiastical gown, while conscious OF
an earthly power reaching even into
England, could still fancy he was go
Ing up Jacobs ladder into realms gu.
ipernAl. Saint Louis, with gaze be-
aisnly 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 1t difficult to understand |
sudden enchantment here, or be. |
yond, that drew to the rock on three |
pilgrimages that other Louis. more sim
her than saint the eleventh OF his
came to mount tho 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
yhere the right Of way; looking square.
sy down to efface times marks and
pave with silver from top to bottom
the flight OF stairs: 1t played, too, on
towers and battlements on
either side, and. at the spectacle-the
disk directly before him---the Black
about to leave the dark and
byway. involuntarily paused
Angels might walk unseen up and
down IN that sftuissnoe. aa. indeed.
the old monks Etoutiy aysrsd was