The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1913-01-09

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
laGp; and brieky he awaited 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 feasting
and drinking a little yourself, tonight,
comrade? called out the latter after
him. q 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"
LII bASh' lie StuliIeI SHIuSSGu
his shoulders. 1T isn't my business. I
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
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 fight
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 60
ing up Jacobs ladder into realms 81.
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
~ down TO efface times marks and
pave with silver from top TO bottom
the fight Of stairs. 1t played, too, on
faCades, towers and battlements on
either side. and, at the spectacle-the
nA''tA 80 NNNAs bNACAt A4AllA INC l9ldNh
Seigneur, about to leave the dark and
sheltering byway, Involuntary paused.
| Angels might walk unseen up and
down in that effulgence, 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, DELHI
erately he started AS he proceeded
his solitary figSre seemed to become
| more distinct; his presence more OBJ
trusive and his echoing 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-guanlian spirit of the
rock-looked down, as If holding high
cleaning warning Of that unwonted
/ Intrusion.
| Yet, though he knew 1t not, mortal
eye had long been on him. peering
from a window Of the abbots 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-
/ manned 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 a 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'cfook and all's-" he be-
| gan when his glance. sweeping down.