Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1914-04-23
CHAPTER xxxI.-contlnued.

Prince Louis saw the dawning OF
CONSERVATION. Rapidly he considered
Was IL we'll to take away a mans hap
piness and courage just before fight?
He remembered some words Of Fran.
whose dramatic baroness had struck
him. when a knight of the old time
went INTO battle" the young man had
said. che wore on his helmet the badge
of his lady. and the thought of her in
his heart. A man fights better So"
Very we'll This blind knight should
have his Letter, With the meaning he
and he should fight tomorrow with the
thought OF her in his heart. The let
ter suggested another meaning to So
phisticated Louis Bonaparte, but there
is no need to hasten the feet of un-
happiness. The resonant French voice
spoke at last In an unused accent Of
cordially and the Prince lied. with
ungrudging graciousness.
Mistaken, my Francois! Not at all
The little billet-doux breathes love for
you In each line-there is no question!
But, mon ami, you have not finished
your story" So Francois explained
about the letter left with Lucy Hamp-
ton and its premature sending. THAT
has reached her now--she knows now
that | love her. she knows what has
really been my lifelong wish-she has
hurried this" and his hand crushed
the note tenderly--"she has hurried
this to me before the fight--that |
might know her love also--that !
might fight better for you, my Prince
--Louis-with that JOY in my heart"
Prince Louis. his head thrown back,
his expressionless eyes watching the
rings OK smoke which he pulled from
his mouth-ring after ring. mounting
in dream-like procession to the low
ceiling, considered again. Somewhere
jn the chain of events of this love-
affair his keen practical sense felt a
link that did not fit-a link forced into
connection. Vaguely he discerned how
It was-something had happened to
the Virginian letter-there had been
a confusion somewhere. To him the
four words OF Alixe's postscript were
final. "Pietro sends his love" A sub
conscious reasoning made him certain
that Pietro would not have come into
such a letter II it had been indeed a
1ove-letter; that the three lines of
writing just before the battle could
not have held another mans name, II
they had been written to the man
whom she loved. Very dimly, very
surely the Prince concluded these
things; and then he lowered his cigar,
and his gray dull eyes came down
from the ceiling and rested, kindly on
the radiant face. You are right, my
friend It was an exquisite thought of
your lady-love to put this other weap-
on. this bright sword OF happiness into
your hand, to fight with tomorrow.
Mon Dieu, we win reward her by send.
ing her back Marshal's baton by
you; Marshal's baton. tomorrow,
Francois! How would 1t sound, par
example, to say Madame la Mare
chalet"
The light from Francois eyes was
like lamp.
my Prince-Sire-ther are three
things have desired all my life, all
great things, but of them that one
the baton Of a Marshal-is the least
If might win her love-I have said |;
IL ] might help put you in Napoleon s
place and shout 'Vive IEmpereur' for
you on the throne of France; II ]
might fulfill the Emperor's prophecy
and be not Marshal some day any
longer but Marshal of your empire
1t is asking much of one lifetime, above
all for man born a peasant, is 1t
not? Yet of those three wishes one
wonderful fulfllment has come to me"
he gripped his letter closer-"and
one, believe tomorrow brings. Be
fore tomorrow night"-his great eyes
were lifted toward the ceiling of the
room, and In them was the rapt look
of the child of<the farmhouse in the
Jura, look of seer Of visions, look