The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1918-05-18

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the palace were not unaccustomcu K
such shroudcd figures slipping ou
from its gloom to light, and perhaps t
love.
Before she left, She looked about
the room. What assurance had She
that this very excursion was not q
trap and that in her absence the vault
would not be looted again? 1t con,
tanned now something infinitely val.
liable and incriminahng-the roll of
film. She glanced abAut, and seeing a
silver vase Of roses burriedly emptied
the water out, wrapped the film III
oiled paper, and dropped it down
among the stems.
The Street of the Wise Virgins was
not near the palace. Even by walking
briSkly she was In danger Of being
late. The wind kept her back, too.
Then, at last, the Street of the Wise
Virgins and the tiacre, standing at the
curb. with driver wrapped in rugs
against the cold of the February night,
and his hat pulled down over his eyes.
The countess stopped beside him.
you are expecting a pasSengerY
"Yes, madame"
With her hand on the door, the
countess realized that the fiacre was
already occupied. AS she peered into
its darkened interior, the shadow re-
solved itself into cloaked and masked
figure. She shrank back.
Enter, madame" said a voice.
The figure appalled, her. 1t was not
sufficient to know that behind the
| horrifying mask which covered the en-
tire face and head, there was q hui
man figure, human pulses that beat,
human eyes that appraised her. She
heSitated.
Quickly" said the voice.
She got in, shrinking into a corner
OF the carriage. Her lips were dry,
the roaring of terror was in her ears.
The door closed.
Then commenced a drive of which
afterward the countess dared not
think. The figure neither moved nor
spoke. Inside the carriage reigned the
most complete silence. Then the car
riage stopped, and at last the shrouded
figure moved and spoke.
Il regret, countess, that my orders
are to blindfold you.y
She submitted ungracefully, while
he bound black cloth over her eyes.
He drew it very close and knotted it
behind. In the act his fingers touched
her face, and she felt them cold and
clammy. The contact sickened her.
Your hand. madame"
She was led out of the carriage, and
across soft earth, a devious course
again. as though they avoided small
obstacles. Once her foot touched
something low and hard, like marble.
Again, in the darkness, they stumbled |
over mound. She knew where she |
was, then-in a graveyard. But |
which? There were many about the
city.
An open SPACE, the opening Of a
gate or door that squeaked softly, q
flight of steps that led downward, and
breath of musty, cold air, damp and
cellarlike.
AT last, still In unbroken silence, she
knew that they had entered large
space. Their footsteps no longer
echoed and reechoed. Her guide
walked more slowly, and at last paus-
ed, releasing her hand. She felt again
the touch of his clammy fingers as he
united the knots Of her bandages. He
took it off.
At first she could see little. When
her eyes grew accustomed, she made
out the scene slowly.
A great stone vault, its walls
broken into crypts which had con-
tanned caskets of the dead. But the
caskets had been removed, and were
piled in corner, and in the inches
were rifles. In the center was pine
table, curiously incongruous, and on
1t writing materials, cheap clock,
and pile of documents. There were
two candles only, and these were stuck
IN skulls-old brown skulls so infinite
" removed from all semblance to the
human that they were not even hor-
rible. 1t was as If they had been used,
not to inspire terror, but because they
we're at hand and convenient for the |
purpose. In the shadow, ranged in a ,
were nine figures, all mo- .
ionless, all masked, and cloaked in
black. They sat, another incongruity,
IN plain wooden chairs. But in spite
If that they were figures of dread.
The one who had brought her made s
he tenth. r
Had she not known the past record l
# the men before her, the rather opera {
'ouffe setting with which they lose T
o surround themselves might have
lroused her scorn. But Olga Loschek c
NEW too much. She guessed shrewd- l.
y that, with the class of men with S
whom they dealt, it was not enough Q
hat their name spelled terror. They q
must visualize 1t. They had taken /
heir cue from that very church, in I
Iced, beneath which they hid. The p
hurch, with its shrines and images, t
ppealed to the eye. They, too, ap-
'ealed to the eye. Their masks, the
arefully constructed and upheld S
1ystery Of their identity, the trappings
t death about them-it was skillfully L
one. s.
Still no one smoke. Tho countoss II