Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-08-03

| ties chamber 1t was closed. and the
rope had disappeared. MY safety was
no longer in the hands of the Queen
of Navarro. She had pointed out
the way for me- and had brought me
thus far: henceforth. | had to rely
on myself.
l shivered In the cold. / had left
my large cloak beside the dead body
of Nj. de Noyard the previous night,
and had worn To the Louvre, in the
morning, only a light mantle by way
OF outer covering.
BLESSINGS on the night for being
so dark. and maledictions on 1t for
being so cold" II muttered. as /
turned towards the river.
had reached the Hotel dc Bour-
bon, when / heard, behind me, the
sound of footsteps in accord. | look
| ed back IL was a body Of several
armed men. two OF them bearing
torches.
Were they gendarmes of the watch
or were they guards of the King?
What were they doing on my track.
and had they seen me?
| Probably they had not seen me. for
they did not increase their gait. al
| though they came steadily towards
me- The torches, which illuminated
everythin@ r them, served to blind
them to " was at "a distance from
| them.
] Fortunately. l had reached the end
of the street, and SO | turned ca ast-
ward and proceeded along the quay.
high walls on one side OF me, the river
on the other. It had been impossible
| for Marguerite to indicate to me the
| exact place at which the boat was to
/ be in waiting. l did not think ii best
| therefore. 10 go TO the edge Of the
| quay and look for the boat while the
soldiers were in the vicinity. They
might come upon the quay at the
moment of my embarking, and in
that event, they would certainly in
vestigate. So / walked on along the
quay
| Presently | knew. by the sound OF
their footsteps. that they. too had
reached the quay. and that they had
turned in the direction that / had
taken. l was still out OF the range
of their torchlight.
How far will / be made to walk
asked myself. annoyed at this in
terruption, and considering il an in
cident of i'll omen / looked ahead.
TO see whittier my walking would
lead me.
| saw another body of gendarmes.
likewise lighted by torches. just
emerging from a streets end. some
distance in front Of me. They turned
and came towards me.
stopped. feeling for an instant as
if all my blood. all power Of motion,
had left me. Great God" ! thought,
Il am caught between two rows Of
teeth"
j must wait no longer 10 seek the
boat. Would God grant that it might
be near. that / might reach il before
either troop should see me?
ran to the edge Of the quay and
looked over into the river. OF all the
boats that lay at rest there, not one
in sight was unmoered, not one con
tained boatman!
The two bodies Of men were ap-
preaching each other. In a few sec
onds the two areas of torchIight would
merge together. On one side were
walls, frovning and impenetracle; on
the other was the river.
/ took on my sword and dagger,
on account of their weight. and drop
ped them with their sheathes into
the river. I started 10 undo the
fastening of my mantle, but the knot
held my fingers became clumsy, and
time pressed. So ] gave up that at
tempt. threw away my hat. let my
self over the edge Of the quay, and
slid quietly into the icy water.
Immediately dived, and presently came
TO the surface at sorpe distance from
the shore ] then swan for the
middle OF the river. God knows what
powers within me awoke to my neces-
sity / endured the cold, and found
strength TO swim in spite of the
clothes that impeded my movements
and added immensely to my weight
To BE Continued.