The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1924-02-04
CHAPTER IL
-Ibemarle's Antechamber

AIbemarle's Antechamber
Through the noisy hustle of PauPs
Yard the Colonel took his way. He
moved with a certain arrogant. swag,
gering assurance, despite his shabby
hnery.
Below Ludgate. in that evil valley
watered by the Fleet ditch, there were
hackney-coaches in plenty and. con-
sidering the distance which he must
go and the desirability Of coming to
MS destination clearly shod, Colonel
HOLES was momentarily tempted. He
oethought him-and sighed YEARLY
over the reflection-of the alarming
hghtness Of his purse and alarming
heaviness Of his score at the PauTs
Head, where he had so culpably lacked
the strength of mind to deny himself
any Of those luxuries with which in
the past month he had been lavished.
and for which, should AlbemarIe fail
him in the end, he knew not how to
pay. There was that ruby in his ear.
a jewel that being converted into gold
should keep a man in ease for the
best part Of a twelvemonth For fif-
/ teen years and through many a stress
/ Of fortune 1t had hung and glowed
/ there amid his clustering gold-brown
hair. He attached to that bright gem
a sentimental value that had become
| a superstition. There had grown up
In his mind the absolute conviction
| that this jewel, the gift of an I'M
| known whose life he had arrested on
J the black threshold of eternity, was
a talisman and something more-that
as 1t had played a part in the for
tunes of another, so should it yet play
part in the fortunes of himself and
of that other jointly There abode
with him the unconquerable feeling
I that this ruby was a bond between
! himself and that unknown, a lodestone
/ that should draw each to the other
/ ultimately across a whole world of OBJ
! stacles and that the meeting should
/ be mutually fatefuI.
There were times when, reviewing
the thing more soberIy, he laughed
/ at his crazy belief. Yet, oddly
enough. those were never the times
in which dire necessity drove him to
contemplate its sale. So surely as
he came to consider that. so surely
did the Old superstition, begotten of
and steadily nourished by his fancy,
SEIZE upon him to bid him hold his
hand and suffer all but death before
thus purchasing redemption.
Therefore was il that, as he took
his way now up Fleet Hill, he left
that jewel out of his calculations in
his assessment of his utterly made.
quate means.
Westward through the mire of the
Strand he moved, with his swinging
soldierly stride, and SO. by Charing
Cross. at last into Whitehall itself.
Down this he passed toward the
cheQuered embattled Cockpit Gate
that linked one side of the palace
with the other.
1t was close upon noon, and that
curial thoroughfare was more than
! ordinarily thronged, the war with
Holland-now an accomplished fact
being responsible for the anxious,
feverish hustle hereabouts.
/ Opposite the Horse Guards the
/ Colonel~came to a momentary halt on
/ the skirts OF knot Of idlears. stand
| ing at gaze to observe the workmen
| on the palace roof who were engaged
/ in erecting there a weather-vane. A
! gentleman whom he questioned in
formed him that this was for the
convenience Of the Lord High Ad.
miral, the Duke of York, so that his
grace might observe from his win
dows how the wind served the
plaguey Dutch feet which was ex.
! foH -
hour.
Colonel HOLES moved on, CHANGING
across at the windows Of the banquet
ing house, whence, as lad Of twenty.
a cornet Of horse some sixteen wears
ago. he had seen the late King step
forth into the sunlight of a crisp jan
uary morning to suffer the loss of his
head. And perhaps he remembered
that his own father. long since dead
and so beyond the reach Of any Stuart
vengeance-had been one Of the sig
natories Of the warrant under which
the deed was done.
He passed on. from the sunlight into
the shadow of Holbein's noble gate
way. and then. emerging beyond. he
turned to his right, past the Duke of
dOhHlouth iouSlhS INTO the court
yard OF the Cockpit. where the Duke
Of Albemarle had his residence Here
his lingering doubt on the score of
whether his grace were yet returned
to Town was set at rest by the hustle
in which he found himself But there
remained another doubt; which was
whether his grace, being now returned,
'wouS eondescend to receive him. Six