San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-03-26
Begin Here Today.

| Colonel HOLES, soldier and adven
land, when war with Holland is de
clared His grace Of Buckingham hire
Holes TO abduct the actress, Sylvis
Farquharson. 1t is dark when thu
| colonel carries her to the house Buck
ingham has rented.
Upon his arrival Holes is Mortified
to see that Sylvia is an old sweet
heart.
Buckingham and Holes engage ir
duel. The servants of the duke rem
der the colonel unconscious.
When Buckingham attempts TO EN-
brace Sylvia her dress falls from her
throat, revealing a purple blotch. token
of the plague so rapidly spreading in
London.
The duke and his servants flee. The
colonel nurses Sylvia and saves her
life. He resolves to write her long
apology and sits through the night
composing manuscript. Now go on
with the story.
He sat back then in his tall chair,
and stared straight before him, man
bemused. considering. Thus awhile
Then from an inner pocket of his
doublet he drew tasscled yellow
glove that was slim and long and sore
ly rubbed and stained with age. He
sighed, and tear, wrung by the angu-
ish of his renunciation from his hard
ened. adventurer's heart, fell on his
hand.
Abruptly then he sat forward, and,
snatching up the quill again, he
scrawled at fierce speed on the foot
of the last Of the written sheets:
Here is a glove that You bestowed
on me in the long ago. / wore it, as
your knight wearing his lady's favor
in the lists bf life, proudly by the right
of your gift and my unsullied honor.
For years it was an amulet to main
tain that honor still unsullicd against
all trials and temptations. Now that
it has failed Of this purpose through
my own cOwardice and unworthiness,
you may not wish me to retain it
longer"
That transcription it is hardly
to be termed a lctter-still survives.
Its faded characters cover some 30
pages of paper that the centuries have
tinted yellow. 1t has been-as You
will surmise--in my possession. 1t has
supplied me with more than the mere
elements of this history. which with
out it could never have been written.
He folded the sheets together. en-
closing the glove within them, wrapped
a thread Of silk about the package,
and on the knot of this he made
disc of wax which he sealed with his
thumb. He supefscribed the package.
-, Af.za Sr1-
vester," and stood it there on the table
against the stem of the candfe-branch
within view of the first person who
should enter that room.
Next he drew forth his still we'll
filled purse, and emptied its contents
on to the table. One-half he replaced !:
of the other he made two packets.
addressing one to DR.. Beamish and
the other to Mrs. Dallows.
Softly then he pushed back his
chair. and rose. He tiptoed to the win
dow, and peered down into the sha-
dows where the watchmen kept his
post. dropped in corner of the pad
locked doorway. A sound Of snoring
came to inform HOLES that, as he
had reckoned. the fellow slept.
HOLES went back. He took up his
hat and cloak. Then, acting upon a
sudden thought. he sought his baldric,
and to the empty scabbard that was
attached to it he fitted the slender
dress rapicr that Buckinham had left
behind him.
Having passed the baldric over his
head and settled it on his shoulder, he
blew out the candles, and moment
later he was Mt the window again.
He scarcely made a sound as he
straddled the window sill; then very
gently he let himself down, until he
hung at full length. his toes not more
than three feet above the kidney stones
of the dark. empty. silent street. He
dropped very lightly, and, as he was
wearing no spurs, he made practically
no noise. at all. At once he set off
in the direction Of Sermon Lane.
Nevertheless, the evasion of HOLES
had not gone as entirely unperceived
as he imagined. Slight as had been
the noise he made, yet it had reached
the window of the room Immediately