Year: 1865

for the door, thinking the Red Hat to be il


a state of delirium but the other calleC


him back


'Tis not |, unfortunate, that thou mus
fly" he said Escape rather from this


horrible neighborhood. Listen to what


say. The merciless Cardinal had doubt


less condemned you without a hearing; anc


1t would have been my task to execute the


sentence ; for Yes, | whose hand you


have pressed whose life you have saveC
Il who have eaten and drank with you
y am the most miserable, the most


abandoned the most accursed of mankind


] am the eXecutioner of Chartres"
lie paused for "a moment, keenly eyeing
his companion, who brave and honest as
he was, could not Danish from his counte.
nance the expression of repugnance he felt
at being on familiar terms with the abhor-
red headsman


l. You may well shun me-" continued the
Red Hat, gloomily But fate has decreed
that we must yet have some further COM
munion before we part forever. Every
time that his eminencc has deed of secret
vengeance to consummate | am summoned
to the chateau. At this inn | always
alight. The villagers know me and my
Red Hat well, and shudderingly avoid me
They call this inn the House of the Heads
man, and sometimes the DEVILS Inn"
"l don't wonder at it - muttered the Door
Rochellois.


| But fear nothing" continued the Red
Hat although every thing concurs to
point out that you were the person | was
sent for to execute, it may be some other
victim that awaits my axe Come, have
your horse led forth. | must convey you
to place Of safety"


But you are wounded" urged the Ro-
chcllois.


mere scratch with a drought of
strong cordial | shall be strong and valid
again Strong enough" he continued, with
his ugly smile, for my work tonight, if
work there be. Come, dispatch p


As, with many groans and murmurs, the
lately wounded man arose, and the two left
the chamber, they found the inn-keeper on
on the staircase He sought to give them
the slip, and had evidently been listening
to their conversation.


The Red Hat was accustomed to act
promptly. He seized the inn-keeper by the
throat, pinned him up in the angle of the
stair, and whispered to him


Son of dog, and nephew Of SOW
dare to speak one word concerning our
conversation, and | denounce thee to the
Cardinal for harboring traitors, and thy
neck is not worth an hours purchase! Swear,
issue of NANCY swine !"


The inn-keeper, halfterrified out of his
wits, swore as he was commanded /; but
the Red Hat kept his eyes sharply upon
oil Of ho
Inn. There was need to employ every
precaution; for the lower room was by
this time full Of company of arquebusiers,
| the body-guard of his eminency The Red
Hat watched the commandant of the band
draw the host on one side and apparently
interrogate him but his answers seemed
perfectly satisfactory, and the two travel
ers were permitted to depart.
They started at gallop, and were soon
Immersed in the forest Of Butard, leading
| toward the Chateau of Ruel


Suddenly the Red Hat reined i'll his horse,
aud pointing out to his preserver the
gloomy dwelling Of the Cardinal, said


"Mark well that turret in the centre,
high up yonder, with the pointed roof
Mark well that little arched window with
grated bars before it. 1t can only be seen
from the place where we now are. In that
turret the dreadful DEGREES of Richelieu
the sentences from which there is no
appeal-are executed When my bloody
task is accomplished a trap door opens,
| and the headless corpse falls hundred
feet into a vault filled with quck-Iime
Every trace of the tragedy thus disappears.
Remain here for one hour. Keep yourself
concealed behind the trunk of this wthered
elm. If during that hour you see Eight
glmmering from that arched window, you
may assure yourself that have been sum
moned not on your account, but on that of
some other unhappy victim In that case
you may present yourself without fear be-
fore his eminence for it never happens
that am sent for to ply my hellish trade
twice in the same night. But if during the
hour the light does not appear. you are the
destined victim, you are the victim waited
for. Clap spurs to your horse, and make
the best of your way to the frontier, or you
will be captured and the Lord have mercy
on you p


And so saying, and just interchanging
one hearty grip with his friend the Red
Hat rode away. The burgess of La Ro-
chelle never saw him again.


He waited an hour--a year it seemed to
him--behind the trunk Of the withered elm;
but no light appeared ia the little arched aCin-
do,U. He, then, was the wretch condemned
to death With cold sweat bedewing
him, and picturing to himself the argue
busters of the terrible Cardinal securing
the country in every direction to bind him
and lead him to the slaughter, he urged his
horse into gallop, and sped, as though
the fend who was said to be the patron of
the inn of ST. Nicholas were behind him, in
the direction of the northern frontier He
could not quite convince himself that his
head was safe upon his shoulders till he
found himself, two days afterward, at Huy,
! Flinders.


Mrs PARTINGToN has addressed us the
following appeal Perhaps you don't know
that Isaac has gone to the contented field !;
he was grated last fall in one of the wings