Show I AStfS Of 1PIRETI BY ROBERT W CHAMBERS CHAPTER VI tl CONTINUED He went away laughing Burke reappeared at Harewoods N door r doorJim that kid is here May she come in Yes said Harewood listlessly A moment later Red Hiding Hood entered en-tered removed her small wooden shoes and pattered up to him in noiseless cliausscJns saying seriously Bon Jour Monsieur Harewood peut on entrer sll vous plait Indeed YQU may hit said smiling Have you come to pay me another lit tle visit Red Riding Hood shook ber head and stood looking up at him waiting for the kiss that was to her the most Important Import-ant event in her dally life He laughed and held out his hands She put both frail arms around his neck and raised her face This solemn rite accomplished accom-plished the child sighed and nestled closer to his shoulder I have finished the dishes she explained ex-plained I then played with Scheher azade Then I learned my lesson It was arithmetic I was perfect Are you sure Red Riding Hood Yes I repeated it to Mile Hilde She said it was quite perfect 1 then played with Mehemet All the parrot who is my friend I am fond of the parrot Suppose sail Harewood that sometime you were very very hungry would you eat Mehemet AH No Monsieur Why The parrot is my friend Itl would be shameful Harewood laughed aloud and Red Biding Hood looking anxiously at him I laughed to < ra timid joyless little laugh sadder than tears You are right That would not do r Jt all would it2 Tie must never lIdl I ourselves at a friends expenseeven a parrots Here ended the lesson for Harewood flushed and wondering her needlework in her hands Saludan ma dous a diabell he said laughing l I learned Breton in Morbihan mademoiselle Hennez zo eum den a galite she answered saucily also laughing Whoever Who-ever would have believed that an American could speak the Breton tpngue I 1 heard you singing about Sainte Hilde and the little page and all that so Ithqught Id like to hear more of it Could you work just as well here mademoisellg sing too I dont know she said seating herself her-self and passing her needle through a bit of flannej She looked up at him once then dropped Tier lids and began to sew After a silence she looked up again saying Yolette and I are Bretonnes Did you know it I think I suspected he replied smiling Vhy monsieur Yoletteseyes they are the rare Breton blue Besides your songs are always al-ways Finlsterre songs and you know how few French people can speak the Breton language You and Yolette often of-ten speak i when you are alone together to-gether She watched him shyly a little indignant in-dignant that he knew so much more than she could have expected Really she said it would be only just If I understood English when you and 31 Bourke talk together so rapidly I rap-idly trrrrrt Crrr in your Eng I lifch tongue I am displeased moml urI ur-I hall talk no more Breton with Yq letteWill 1eteVi you sing something in Breton for me if I sing you a beautiful little English song Hide Hide laughed outright Yesif you sln first Here goes thpn Its a song Im very fond of and ne began to drone out I Jim Crow Horrid cried Hilde putting both hands over her ears How can you make such sounds li < e June beetles q k THE1 HAVS FIRE D TEE PROPHET found that loyalty an 3 unselfishness were virtues which Ted Hiding Hood would never need to learn from him As for lies the child apparently had iicvei conceived the idea of telling one That lesson too had ended with a laugh and a kiss But alas appropriating appropri-ating pastry was Red Riding Holds besetting sin end it took all of Hare wnods cleverness to explain to her the difference between mine and thine She did comprehend at last and gave him her promise for future abstaining and with this was accomplished the moral regeneration of Red Riding Hood undertaking which jftc all was no very difficult I came said Red Riding Hood to tell you several things Shall I By all means replied Harewood anxiously s Then I will The first is that Iwas perfect in arithmetic I have already told you that The other is that Mile Yolette has gone out She has gone to the market I think The third is that Ue Hide is quite alone in the parlor par-lor lorHarewood Harewood looked at her suddenly a faint color under his eyes Why do you tell me that Red Riding Rid-ing Hood Because said the child I think she would like to have you comedown i come-down Did she say so I No Then why do you think so 1 dont know said Red Riding Hood looking up into his face Hare wood put one arm around the child his eyes were absently fixed on hers After r few moments he said Do you loveHilde Red Riding Hood Yes and you also monsieur < I Me If you do not mind Harewood smiled and said I want you to love me too Red Riding Rid-ing Hood and Mile Yolette and M Bourke Hilde best of all Will you Wii youI dont know said the child whether I love you or Mile Hilde best I must think for a day she continued sedately and then I will tell you Good bye I am going to shell peas Good bye Red Riding Hood said Harewood and will you please come j ain Yes tomorrow She trotted ove to the door put on her wooden shoes turned and said Adieu Monsieur Harewood and went away downstairs tap tap tap over the tiles Harewood shook out his coat washed the ink stains from his hands brushed his hair settled his necktie then took a dozen turns up and down the room Presently he went to Bourkes door and opened I but that young man was again asleep fists doubled up like an infants face buried In the pillow Harewood watched him for a moment preoccupied by his own thoughts after I a while he turned awl down the stairs stepping softy on Bourkes ac count I The door of the parlor wa open Scheherazade Jar on the sfa eyes closed tai trailing on the floor The lioness opened one eye when Harewood entered Immediately closing I however how-ever when he saw who I was Hare wood had never taken any notice of her therefore as a selfrespecting cI lloiv ess she snubbed him Hilde was not In the room but he heard her voice not far away probably In her own bedroom I bed-room She was singing to herself a she often did over her needlework Of all the saints In Brittany L Sainte Hilde I F Sainte Hilde p Is blessed I evermore He dropped Into a chair smiling at I Scheherazade and listening to Hides voice I Pachlk pachlk me fach bihan I Kcs dhc saludln dhc cChompr Ha tacit dehoud ober kompllmant Hide he called suddenly Salud I dach ma douslg Hide There was a silence then Hildes voice In utterastonishment M Harewood Who taught you to speak Breton The next Instant she was at the door around a candle Isnt it pretty demanded Hare wood a little disconcerted He hadnt much voice but he was fond of music and proportionately soulful when he I sang Jim Crow being his favorite and hjs limit he had sung it with an enthusiasm that set Hildes nerves on edge Anyway he said it isnt as ding dong as the French songs Henrlette etait fillo I Dun baron de renom Dune illustrc famllle Etuit lo beau Damon 1 etait fait au tour Elle etait jeune et belle Et duh parfait amour IIs etaient le modem I dont know anything to compare I with that for imbecility he said HHde was laughing so gayly that I Scheherazade woke up cast a reproachful re-proachful glance at them both and loped off into the garden This made Hilde laugh the more and Harewood catching the infection laughed too not knowing exactly why I We are very ridiculous said Hilde gathering up her needlework Her cheeks were aglow with dflicate color her eyes brilliant and fairly dancing with mirth After an interval the sudden sud-den soberness which always follows laughter soon came upon them Hilde resumed her sewing and Karewood leaned back In his chair watching her wistfully Dreaming there in the client room where bars of sunlight lay across the carpet and drowsy lilac buzzed along the window panes there came to them a sense of peace of stillness ot desire fulfilled something they had never before be-fore known nor even wished for She began speaking to him quite i naturally Indolently occupied with her needle now and then raising her head II to look at him resting her clear eyes on his with confidence Such moments are rare in life but they come to all at times when everything seems but the continuation of familiar conditions I long established an unchanging regime regi-me pleasant even in tenor without trouble without desire She told him of the convent of the death of her uncle of her hopes her fears She spoke of Brittany of Carhaix of the Pardon of the Birds and of Salnte Anne dAuray She painted for him in quaint phrases the chapel of Moral Mor-al = the coast of St Gildas the Icelanders Ice-landers and the blessing of the fleet He asked her to sing and she sang the Ar Vinorez deliciously Carmcl Carmel Na vo ket dlmct ar vlnorez Ken vo bet imrdon ar Carmel She told him naively of KerIs that city punished and submerged because of the fault of Ahes daughter of Gard lon the king Quy atH dans la vllle dIssi In deunesse est tenement Joyeuse et si jentends le blniou She recited the Gwerz of Count Gwerto and her eyes filled at the moment mo-ment of peril Seigneur DIet ma flue comment foraton and the reply Allez dans la chambre blanche pnendre de beaux atours All the pathos and mystery of the Bretonne was In her eyes and voice as she paused In her sewing and intoned in-toned for him the Vespers of St GHadas O Vierge glorieuse Marie until he seemed to hear the sea bells tolling oft the cliffs and the long coast swell washing rocking washing where the surf curls in a flurry of settling silver Bands There is something more in Brittany Brit-tany he said vaguely uneasy something besides the waves and the bell buoy and the vespers of the sea At Treguler they have a soon called Little Jadelelne or Madelelnlc Maaclinfk she said her face lighting light-ing up with an Imperceptible smile I is really a chansonnctte for the inn with Us gay refrain Ho Colt jy vals Ho folt je ny vals pas I is yen easy monsieur to see I where you spent your evenings in Treguier He laughed and hummed the dashing dash-Ing chorus Ho fer graon ho fe na naon until she caught the spirit and joined her clear voice to his and they sang the chanson of little Madelalne until between laughter and tears Hilde sank back in protest both white hands closing her ears At he same moment Yolette appeared market basket over her arm a picture of amazement What on earth Is all this about little lit-tle Madeleine she cried Never never have I seen such children never never And monsieur may I ask who taught you my native language Harewood confessed his knowledge while Hilde becoming very serious opened op-ened the basket and made a mental invoice in-voice of its contents Yolette you forgot the pigeons No sad Yolette I did not forget but do rou know they are a little too I dear The butcher said it was because the Germanswere stealing everything sense In the north I told him I was non I think said Harewood that all things are going to be a little dearer in Paris Of course everybody says that we have food enough to last along a-long time even I the Germans should blockade the whole department but i will make thinG more expensive and I only wish to say that you must not bet be-t o indulgent to Monsieur Bourke and aJd myself Hilde looked up at him without answering an-swering 1 her shyness had returned with the return of Yolette Her sister smiled and glanced at the baslet saying say-Ing I think he dinner will be nice even without pigeons She started toward the kitchen but paused to say Oh T forgot to tell you the soldiers arc marching Into the Prince Murat barracks and a comnspy of sailors have brought a cannon and are mounting it on top of the ramparls across the street Harewood frowned and started forte for-te door Hark said Yolette the people are clue ring outside 1 can hear the drums in the barracks Can you Hide where are you going Hide had started with Harewood but now she hesitated looking at Yo lette with troubled eyes IfIf they fire the cannonand I bqrsts she began Of course said Yolette gravely Then why do you go near I Hilde looked blankly at her sister then sat down and bent swiftly over her sewing She had not been thinking of her own safety but Harewoods and turned when scarlet she realized that her cheeks I I CHAPTER IX THE PROPHET When Harewood reached the front door he stood amazed The Rue diprez that broad sunny stre t usually a quiet and deserted as a country street was thronged with people peo-ple from the Pqrte Rouge to the Prince Murat barracks In front of the house the people were silent and attentive all watchlng a swarm of laborers gathering gather-ing around the bastion A company of sailors from the fleet stood leaning on their rifles in front of a strange shapeless shape-less structure that towered Into the air above the bends of the crowd one long steel arm stretched out stark against the sky Beyond it on the rusty rails of the narrow guage track etood a car truck painted blue and on this truck lay s gigantic cannon The gun carriage had already been nlaccd on the circular track sunk Into the cement below the ramparts the terrabsiers were shaving the terrace sodding It along the glacis and piling sacks filled with earth across the angles of the epaulment The rotten gabions and packed barrels that supported the gun terrace were being removed and new ones substituted Locksmiths and carpenters worked in the bomb proofs and the tinkle of chisel and thud of mallet came up half smothered from below Down the street drums were rolling sonorously from the court of the caserne cas-erne and now bugles sounding rifles glittering In the sun a company of infantry in-fantry Issued from the sallyport and marched solidly on to the Porte Rouge their red trousers a long undulating line against the green of the glacis Suddenly above the crowd the great derrick began to Jove three chains dangling from Its single rigid arm the littlerusty engine staggering under the spasms of steam jets Slowly the can non swung up Into the air turning a the steel arm turned further further lower and lower Then in the stillness a boatswains whistle sounded once twice the crowd swayed forward and thousands of voice rose In thundering cheers Vive la France All that night Harewood lay restlessly rest-lessly on his bed thinking of the future which until he first met Hide had held ho terrors for him Now It was different differ-ent The merjace of a siege meant Something more than excitement and newspaper dispatches it meant danger j j i perhaps famine perhaps annihilation Ito Ito I I-to a city that had suddenly become I important to himbecause Hilde lived I I there He had never seen a siege His j i I i Ideas on the subject were founded on histories He could not believe that j I any army would be able to absolutely i it t I I Isolate such a city as Paris itself I nothing noth-ing but a gigantic citadel with its double dou-ble armor of fortresses and ramparts Us suburbs railways forpsts and riv j i ers He believed that fotfsts if a German Ger-man army sat down before the walls I It could never sustain such a position against hunger against the sorties of I the hundred thousands of troops against those new armies that everybody I I every-body said were forming in the south i at Bordeaux at Tours at Rouen from the war ports to the Loire In common I com-mon with the great mass of the Parisians Paris-ians he never doubted that as soon as the Germans appeared the bombardment bombard-ment would begin but he doubted the ability of a Prussian artilleryman to I send shells into Paris from a gun outside i out-side the range of Mont Valerien Nevertheless i Nev-ertheless he was not satisfied with the Rue dYpres as a haven of safety for Hide at such a time It was practically I prac-tically on the city ramparts it was close to one of the gates the Porte I Rouge and closer still to the barracks and he knew that I the German cannon I can-non troubled the city at all the fire would be concentrated on the fortifications fortifica-tions the gates the magazines and the barracks Lying there In the darkness he could hear from the ramparts the marine sentinels sen-tinels challenge as they walked the I rounds the stir and the movement of horses the dull creaking of wheels He thought of the four great forts that covered the country beyond the Vau I girard secteur Montrouge Vanves Ivry and VIcetre J the Germans attempted at-tempted to seize Meudon there was the fort of Issy if they advanced toward to-ward Cretei the fort of Charenton I blocked the way Could they hold St Cloud with Mont Valerlen looming like a thunder cloud I In the north Could they seize Sevres I under the cannon of PoIntduJour No He could not see how a German battery would be able to send Its I shells Into the bastions of Montrouge and this conclusion comforted him until unt he fell asleep to dream of a cloudless sky raining shells over a city where Hide lay white and dead and he woke trembling In every limb He turned over and tried to so to sleep again but he could not dreading a sleep that might bring back such dreams He thourht of Bourke slumberng peacefully in the next room he thought of Red Riding Hood and of Yolette also al-so asleep but for a long time he avoided avoid-ed the path of thought which led to I the solution of a Question Awake sometimes asleep the question repeated repeat-ed itself It was repeating itself now I more persistently more monotonously I I than ever The question was Hilde i i and Hide remained an enigma not because I be-cause he could not solve the enigma but because he would not As he lav I there he felt that the time was coming when It would be impossible to evade evae an explanation with himself He ted t-ed his head restlessly and opened his eyes in the darkness and before he knew i he had faced the question at last lastWhat What had happened to him What was going to happen Why should I thoughts of Hilde occupy him constantly I I constant-ly Was it because in a moment of unselfishness he had renounced the idle I amusement of inspiring affection in a II young girl Why had he renounced It9 I Every man consciusly or unconsciously I unconscious-ly seeks the same amusement and If I conscience intervenes I Is not east to i I pretend that the woman was perfectly i I i I aware of the game Or if the result I does turn out grave for the woman a I gve man tan always have recourse to those I little exercises of diplomatic hair splitting I ting with his conscience to which W I tm it Placing the Prophet on the RUG dYpres + mens consciences easily adapt themselves them-selves I Is merely a matter of chance this amusement which may or may not be harmless A selfish man takes the risk risking nothing himself All this was clear to Harewood as he lay there In the dark but It did not sntisfv him as It had once Moreover whereas a few days ago he was certain that ne himself risked nothing now he was far from sure He asked himself whether he was in danger of caring seriously se-riously for Hide but he could not reply re-ply Had he been simply curious to know how far he could go Had It been vanity after all or a lower incentive Incen-tive I His face grew hot with shame and selfresentment He was mentally vln I dicating Hlldc defending her against I himself but he did not know it He I thought it was himself that he was vindicating vin-dicating This mental protest of innocence inno-cence left him calmer and less restless and after a little he fell asleep Whatever What-ever he dreamed must have been pleas ant for th morning sun stealing Into the room illuminated his face young peaceful touched with a smile a innocent I inno-cent as the woman he was walking with in dreamland Bourke woke him regretfully saying say-ing What the deuce are you grinning about in your sleep Get up Jim Im going to 81 Cloud to see whats in the wind Youll come too wont you Yes said Harewood I suppose the trains are running yet Whats the news While he was bathing and dressing Bourke ran over the mornIng papers reading aloud the telegraphic dispatches I dis-patches Hello What dowu think of this When the Germans entered Lao some crazy French soldier ran to the citadel and flung a torch Into the magazine j Read I said Harevood lathering I I his face for a shave Here It Is Though the cowardice i or treachery of the governor of Loan j the Duke of Mecklenburg entered the I city or the Oth of September at the j head of the enemys Sixth cavalry division I I di-vision I was raining heavily Sud j denly a frightful explosion shook the j city to Us foundations The citadel i j i had blown up killing more than a hundred i i hun-dred of our soldiers and 350 Prussians I This awful catastrophe was the work I II of an old French soldier a veteran of I the Crimea and of Italy who not having I hav-ing the courage to surrender the place to the Prussians crept Into the magazine j I mag-azine and set flre to Jt blowing himself and everybody there to pieces The Duke of Mecklenburg was woundrd Ieclollurg Our General Theremin was killed The j I German troops recovering themselves cried that they were betrayed and cre i flinging themfolves upon our unannert I I Mobiles massacred them In the streets i and at the house doors The slaughter I was swift and merciless But who remembering i re-membering the horrible courage of that j I heroic madman can pronounce one word of blame or of regret for his wor I deed Honor to the dead I Harewood razor pdlsed face lathered I lather-ed stared at Bourke I Its simply ghastly he said It i brings the whole business out more plainly doesnt It Laon is only a few days march from Paris I cant I realize that people are doing things like that while you and I sit still and scribble rot to the journals I dont know that weve had such dOlt an easy time of It said Bourke MarslaTour was no football game Jim And as for youyouve given the gven Prussians chances enough to shoot your idiotic head off havent you I Nonsense said Harewood return Ing to his shaving I mean that theres a vast difference between us I and those poor devils of soldiers out there That citadel business chills me to the marrow Go ahead with I your newspapers Cecil Bourke continued reading aloud skimming through the mass of proclamations pro-clamations edicts appeals from hospitals hos-pitals charities until he was tired Theres nothing new he said throwing down the journal Its merely mere-ly the same crisis growing more actuto i hour by hour As far as I can make I out the Germans are somewhat between be-tween here and Laon the French fleet has done nothing the Mobiles are n nuisance the National Guards are raising rais-ing hell in Belleville an army Is formIng form-Ing along the Loire to assist Paris and Garibaldi Is coming to France Thats a fair synopsis of the whole business As for the United States Interfering its not likely Italys gratitude Is not to be counted on France must face the music alone I I wish observed Harewood that the Paris Journals would exhibit less hysteria and more common sense Theyve had Bismarck killed every I week since last August theyve captured cap-tured Moltke theyve Innoculated the Red Prince with typhus theyve announced I an-nounced the mutiny of every regiment I In the Bavarian and Saxon armies Look at the way the government Is blowing up tunnels and bridges What lunacy Theyre only hampering their own movements and It takes about a day to lay ppntoons Heput pn his grtt lh grtt him coat standing I o for Bourke to brush himThats Thats a big cannon theyve mounted mount-ed down there he observed looking out of the window Come on Cecil breakfast must be waiting As they descended the stairs Hide and Yolette stood at the front door looking at the cannon across the street I Good morning said Yolette brightly bright-ly Messieurs have you seen The I Prophet Which particular prophet do you I mean Im a little in that way myself I my-self said Bourke gayly and I II prophesy that we are going to have a I most delicious bowl of cafe au lat In a minute or two I Anybody can prophesy that said I Hide Yolette means the cannon The I sojdiers have named it The Prophet I everybody Is talking about it the I morning papers say It can throw shells a large as a man and that it will be terrible for the Prussians I Oh said Harewood so they call 1 I The Prophet All the same said Yolette I hope it will not need to prophesy They stood a moment looking a the great silent gun at the squad of sail ors who were exercising around f then Yolette laughed lightly and summoned them to breakfast leading the way with her arm around her sisters slender waist There Is an awful creature said Hldle who calls himself the Mouse < and who came into the hallway early i this morning and asKed for Monsieur Harewood Shouts o laughter Interrupted her Bourke begged Harewood to introduce his friend the Mouse and Yolette insisted in-sisted on inviting him for dinner Even Hilda laughed until Harevood a lUred lU-red explained who the Mouse was And you helped him to hide from the police exclaimed Yolette horrified Thats just like Jim said Bourke who had enjoyed the story keenly Rude said nothing Her changing face was turned to Harewood What did he want with me asked Harewood carelessly Money No said Hilde with a strange little shudder He said Tell him to go to helpThe the undertakers i he ever needs The undertakers gasped Yolette Its not what you think Its a sort of a club In Belleville a nest where the elite of the cutthroats congregate said Harewood much amused I suppose sup-pose the creature Is grateful to me for hiding him I dont think I shall accept ac-cept his invitation Gratitude Is rare In that species observed Bourke cautiously I fancy hed cut your throat for a franc Jim Probably he would laughed the other Hilde listened in silence When I Bourke slung his binoculars over his shoulder and said he was going to St Cloud with Harewood Yolette Insisted t on putting up for them a little luncheon I I lunch-eon Hide aided her silent preoccupied preoccu-pied deftly tying the small parcels and wrapping up two bottles of red wine At the front door Bourke stood telling Yolette not to keep dinner waiting a they might stay away all night and as Harewood started along the hallway to join his comrade Hide began carelessly Of course Monsieur Harewood you are not going to the the undertakers undertak-ers Why no he said surprised we are going to St Cloud ButI mean you are never going are you Thcip was n silence He looked at her without stirring one hand on the door Again that swift emotion sent the blood thrilling tingling leaping through every vein yet even then he reasoned even then when In her face he saw reflected his own emotion even then when a fierce desire seized him to stoop and take her in his arms this girl so close to him Hilde who would not resist He stood there dumbly one hand twisted In the door handle daring neither to spook nor move for her sake The enchantment of her bent head the curve of her scarlet mouth the white hands Idly by her side held him fascinated Bourke called Impatiently and came through thp hallway toward him At the sound of the voice Hide raised her head as though aroused from a dream With dazed eyes she moved toward the door holding the little packetHare woods luncheon Time to start said Bourke with a cheerful smile Are you ready Yes said Harewood shortly I He took the luncheon from Hildes listless hands thanking her and saying I goodbye then followed I Bourke out Into the Rue dYpres I When they had gone Yolette went I back Into the garden where slate In hand Red Riding Hood pat accomplishing accom-plishing multiplication Hilde lingered by the door watching the saiiors rifles I en bandouliere drilling with The P phet Rrom the bastion the short commands of the officer cameKclearly I to the ear L hausss a quinz cents I metres Premiere piece feu La I hausse a deux mllles metres Pre feu1 micro piece lepc i I Then pretending that the gun had been fired the two cannoniers in the center swabbed the piece as the brigadier briga-dier and artllcier unlocked the breech the two loaders hoisted In a dummy shell and the aide poinetur affixed the lanyard Mounted on the gun carriage car-riage high against the sky the poin taur rested both hands on the breech while behind him two cannoniers imperceptibly I Im-perceptibly swung the enormous gun from right to left Then he straightened I up both hands raised the movement ceased the captain verified the elevation eleva-tion the aide pointeur seized the lanyard yard arl yardFirst piece fire And the pantomime recommenced a succession of figures trotting backward and forward suddenly rigid then an abrupt gesture a command and the dark blue figures trotted to and fro fnblH uf dth again RUde looked at the barracks beyond the Run Pandore where I through a brief interval of iron railing she could see the line of infantry I marching and wheeling to the sound of bugles Down at the Porte Rouge a I solid column of wagons poured over the pontlcvis vehicles of every size I and shape piled with furniture bedding bed-ding grain cabbage or bales of hay I and potato packs The country people and the inhabitants of the suburbs I were coming into the city in constantly I Increasing numbers bringing with them furniture and live stock Farm wagons piled high with bedding on which sat children or old women holding the family clock crowded against furniture furni-ture vans from Paris loaded with the bricabrac of prosperous suburban merchants oxen huddled behind smart carriages driven bycervants in livery r cows sheep even turkeys and geese pursued a dusty course through the gates and over all rose the cries of the I teamsters the lowing of the cattle the ominous murmur of disheartened things fleeing from the Impending tempest j I I tem-pest that was rolling I on from somewhere i some-where ot horizon In the eyes of the men there was more of despair than of terror the old people were dumb peering through the dust with hopeless eyes tearless i and resigned Even the children laughing up into their wistful mothers I I eyes grew sober and sat on the heaps of bedding staring down at the huddled side hud-dled cattle trampling by on either sideTo To Hide however the distant wagon train half hidden in dust was scarcely visible except where it wound through the gate Even there she could not distinguish features or age or sex for the Porte Rouge waa too far away and the foliage of the chestnut trees hid a great deal How much she divined di-vined is not certain but she turned away into the bouse a new weight on her heart a sudden heavy foreboding In the bird store the canaries were singing lustily In the sunshine Rocco the monkey cracked nuts and ate them with fearful grimaces at Mehemet AH i the parrot who looked at him enviously envious-ly upside down Hilde dropped some fresh melon seeds Into the parrots china cup renewed the water In all the cages stirred up the squirrels bedding and sat down her dimpled chin on her j i I wrist I i She thought of Harewood of the first i i I I time they had entered the bird store i together She thought of that moment 1 I tourht ment when before she knew I he had I j bent and kissed her and wonder of wonders she had kissed hIm Why i The eternal question always return i I Ing why Why I wearied her to i i think and what was the use Until I I he had kissed her she had always supposed 1 se5 i posed that such a kiss was sin The i I sisters at the convent said so Now she did not knowshe knew nothing I i except that they had kissed each other I I She had not resisted She had never I I I thought of resisting I In his presence I she was satisfied and yet frightened j I contented yet restless She never tired I of watching him She was curious i too about him wondering what his j thoughts were Twice since that first I day he had looked at her in the same way with the same unexplained question I I ques-tion in his eyes a question that left her breathless confused dazed Sad sbi f r i i ness too came later and wistfulness I j I a fatigue a weakness that made her I eyes grow tired and her limbs heavy t I She went slowly into her bedroom j I only to stand before the faience Sainte Hide thinking thinking She had I never asked SainteHUde of Carhaix for aid because she did not know what i I to say and when she tried to think I the gold and snore mantle of the I I salnte distracted her attention How often had she counted the links in the I j chain around SainteHildes china neck how often had she striven to understand un-derstand the placid set smile on her j polished face yet always thinking of I something quite different of Hare I wood and tl s I the question unanswered In his eyes I I And as she stoou musing in the I i twilight of her chamber suddenly the I I 1 room swam the floor seemed to fall beneath her a frightful explosion I shivered every window pane in the house I Hide reeled clutching at a chair Yolette crept In pale shaking in every ev-ery limb I is nothing she gasped they have fired The Prophet The Prussians Prus-sians are In Meudon woods I To be continued next Monday |