Show r JOAN = m JIWJD JjV 5 R CROCKETTAuftartat 0 7tRdalY b GolII ht 1S9S 1500 by S R Crockett CHAPTER XI Continued line Prince of Courtlaml turned an Angry countenance upon his friend but tho keen witted Muscovite looked so kindly and yet so sadly upon him that after a while the severity ot his face relaxed as It had been against his will and with a quick gesture he added I believe you love me Ivan hough indeed your words are no bet ter than red aot pincers In my heart Love you Louis cried Prince Ivan I lovo you better than any brother I have though they will never live to thwart mo as yours thwarts you better even than my father for you do not keep mo out ot my inherit nncol Then In n gayer tone he went on I love you so much that I will pledge ray fathers whole army to help you first to win your wife next to take Hohenstein Kernsborg and Ma rlenfptd And after that If you are still ambitious whIo Plasscuburg anti the Wolfmark which now tho Sxcciitloncrs Son holds That would nnkc a noble kingdom to otter a fair and wilful queen And for this you ask Only your love Louisonly your love And if it please you the alliance alli-ance with that Prince of your honorable honor-able house of which wo spoke Just nowMy My sister Margaret you mean I will do what I can Ivan but she also Is wilful You know sho Is wilful I I I cannot compel her love The Prince Ivan laughed I am not so complaisant as you Louis nor yet so modest Glvo mo my bride on the day Joan of the Sword Hand sleeps In the palace of Sourllaud as Its princess and I will 1 take my chance of winning our Mar garets love > CHAPTER XII Womans Wilfulness Joan rode on silent a furlong before be-fore all her men Behind her sulked I I Maurice von Lynar Had any been there to note their faces were now strangely alike In feature and yet more curiously unlike In expression loan gazed forward Into the distance like a soul dead and about to bo reborn re-born planning a now life Maurice von Lynar looked more like a naughty schoolboy whom some tyrant Fate rod wiel1iag has compelled to obey against his will Soon Castle Kernsborg floated up like a cloud before them above the blue and misty plain Hut no word spoke Joan till that pnrplo shadow had taken shape as stately stone and I lime and sho could discern her own red lion flying abreast of the banner of Iouls of Courtland upon the topmost top-most pinnacle of the round tower Then on n little mound without the town she halted and faced about Men of Hohensteln said the Duchess In a clear farreflchlnir alto you have followed me asking no word of why or wherefore I have told you nothing yet Is an explanation explana-tion duo to you It Is the will of Joan of the Sword Hand It Is enough I repeated repeat-ed the four hundred lances like a class that learns a lesson by rote A lump rose In Joans throat as she tried to shape Into words the thoughts that surged within her Sho fell t strangely weak Her pride was not the same as of old for the heart of a woman had grown up within hera heart of llesh Surely that could not bo a tear In her eye No the wind blew shrewdly out of tho west to which they were riding I thank you noble gentlemen said Joan Now as you say let us ride Into Kcrnsberg And pull down that flag cried Maurice pointing to the black Court Y ihfrr I r fI Plr I Ir lti Ir Lay waiting on the slopes of the Ja gernbergen land Eagle which flew so steadily beside be-side the coionatcd lion of ICernsberg and Hohenstcin And pray sir why said Join of the Sword Hand Am I not also Princess of Courtland 0 S From womans wilfulness all things somcnow have their beginning To womans wantlrge may bo traced all restraints and Judgments from tho sword flaming every way about Kdcn gate to the last merchant declared bankrupt and dyvour upon tho exchange ex-change flags of Hamburg town Eve did not oat ttif ai jU when she got Jt She hu lc l IIJ c M i away She only wanted It because It had been forbidden So also Jonn of Hohenstcln desired to go down with Dessauer that sho might look upon tho man betrothed her from birth She went Sho looked and within her there grow up a heart of flesh Then when tho stroke fell that heart uprose In quick intemperate revolt and what might have Issued In the dull compliance of a Princess whoso whole life was settled set-tled for her became the Imperious revolt of a woman against an Intolerable Intoler-able and loathsome Impossibility So In her Castlo of Kernsberg Joan waited But not Idly All day long and every day Maurice von Lynnr rode on her service Time hlllmen gathered I gath-ered to his word and In the courtyard court-yard the stormy voices of George the Hussite and Peter Ilalta were never I nev-er hushed The shepherds from the hills went to und fro marching and I countermarching wheeling and charg I ing porting musket and thrusting pike till all Kernsberg was little better bet-ter than a barracks limit there wore two at least within with-in tho realm of the Duchess Joan who knew no drawbacks to their joy who rubbed palm on palm and nudged each other for pure gladness These It Is 1 sad to say w jro tho militarj attaches of the neighboring peaceful Slate of Plasscnburg Yet they had been specially spe-cially cautioned by their Prince Hugo IiV the presence of his wife Helene the hereditary princess that they wore most carefully to avoid all International Interna-tional complications They were on no account to take sides In any quarrel quar-rel They must do nothing prejudicial prejudi-cial to the peace neutrality and universal uni-versal amity of the State and Princedom Prince-dom of Plasscnburg Such were their Instructions They promised faithfully I Yet these two soldiers of fortune lay waiting on the slopes of the Ja gernbergen talking over the situation A amt surely has a right to his own wife said Jorlau taking for the Fake of argument tho conventional i side Nan enPosson Jorlan cried Boris raising his voice to tho Indlgna tlon point Clotted nonsense Who Is going to keep a mans wife for him if he cannot do Il himself Tho trouble Is that so far sho fouls no necessity to bo any ones wife Mild Jorlan That also is nonsense said Boris who spite his defense of Joan held i he usual masculine views Every 1 woman wishes to marry If she can only have first choice There they come whispered Jo rlan Boris rose to his feet and looked long beneath his hand Very far away there arose from the level green plain first one tall column of dense black smoke and then another till as fur as they could see to the left the plain was full of them Gods truth cried Jorlan they are burning the farms and herds houses Time Muscovite is out These are Cossack fires Bravo Wo shal yet have our Hugo here with his axe Ho will never suffer the bear so near his borders Lot us go down said Boris or we shall miss some of the fjm In two hours they will be at the fords of tho AliaWhat What do you here Go back shouted Werner von Orseln who with his men lay waiting behind tho flood banks of the Alia This Is not your quarrel Go back Plassenburgors We have for the time being de mltted our olllco exclaimed Boris The envoys of Plassenburg are at home In hed slck of u most panguln ary fever Wo offer you our swords as freo fighting men and good Tents The Muscovites are over jomlor Lord to think that I have lived to forty eight and never yet killed oven one bearded Huss You may mend that record shortly to all appearance If you have luck said Von Orseln grimly Now this Is tho report which Cap tains Boris and 1 Jorlan envoys very cxtraordlnarj from the Prince and Princess of Plasscnburg to the reignIng reign-Ing Duchess of Hohenstcln made upon their return from the fords of the Ails to their home government Jorlan being of tha rotund and complaisant com-plaisant faction acqiiiehcod In tho proposal pro-posal that ho should do the writing But as he never got beyond To our honored Lord and Lady Hugo and Helene these there needs not to bo any particularity as to his manner of acting the scribe Then he remembered that he know where a secretary was In waiting How Ho-w e t 1d go and borrow him Jorlan reentered re-entered their bedroom with a beam ing smile and tho secretary held by the sleeve to prevent his escape Both felt that tho report was as good as written It bogan thus With great assiduity a word suggested sug-gested by the secretary jour envoys remembered your Highnesses prince ly I advice and command that wo should Involve ourselves In no warfare or other local disagreement So when wo heard thar Hohenstein was to bo invaded by the troops of the Prlnco of Courtland WQ wore deeply grieved Nevertheless judging it to bo for the good of our country that we should have a near vlow of tho fighting wo left our arms and armor behind us and wont out to make observations In the intcrist of your Hlghneises ariiics I We found the soldiers ot too Duch e58 Joan waiting at tho fords of the Alta which Is the eastern border 01 their province There were not man of them but all good soldiers The 2ourtlan < lors came on In myriads with Muscovites without number These last burned and slow all In their path Tho men of Hohrustoln being 86 f cw and those of Courtland with helm allies so many tho river was over passed both above und below the fords Whereupon I pressed It upon Vorncr von Orseln that ho should re treat ton place of greater hope und 1 safety being thus In danger on Loth tanks This Werner von Orseln had fought all tho day and though most reckless I y exposing himself was still unhurt Us armor was covered with blood 1 and black with powder after the fashion i fash-ion ot these wild hotbloods Ills face I also was stained and when lie spoke It was In a hoarse whisper The mat ter t of his discourse to us was this I can do no more My peoplo are ilead my powder spent They arc Ih + tl 4 I i a a r i y l ICI Jorlan and Boris dictate a diplomatic report moro numerous than tho sea sands They are behind us and before also outflanking us on cither side Then we advised him to set his face to Hohenstcln and with those who were left to him to retreat In that direction We accompanied him bearIng bear-Ing l In mind your royal commands and eager to do all that In us lay to ad I Vance Lho Interests of amity In this manner the remnant of the soldiers of tho Duchess Joan reached Kernsborg In nfetn result which we flatter ourselves was as much duo to the cal and persuasiveness of jour envoys as to tho skill and bravery < bra-very of Werupr von Orseln and tho soldiers of the Duchess And your humble servants wll over lira for the triumph of peat and concord and also for anMindl a tiirbcd reign to your Hlghncsse through countless years In token whereof wo append our signature and seals BORIS JOUIAN Is not that last somewhat overstrained over-strained about peace and concord and so forth asked Jorian anxiously Not whitnot a whit cried Boris Our desire to promote peace needs to bo put strongly In order to carry persuasion to their Highnesses in PlasRcnburg In fact I am not sure that It has been put strongly enough I am troubled with some few doubts myself said Jorlan under his breath And as tho secretory jerked tho InV from his pen ho smiled To bo continued |