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Show v f By Fred McLaughlin ' W. N. U. Service d '3 Ocprrlrht by Ths Botab.-MerrlU C. rA SYNOPSIS Cstt. Francois de Vlgrny, serving serv-ing with Maximilian's army la Mexico, tells the story. A royBter-log royBter-log jgrroup of officers is discuss, lng La Anita, who. rumor says, has tured French officers to death or desertion, Summoned by Maximilian Maxi-milian to make explanation. De Vtsay undertakes to deliver the message to La Anlta.- CHAPTER II Continued 2 ' . ' "Lopez!" I gasped Wbat in the name of treachery had Lopez to do in thta menage, wbat was bis business - In this" house of mystery and of murder? mur-der? ?I felt Instinctively . that the other ian was her "worthy cousin.'" Colonel Lopez was the trusted aide o! bis majesty. Maximilian, almost his Chief ef staff; be was behind hnlffhe ' moves, that the emperor made. Not only hat Colonel Lopez had fos ' tered the Investigation that led finally to the trial and execution of La An Ita's father. True, he bad kept him self In the background. I bid neer trusted Colonel . Lopez, nor liked bim, and this thing only added fuel to the flames of my resentment! resent-ment! Red rage possessed me; If Colonel Lopez , I moved toward the door, for indt rectlon of action has never been a fault .'of mine; but even with band extended I stopped, for 1 heard the sound of a footstep. 1 turned, and came face to face with La Anita. Thfcre was a smile of welcome on her face. She was dressed In a black lacy gown cut very low. I think 1 must have gasped at the sheer beauty of her, for a light of triumph (lamed for an instant In her eyes. Her clear musical voice was pitched unnatural-ly unnatural-ly high: "Captain VIgny, It is good of you " "My poor ears," I cried; "surely, senorlta, you cannot think that I am deaf.4 ' Her laugh was even of greater volume. vol-ume. "Your pardon, senor." she said ; 'that stupid coclnera of mine can neither cook nor hear. After I have talked with her I speak unconsciously Jouder for a space. Is It not droll?" listened. ,The murmur of voices had ceased. 1 stood aghast, reallzlne only 'too well that this situation called not for a deft blade, but for a brain Infinitely more agile than mine La Anita laughed softly; but hei laugh had nothing In It of pleasure. She, too, seemed to be listening. "Had I known you were here." said she at last. "1 should have wasted no time on the coclnera. I bad no desire, de-sire, senor. to keep you waiting." "The little time . accorded me. senorlta, permitted me to note your excellent library, and to enjoy some of these wondrous paintings of yours. She 6mlled at this. "Besides.? I con tinned. ' driving straight ahead as a Bnldler shourd "In strange places one hears, !f one's ears are properly attuned, at-tuned, mysterious and . Interesting sounds. "Ah ; 'tis but the chatter of Idle men, who,, lacking brains to amuse themselves, them-selves, drink to pass the time away. 1 have an Idea that Colonel Lopez and my worthy cousin, who cannot wall In patience, have been .into my wines ,agaln." ' She turned to the doorway. t - rrhereln stood the dark-faced, silent mozo: "You may tell Colonel Lopez and Senor Madrella that they will find me here." Following the mozo they came in. each with a balf-filled glass In bl hand. Lopez, sighting me, 6tared an awkward Instant, then he put back Ms massive head and went off Into an uncontrollable spasm of laughter. "Another sailor," he cried, "on life's uncertain ocean, pining for the music of the Lorelei; another moth bounrt for the flame of beauty J" Bla tone nettled me. "I am not a beauty-bound moth, senor; neither do 1 pine. 1 am here on his majesty's business." Wherein I lied, for the flame of La Anita's beauty bad burned me deeply, and visions of her lovely face had filled my thoughts. In my urgent desire to see her again, to listen to the music of ber voice, to thrill In the glory of the very air that surrounded ber. I had almost forgotten forgot-ten that the real purpose of my errand er-rand was to meet that murderous cousin of hers. She spoke to the mozo again: "Get Captain VIgny some wine. . Monsieur le Comte, I would present my cousin, Senor Pablo Madrella y Gutierrez." Senor Madrella bent his line body In the middle and bowed halfway to the floor. He was all of six feet, with a comfortable breadth of shoulder and a tithe grace in his muscular body that suggested the latent power of a panther. Ols eyes were a deep blae-grHy and they had the steadfast look of a man of courage ; his balr was straight and nearly black, and a black muxtaHie and Vandyke failed to hide a resolute mouth and chin. A vague Idea came to me that I had seen him before; even his voice seemed faintly familiar. , "There Is a question In your eyes, senor," said Madrella. T v u8t wondering," I answered, I.TOmWmm. Intent on approaching the crisis with directness, "if Senor Madrella and Colonel Lopez Just ; now were drinking, drink-ing, his majesty's health." ... . . "Ah," cried Lopez, "the French are ever a Jesting people. Must the love ly La Anita he saved only for llemen ants and captains; may not a colonel hark to the lure of beauty? And you have Just denied, captain" Thus challenged I drew the sum mons from my pocket, and La Anita white of face and Bwaylng slightly read It. She proffered It to her cous In. who considered It with grave eyes "lust what may my cousin expect on the morrow, captain?" he asked. I turned to Lopez and found a dis 1 tlnct tjireat In his dark eyes. I Knew that he and Lestrange were behind this move, and I knew that Lopez had brought about the execution of La Anita? father; yet here was the In trlgulng colonel, a welcome guest In her home, and an avowed suitor for hor hand. ' "Senorlta." he said, a proprietary confidence In his tone. "It Is a trifle I assure yon. You may depend upon me to see that no awkward questions are asked. "You are very kind," she murmured Now she turned to me: "How mucl. may I depend upon le comte?" I think she knew my standing with the emperor. "Just so much as my service to his majesty will permit" said 1. Anger flanied in Mndrella's eyes. "You make your service a convenient thing, senor, as well as a faithful shield." At last I A wild exhilaration possessed pos-sessed me,; I had .drawn him out. "My service has never been a shield, senor : I require none. If I must be direct and I prefer to be here It Is: Four oHlcers of his majesty's service have come to this house; two have disappeared disap-peared completely, the third, an In different swordsman, today nurses a wounded shoulder, and the body of the fourth was taken from the canal One loss might have been passed over as ah accident a coincident but four would seem to fake on the phase of deliberate planning. "May I tell you. captain, what happened hap-pened to them?" "Three only, senor; Mlronsac wll. speak for himself. You may tell me If ' you so desire, but I retain the right to believe or not. as I choose." "Senor !" tie rasped. 'JYou " Lopez broke "In: "Slowly. Pablo slowly; Captain VIgny Is on a mission for Maximilian." "I am not." said I. "1 have finished the business of the emperor." "Very well, hot-head," the colonel placated. "Remain quiet while Senor Madrella tells us. Have you not the courtesy ?" "Plenty, my colonel," said I, "where courtesy Is required" La Anita gasped, and 1 turned to her, all humiliation. "Your pardon senorlta; I forgot'; "Go on, Pablo." urged Lopez. "Duroc," said Madrella, "he whom you found In the canal, died In honor-able honor-able combat." "With yon, senor?" ,Oe nodded. "With me. "Perchance the sword of Duroc was not so skillful. "Not so bad." mused the cousin, in the tone of a connoisseur, "not so bad." "Duroc, as 1 remember, was a Gas con, and faithful. Did you make certain cer-tain overtures, senor?" , , Madrella hesitated. "Yes." said La Anita, "my cousin offered him honorahle service under the deposed President." "He refused." said Madrella. "And died." I finished. "Any sol dler of France would have done' the same." "Rut Leroux," smiled Madrella "and the other one Besancon did not refuse, and did not die." "Do you mean to say?" 1 gasped "Of a surety, captain." The worthy cousin's face took on a look of greai complacency. "They recognized the error of their ways, they foresaw the fall of Maximilian, or. possibly, it may be that they did not relish the "taste of told steel, for believe melt, me-lt, has an evil flavor. At all events they serve now under the glorious banner of Benito Juarez I" "You lie. senor." I snld; "no soldlei of France would do that thing." I heard a sharp Intake of breath whistle through the teeth of Colonel l.opez; Iji Anita sighed, o deep sl?h of anguish and of horror, and Madrel-la Madrel-la stood poised, expectant n cold smile on his face. The precious rascal ras-cal was enjoying himself: and I almost al-most loved him for It. A massive walnut library table stood between us. Madrella placed the outspread lingers (it both hands upon It and studied me a long moment: mo-ment: "You will apologize is It not so?" , "It Is not so," said I. "Then, of course." smiled Pahlc "you will fight." 'That, senor. has been the actual intent of my mission." Madrella raised his eyes to the man tel over which hung the two swords ' Mlronsac hud called them rnplers. but he had been In error, for they were really small-swords, and most Ideal for fencing. Colonel Lopez stood on a chair, and, taking down the weapons, laid them side by side upon the table "If you two must fight," he said, "though I consider It stupid and entirely unnecessary, un-necessary, the least I can do will be to assist you." "Are you not called." said Madrel la, still with his blue-gray eyes upon me, "the Blade of Plcardy? It affords me a fine delight. Captain VIgny ' to try the skill of one whose name and fame have gone so far." He indicated the weapons with a glance, and as I made no move, continued: "Will you choose?" "But should I, the challenged party, be required to choose merely of swords, senor? Is it the custom in Mexico?" "You will pardon me, captain." said Madrella; "It was a natural assumption assump-tion with me that one with such an aptitude for fencing" Now, at a sign from her cousin Anita brought forward a long, narrow, nar-row, mahoguny box. which, on being opened, disclosed a pair of silver-mounted silver-mounted dueling pistols. "Must there be any choice, senor." said Madrella. "further than pistols across this table or the swords?" Now I considered this thing. I had come to the home of La Anita for the one purpose of removing a deadly menace that lay in the path of Max! mlilan. In the service of his country and of his emperor a soldier should never consider his own life That little gray-haired mother of mine In St. Simon would mourn the loss of an only son. but she would understand. under-stand. And on the morrow did 1 fail that failure would be diflicult Indeed to explain to Cupldo. and to Neville and even to the cynical Lestrange. The man who stood before me. waiting for me to choose, was an evl dent master with the sword. The blade, then, offered a possible failure, fail-ure, and failure was a thing not to be considered, whereas the pistols "The pistols seem more to my Ilk lng." said L "Ah no I" cried La Anltn. "You cannot, senor." She caught my arm. "We must." said Madrella, reach lng for the remaining weapon. "But the emperor," she -objected ; "already he has summoned me. Must another?" "Senorlta." said I gently, for I was torn by her unhapplness. "Colonel Lopez. In whom bis majesty places great and abiding faith, will tell hlru on the morrow that it was Captain VIgny who sought this meeting, will assure him that It was through no plan of thine." "It's murder." said Lopez harshly "Murder or not It must be." "Unless the captain wishes to apol ogize." suggested Miidrella "A thing us you very well know that I have no Intention of doing! Ie the table, Senor Madrella, wide enough to suit you?" MadreMu, considering the six feet of smooth walnut, laughed. "In a fine display of courage, captain, you have tmrpusscd the other four soldiers of France." Now I remembered the overtures made to the other men who had followed fol-lowed the lure of beauty. "You do not offer nie a coriimlsslon In the Liberal Lib-eral army a commission wider Benito Juarez?" He . bowed. "1 must ' do you the honor to admit that "such an offer would be useless f aye, worse than useles.s a foolhardy thing senor. La Anita touched my. arm again. "Monsieur," 6he said softly, ."look at me." S4 . There has never been a face since lime began us lovely as hers. Knowing Know-ing my imminent death I drank to the leoB of her beauty. The clear nmhci eyes were fathomless wells of sweetness, sweet-ness, the pointed chin trembled evei ro little, the 6llghtly parted, red lips showed the tips of pearly teeth and on the oval face lay an Indefinable expression of pleading, "I am looking, look-ing, senorlta. and with death before me 1 take reckless couruge In felling you that no woman In all the world has ever approached the perfection of heauty that you have attained." "Thank you," 6he faltered. "Monsieur "Mon-sieur Is there no way?" ller eyes fell before my steadfast look. "Would you have me apologize to your worthy cousin?" "If I should ask you?" A soft light came Into the amber eyes, a light that burned up my bravado and turned my bones to wuter. "Anything that you ask me to do,", said I, a hopeless slave to a sudden, overwhelming love, "that will I do." She must have read that love in my eyes, for her hand trembled on my arm. Then she did the thing that only a woman of high resolve could have done. "It Is not for me, senor. to ask you." Whereupon she turned ! 1 So We Stood Each in White Shirt, Pistols Half Raised. to her cousin, raised on tiptoe, and kissed him. "Goodby," she whispered Then she walked, unsteadily, across the room and stood beside Lopez. For tnat kiss I would have died In perfect happiness. Depositing the pistol on the table 1 took off the all enveloping coat Senor Madrella shrugged out of the long brown coat that had fit his fine body with such precision. So we stood, each In white shirt, pistols half raised, facing each other across six feet of polished walnut. "1 am sorry, senor." said 1. "that 1 cannot place you. Surely I have seen you before; even your voice Is vaguely familiar." The laugh of Colonel Lopez broke an awkward tension. '"You have seen him in the mirror. Captain Francois; and his voice is very like your own." "Pablo mio," cried Ln Anita, "save for the .beard and mustache he is your brother!" Now I 6turted, marveling, for we were of a height except for a possible Inch In my favor, and the lines of our bodies held an amazing likeness The gray-blue of eye was nearly the same as mine; the straight nose, the ears, poise of head, and a certain alertness of gesture seemed very much my own. Even under his beard I recog nlzcd the familiar, obstinate set of mouth and chin. My hair was not so black as his, nor quite so straight, and his skin wus darker by far than mine. Even with the differences ot beard and complexion and many vital points of dissimilarity that rlo;er inspection in-spection might reveal, the resemblance resem-blance was startling. "How tragic a thing," La Anita breathed, "that two such magnificent m.n should kill eah other!" 1 bowed to her. "Senorlta. you have made death h beautiful thing for me" "Enough." said Madrella. who, I am sure, could not have failed to see the worship in my eyes. "May we ask for your assistance. Colonel Lopez?" Lo-pez?" "It Is an evil business. Pablo," said the colonel. Pablo shrugged bis shoulders. "Francois." said Lopez. "Is there no way?" "None; you will convey my regrets to the emperor, colonel und to her majesty, the sweet Carlottn?" "Assuredly. I shall count, then When I have reached the count of three yon muy lire." He thought a long moment "Arrangements for s second shot will be unnecessary." We raised our guns. His aimed at my chest." In one last desperate effort ef-fort .to , h.urt him In the eyes of the woman who loved him I kept the sights of my weapon" between his eyes, I would see to It that he did not make, a handsome corpse. As In a dream 1 heard the colonel's voice: "One!" followed by a great sign from Anita. I teancd against the massive table, bracing my body for certain aim. Twol" Madrella's smile was disconcerting. dis-concerting. I tried to match it and failed. "Three P 1 remember that La Anita cried out as I palled the trigger. The effect was as startling as though the gun I held had been a cannon, for the bnmmer fell upon an empty chamber, cham-ber, and Pablo Madrella. who had made no attempt to Are, stood bowing bow-ing and smiling. A man of consummate courage, senor," he said; "you give me added respect for France!" With the useless pistol Id my hand I stood, staring stupidly. Colonel Lopez Lo-pez swore, and La Anita broke Into hysterical sobbing. "Name of G d, I cried, "did yon know, senor, that the guns were empty?" "Aye." said be; "It was but to test your courage." I cast the weapon from me and caught the handle of a sword. "The sword 19 always loaded; guardl" "Ah nop cried La Anita. I looked down Into her tear-wet face. "Did you know, senorlta," said I. and all my happiness hung on her answer, "that the guns were empty?" "DIos," 6he said, "no, senor; never would I have put any man to such a test; It was a devilish thing to do and my cousin " I pushed the table away with one mighty effort. It caught on the car pet and overturned. Lopez and I moved It Into a corner. "Pick At up. Madrella, I cried; "pick up your sword." ,rNo, senor." "Then, before G d," said I, "1 run you through as yon stand!" The voice of Colonel Lopez was harsh with anger: "Your actions were reprehensible, Pablo, and anything that Captain VIgny may choose to do will be quite within his rights." Now Madrella picked up the sword and swept It In a vicious arc. The reluctant air sang beneath that blow, ne turned toward me. Ells face wa flushed, for the words of the woman he loved had hurt him. "May I apologize, apol-ogize, senor. for that trick?" With the green sweet world ahead of me nsraln, the feel of a beautifully balanced sword In my hand, and the thought that the glorious La Anita had seen me go unscathed through an ordeal that would have broken the nerve of many a man of courage. I could afford to be generous. "The trick, senor. Is already forgotten; guard I" Our swords came together with a slithering clash, beat away, and touched again. I felt of his blade, and found nn Iron rigidity In his wrist. As an experiment I tried a simple tierce, and met a perfectly bnl anced parry and a lightning riposte that grazed my ribs and brought a casp from La Anita. "Nearly, Anita mia," he said, .with a smile. "In dueling, senor," said I, " 'near ly is as far away as the moon." The heavy carpet deadened th sounds of our shuffling feet ns we swept across It; there was heard only the clash of steel, the sibilant hiss oi desperate breathing, the quick crash of lunge and parry. The successful duelist, I think counts to some extent upon the nervt- of his antagonist. Feeling If out and finding ever so little a lack, he playt the game accordingly. The manner In which I had withstood Madrella's "test" had added nothing to his confi dence; and now, as the contest pro gressed. I had a certain Indefinable feeling that the cousin's nerve was not a thing that could stand up undet a long-continued equal battle. He must have the advantage or h? "broke." Many men, so I have dis covered, are like that. When the realization came to me that I was his equal In skill and strength a vast relief swept over me Already, that night, I had died once, and no more fear lay In me. So 1 thrilled to the game; it gave me Keen enjoyment, and I talked to him: "Du roc," I said, "was not so bad. senor eh? And poor Mlronsac. with his baby face and worshipful eyes, was easy Is it not so?" "Por Dios," Madrella cried, breath lng heavily. I pushed him back and forth tcrost the spacious chamber, but never was I able to break through. His defensp was as perfect as a wall, Subferfuge offered the only chance, for the man seemed tireless. Openly I tried a quarte, which h met with graceful efficient parry: then, seeing what he imagined to be a fair opening, he plunged in recklessly reckless-ly for riposte. My blade wrapped around his In counter-parry. Now. for one sutliclent Instant, 1 had caught him off balance, and I staked all ou one swift counter-riposte. Too late he saw tits error. He managed to deflect my blnde away from his rhc-sf but that was the best he could do. I saw my point disappear in ,thf; whlte'shirf under his arm; I felt the steel lake hold, then I drew hack quickly and on guard again waited La Anita moved quickly to the sldt-of sldt-of the stricken man, whose nerveloss fingers opened slowly, permitting the sword to fall to the heavy cartvft who swayed slightly, leaning toward the girl for support, and upon whasr face spread a greenish pallor of eg ony and of fear. "I would go bpiuv he gasped. (TO B COJSTINUICI?.) |