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Show 4 - (C6pyrlBht,'-l89. 1360, W B. II. 'cfocWSl.) ' ' CHAPTERXI. Continued. The 1'rlnco Oto'uftlrfn-thrctfat Angry countenance upohls 'frjcud,. but tho keen-witted Muscovite' looked no kindly and yet so sndly upon htm - that"1 after a 'while (ho severity of his p faco relaxed as It had been against his will, and with n quick gesture he added, "I bcllovo you love mo, Ivan, though Indeed your words nro no better bet-ter thhn re.il-h'ob plilcers" In my heart." ''UoVqlyo'tf,- Louis?"' tjrled Prince Ivan. "I love you better than any brother I have, though they will never live to thwart mo as yours thwarts you bettor even than my father, for you do not keep mo out of my Inheritance!" Inherit-ance!" Then In agaycr tone hojycnt on: "V love you so much tluit I will pledgo my father's whole nrniy to help you, firstbj wlivyoufVwlfe)' ncxLt$-tako ncxLt$-tako Hohcnstoln, Kernsberg and Ma-rieufqld. Ma-rieufqld. .And after, ;tliat, If you .arc still' nVnbMous. why to" Plissunburg and, tho. Wol.ftiinr'j.jjwhicli nov tllC Executioner's Son holds. That would makq lUnofolb Kingdom', to offer a fair and wilful queen." ' "And for this ydu nuk ?'" "Only your love, Louis only your love! And, l(lt please. you( tho alliance alli-ance 'with that 'Prince of your honorable honor-able houso, of whlcji wo spoko Just now!" "Mr sister Margaret; yotrmcan? 1 will do what I can, Ivan, but she also Is wilful. You know she Is wilful! I 1 4 cannot compol her love!" Tho Prlnco Ivan laughed. "I am not so complaisant .as you, Louis, nor yet so modest. Give me my brldo on tho day Joan of the Sword Hand slpeps In the palace of Courtland, as Its princess, and I will tako my .cknnco of winning our Margaret's Mar-garet's love!" I CHAPTER XIL Woman's Wilfulness. Joan rodo on, silent, a furlong be-foro be-foro all her men. UoliltuI her bulked Maurlco von Lynar. Had any been thero to- nolo, their faces wore 'now strangely alike In fenture, and yet moro curiously unllko In expression. Joan gazed forward -Into tho, distance llko n soul dead and about to be reborn, re-born, planning 'a1 now life. Mnurlce von Lynar looked norc like' a naughty schoolboy whom somo tyrant Fate, rod-wloldlng. has compelled to oboy against hist will. Soon Castlo Kernsberg floated up llko a cloud before - them ubovo 'the bluo and misty plain. Hut no word H spoko Joan till that purplo shadow II had taken shapo as stately stono and M A lime, and she could discern hor own II 7 red lion flying abreast of tho banner H of Louis of Courtland upon tho top-H top-H most plnnnclo of tho round tower. H Then on n Httlo , mound without; tho H town alio halted and faced, about. H "Men of Hohensteln," said the H Duchess, In a clear, far-reaching nlto, H "you havo followed me, asking 'no H word of why or whoreforo, I havo M told you nothing, yet Is an , explnna(-H explnna(-H tlon duo to you." "It Is tho will of Joan of tho H Sword Hand! It Is enough!" repeat-H repeat-H cd the 'four hundred lances, llijq a' H class (lint learns n lesson by rote. If A lump roso In Joan's throat as she If tried to shapo Into-wordsthe thoughts" II that surged within her. Sho felt II strangely weak; Her pride 'was not M tho samo ns of old', for the heart' of a U woman liad .'grown lip jvlthln her a H heart of flesh. Surely that could not H bo a tear In her eye? No; tho wind IE lilew shrewdly out of thp west, to H which-they were riding, ' ' II "I thank you, noblo gentjoincn,," , H said Joan. "Now, an j'oii say, let us' II rldo Into Kernsberg." II "And pull ,down that flag!" cried II Maurlco, pointing to tho black Court-la Court-la Lay waiting on t the ilppea of the Jala Ja-la gernbergen. II land Kaglo which flow so steadily be-V be-V sldo tho coronated Hon of Kernsberg I and Hohensteln. , It '"j "And pray, sir, why?" said Join of II tho Sword Hand. "Am I not also I Princess of Courtland?" I From woman's wilfulness, all things I somehow havo their 'beginning. To I woman's wantli-gs may 'lid traced'all I restraints and Judgments, from ho I sword flaming every way about Eden- I gato to tho last morchant declared I bankrupt and "dyvour!' upon the' ex- II change flags of Hamburg town. Kvo I I did not cat tho apple'1 when sho got Ik It. Sho hasted to give It away, She II only, wanted fit .because It had been forbidden. t, So' also Joan of Hohensteln desired to go down with Dcssauer that sho might look upon .the man betrothed to Her from birth. She won't. Sho' looked, and wltljln her ,theru grew up a heart of flesh'. Then, when tho stroke fell, that heart uprose In' quick, lntcmporato revolt, nnd what might havo Issued In, tlio(iull compliance of a Princess, vhoso fnolo llfo 'was settled set-tled for her became, tlo,j Imperious revolt of a woman ngalmt an Intolerable Intoler-able cud lonthsomo Impossibility. So In her Castlo of Kernsberg Jonn waited. Hut not Idly. All day long and every day Maurlco von Lynar rode on hor service. Tho hlllmeu gath ered to' his, word, and In tho courtyard court-yard tho stormy Voices of Gdorge Jh(j Htitfclto nifd) PCte'r; HnIfaVw6jctn'ey-'V HnIfaVw6jctn'ey-'V Hushed. Tlio shepheids from the hills went to and fr(o, marching and countermarching, wheeling ami charging, charg-ing, porting musket and 'thrusting pike, till all KqriiBjborg., was Httlo better bet-ter than a! barracks. Hut there were two, at leaqt, within with-in tho realm of tho Duchess .loan who know no drawbacks to their Joy, who rubbed palm on palm nud, nudged eaph other for puro gladness. These (ItVIs sad to say) w re tho mllltaryntjicjtcs of tho neighboring p'eaccful State of Plasscnburg. Yet they had been, specially spe-cially cautioned by' their 1'rlnco'Hugo, In the presence of his wife Helene, tho hereditary prlnccssvtlmt they were most carefully to avoid nil International Interna-tional complications. They wero on no account to take sides In any quarrel. quar-rel. They must do nothing prejudicial prejudi-cial to the peace, heutrnUty, and universal uni-versal 'amity of tho State and 'Princedom 'Prince-dom of Plasscnburg. Such wero their Instructions. They promised faithfully. Yet theso two soldiers of fortune lay waiting on tho slopes of tho Jn-gernbergen, Jn-gernbergen, talking over tho situation. "A man surely hns a right to lils own wife!" said Jorlan, taking for the sake of argument tlio"-c6nvcn(lonar side. "Nnrrcn-Possen, 'Jbrlnn!""" crle"d' Horls, raising his voice-to tho Indignation Indigna-tion point. "Clotted nonsense! Who Is going to keep a man's wife for him It ho cannot do It himself?" "Tho trouble Is that so far sho feels no necessity to bp any ouo's wife," Mild Jorlan. "That also Is uonsonEC," said Doris, who, splto his defense of Joan, held tho usual masculine views. "Every woman wishes to marry, If sho can only have flrst choice'' ""' ' "Thero they come!" whispered Jorlan. Jo-rlan. - .... Ports roso to his feet nnd looked long beneath his hand. Very1 far away1 there aroso from tho level green plain first one tall column of dense black smoke .and then another, till 'ah far "as" they could "see to tho left the plain was full of them. "Clod's truth!" cried Jorlan, "they are burning the farms and herds' bouses. Tho Muscovite Is out! These nro CosBack'flros. Bravo!! Wo' shall yet havo our Hugo hero with his axe! He will never suffer tho bear so near his borders." , ' " ' "Lot us go down,'! said IJorlR "or wo shall miss somo of tho fun. In two hours they will bo at tho"fbrdS"onifr Alia!" ' "What do you horo? Go ' back!" shouted Werner von Orsoln1, "who, with hjft men Jay .waiting behind thbtdood-banks thbtdood-banks of tho Alia. "This Is not your quarrej!. do back, Plassenburgors!" "Wo have for tho time being do-inltted do-inltted our ofllco," oxclnlmed Uorls. "The envoys of Plassenburg aro at liomo lii bed, sick ofa most sanguinary sanguin-ary fever. Wo offer you our swords as fieo fighting men nnd good' Tents. The Muscovites nro over yonder. Lord to think that I havo lived to forty-eight forty-eight and nover yet killed even one bearded1 Hussl"- ' -- -"You may mend that record shortly, to all appearance. If you havd'luck!" "said Von Orsoln grimly, i , .Now this Is tho report which Captains Cap-tains Ilorls nnd Jorlan, envoys (very) oxtrnordlnary from tho Prince nnd Princess of PlaHsenburg to tho reigning reign-ing Duchoss of Hohensteln, mnde, upon their return from tho fords of tho Alia, to their homo government, 'Jorlan, bolng of tho rotund nnd complaisant com-plaisant faction, acquiesced In tho proposal pro-posal that ho. 'should do tho wrltlnfc But as ho never got boyond, "To our honored Lord and i Lady Hugo and Heleno, theso " thero needs not to bo any particularity ns to his manner of acting tho scrlbo. Then ho remembered Jhnt he know whoro a secretary was In waiting. Ho wrfSld go and borrow him -Jorlan reentered re-entered their bedroom with a beaming beam-ing smllo, and tho secrotary held by the sleovo to prevent his csenpo. Doth felt that tho report was as good as written. It began thus: "With great assiduity (a word suggested sug-gested by ,thesecrotary) your envoys romombored your Highnesses' prince-ly prince-ly advice and command that wo should" Involve ourselves In no warfaro or other local disagreement. So when wy heard thnr rHojieustoln was to bo Invaded by 'the troops of tho Prlnco of "Co.irtlnnd, wo wero deoply grloved. "Nevertheless, Judging It to be for tho good of our country that wo should havo n near vlow of tho fighting, we left our arms and nrmor behind us, and ,wont out to make observations In the Interest 'of "your' Highnesses' armies, (, "Wrflohna"th'rsoia'rc'rsof tho Duchess Duch-ess Joan waiting; at the fotds of thf Alia, which Is the eastern bordor oi thulr province. Theic jre not mnnj of them. Intl. all gi-od w.dlers. Thi Courtlnudci'K came on In ,myrlads with Muscovites without number These last burned, nnd slew nil In their path. ."Tho men of Hohpnstelti being ?c few nnd thoo of Courtland with theh allies so many, tho river was over passed both above and below .the fordu. i Wheroupon I pressed It upon Werner von Oisoln that ho should ro trent to n place of greater hopo and safety, being thus In danger on Loth Hanks. "This Werner von OrBeln had fought all thq day, and, though most reckless, ly exposing himself, wns still unhurt, His uriflor was covered with blood and' black with powder after the fash-Ion fash-Ion of Ihcpo wild hot-bloods, His face nlso wns stained, and when ho spoke It wns In a hoarso whisper Tho mA-tor mA-tor of his discourse 'to us was this: " 'I can do no more. My pcoplo nro dead, my powder spent. They nro Jorlan and Boris dictate a diplomatic report. more numerous than the sea sands. They nro behind us arid before, nlso outflanking us on cither side.' "Thon wo ndvlsed him to set his face to Hohensteln nnd with those who wero left to him to retreat In that direction. Wo accompanied him, bearing bear-ing In mind your royal commands, and eager to do nil that In us lay to advance ad-vance tho Interests of nmlty. "In this manner tho rem'nnnt of tho soldiers of tho Duchess Jonn reached Ivornsborg In safety a result which, we flatter ourselves, was us much duo to tho zeal and persuasiveness of your envoys as to tho Hklll and brn-very brn-very of Worncr von Orseln and tho soldiers of tho Duchess. "And your humblo servants will over pray for tho triumph of penco and concord, and also for an undisturbed undis-turbed rejgn to your Highnesses through countless years. In token whereof wo. append, our signatures and seals. ' ' ' ' 11 ' ' " , "nonts. "JOIHAN." "Is not that last somewhat overstrained over-strained niioiit peace and concord nnd so 'forth?" asked Jorlan anxiously. "Not a whit not a whit!" cried Boris, "Our desire to promote peaco needs to bej put strongly, In ordor. to carry persuasion to their Highnesses hi Plhsscnburg. In fact, I am not suro Unit" It has' been put strongly enough!''' "I am troubled with somo few doubts mys'elt!" said Jorlan,. under Ill's" lireath. And as the secretary Jerked tho Ink from his pen ho smiled. . (To be continued.) |