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Show I "JOANfi WTO KB)' I B S-R;CROCKETT.a" (Copyright, 1898, 1900, by S. It, Crockett.) I CHAPTER XVI. Borne on the Great Wave. , It chanced that In the chamber from which Werner vou Orseln hail come bo swiftly at the cry of the Wordless Man, Boris anil Jorlnn, nfter sleeping through the disturbances above them and the first burst Of the storm, were waked by the blowing open of the lattice ns the wind teach' ed Its height. It was tnll Bors who first mado his way to the window. The lattice hung by one leathern thong. The other had been torn away ' and Indeed It was n wonder that the whole framework had not been blown ' bodily Into the room. For the tempest tem-pest pressed against It straight from the north, and the sticky spray from ' the waves which broke on the shingle drove stlngingly Into the eyes of the man-at-arms as he looked out. Nevertheless ho thrust his head out, looked a moment through half-closed eyelids and then cried, "Jorlan, wo uru surely lost. The sen Is breaking In upon us. It has passed the beach of shingle out there!" And seizing Jorlnn by the arm Boris made his way to the door by which they had entered?- nnd, undoing tho bolts, they reached the walled courtyard, court-yard, where, however, they found themselves In tho open air, but sheltered shel-tered from the utmost violence of tho tempest. Hut tho Instnpt Boris' head was above tho copestone, and tho Ice-f'-cold northerly blast met him llko a wall, ho fairly gasped, for tho furious onslaught of the storm seemed to blow every particle of breath clean out of his body. I In another moment Jorlnn was uo-sldo uo-sldo him, crouching on the top of tho wall to avo himself from being carried car-ried away. And there, In the steamy smother of tho jiea, backed by tho bluo electric flamo of tho lightning, they saw tho slant masts of a vessel laboring to beat ngalnst tho wind. "Poor souls, they nre gone!" said Boris, trying to shield his eyes with his palm, ns tho black hull disappeared disappear-ed and tho masts seemed to lurch forward Into tho milky turmoil. "Wo shnll never see her again." For ono moment all was dark as , pitch, and tho next a dozen flashes of ! lightning burst ovcry way, as many nppoarlng to riso upwards as could be seen to fall downward. A black speck poised Itself on the crest of a wave. "It Is .a boat! It can never live!" cried tho two men together, nnd dropping from tho top of tho wall they ran down to tho shore, going as near as they dared to the surf which arched and fell with ponderous roar Jon tho nnrrov strip of shingle. T "Hack, Boris, back!" cried Jorlnn suddenly, as after a succession of 8tnnller waves a glgnntlc nnd majestic roller arched along tho wholo seaward front, stood a moment black and Imminent Im-minent above them, and" then fell llko a wholo mountain range in a snowy nvnlancho of troubled water which rushed savagely up tho beach, Tho two soldiers, who would havo faced unblanched any lino of living enemies ene-mies in the world, fled terror-stricken at tho onrush of that sea of milk. ITIic Ue-h blat like a wall. Dy this tlmo tho morning was advancing ad-vancing nnd tho storm growing somo-what somo-what less continuous. Tho thunder retreated growling behind tho horizon. Tho violent lightning grow less continuous, con-tinuous, nnd only occasionally rose nnd fell In vague, distant Illckurlngs toward tho north, as if someono wcro lifting a lantorn nlmost to tho aoa-lino aoa-lino nnd dropping It ngnln boforo reaching It. I Looking bnck from tho Biimmlt of tho mound, llorls saw something dark lying high up on tho beach amid a vrrack of seaweed and broken tlmbor which marked whoro tho great wavo had stopped. Something odd nhout the shape took his eye. A moment later ho was leaping down again toward tho shore, taking ihls longest strides, ami sending tho J pebbles spraying out In front nnd on nil sides of him. Ho stooped and found tho body of u man, lull, well-formed well-formed nnd of manly figure. Ho was bareheaded and stripped to his broeches nnd undorwonr. Doris stooped nnd laid IiIb hnnd Rj upon his honrt. Yes, ao much wns cdrtalti. Ho was not dead. Boris took a handful of Bniall poll-Hk poll-Hk blcs and throw them up at a lighted window. Tho head of Werner von H. (Orseln . Immediate) nppenrrd, his grizzled hair blown out like a misty aureolo about his temples. "Come down," shouted Boris, making mak-ing a trumpet of his hand to fight the wind withal. "Wo have found n drowned drown-ed mnn on tho bench!" They carried the body Into tho greai hall, where the duchess nnd the old servitor met them. There they Inld him on n table. Joan hcrelf lifted the lantern and held It to his face. At the sight the heart of tho duchess leaped wildly within her. "Conrad!" she cried that word and no more. And tho lantern fell to the floor from her nerveless hnnd. It wns tho White Knight of the Courtlnnd lists, the noble I'rlncc of tho summer parlor, tho red-robed prelate pre-late of her marriage day. Conrad of Courtlnnd. Prince nnd Cardlnnl,, but to her. "he" tho only "lie." When Conrad. Cnrdlnal-dcslgnntc of the Holy Roman church nnd Archbishop Arch-bishop of Courtlnnd, opened his eyes, It seemed to him thnt he had passed through warring waters into tho serenity of the life beyond. A girl, sweet nnd stntely, sat by his bedside. By tho door to which alono he could raise his eyes, stood a tall, gaunt man, clad In gray from hend to foot, his hands clnsped In front of him. nnd his chin sunk upon his breast. The Prince-Bishop's cycsrosted languidly lan-guidly on tho girl's face, on which fell the light of a shaded silver lamp. There was a book In her lap, written upon sheets of thin pnrchment, bound In sliver embossed leather. But sho did not read It. Instead sho breathed softly and regulnrly. Sho was nslccn. with her hand on the coverlet of rosy silk. Slowly the drifting mists stcndled themselves nthwnrt his brain. Tho nctual recomposcd Itself nut of tho shreds of dreams. Conrad found himself him-self In n long, low room such ns ho had seen ninny times In the houses of well-to-do rltters nlong tho Baltic shores. The beams of tho roof-treo above were carven nnd ancient. Arras went everywhere about tho walls. Silver Sil-ver candlesticks, with princely crests graven upon them, stood by his bedhead. bed-head. After each survey his eyes settled set-tled on tho sleeping girl. Sho was very young nnd very beautiful. It was yet It could not bo tho Duchess Joan, whom ho himself had mnrrled to his brother Louis In tho cathedral church of his own archleplscopal city. Conrad of Courtlnnd had not been trained n priest, yet, ns wns common nt that ngc, birth nnd clrcumstnnco , had made him n prlnco of tho Roman 1 church. Ho had been thrust Into the , hierarchy solely because of his name, J for ho had succeeded his uncle Adrian I In his posts and emoluments ns n ' legal heir succeeds to an undisputed I property. In duo time he received his red lint. Nevertheless, Conrad of Courtlnnd hnd nil the warm llfo nnd Imperious , Impulses of n young mnn within his ' breast. Yet ho wns no Borgia or Delia Hovcro, cloaking scarlet sins with scnrlet vestments. For with tho high dignities of his position nnd the sol-1 sol-1 emn work which lny to his hnnd In I his northern provlnco thnro hnd como tho resolve to bo not less, but more faithful than those mnrtyrs nnd confessors con-fessors of whom ho 'rend dally In his Brevlnry. So this finest and most chlv-nlrous chlv-nlrous of young northern knights hnd laid down tho wenpons of his warfare to take up tho crucifix, and now hnd sot out" Joyfully for nomo to receive his cardinal's hat on his knees as tho Inst and greatest gift of tho vicar of Christ. But scarcely was ho clear of tho Courtlnnd shores when there hnd como tho storm, tho shipwreck, tho wild struggle nmong tho white nnd foaming breakers and then, won-drously won-drously emergent, like henven nfter purgntory, tho quiet of this sheltered room nnd this sleeping girl, with her whito hand lying lnx nnd dcllcnto on tho rosy silk. Tho book slipped suddenly from her fingers, falling on tho polished wood of tho floor with n stnrtllng sound. Then, from tho pillow on which his head lay, Joan of Hohcnstcln saw tho j eyes of tho Prlnco Conrad gazing nt her, dark nnd solemn from within tho purplish rings of recent peril, "You nro my brother's wlfo!" ho said softly, hut yet In tho snmo rich nnd thrilling volco sho had listened to with so ninny henrt-stlrrlngs In tho summer palace, nnd hnd last heard through tho cathedral church" of Court-land Court-land on that day when hor llfo had ended, A chill camo over Uio girl's fnco at his words, I am Indeed tho Duchess Joan of Hohonsteln," sho answered. "My fnthor willed that I should wed Prlnco Ivouls ot Courtlnnd. Well, I married him and rodo away. In bo much I am your brother's wife." Ho smiled wanly. The light of the lamp seemed to waver again beforo his oyes. Tho world grow full of sloop nnd rest nnd refreshment. Thoro was no longer need to enro about anything. any-thing. His oyes closed, and ho scrned about to sink back Into unconsciousness, when Joan roso, and with a fow drops of DcBsauor's phial, which sho kopt by her In caso of need, sho called him back from tho misty verges of tho things which nro without. Ho enmo to himself with n stnrt. "Will you tell mo how I camo here, nnd to whom I am Indebted for my life?" ho said. "You wcro picked up for dead on tho beach in tho storm," sho nnswor-ed, nnswor-ed, "nnd wcro brought hither by two captains In the service of tho Prlnco of Plr.ssenburgl" "And where Is this place, nnd when can I leave It to proceed upon my Journoy?" Tho girl's hend wnv turned away from him n trlflo moro hntightlly than beforo, and she answered coldly, "You nre In a certain fortified grange somo-where somo-where on the Baltic shore. As to when you can proceed on your Journey, Jour-ney, that depends neither on you nor on me. 1 nm n prisoner here. And so I fenr you must also consider yourself!" your-self!" "A prisoner! Then has my brother broth-er 7" cried tho Prlncc-Blshop, starting start-ing up on his elbow nnd Instantly diopplng bnck ngnln upon tho pillow with a groan of mingled pain nnd weakness. Joan looked nt him a moment mo-ment and then, compressing her Hps" with quick resolution, wont to tho bed side nnd with her hand under his hend rearranged the pillow nnd laid him bnck In an easier posture. "Yqu must Ho mill," sho said In n commanding tone, nnd yet softly, "you nro too wenk to move. Also you must obey me. I have some skill In leech-craft." leech-craft." "I am content to he your prisoner,' snld tho Prince-Bishop, smiling "that Is, till I am well enough to proceed "Conrad!" she cried, on my Journey to Homo, whither the Holy Father Pope Stxtus hath summoned sum-moned mo by speclnl messenger." "I fenr mo much," nnswercd Joan, "that, splto of tho Holy Father, wo may bo fellow prisoners of long standing. stand-ing. Thoso of my own folk who hold mo here ngnlnst my will are hardly likely to let tho brother of Prlnco Louis of Courtlnnd escapo with nows of my hiding plnco nnd hermitage!" Tho young mnn seemed ns If ho would ngnln hnvo started up, but with n gesturo smilingly Imperious Joan forbndo him. "To-morrow," sho said, "perhaps It you nre patient I will tell you more. Here comes our hostess. It Is tlmo that I should leave you." Theresa von Lynar camo softly to tho sldo of tho bed and stood besldo Joan. Tho young Cnrdinnl thought thnt ho had novcr seen a moro queenly pair Joan resplendent In her glrllBh strength nnd beauty. Theresa still in tho rlpo glory of womnnhood. Thero wns a gentler light thnn beforo In tho elder woman's eye, and sho cast an almost deprecating glanco upon Joan. For at tho first sound of her approach tho girl had stiffened visibly, and now, with a formal word as to tho sick man's condition nnd a cold bow to Conrad, she moved nwn'. Theresn wntched her n llttlo Bndly ns sho passed behind tho deep curtnln. Then she sighed, nnd turning ngnln to tho bcdsldo sho looked long nt tho young man without speaking. (To bo continued.) |