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Show . .fJy fLczZr-. if iMS0M$sk INTERNATIONAL PRESS ASSOCIATION. or permission or RAND.MSNALLY & CO.. (CHAPTKIl II. CoNTiNtien). Slip hesitated a niomont; hor glnnce fell upon the rornt-r at 11 letter project-Iek project-Iek from the pocket of liln torn anil Gusty uniform; Hint mlKht slve her IiIh nIdre; she lennfd forward nnil took It gently out. The itildrewi 'was, "Will-Intn "Will-Intn Cavendish, Kmiulro; The Admiralty. Admiral-ty. Whltehnll;" the enl wiih unbroken. The truth broke In on her Instantly; she called to the coachman nnd the enr-HiiKe enr-HiiKe stopped. "Home!" she qrled, imicrnttvcly: the horses were wheeled round. "Drive fasti" she added, nnd they quickened their puce. In n few minutes they stopped In front of No. 21 Hertford square. Dick opened his eyes. "Are you there?" he asked; "I hnvo n letter" "Yes," she said. gently, "I know; it shall be delivered nt once; but now you must come In with me." He obeyed, movliiR slowly nnd with pnln; lie did not offer him help from herself or her servants, for which be was dimly grateful. In the hull stood the colonel, bland as ever, and looking ns If ho snw nothing unusual In Dick's nppenrnnce or costume. Camilla hastily has-tily explained the ease; Dick standlnB by silently the while, giving his whole attention to controlling any expression of the pnln In his head, which was becoming be-coming more and mote severe. "Perhaps," said Hie colonel, "Capt. Kstcourt will do me Jho honor of making mak-ing use of my room In which to rest from the fntlgue of his gallant struggle against superior numbeis?" Dick followed him upstairs, but stopped short at the top of the first night. "I have a letter to deliver." he repeated re-peated In a tone of helpless obstinacy; "it will be too lute." "If you will Intrust it to me," replied the colonel, "I wjll send it directly; the carriage Is still nt the door." They reached u room upon the floor above, where M. de Montaut left his guest In charge of n vnlet nnd returned downstairs with the letter In his hand. At the drawing-room door he found Ca-mllln Ca-mllln wnltlng for him. "You would be doing me a fnvor," she snld, "by taking that IcttPr yourselr to Its address." He looked nt her as If he were about to ask a question, but apparently changed his mind, nnd bowed instend. "Your wish Is In itself n reason more than sulliclent," he said, ns though hnlf In nnswer, to his own thought; nnd ho went on down to the front door, and stepped Into the carriage with something some-thing like n crafty smile upon his handsome hand-some face. A quarter of nn hour nfter his departure de-parture Dick mnde .his nppenrnnce In the drawing-room, where he found Camilla Ca-milla nlone. At first she wns surprised nnd plensed to sec him looking so little lit-tle the worse for his Injuries; but she sooii, perceived by the nrvous excitement excite-ment of his mnnner and the brightness of his eyes Hint he was by no means out of the. wood yet. He expressed his grnt-Itude grnt-Itude for her timely rescue, nnd his admiration ad-miration of the skill nnd courage with which' she hnd brought under control so exoltcd and disorderly n crowd. She lnughed, and put the mnttcr lightly on one side. "It Is my broth.or-ln-lnw come back," she said. In u tone of perfectly counterfeited counter-feited unconcern. Dick looked Ilxedly nt her! In his eyes were dumb repronch and the sndmyip of-nn of-nn unspoken farewell; about his mouth gathered the lines of resolution, nnd, for a moment, the curvo of bitterness. Hlie flushed, nnd nil her manner cha'nged Instantly, "l)on't misunderstand. misunder-stand. me," she cried Impulsively. "I know whnt you have done, and loyalty can never fall of sympathy from mep The colonel's step wns heard nscend-lug nscend-lug the stnlrs; she henid Dick stiffen hlnibulf to bear the news of lila unwelcome unwel-come fortune, and felt, with a quick sensu of surprise ut her own weakness, that she w'ns too much Interested to stny and see him face the ordeal. Sho made some Incoherent excuse and ns tho door opened she pnsscd tho colonel hurriedly hur-riedly and ran toward her own room hrenthless and confused. Hut she wns stnyed In mid-course by a cry from XI. de Montaut nnd the sound of a bell ringing violently downstairs. She turned hnlf round; the colonel enme out on to the stnlrs. "I regret to Bay," ho began, with ex-asperatlng ex-asperatlng politeness and deliberation, "that disappointment nt the news of which I was tho unwilling bearer has prostrated our gallnqt friend with nn nttack of fever. What professional enthusiasm!" en-thusiasm!" he continued, with a half smile.' "One may doubt whether m' lords have this time favored the better man." She looked ns If two might doubt thnt, but nnswered nothing, and the colonel returned to his patient. ciiArTnn in. f vr n K s u n a KO.N Jvl(Vi vj who was called In, S8JM without delny, to yrra nttend to Dick's ln-AiK' ln-AiK' Juries pronounced jOJ them to bo slight In i themselves: but for 'jSg' the feverish condl-'lftSi condl-'lftSi t'on t0 which they hnd given rise be prescjlbed Immediate Im-mediate rest nnd quiet. He looked t little doubtfully nt each oj his listeners listen-ers In turn ns he said this; "You mean," (nqulred Cumllla, "hat he must not be moved Ccr the, present?" "Well," was thn reply, "of coum U BY HENRY MZWBOLT might be mnnaged, but It Is u risk, nnd If you could, without too much Inconvenience, Incon-venience, keep him for n couple of nights nt any rate" "Oh!" ciled the colonel. Interrupting, "do not think twice about It; convenience conven-ience Is nothing In it case of urgency, and dipt. Kstcourt Is a valued friend of ours." The surgeon looked relieved, nnd went away promising to return the tnme evening. Camilla for herself approved the nr-riingement nr-riingement mnde by her brother-in-law. but she wns nt the same time surprised nt It. He had not only spoken of Ulclc, with whom be was In no wny Intimate, as "n vnlued friend" thnt was, per-haps, per-haps, only n piece of his habitual politeness po-liteness but he hnd also readily entered en-tered Into n plan which did In fact involve in-volve n considerable Inconvenience, nnd this wns by no menus so usual a thing for him, At least, he nlwnys hnd n personal motive for such acts, nnd she was nt a loss tn see an adequate one here; for the dllllculty which he hnd thus brought upon himself wns no slight one. The patient had been taken from the drnwlng-room Into n spare-room ndjolnlng It on the snme floor, nnd separated from It only by a partition wnll of slight construction, through which the sound of conversation wns by no means Inaudible. Now, It happened by 111 fortune that on this very evening mutters were to be spoken of In that drnwlng-room which must not be over-henrd over-henrd by nny living ear. The meeting was one which could not be postponed, nnd no other room In the house was suitable for It, for It wns to be In nppenrnnce np-penrnnce n merely social gathering. And all this the colonel knew ns well as she did. As they snt nt dinner she nlluded to the question while tho servants were absent from tho room. "Yes," replied M. de Montaut, "It Is unfortunate, but It would be Inhuman to move our poor friend; his safety may depend on his remaining quiet," "On his remaining quiet!" said Ca- mlllu, "Our safety will certainly depend on thnt. If he does overhear us." "Kh blen, then we will remain quiet." "It will be his duty to Inform against us,' 'she replied. "As an officer, true," said her companion, compan-ion, cooly; "but on this occasion the gallant captalnnvlll not fulllll that duty, for he has another more Imperative." She looked nt him In doubt. "The duty, I mean, of a loyal chevn-ller." chevn-ller." "I know him better!" wns the oxclam-intlon oxclam-intlon on her lips, but she checked it, nnd hesltnted for nn answer. "In reality," he said, "we need fear no such complication. I have Just recollected recol-lected thnt the doctor said he Intended to give his patient n composing draught nt nn enrly hour this evening, so he will heur no trenson nfter nil." "You nre sure?" she nsked; "sure, I menn, that he will give It, nnd thnt It will be effectual?" "I will see to It mvself. If vou wlnh." he replied; "but I am surprised to find you so npprehenslve for our security. You used to think no risk too great to run for the good cnuse." "In thnt," she said, hotly, "I shnll never change; Jt Is not thnt I am lukewarm, luke-warm, ns you will see tonight!" He bowed, nnd rose from the tnble to open the door for her, llefore they hnd been In the drnwlng-room Half an hour the surgeon returned. le brought with him the sleeping draught. "Thnt Isn good Idea of yours,1' said Camilla, as he produced Mt. "To Colonel de Montaut belongs the credit of suggesting It," wns the reply, "Itenlly?" she said; "I shouldlnot have suspected that." The colonel looked a little confused. Within Ave minutes of the doctor's departure tho bell rang twice In rapid succession, nnd three gentlemen were ushered Irrjp'Ulie drawing-room, where Madame de Montnut wns wnltlng to receive re-ceive them. A conversation on the most general subjects nt once begun, but there wns nn nlr of expectation In the mnnner of nil, nnd when the colonel entered every one turned to him n.s though wJMi nn unspoken Inquiry. He grerfled the two newcomers, and turned to Madame de Montnut. "I think we may liegln now," he snld. She looked nt him und raised her eyebrows Interrogntlvely. He nodded io signify thnt Dick wns fnst asleep, nnd sat down at n smnll tnble, laying a bundle of papers upon It. "My friends," ho said, "I have summoned sum-moned you to-night to propose n fresh attempt," He looked at the faces around him r J observed Hint Camilla was similarly similar-ly 04?uplcd. Ills hearers showed by t'jlr looks that they perfectly under-stc3 under-stc3 his meaning, but were either reserved re-served or unenthuslastlu In tho matter. "M. Carnnc," he continued, with grnvo politeness, bowing to the elderly gentleman who sat nenrost to him, ' It Is from you that wo have learned to expect ex-pect n crltlcnl Judgment, Are you not of opinion thnt tho time tins come for renewed nctlvlty?'' "It has como ngnln and again," replied re-plied tho person addressed, "but always al-ways withoiit.'tsult!" '7 - "No doutiti RtKf'tha colonel; "but thijt has becriwfely due to n wnnt of 'forethought nnl. energy, whloh must not occur ORl'ln." ' . v "Yes, Indoedl'itexclrilmed a short gentleman, gen-tleman, with n beard, who was evidently evi-dently nn Englishman; "there have been good enough plans lnld, but na onp (It to bo trusted with their execution." execu-tion." The third of tho visitors turned upon thf spoiw.er. "You will pnrdon me," he snld, with Bomo crlmony, "If I differ entirely; it Is, lo my opinion, the stay-at-homes who nro to blame, In devising Impossl-bl Impossl-bl methods of which they take the crtdlt nnd others the danger!" "Gentlemen," said tho colonel, In a southing tone, "you nre both right, but yl both speak only according to your ortn experience. You, Mr. Holmes, deserved de-served success, but your subordinates fa tied you. You. M, le Comte, follow Jd mmmrmmmmmmmmmm i your Instructions with n courage nnd loyally which would have sccurf-d a triumph If your directors had not mda a cruel mistake In their calculations. These two fntnl forms of error must be avoided, We must think nnd net with equnl (ertiilnty and all will be well," Mr. Holmes sVouk his hend In sulky silence. The Comte de Itnhodnngcs ex-claimed, ex-claimed, lleicely, "It Is too much to expect; ex-pect; the cat docs not offer her paw a second time!" During '.his nttei cation Cumllla hnd sat silent, but with growing Impatience; her eyes flashed and her checks were flcry-red, The colonel, always ready to turn the force of others to account for his own purpose, hastened to give the llnnl Impulse to her pent-up Indignation. Indigna-tion. He looked nt her, nnd raised his shoulders nnd eyebrows In a gesture of resignation. "You!" she cried; "you too despair at the eleventh hour? What do these doubts and recilmluatlnns mean7 Do none of you any more remember the greatness of the cause you Berve? Ilnxe you begun to forget the emperor?" emper-or?" As the lightning of this word flashed upon them her heaters started violently violent-ly "Ah!" she went on, with quickening breath, "there Is magic In the name! It Is perhaps because you whisper It so seldom that It has ceased of Inte to stir you; let us be bolder In speech and braver In action!" "Mndame," replied M. Carnac, depre-cattngly, depre-cattngly, nnd with u bow of genuine admiration, ad-miration, "your enthusiasm Is heroic, but It Is not prudent; the boldness that you preach Is likely to bring dlscomfl-ture dlscomfl-ture upon us nil." "Discomfiture!" she cried with ringing scorn. "Whnt, then, docs the timidity you practice bring upon the emperor? Are we to preserve our own freedom nt the price of his captivity, and amid tho luxury of n great capital to shut our eyes to the misery of his exile on n lonely lone-ly rock unfit for human hnbltntlon?" There wns nn awkward silence. After a moment's pause she went on again in u more pleading tone. "Let us for nn Instnnt look back," she said earnestly, "upon tho splendor of his past career, and then consider to what the rancor of his enemies has bi ought him. The man of action, for whose deeds Europe was not wide enough, confined within a circuit of n dozen miles! The man of genius re-, fused even the companionship of his best-loved books! The commnnder of armies with but n pair of lackeys at his call; the maker and dethroner of kings denied his royal title! Do you not know," she cried, and her voice rang dep again with anger, "do you not kno,w that his house Is but a moldcrlng Jalt,knnd his allowance a prisoner's pittance? pit-tance? Himself the most magnificently generous of men, he !as been driven by sordid necessity to melt his plate; ho suffers In health, he Is In dnntrer. He- Just heaven! from the Inspiration of whose life we drew the spirit that nnl-mates nnl-mates our own!" "Well spoken!" cried the colonel, skillfully following up the ndvantaga she hud gained for him; "well spoken! And all that we then hnd shall soon be ours ngnln; Is It not worth one moro effort my friends?" "It Is, Indeed," murmured M. Carnnc, with a sigh. The Comte de Ilnbodanges grumbled, "If only It were the last." Mr. Holmes settled himself In his chair. "Well," he snld, bluntly, "let's huar your plan. If you've got one." The colonel untied his bundle of papers and spread them out upon the table In front of him. (to de continued i |