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Show c by Jjafad Sabalinl (Continued From Our Last Issue-) Not for a second was Andre-Louis under any delusion as to the man s de liberate purpose, nor were those who stood near him, who made a belated and ineffectual attempt to close about him, He was grievously disappointed II vtas not Chabnllane ho had been ex-I ex-I peeling But If Chabrillane was the man ap , pointed to deal with him, he would j make the best of it VI think you are pushing against me, monsieur." ho said, very civilly, and with elbow and Bhoulder he i thrust M. de Chabrillane back into the rain , Now, for all his slenderness, his assiduous as-siduous daily sword practice had given Andre-Louis an arm of Iron Also he threw his weight into the thni3L Ills I assailant reeled backward a few steps j and then his heel struck a baulk of timber left on the ground by some workmen that morning, and he sat clown suddenly in the mud. i A roar of laughter rose from all who j witnessed tho line gentleman's down-I down-I fall He rose, mud-bespattered. In a fury, and In that fur sprang at Andre-Louis. Andre-Louis. "You shall meet me for this'" he spluttered "I : hall kill you for it." "Whenever you please, monsieur It is for vou to say when if will suit your '"nvonlcncc to kill me I think that Was the intention you announced, was it not?" Andre-LouiS was suavity itself it-self "Tomorrow morning In tho Bols. Perhaps you will bring a friend." "Certainly, monsieur Tomorrow morning, then I hope we shall have fair weather. 1 detest the rain" Chabrillane looked at him almost with amazement. Andre-Louis smiled pleasantly Don't let me detain ou now, monsieur mon-sieur Wm nnlte understand each oth er. I -hall le in the liols at 9 o'clock i tomorrow morning." In the inornlnp. when the assem bly met, his place was vacant, and so i was M. de Chabrillane's Gloom and resentment Bal upon the members of ; the Third, and brought a more than ; usually acrid note into their debates They disapproved of tho rashness of I the new recruit to their body Some i openly condemned his lack of circum spectlon. Very few and those orly the little group In Lc Chapeller'a confidence con-fidence ever expected to see him igalu. It was therefore, as much In amazement amaze-ment as in relief that a U w minutes after 10 they saw him enter, calm, composed, aud bland, and thread his way to his seat. The speaker occupy-: occupy-: lng the rostrum at that moment a member of the Privileged -stopped , short to stare in Incredulous dismay. Here was something that he could not understand at all. Then from somewhere some-where a volco explained the phenomenon phenome-non contemptuously "They haven't met He has shirked It at the last momenL" It must be so, thought all: the mys tiflcatlon ceased, and men were settling set-tling back Into their seats. But now. having reached his place, having heard ihe voire that exnlained the matter to; the universal satisfaction, Andre-Louis Andre-Louis paused before taking his scat He felt it incumbent upon him to reveal re-veal the truo fact. "M Is President, ray excuses for ray late arrival." There wns no necessity neces-sity for this. Ii was a mer piece of theatricality such as it was not in Scaramuuehe's nature to forego 'I have been detained by an engagement of pressing nature I bring you also the excusi i ol M de Chabrillane. He, unfortunately, will bo permanently absent ab-sent from this assembly In future." The Hilence was complete. Andre-Louis Andre-Louis sat down CHAPTER vii Nobody laughod now at Andre-Louis' Andre-Louis' flippancy. He did not intend that anybody should He intended to be terrible; and he knew that the more flippant and casual his tone, the more terrible would be Its effect. He produced exactly the effect he desired. When the session rose, there were a dozen spadaaslns awaiting him in the vestibule. He paused, seeking the man he expected, ex-pected, the man he was most anxious to oblige But M. de La Tour d'Azyr was absent from those eager ranks. I This seemed to him odd. La Tour d'Azyr was Chabrillane's cousin and closest friend Surely he should havo been among the first today. To Andre-Louis, since La Tour was j not one of that waiting pack, It mattered mat-tered little on that Tuesday morning who should be the next. The next, as , It happened, was tho yotinq; VJcomto de La Motte Royau, one of tho deadliest dead-liest bladon in t!)e group. On thrf Wednesday morning, coming com-ing aaln nn hour or so late to the Assembly, Andre louls annourNd in ; much tho same terms as he had announced an-nounced the death of Chabrillane that M. de La Motte-Royau would probably not disturb the harmony of the assembly for some weeks to come, assuming that he were so fortunate as to recover ultimately from tho ef-fects ef-fects of an unpleasant acoldont with which he had quite unexpectedly had I the misfortune to meet that morning J On Thursday he made an identical announcement with regard to the Yl dame do Ulavon On Friday ho told them that he had been delayed by M de TrolSCantlns, and then turning to I the members of tho t'otn limit .mill lengthening his face to a sympathetic gravity. "I am glad to Inform vou. mej-siours. mej-siours. that M des Trolscantlns is In the hands of a very competent surgeon who hopes with care to restore him to your councils in a few greeks' time." Tho Friday of that very busy week found tho vestibule of the Menage empty of swordsmen when he made; his leisurely and expectaut egress wua j.o mapeiier. "Have they had enough?" he won dered. addressing the question to Le Chapeller. Out there under the awnlnc o group of gentlemen stood in earnest talk Scanning the group In a rapid glance, Andre-Louis perceived M. de La Tour d'Aiyr amongst them. He tightened his lips He must afford no provocation provoca-tion It must be for them to fasten , their quarrels upon him. Still, matters could not be left where they w ere, or he 6hould have had all his pains for nothing Care- fully looking away from that group of I gentlemen, he raised his voice so that his words must carry' to their ears. "It begins to look as If my fears of j having to spend the remainder of mv I days In the Bols were idle" Out of the corner of his eye he I caught the stir his words created In j that group. Pacing slowly along be I tween his friends he resumed ' But is It not remarkable that the assassin of Lagron should make no more against Lagron's successor r ; perhaps it is not remarkable. Perhaps the gentleman Ih prudent." He b;id not long to wait. Came a quick sfop behind him, and u hand! falling upon his shoulder, spun him violently round. He wns brought face to face with M. de La Tour d'Azyr, whose handsome cnuntennnre j ealm and composed, but whose eyes i reflected something of the sudden ; blaze of pnssion stirring in him. "Vou spoke of me, I think." said the Marquis quietly "I spoke of an assassin yes. But to these my friends" Andre-Louis' manner was no less quieL "You spoke loudly enough to be overheard," said the Marquis, answering answer-ing the insinuation that he had been eavesdropping. "I perceive that It is your aim to be offensive " "Oh, but you are mistaken, M. le I Marquis I have no wish to be offensive offen-sive But I resent having hands vlo lently laid upon me, especially when , they are hands that I cannot consider I clean." The elder man's eyelids flickered ; Almost he caught himself admiring' Andre-Louis' bearing. Rather, he J j fearod that his own must suffer b comparison. Because of this, he on j raged altogether, and lost control of himself "You spoke of me as the ( assassin of Lagron. But how much bet ' ter are you, M. tho fencing-master, when you oppose vourself to men ' whose skill Is as naturally Inferior to your own!" ' I oppose myself to them!" said An drc-Louls on a tone of amused protest 'Ah, pardon, M. le Marquis; It i3 they who chose to opposr themselves to me and so stupidly. They push me, thev Slap my face, they tread on my toes, they call me by unpleasant names' I What if I am a fencing master? Must ' I on that account admit to every man-1 ner of 111 treatment from your bad-mannered bad-mannered frlend6?" "Comedian!" the Marquis con temp-tUOUSly temp-tUOUSly apostrophized him. ' Are these! men who live by the sword like our self" j "On the contrary, M. le Marquis, I ! have found them men who died by tho j sword with astonishing ease 1 cannot Suppose that you desire to add yourself your-self to their number." "And why. If you please?" La Tour I d'Azyr's face had flamed scarlet be-tore be-tore that sneer. ' Oh," Andre Louis raised hfs eye-, brov8 and pursed his lips a man con-j sldering He delivered himself slowly slow-ly "Because, monsieur, vou prefer the easy victim the Lagrons and VII-morlns VII-morlns of this world, mere sheep for your butchering That is why " And then the Marquis Struck him. (Continued in Our Naxt Issue.) |