Show ahe PAINTED herfa r E DORNFORD YATES SERVi SERVICE CHAPTER XH continued 2 26 dont screamed herrick Herr lck how dare you when yoa you apologize I 1 want to kick myself a and nd burst into tears if you must wear your cheeps skin do we all know it comes oft off but tor for you to bleat Is indecent oh bh yes I 1 ran can see you laughing laughe g but because you dont wider tinder stand were cast in two different molds we come I 1 see you con quer I 1 cant put it better than that and I 1 warn you my sim simple serpent im not going to let you go you may take a duchess name and marry the countess of brief but I 1 knew you before they did and im not going to give them place and when I 1 change my name as one day I 1 shall mean that have three houses bouses instead of two and there you have john herrick Herr lck sterling efficient adroit with a glorious sense ense of humor and the heart of a little child his way with au all was wonderful duchess steward and scullion he was at casewitz case with the lot and they with him what Is more he inspired affection it gave him pleasure to make his neighbors glad and his neighbors recognized this and thanked god for such a man upon what I 1 owe him myself I 1 will not insist tor for I 1 think these pages have shown that but for his present help I 1 could have done nothing at all and elizabeth must have been broken and percy virgil succeeded to her estate to three others I 1 must pay tribute before I 1 end this tale for I 1 shall leave it at raven which was for me journeys journey end winter issam is still in my servi service cep but soon goo n will leave it to marry brenda revoke I 1 often think that his was a trying office tor for all the time he stood upon the edge of the tray no vengeance was his and three times he missed the battle for which he longed he knew too much or too little from first to last and yet he never complained but kept his eyes upon his duty and did it with all his heart no servant was ever more faithful or gave a fuller measure than winter did and it gives me lasting pleasure to think that to some extent he be found his fortune with me metor for brenda will make a fine wife and haven baveri is his idea of heaven on earth of elizabeth what can I 1 say I 1 think there Is no one like her but that is natural enough still herrick is a fair critic and the duchess is hard to please and both of them commend her of course she has her faults but I 1 am thankful for th these ese for otherwise she would be too good to be true her beautiful features have lost their wistful look and a gayety gaiety long confined is now at large to leaven her dignity but her ways are as gracious as ever her gaze is as level her shining head is as high and though I 1 know her so well I 1 never can lose the impression that she in fact belongs to the ige age of chivalry for she has in fee the haunting fabulous beauty of ballad and storybook story book and she nev er seems to notice that she goes she always receives a duty which is not accorded to others because it is not inspired was this the face that launched a thou sand ships I 1 sometimes think that it was though god knows I 1 am no paris perhaps menelaus was burly and could not tell judgment from instinct and went with scales on his eyes in any event he set great stori store by his wife and as when a play Is over the most illustrious player stands last and alone upon the stage the latest to figure here must be harriet vincentia saying duchess of whelp till the first day I 1 stood before her lying abed I 1 never had comprehended ended what personality meant that indefinable presence which needs no kelp kielp of the body to make its itsek elf felt and then I 1 knew because I 1 was immediately suba subject ci to something far greater than me had she taken no action and never opened her mouth that sense of subjection must nevertheless have endured because her spirit ruled mine from the moment I 1 entered her room it was the same with us all high end and low went down before her as grass goes down before the scythe and I 1 can think of no one who villo could today stand up and meet her on equal ground proud and strong and tearless fearless keen wt wit ted humorous wise above all full of that drive that made a conqueror out alit of a tanners stock she moved upon a plane that others sometimes climb to and find and the air too rare for their physique and so she came down for us the fine old eagle came down and show edus eolus her royal heart I 1 u use word advisably royal is as royal does and the duchess of whelp does royally because I 1 believe she knows no other way that I 1 cannot compute what I 1 owe her is natural enough there are some debts before which arithmetic pales for one thing only I 1 owe her elizabeths life for had bad she not seen and shown me the deadly peril in which whilst virgil lived my darling must be I 1 should never have gone to keep watch on the turret stair then again it was she that had me into the castle and gave me the chance of doing whatever I 1 did unearthly shrewd and swift to ac act t upon her shrewdness handling men and women as a horse master handles a horse filling the weaker vessel with the virtue that ran in her veins kind and understanding and generous using us pygmies as equals ye yet asking tasking far less of us than she did of herself from the hour that we called upon her she was the driving force behind all we did tho though u gh now there is no more to be done our allegiance persists tracery is her wash pot over brief hath she cast out her shoe ahoe 11 the mot which is herricks is juste and we are as proud as content because there is only one old harry the great THE END |