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Show The ; BLADE i Of PICARDY s" fred Mclaughlin : Copyright by Th Bobba-Morrlu Co. )J W. N. U. Serv-ic f33wV--)WJfwAw,Vki -i-S m VNr K 11 .uaFI'KK VII V Vigny bvso Tvaca ty couviuelnis Juurti, who W C"I Siduuoil 10 oio ihe cuy. mat iuc " Sn mun io loo mrouij. Juarez v "STuu. moused, uud u vlg jtveu uiily Dy poaaossiuu 01 k .o," said the other; "we ciuinot mi'hl'm. Ue is De Vigny; unci when Juarez sees him, and we explain to 15 tie general how well known the ciip-ialn ciip-ialn Is to us, a Briug squad . . ." 1 opened my eyes slowly. A huge llll oil lamp, hanging from a cross-beam, lighted the meager room. 1 sat, hound md helpless, In a spacious chair, and A lerous and Besancon faced each oth-1 oth-1 er across the table under the light. 1 My bead ached, and the bonds cut me cruelly; my body was the abiding place of all the pains in the world. J!y fate now was 'a thing of minor Importance. I had failed; after an "I effort which had so nearly approached a success, I had failed. The defection -1S 0( these two soldiers of France hurt a: me a hurt that seemed to reach my ' tery soul. And the Senorita Arrel-it! Arrel-it! lanos! Never again would I look upon up-on her lovely face, nor hear the niu- tic of her voice 1 I sighed,-and Le- row, hearing me, approached. "Does my disposition Include tor- 5 tire?" I asked. He apologized, untying my bonds :- while Besancon stood back, gun held ready. Freed, I lifted my shoulders, stretched my arms and legs, breathed Pi! deeply. My face, somehow, had an unfamiliar unfamil-iar feel. I raised a hand and cried i out In dismay. My beard was gone I H "We have done our best," said Le-roui, Le-roui, pride and deprecation In his C voice, "For swift and secret barber- 6 Ing we may not have done so badly." Now I held to my chin, horror rl, doubtless showing In my eyes. ia "Be not downcast," sympathized Le-rons; Le-rons; "what is a mere beard? Cheer c op; the loss of your beard can only 5 anticipate that of your life by a few paltry hours. There will scarce be lime to mourn ; and the beard, friend of ours, would have been a serious Undrance to our plans. We take you before Benito Juarez, and we say to Mm: This man Is not Madrella, he li Captain de Vigny ; do not we, excellency, ex-cellency, know De Vigny, have we not served three years with him under tie Empire, could any one be better known to us?" "And you will do this, Leroux for what reason?" His gray eyes studied me. I found 6 i In them a gentle raillery, as well as ; smoldering light of hatred. "We W,H do this because, primarily, we would have his excellency march on Cuernavaca, and because, senor, we jve waited Louie Besancon and I "But Cuernavaca," I cried, "will" "?es," Besancon interrupted harsh-.Ji harsh-.Ji 'J. "Cuernavaca. We heard you tell ",. Belto Juarez about the defending ,W forces of Cuernavaca, about the trap ! t Maximilian has laid ; and when e prove you De Vigny we will have l"ed your story false." He gave "short hard laugh, and, shaking the gun nnrjer my yery nQSe contlnue(j . t have waited for this hour, Pab-'. Pab-'. weary weeks we have waited; H when you have said 'Good morn-to morn-to the firing squad, and 'Good- r to this beautiful earth, and Gen-r" Gen-r" Juarez has led his tatterdemalion nnj into the trap that our emperor -'l set for him, then the true story i our treachery may be told." A. , ,'' 1 saId "wait wait!" My brln was seething. 11' Did you Imagine, amlgo mlo," said eroux, a deep and vibrant tender-, tender-, ln hs voice, "that we, who have l(ri t France- would ever offer serv-Ifl serv-Ifl that her enemies? Did you think or m W6' Whom the emperor has hon-. hon-. th hls love. could ever turn y ;' faces from him?" ' 'thon rRene'" 1 gasped, "verily hast u delivered me Into the hands of lhLnemles! yet' because of what "J" hast told me, I am glad-glad!" Prenl Spetks to us ln French ln "fn-Loule; and he says 'Rene.'" ' to i l caught hoId of shouI" looking deep Into my eyes, a nun- ! lo smnerneSS ,n tlls fine face- 1 trled ade f " but tbe bru,ses doubtless lj he 11 8 sorry caricature. Flnal-"Mon Flnal-"Mon n,POke ln a gasping whisper: i Dieu-lt is Francois I onol sud Besancon. f fcther- ffiy lnfants" "ounrt W6re upon me- wlth arms pistol) , y shoulders and voices soft LChth, ..Jith tenderness and sym-Ion sym-Ion wo we not beeD so sure tecoi Maflrella we would have Shalr i nearly kllled yu wltn the "onato , i wby d0 yu tllus imper-:lous imper-:lous Uf"a?rella- aDd Pt your pre-"first pre-"first ,n Jeopardy ?" on n, l' "t0 bl0Ck the at' (1 UndernrerDaVac,i,vhIcl1 ls" P'tlful-l P'tlful-l oble annefl and last, to see two tons of. Franca," Mi le we," exclaimed none Le-iux, Le-iux, were planning wlmt we deemed a clover trick upon Mlulr0l.. t l,o god of chance must hmgh at us I" W hore then, Is your twln-the es-tlmahle es-tlmahle -ahlo?" nuestloned Kesmlcs I loft him nd the fat Manuel studying the cracks In the door of my room nt the Llotel Montozcnu. for the head of each had stopped the night of a heavy stool." "Name of a name," cried Leroux "will wonders never cease 1" "If, perchance, he comes back to lifo-of which there Is a serious doubt -and elects to follow me, lie will find, barring his progress, I'asqimi a worthy man who has served me well. I think, however, that because of the possibilities he has doubtless seen already al-ready In the duplication of Madrel-las. Madrel-las. he will return with all speed to the city. nut I must know why two good ollicors of the Empire have cast their lot with the forces of revolution." revolu-tion." I.eroux" grinned. "It was an opportunity, op-portunity, Francois, whereby a soldier sol-dier of France might work from with In the enemies' lines; and, biding his time, turn a victory to defeat. That time, as yet, has not arrived, though our hopes are high." "Some day," said Besancon, "a great battle between the Empire and the Republic will hang ln the balance; bal-ance; then will come our opportunity and the Republic will lose!" "Win or lose, my friends, your lives are forfeit." "A small payment, In very truth. Francois, If we but save the Empire, which totters even now; but you must tell us all that has befallen. We are hungry for tidings of the city." So I spoke of my meeting with l.a Anita, and, though I strove desperately desperate-ly for control, my voice trembled. Besancon laughed. "Another sacrifice sacri-fice upon the altar of love!" "Aye," said I frankly ; "the Senorita Senor-ita Arrellanos Is the one great love of my life!" I described the duel, and the sorry figure that Madrella had made; 1 touched lightly upon the senorita's appearance before his majesty, on the growth of De Vlgny's beard, and I gave with great detail an account of my secret visit to the house on Aveu-Ida Aveu-Ida Flores. I spoke of the encounter with the Indian mozo, Agostlno, and of La Anita's farewell to the pseudo Madrella. "Even a proxy kiss is better than no kiss at all," said Leroux. I told them of the failure of Neville, Ne-ville, and I pictured him, silent and still, beside the road. 1 explained Pasqual, and I described the defeat of Manuel and Madrella in Cuernavaca. Cuerna-vaca. And, lastly, I carried them through my experience with Don Felis Perez, the gargoyle of Treinta. "It ls sad," said Besancon, "about Neville; a tine soldier and a good friend. Yet you, Francois, have followed fol-lowed a lucky star, though I fear you have added nothing to your prestige with the lady, for your efforts have been all for the emperor." "My worship for La Anita," said I, "Is, I know, quite hopeless; yet it makes of me none the less a soldier of the Empire. One must have a goal. It is something to love her, something some-thing to have known her. The fact of her existence is a constant incitement incite-ment to endeavor." Leroux filled a glass and raised it high, Besancon doing likewise. "May your star ever shine, and the god of luck keep his smiling face toward you; and, Francois, may the senorita" senor-ita" Bene Leroux never finished that sentence; had he done so I think this tale of mine would never have been written. He must have seen ln my face the sudden dismay and horror that possessed me, for be stopped, and for ten interminable seconds the silence of a tomb descended upon us. His voice had drowned the slight sound of an opening door, and Benito Juarez, silhouetted against the brilliant bril-liant moonlit night, stood in the doorway. door-way. I stared, frozen into futile move-lessness. move-lessness. Leroux turned his head, and, seeing the general, set the brimming brim-ming glass of wine with a dreamy deliberation of gesture upon the table. His hand was so steady that not a drop was spilled, and I marveled mar-veled at the control of the man, for this was the end. Beardless, I was De Vigny and Rene had called me Francois 1 Juarez came slowly Into the room and stopped beside the table. He looked questionably at each of us. while we stood helpless, waiting for the world to fall. "Is this a-a bar-beria, bar-beria, senores; and if so, who, may I ask, is the barber?" I found my voice. "It Is a sort of -game, excellency," said I, searching search-ing my very soul for a saving thought "Yes" added Besancon, "a a kind of game." His right hand had sought the pocket of his blouse wherein rested the pistol; and I felt that General Benito Juarez, at that moment, mo-ment, was closer to his death than I have ever been, which ls very near Indeed. The general's smile was not a pleasant thing to see. "Is this game senor, something that your gener El7 thought, for an Instant, that Bene Leroux had gone mad with the stra n of the thing, for he broke out into uncontrollable laughter. He leaned over the table in an ecstacy of mirth . and, as we waited, Juarez's face grew ominous. ,,, "Your pardon, excellency," gasped Leroux "I will explain-in a mo n.ent." He stopped and drew a Ions breath. He pointed toward me. This SZ..OSS man is Captain de Vcgnyl jcjud-I was certain. . - 1 Continued next week.) , |