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Show !S : The I BLADE of PICARDY By fred Mclaughlin '; Copyright br SUets Tli Bobbi-ilorrlU Co. 55. W. N. U. Srrlo '. ' N sjj ow she raised her eyes to uie again. In their sweet depths lay a light of understanding, of- fear, of wonder. "You tricked me once most ejji grievously, Francois, and gave my pride a lasting hurt. I had gone to your funeral ; alive again you had 'k'i Happiness Had Come to Me at Last, a Happiness Never Dreamed Of In Lei My Life. iisl i, saved me and my uncle and General Juarez In Cuernavuca." She pressed is the soft brown curls against my tea:. shoulder. "I went to Cuernavacu to ij ; live, Francois, so that I might be an near your simple, unmarked grave in IMS the little cemetery. Each day 1 wenl up there and my soul called out foi ely the you." Now she was sobbing softly. ai to "i i heard you," I said, helpless on or n my misery. She lifted her face and I kissed R- the shining eyes, the tender trcmu-;j's'' trcmu-;j's'' lous lips, and pressed my face against the soft hair. Happiness had come to me at last, a happiness never fi dreamed of in my life. "I have loved you, Francois," she whispered, "since that hour when you jjH st0d up before the pistol of my cousin; and then when you gave me iriM hls life an " Fear seized me consternation, hor- JKM ror. What was she saying? When 1 .tmW had given her the life of her cousin . . . and I had taken Madrella's life. The same hand that now ca-,ng ca-,ng ressed the glorious curls had held her cousin's throat until he died. Could I tell her; could 1 bear to lose , ber? I must tell her. pH "It was I who killed your cousin, senorita not the Indian, Pasqual. I -rt must tell you this, though it breaks J my heart to do it." ""'" She smiled Into my eyes. "1 love you for your courage, Francois; such courage as you possess Is a gift few . wen have had. Lieutenant Brugiere nl"1, told me only this afternoon." W "Did he tell you anything else?" CT1 i was sorry that he had not t0( her of Madrella's masquerade. M "Nothing else, Francois. Poor Pab- lol I think, when we love, we are niU"1' not quite sane. Love Is a madness and Pablo was mad. I have been, unconsciously, an Instrument In his """ death; and and you should have been brothers, you and Pablo." JOIN There was a long silence, a silence In which I hardly breathed because " ' my happiness. La Anita lovely I-a Anita lay agulnst my heart. I could hear her soft breathing, and fH 1 caught the faint elusive fragrance J of her hair. I had dreamed of this, ud my dream had been a golden fury. Tomorrow, which would bring ny death, was an unconsidered thing; lencej the knowledge that she loved me cjsej ' fould give me strength. One hour of jtcu life with Anita would pay for a thou- iqiiey sand deaths. iifi She sighed. "Francois, I went to see Lopez." A . "Yes?" How exquisite was her f$ face! 'He offered to sell me your life?" "Humph I" lg "But the price he required" UTAH h-my sweet 1" li"" was more tlian you would have me pay." iflfiS h' GodJnst for one more day V of Uf6i tQ km h to ge my ingers " "Never mind, Francois; I think I U Pt a hurt Into his soul. When we J Spaniards love or hate nothing in nO h t '8 as great ns that love or t,lat "e .u, If Colonel Lopez goes through 18 Ught without committing some - ct of fearful folly I do not know plTAI- th Spanish mind." Whatever he does, my sweet, can iajit. - uve mis hour away from me-" ,,n' '"J" b,'"'ff't n joy mto ,, tl'iit shall live forever; the very an gels shall envy mo my happiness." Sl.o traced, with a dainty forellnger the deep lines that had come Into my fm-e, a mist of tears in her eyes How old are you, Francois?" "Twenty-eight." "And lines of pal,, in your fuce nnd the thoughts of deep solitudes, soli-tudes, and mental anguish, and hardship, hard-ship, and bitter disappointment. Ah dear henrt, you have suffered I" "In eight mouths I have lived a thousand years; I hnve been an old ninn-and now I have come back to second childhood again." I laughed "You hnve, at least, lost those aw-'-ful bruises on your face. Do you remember, re-member, Francois, that you tore up the pass of Juarez and gave me Pab los life again?" I nodded, and she continued- "The sun was just going down; and I kissed you because I loved you. be cause you knew how to sacrifice be cause you were great in forgiveness I never forgot those bruises, dear because be-cause your face is good to look at I saw the love in your eyes that day and the thought of It very happy. Those bruises, Francois were were . . . why, Francols-your Francols-your face!" "What, my sweet my darling . . Is aught ?" "Mother of G d, Francois I Your face?" I touched It with questioning fingers. fin-gers. "Is anything wrong with It, Anita? If so I am desolated, for It is all I have." "The man who killed Lestrange, and stabbed Colonel Lopez, had no bruises on his face." Now my eyes sought the floor, for 1 could not look upon her unhappi-ness. unhappi-ness. "You d-dld not. tell me Francois." "Pablo was dead," said I, "and we may not " She came Into my arms again ; sobbing, sob-bing, with laughter on her lips, and laughing, with tears In her eyes. "Brugiere of the golden heart has said you are a man !" "Brugiere Is generous." "And you did not scoff at my love, Francois, nor thrust me away from you, nor nor question ?" "Of course not" ' "Kiss me kiss me, and hold me; hold me close to you, for we have so short a time I" So I held her while the sobs that had shaken her frail body subsided Finally she raised her face, smiling again. "Do you love me, Francois?" "Ah, my sweet there are not words !" "Then may I drink with thee?" "Assuredly." I filled two glasses and gave her one; and, holding it, she turned toward to-ward the window. "Can you see La Cruz from here, Francois the great convent where Maximilian has his headquarters?" I approached the barred window and pointed toward the graceful bulk of the beautiful convent that stood out against the deep blue sky with its tiny points of light, "There It Is, dear heart; had I five minutes with his majesty L. should be saved. He loved me, and I think he would understand." un-derstand." But she had stayed beside the table and I left the window and came back to her. She held her glass of wine with fingers that trembled a little, and she looked at It with a strange mixture of fear and hope and Indecision Inde-cision In her eyes. "You will remember, Francois, my own, that I have loved you?" "My angel I" "Then " Her eyes were smiling, and her lip unconsciously, I believe formed one word : "Adios !" Now, even as her dainty mouth touched the glass, I stretched forth a hand swiftly and caught her wrist. Why, I do not know, unless It be that our love was so deep a thing that I could read her thought. A hurt, frightened look came into her eyes. "Please, Francois," she cried "let me drink." "No, dear heart." "A Spaniard's love, Francois, Is all there is in life. I cannot. live without you. Let me drink let me drink and hold me; let me feel your arms around me while I die, let me look into your face." "No, my sweet." She clung to me. "You must, Francois; Fran-cois; the world will die with you; may I not die also?" "This beautiful world holds much for thee, Anita mia; time" "Time will stop, Francois, tomorrow. tomor-row. Let us both drink; there Is more than sufficient to kill two of us. It is swift and painless. We will drink, Francois, then you will take me In your arms and we will put oui lips together, and so" "I cannot be so great a coward." I covered her sweet mouth witli kisses ; I held the slim trembling form close to me. I tried to reason with her and came to a wall of blank despair. des-pair. My love, compared to hers, was a puny selfish thing. "My sweet," I cried, "we cannot commit this act of madness. You are young and beautiful beyond com "pare. Time will heal the scars" "The scars are In my soul, Francois, Fran-cois, and time will only add to my unhnpplness." Holding the sweetly pointed chin raised the exquisite face until she must, perforce, look straight into my eyes. "Look at me, Anita mm; you will And in my eyes, only love for you, only a worship that my soul will hold for you. That love for you has given me courage cour-age has caused me to do things that made you love me; It will not permit me to do the thing that might lead the world to call me coward. We '"'f f;'''fIl:el7siIing-what be" mils; it Is our heritage." "Francois, I shall come each day nnd my soul will call to you. You will hear, dear heart, will you not'" Just as I have heard you alwavs, so shall 1 hear you again." I in dicated the glass of poisoned wine. -there will be no more of of this dear one?" She shook her head. "No, Francois; Fran-cois; long ago you taught me love and forgiveness; now you teach me courage. The guard comes I hear his footsteps. Kiss me, kiss me Francois and hold me to your heart again !" When the guard reached the door of my cell he found her standing straight and slim, all sweet composure, compo-sure, with a brave smile on her lovely love-ly face and a fragile hand held out to me. So she left me, but, long after the sounds of their going had died away, I heard a voice which might have been the voice of an angel calling r "Francois, Francois," and again, "Francois !" CHAPTER XIV A Fallen Empire I went to the window and looked out, I studied the stars, and won dered which was the star of my luck and what I had done thus to have lost Its favor. They seemed so near to me, so very near Indeed . . . the twinkling mantle of the stars and the wide blue arch of heaven so very near to me. The graceful outlines of the con vent of La Cruz stenciled a pretty picture against the sky. Windows were alight; I wondered which was Maximilian's. I vlsioned the vast preparations for tomorrow's flight They would leave me leave my body dangling. Yet I had done no wrong ; I had given all my majority to my country; I had committed no crime against the Empire. I had served faithfully, and for that service I now faced the noose. There had never been a need for me to serve, for the extensive De Vigny estate was worth a fortune. Yet, because of my love of service to my country, I was here. What was It Madrella had said? "The gilt on the emperor's crown grows thin." And now his majesty, forsaken by the powerful friends In Europe who had sent him here, planned a last desperate dash to freedom. free-dom. And La Anita had prophesied that Maximilian would face a firing squad, that the people of Mexico " would rise up nnd crush him. Could such a thing be; could an emperor fail; :ould an empire fall? I found the crude uncomfortable bed and stretched my weary body upon it, where I lay, passing from a semiconscious stupor to a troubled sleep. I saw again in dreamy retrospect the sweet Cnrlntta, empress of Mexico, Mex-ico, every Inch a glorious queen ; and I saw his majesty, the handsome Hapsburg, who with his great, graceful grace-ful height and his golden hair and beard looked more like a Norse god than a man. I saw the smiling, cyni cal face of .Madrella the face of myself my-self as well, lie spoke to me: ". . but you must he preserved for a less kind fate, for the noose awaits you.' Madrella was dead dead by my own hands yet he had prepared the noose for me. I saw Pasqual and his lovely little Dolores, and I wondered if thej knew where I had gone. Through all these pictures came and went, like a will-o'-the-wisp, the figure and the face of La Anita, and her amber eyes were fathomless wells of love, and her red lips were smiling, and the slim hands beckoned to me. And, doubtless because of my fear of the ever-tightening Liberal lines, my dream went back to the emperor, who had loved me, and who before I had 'failed so miserably bad trusted trust-ed me. He was all alone standing alone and the bare encircling hills of Queretaro cut the sky behind him. He faced a squad of dark-faced men with guns, who stood solemn, silent awaiting an order. They raised their weapons and I saw the spurting streams of flame. The great figure crumpled, half rose, fell, and lay still Mon Dieu they had killed him! - I cried out in my agony: "The Emperorthey Emper-orthey have killed him I They have I" The vivid horror of that dream brought me to sudden, startled wake fulness. I lay trembling, thanking God that It had been only a dream A beam of sunlight, entering the barred window, shone full on my face, I got to my feet ;;lowly, and looked around, surprised to find familial things. The night had gone and with It half the morning, for the sun was high. How quiet was the world. I looked out. The convent of La Cruz was still there, and the bare encircling en-circling hills as well. (To be continued next week.) |