Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 23, 1924 — page 146: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘\ Mak : )) Sey t/Py + Pe PPA YER ENS RAINE oF LT ey yy es Pere 1. AG uly) eet) Sea ee ty nos ee 5 . \ f hediac vay Wat ee x7 sd ( 4 - AAS { 4 Seale ‘ Lait as! pak a * st 304 society by hanging him, I felt bound to supply her lack. Besides, I feared that she might come hunting him. I told her that he had been sent on a long journey, and that he had begged me as a friend to make his excuses and console her. “She proved a reasonable maid. Not finding what she had looked for, she was e’en content with what fortune sent her. He had a keen eye for maids, had Nicolas. I know; for there was good moonlight.” Mark chuckled at sight of my blank face. “Tf trouble ever comes of it, remember that we had the king’s permission to hunt Nicolas,” he reminded me. ‘“ Would that I could have swung his evil little master up beside him!” Although the taking off of Nicclas was a pleasure which I had long before prom- ised myself, I was not altogether displeased to learn that Mark had deprived me of it. As we came to the approach of the Ram- bouillet bridge, under which the Eure was foaming in springtide freshet, we heard en its floor the hollow thunder of hoofs in desperate haste. It was Téte Grise who came riding thus furiously, his gray hair whipping about his ears. “Ride! Ride!” he shouted, wheeling his rearing horse beside me at the bridge- head. ‘The priests are on their way to the viscount’s /dtel!”’ With a leaping heart I raised myself in the stirrups, and gave the order to gallop. CHAPTER XXXVI. A STUBBORN BRIDEGROOM. FIERY current of madness, swift afd stormy as the flooded river, flowed through my veins as we pounded across the bridge and down the tree lined road to Rambouillet. On its crest my black doubts of the night and my cowardly hesitation were forever swept away. Imminence of danger and action had roused me and set my spirit free, and it shouted within me. I echoed its call with my voice. My men stared at me. Then they, too, took fire, and rode shouting with ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. me. Swords leaped from their scabbards, and above our heads the sunlight flashed and shimmered on a wave of scintillant steel. . In the wake of that heady frenzy my mind became clear with a cool reckless- ness, and my purpose steadfast. No longer was I the king’s captain and bound by his laws. I was his cousin, proud of the blood which I had from my — and I would make my own law. Ahead of me, my dear lady was waiting; and I swore by God and His bright angels that I would not fail her. She still be- lieved in me. She had called me, and I was coming. Disgrace and death might lay their chill fingers upon me afterward, and let them; but dishonor should never touch her! Henri of Navarre should be cheated of his toy. D’Epernon should have noth- ing to smile and rub his hands over. Rambouillet’s villagers and their dogs and pigs and chickens scurried helter-skel- ter from our path as we dashed headlong through their narrow streets. D’Orsang’s /otel, a fair villa of red stone, lay at the western outskirt of the town. It was our good fortune that his grounds were not walled. His wide lawns were separated from the street by a fence of iron palings only. A crowd which was gathered before the gates gave way to us in loud alarm. We whirled in through the lane they made for us, and along a curving driveway flanked by beds of flowers and vaulted by noble trees. Standing in my stirrups; I caught a glimpse over the shrubbery of the front doorway of the /dtel, and of the flut- ter of priestly garments entering in; and I knew that I had come in time. As we rounded the last curve of the drive, a sharp, military command rang from the front of the building. M. d’Orsang had anticipated that his nuptials might not be peaceful. Besides setting forward the hour of the ceremony, he had further prepared himself against disturbance. A score of mounted musketeers were ranged before his porch. Behind them a clump of household servants armed with miscellaneous weapons held the steps, and the lower windows of the mansion bristled with firearms. COME NOOL<S com: oa or al = - im - ae au =—— a Phew. — 2 ae _ r. Ej Pm eh ae