Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, May 24, 1903, Image 29

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    Flower o the Corn
A Romance of the Seventeenth
Century Religious War
(Copyright. MM. by 8. R. Crocket)
CHAPTER XLJII.
Klaa Me, Mr Hnsbaadr
ITDlliPa It -mrmm (hat Ik Bnl.la
PI had had enough of watching- the
I mm ,1.l-h aha luiulf r.lmmA
mstchlessly well.
Bo without more thought than
the mere resolution Yvette drew her hood
over her head, assumed (as easily aa aha
had donned the hood) an air of anxiety and
haste, and descended Into the chamber of
Maurice Ralth's imprisonment.
She entered to find Maurice and Flower-o'-the
(Torn with their positions unchanged.
I'lower-o -the-Corn waa still In Maurice's
anna, and he was mourning over her, kiss
ing her passionately the while, a method of
rerovery from temporary syncope, which,
though Imlubltubly ancient. Is not in ac
cordance wllh rr.otlorn medical treatment
nur recommended by the faculty.
At the entrance of Yvette, Maurice Raith
turned upon her, hot with wrath and fury,
holding Frances still closer In his arms,
and looking as If he woilil have rent tha
Intruder limb from limb.
Yvette stood smiling In the doorway.
"What Is the matter with my friend." aha
aid. "with the dear Mademoiselle Well
Wood?" "What is the matter with her?" he cried.
Indignantly. "That Is not for you to ask.
No stand off do not touch her! She is too
pure for such hands as yours. Do not even
look at her! Do not breathe upon her. I
would rather see her dead than saved by
your
lie fairly hissed the words In his wrath,
Yvette affected a kind of humorous ter
ror. "Dense, Monsieur the Hngllshman, do not
kill mo with your glance! jih, I remember
the time, not so long ago either, when I
knew young English soldier who thought
quite otherwise of me. But at any rate. If
I am not worthy to touch her, would It not
be better if you yourself laid her down on
a bench or on I he couch yonder, and poured
a little cold water over her face and neck!
She paused a moment to let her words
ink In and then she added.
"Or perhaps you would prefer (and In
deed It would be much more proper) that
the nance of Mademoiselle Wellwood,
Colonel Jean Cavalier of the king's army,
should be sent for to recover her."
Eh laughed Impishly, and at that very
moment Maurice felt Flower-o'-the-Corn
move la his arms. Was It the name which
stirred herT Had It reached through the
glamour of falntneaa which still left her
heart deathly sick within herT
Btie stared about her wildly and when
she saw Yvette she trembled from head to
foot with something of the same approach
to rigor without which John Cavalier never
approached the wife of Nicholas de Baume.
Yrette smiled at this evidence of her
power.
Maurice laid Kiower-o'-the-Corn down on
Ala courh, hut she rose up, pat Maurice
Itaith to the side with a movement at
the hand snd confronted Yvette.
"I have told him!" she said.
"Well, and what does he sayf smiled
Madame la Marechale; "glad to escape on .
such easy terms, I should say! A soldier
is a soldier all the world over!"
It was hai-dly playing the game. Yvette
knew that very well, but the sight of
Frances Wellwood In the arms of Maurice
had aroused In her all the baser angers of
her nature.
"You think," aha said, contemptuously, to
Maurice Raith "that It Is for the aake of
your beaux yeux. my friend, that I hare
brought this to pass. Not at. all! I am
married to a man who Is worth a dosen of
yos any day. But because I would save this
girl from death and worse because I
would save her father a goot
man according to his lights and
his thoughts (which are not mine), and
because I desire to save all this people of
the Cevennea from a bloody and desolat
ing war to the death.
Then she turned toward FJower-o'-tb-Com.
"Francos Wollwood, will you come with
me( who alone have gone out of my way
to save from death and dtHhonor both yon
and those I thought dear to you? Or do
you desire to bear a certain crackling de
tonation tomorrow morning, and a few
miautea afterward to see the agreeable
cancans of this young man carried past to
the Protestant cemetery of MlllauT"
Maurice gripped his finger nails Into his
palms, and only tha knowledge that a call
froea Yvette would bring up the soldiers
of the marshal prevented his springing
upon the girl snd clasping that fair whita
throat once and for all In a grip of steel.
Then Ftower-o'-the-Cora turned her about
to Maurice, and all tha anger died sharply
out of his eyes.
"Dearest, she said, smiling at him
throw gh a mist of tears, "do your part
yours Is soon done. Mine will be longer In
the doing, but I will do It! She (France
pointed with open contempt to where
Yvette stood, smiling her Ironic smile) she
speaks part of the troth. I do this for your
sake, beceus) I love you. How mack
only a true woman can know not a woman
like keC
Iler Yrette Caught herself m from
hasty speech with a rapid in Lake oc breath.
She went on without giving him time to
answer.
"Good-bye. beloved! I shall not see you
again. You shall go far away, but you
will not forget me. No, not ever. Though
I am wedded to another, till the day, the
marvelously glad day when I am taksn.
And God, who orders all things will know
better than any. He will not be angry
that I think of you. thst I continue to love
you. For in the soul and spirit I shall be
your wife, and keep all that Is eternal of
me, all that la Immortal, all that does not
go back to the worm and the sod, virgin
for you yes, for you alone, my love and
my life!"
As she spoke she had clasped him about
the neck with both hands, oblivious even
way, hot-foot from Algues Morten,
whither he had come by ship from Bar
celona, with a letter from Maurice
Raith, dated on board Her Majesty's
ship the Royal Dane, announcing his safe
arrival and reception by the officers. So
at least the news went.
It was the hour for the sacrifice, and
Yvette who had schemed and worked
so keenly to bring this about had for one
moment a spasm of remorse, when she
looked upon the pale, resigned countenance
of Flower-o'-the-Corn.
And because there was still a barrier to
be removed. Yvette watched more and
more nervously for the coming of Billy
Marshall as the hour of the wedding drew
near. No bride ever was more eager.
nothing could be done without Mm. So, TM
explained In Tillanious French. Ilk ths
man whom the crowd bad com to sea
hanged, he could afford to take his time.
"Hanged you will be without a doubt!"
cried the exasperated sergeant of the Red
House, who had been sent as an escort to
bring him In. "When you get there the
marshal will be In a temper to skin you
alive and eat you without salt!"
"Bet a marshal to catch a Marshall!
said Billy oracularly. "I Jaloose that a
sypy is likely to come out well ahead of
the beat Frenchman that ever drew the
breath of life!"
The upper part of the great military pa
Tlllon bad been cleared, a table covered
Aw
r I J-', nti iHV- ?l fw-s
kv f ia, BVv a. .jnaa h. W W i JT -W SI 'V Skl - 1 aj".t-T NJ-'
THEN I. MARTIN FOT. HAVK S1IKD INNOCKNT BLOOD, IT IS HERE UPON THIS BLADE!"
to the presence of Yvette and of her smile,
which, indeed, had become less pronounced
and Ironical.
Klower-o'-l he-Corn looked up at Maurice
and her eyes were deep wells of love and
faith.
"Kiss me my husband!" ah said.
CHAPTER XIJV.
Gas Cathollea,
Down on the broad awards by the Tara
side waa the stir and bustle of preparation.
To the left were the royal regiments, foot
grenadiers of the Red House of the King.
To the right, on the wider straths was
the local levies.
Botween these encampments apart from
both were the recently recruited and still
far from dependable regiments of Jeaa
Cavalier. It was among tlieae last that
the stir was most pronounced. And when
a haughty stalking sergeant t the Royal
House met a private of the new corps with
th gloss yet on his buttons, he Inquired
what was the mighty pother In th en
campments of th Psalm-singers.
"Our commander Is to be married today,
and by th king's awn orders!" said th
man interrogated, as soon aa he was as
sured that no Insult waa Intended adding
Immediately, "to the best, the most beau
tiful and most accomplished girl la th
world."
In the . great tent la th hoIHw th
ceremony was to be begun. Afterward,
to please the king, they were to repair
to th church along with th cure-do)-
a on Milau and th civil authorities of
the High Cevennea, and first (to the won
der of alt) they were to be united accord
ing to th true Calvinlst ritual, and by
the father of th bride.
Maurice Raith waa sp and over th
frontier six good days ago, and every
aaoatent till that morning his messenger
had been expected. But apparently
BUly the Gypsy, waa now really oa his
Yvette It was who had ordered and reen to
the arrangement of the marriage banquet.
She it was who had provide! the plciitl
tude of flowera, an unusual feature at that
time, with which the tables were decorated.
8ho had even obtained rare fruits from a
distance, and the idea that all these com
binations of genius should be spoilel by
the no nar rival of a mere gypsy with a
letter sufficed to make her fretful and dif
ficult to please.
CHAPTER XL).
The Hlght Lwh ! the Pavilion.
They had waited long, Billy Marshall,
though often reported on the way, ka1 not
arrived. Hope deferred was making hearts
sick not. Indeed, as might have been ex
pected, those of the personages principally
concerned, th bride and bridegroom, but
rather those of th guests of the m irriaga
feast, who, with hourly Improved appe
tites, eyed the preparations In the kitchens
and the cooks, who, whlte-aproned and
whit bonneted, rushed this way and that,
or with hands held horizontally above
their brows, looked down the road Into the
setting sua.
Meantime th marshal had dlspHched
courier after courier. They were in-
structed to bring a letter. If they
could not bring Billy. But th gypsy
was more clever than them all. He would
go himself and deliver th letter to
the young lady, or ahe should not have
It at all. In which case, there would 1
no marriage. They might please them
selves. "Search him. gentlemen of the Red
House!" and they searched btm, finding
tobacco, snuff and other contraband of war,
but not so much as a scrap of writing
concealed about his rags.
- Being released Billy Marshall, laughed In
their faoea. Yes, he would accept a horse
and set forward, but at his owa pace. He
was coming, but he was well aware that
with a rick pur pie velvet cloth, brought.
strictly under the rose, from the sacristy
of Our Lady of Milan by the complaisant
cure-doyen. The thing would please th
marquis, and, what would you, a littl
holy water and a dash of Incense would
fumigate any lurking Protestantism out of
tlie tissues of velvet and gold.
TIUs thrown over a plain deal table mad
the altar before which Flower-o'-the-Corn
and Jean Cavalier were to kneel. Patrick
Wellwood had already taken up his po
sition behind It, tall, spare, his white hair
falling reverently over his black Geneva
gown. Flower-o'-tbe-Corn, with a sad par
ticularity, had spent the last days mend
ing the rents and holes In It.
Brilliant and distinguished the company,
beyond the wont of even the headquarters
of a marshal of France, drawn by curi
osity, as well as by a desire to witness th
marriage of so distinguished a camlsard
(now rallied to the service of the king),
according to th rites of the Protestant
church.
A part of the pavilion had been curtained
off. making an entrance to a smaller mar
quee, and there Flower-o'-the-Corn was
waiting, with an actual impatience, that
which, according to promise, waa to coma
to her from the man whom for one brief
moment she had clasped in her arms and
called her husband.
This Impatience, however, was not of th
sort which may be supposed to distinguish
brides. Yvette did not leave her even for
a moment, and followed with no little curi
osity the direction of Frances Wellwood's
glances.
Through th curtains which separated
their marquee from the great pavilion titer
came a yellowish haae of illumination.
They are Ughting up," said Yvette. "I
had not thought It was so dark. I wish
the gypsy would come! It is Infinitely an
noying!" I wish so, too!" said Flower-o'-the-Corn,
very quietly.
You have changed your mind. theaT