MY LADY'S KISS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13726, 16 April 1908, Page 3

MY LADY'S KISS.

PUBLISHED BT SPMJIAL ARRANGEMENT.

HISTORICAL ROMANCE. BY NORMAN INNES, Author of "The Surge of WaT," "Parson Croft." " The Lonely Guard," etc. [COPYRIGHT.] CHA PTER —(Continued.) " Havs Scltz, the cords," cried he to one of the men-at-arms. "Up with him to the hooks. The night is young and I can tarryawhile for his answer."

At thi- one of the troopers drew two lengths of cord from his belt, unwound them and tossed them above him to catch on a, pair of iron hooks that rusted in a great beam running athwart the middle of the chamber.

Ertha von Reuth drew a deep breath as they lashed the cords about the huntsman's wrists, the men grinning each in his comrade's face. Zips' bonds were next cut and in another moment the ropes were hanging from the hooks, their free ends in the grip of St. Eux's dragoons. Then with a jerk the old man's hands were wrenched above his head as the men-at-arms drew the strands taut, a twinge of pain crossed the prisoner's lace, the curtains parted and the troopers loosed their hold at the sight of a woman standing at their master's back. Open-mouthed they gaped on Ertha. von Reuth, those scarred sons of the camp, wide of eye the huntsman stared ; it was only St. Eux that paid no heed to the intruder. - , , "To your work, fools, cried he, scowling on his men.; "who bids you hold?" fhey hesitated yet, and as the castellan dashed his fist upon the table the cat leapt from his knees.

Then the woman spoke. "I bid them stay, said she, "I, Ertha, von Reuth." Giers de St. Eux swung round m his chair; his face was set, his eyes as flint, but there was a flush on his cheeks or the lamplight played some trick. "Good lack," muttered one of the soldiers in the silence, 'tis the wench he kissed, by the Pope For an 'instant St. Eux glanced fury down the chamber, then his brows lifted in surprise. "Ertha von Routh, say you, mistress? Nay, you mock me. What does the Lady Ertha in Staren?" His manner was incredulous. A smile hovered on his lips as he rose to lace the intruder. " You shouldst know, sir," she answered, trembling with anger as the other shrugged his shoulders. \ But, Madam"— voice sunk low— '■what assurance luive 1 that you are the ktdv you claim to be? Mistress Ertha von Reuth should be in Kemmei, not hero alone in a frontier stronghold." What assurance? Surely the man knew her, or had ill-fortune wrought some change in her, despoiling her of her beauty, dimming her eyes? "I am Ertha von Reuth," she cried almost fiercely. "I tell you" "Then perhaps you are able to furnish me with some proof of your right to an honoured name," said the castellan without meeting her eyes. " Say a writing from one of your kindred, from, the Freiherr, your uncle." He spoke so gravely, so courteously, yet with so much doubt* that Mistress Ertha fancied for the moment that the man must have lost his memory. " Nay, sir," she stammered. ' " Surely you have not forgotten — She stopped abruptly, her cheeks aflush. More than one of the dragoons was a-grin; St. Eux's face was adamant. "Forgotten, mistress?" said he, to all appearance at a loss to guess her meaning. "Nay, what have I forgotten?" The men's smiles broadened. The woman's cheeks were burning. She guessed now what lay in his mind. The boor would mock her, wring from her in the face of his troopers a confession of their luckless meeting in the market-place of Kemmel, wake the laughter of the memat-arms. She would have, turned in her confusion, nor shrunk from acknowledging thereby the sting of in's jest, but there was her servant about to be tortured for Iter sake, and for the moment pride, hatred, and all else were forgotten. Her voice was- breaking, tears wort in her eyes, but bravely she held her part. " For shame, sir," cried she, " you mock me, as vou have mocked mo these many hours. ' Surely the Herr de St. Eux remembers me in Ken>mel, in my uncle's chamber, or was he indeed drank before the fire?" Slie spoke protesting, scornful, yet the castellan never winced.

Get ye gone," cried he to his men. "As for the prisoner, I care nought for his answer; hang him at cock-crow." He faced the woman with one* foot upon the chair, with the cat purring and rubbing against his boot, and as the troopers filed from tho chamber with old Zips each glanced at Mistress Ertha, and each glance but heightened the flush upon her cheeks, though shame and all sense of mortification were lost in anger. "Hang my servant?" she cried. "Hang him, and Tii cry you craven through Germany, and at my cry will raise a score to work" vengeance on thy master and thee." The nttWi did not doubt her; her beauty was evident i;s her wrath, and hot-headed gallants enough would draw blade to champion her cause. " A thousand might answer your call, Mistress," he answered calmly as the cat leapt to his knee, '" but a thousand could not menu your servant's neck." " Hang "him, sir, at your peril,'' she breathed, all but speechless. "At your bidding, Mistress, I make nought of peril." His banter maddened her, though not a shadow of a. sinii« crossed his face.

''You mock me, clod,' she cried. "In your land of France do men of gentle birth make a jest of a. woman's secret'/" Then lor the lirst, time since Ertha von Reuth had torn the curtains! aside she saw tho castellan smile. "Have I jested, Madam?" said be. "Mayhap you liad rather that I had known yo*. in the Count's audience chamber?" '"A thousand times," came her hot rejoinder. "A thousand pardon- then, Madam. I held it was a. service that 1 wrought." "'You!" She tossed her head in pretty scorn. '" You knew me and brought me hither? I thank you, Herr de St. Eux. Think you that the Count would thank you?" The castellan appeared deaf to her taunts. "1 know you. Mistress, I know the Count of Neufels, and judged it best that I should carry out my orders to the letter." '• For me, or for the Count, or for yourself?" His air of interest, of patronage, irritated her. Lightly he- answered, looking up in her face— "For us all, Mistress- von Reuth." "You've- played your master false, and false you'll play me," she rejoined hotly. " Yet I served you one*," St. Eux made answer, <*nd his brow grew furrowed, "ere I met you in Neufals if my memory plays no trick." "Insolent!" cried she all scarlet. "What ] did, I did for my folk. I paid your churl's [trice, and now you prate of service." "I am unfortunate,' rejoined the other with ;>. bow. "Do what 1 will it seems I cannot win your favour." Mistress Ertlia for all her heat was quick to clutch at a straw. " Set. me and mv servants upon the road tj Kemmei, and you will earn my thanks." "And little thanks from my master." " But I am not Ernst von Kemmel," cried the other, a way out of the difficulty in sight, "As I have known for some hours," answered the man. " Yet perhaps the Count set* less store by the young Freiherr than by his cousin." ''Nay," stammered the woman, "he had never tet eyes on me till this morning." Again the pale cheeks crimsoned. "Yet I say it for all that, and being von Neufels' servant 1 held you, Mistress, till I learn his pleasure in the matter. Have no fear, you ait- not like}' to tarry long in Staren." The (oh.-tir faded from the woman's face; the soldier was looking her in the eyes, vetit seemed he saw her not. He stroked the [ cat as if deep in his Ihouauts.

"But 'lis in the Count's mind that he holds my cousin Ernst," cried the lady in , despair. - St. Eux nodded. .. ', ~-v , "How long will he be deceived, think you, Mistress?" .„ , , * "Will vou Letrav me then.' she gasped. "No, 'though it is my duty," answered the other, "but there will be no lack of folk who will; mv men who were m chechamber but a moment since, Ernst von Keuimel himself." . +„„„ ' Her lips framed a question but her tongue seemei tied. ~, , , . "And then, doubtless, he will send for you from Neufels," ho continued. " And yen?" '•[ shall bring you thither., fol your greater security." . „ "To Neufels*? Tor my safety.' Nay, to Kcmmel rather." , "To Neufels, ? Mistress. 1 am the Count's servant." His answer was low, his eyes upon the ground. ~.' " Then you would have me in his power, cried the "oilier, all but- hopeless. "Without a doubt, if ho so desire it. 1 am the Count's servant to do his bidding, I tell vou.'" Ertha von Reuth looked at the speaker scornfullv, but not without a- glimmer of returning hop-. ( Who was a free-captain to prate of service? . "And should you not serve him in this, he asked tentatively. " . "Then I should forfeit my honour, -Mistress." " Honour?'" For the first tune that evening Mist-res- Ertha laughed: that ironhanded leader of dragoons to .-peak of honour! And with it your employment, and, perchance, your h«id. Captain St. Eux," cried she. "But hearken, set me on the road to Kemniel with mv servants, and I'll pledge you ten thousand florins to be paid within the month." The strong eyes that she looked on grew; hard, th-3 thin lips drawn. | "Mistress, it cannot be." .;: "And why, forsooth?" she cried. "-Hy gold is in the banker's coffers." V The other laughed mirthlessly. . t "Where it may rest for me," he rejoined, ".since 1 ain Count Ignatz' servant till the year be Out or till such time as he wearies of me." "Then you will not. aid me in this? cried Ertha von Routh with a curl of her lips. % He shook his bead, still smiling. " Nay, not in this, Mistress von Reuth; in all el*e." ; "Enough." she cried and checked herself. " Then in tlie matter of my servant? What of him''" The man's face cleared. "He is sen-ant to Ernst von Kemmei. Such was his tale." "I tell you he is mine and " Crave 'his life," demanded the other coldly. Mistress Ertha hesitated, her pride was at issue with her duty as a mistress. It was for old Zips' sake that she had sought St. Eux, but she was loth to be beholden to her enemy, when it came to craving a favour. The free-captain was watching her narrowly, though to all appearance no better employed than in stroking the cat. He guessed the conflict within her, and marked the play of hoi every feature. He knew her pride, that like her beauty was a byword in Saxony, yet he could but wonder when her answer came short and bitter. " Nay, sir. I crave nought of such as you*" ~ ... St. Eux bent his head to hide a smile, but his answer was every whit as short and us bitter as his prisoner's. "Then the Freiherr's servant must hang it seems." ! Mistress Ertha's face was a picture, yet once again pride's rule o'er her heart was in jeopardy. "I say'he is my servant, Captain St. Eux," said she, half in appeal, half in command. The man was as obdurate, every whit as proud as was- she, and by far the cooler. ,:.> : -

" Yours or .mother's, he hangs on the morrow," he rejoined carelessly, "unless you—" ' i It was that unspoken condition that worked the mischief; she knew he would have had her ask him for the man's'.life and she cut him short in her pride, , Her blood was aflame., maddened by the very coldness of those grey, passionless eyes, of that square, unyielding mouth. Her hands clenched as she passed him, never had she loathed living thing as she did that soldier "fwixt the curtains she turned, ablaze with fury. '

"He hands, say you; 'ben may yours be a like end," she cried. "In God's good time," rejoined St. Eux, as the curtains fell together and a door swung to with a crash in the darkness beyond them. (To tie continued daily.)