MY LADY'S KISS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13727, 18 April 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

MY LADY'S KISS.

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

BY NORMAN INNES, Author of "The Sartre of War." " Parson Croft." " The Lonely Guard," etc.

HISTORIC* ROMANCE.

[COPYRIGHT.] CHAPTER IX. AN [XTKit. About the time that Conrad of Kemmel, in his eagerness to have done with hi.i old allies, had lost sen und!niece in one day, when Count Ignatz held himself lucky that. the young Fieiherr was his prisoner, unlucky in that the lady of the Red House had divined his project, of marriage, affairs in Germany took a sudden turn that sot at nought the counsels of these near neighbours. In the spring of the veer 1651 the fortunes of the Reformers' party had touched their lowest ebb. with the coming of autumn the tide turned suddenly. The long series of disasters stemmed. Fate's balance had swayed once more, and the victory of Breifenfeld set, a, seal upon the fame of" the Swedish king, at the same time shattering Count '1 illy's reputation for ever. The news from Leipzig broke suddenly upon Bavaria, so suddenly that the Imperialists had no tune to concentrate for tlie support of their broken comrades. The reverse had paralysed the Catholic party; inst-ad of acting in conceit and making for some common rallying point, their scattered bands, in some cases numbering no more than 20 men, thing themselves into the nearest stronghold .i» soon as the earlier rumours of the disaster were confirmed. Ot the two warring parties it was .the Imperialists who were looked ou with the greater hatred by ruined burgher and starving tiller of tire soil alike. They were the fomenters of the quarrel, in their pride lay the chief obstacle to |)eace, and it was upon isolated companies of their party that the outcast peasants took vengeance when time and opportunity offered As if by .some subtle instinct these wretehcn, who made the wild places their home, as ever ready to waylay the lonely man-at-arms as to born the noble's mansion, were wont to liavo the first intelligence of any disaster that Udell either party. How thev gained their knowledge no man knew, but the accuracy of their information was admitted by every fighter in the Empire. Reformer or Imperialist. Swede, Saxon, and foreigner, all hated and despised them, yet without blinking the fact that in defeat these outcasts bad on occasion to be reckoned with.

The boldness of the peasants' attack upon his company had not been lost on St. Eux, and in it l<o read a foreshadowing of coming trouble. Without the knowledge that the Imperialists had sustained some heavy reverse they would hardly have dared to attack liie dragoons with the fury they had shown. "'rue. it might at the worst have been but sow Swedish raid into Northern Bavaria of which the wild-folk had knowledge, but none the less* he was well satisfied at reaching Staren with his prisoners, and finding the score men quartered in the castle a? ignorant as he of an untoward event of any kind. However, upon the day following his arrival in tho frontier stronghold his forebodings and the omen of the peasants' attack were confirmed.

The first tidings were borne by a "bar-coal-burner, who brought the rumour that a great battle had been fought some few (lavs before, northward beyond Leipzig; that Count Tilly had suffered a crushing defeat, and, so ran report, that the victors were advancing, bent on reaping the fullest advantage from their success. Sweeping southward, Swedish and Saxon detachments were threatening the Bavarian and Bohemian frontiers, and Duke Bernard himself, some said, was hurrying (from the Rhenish Palatinate to join hands with his allies. Watch-fires had been seen that night at Priesing. at Sommeln, at Elstnau; some held that Hof had been rased, a nameless castle gutted. The castellan bit his lips at the news, made an inspection of the great tanks that watered the keep, and sent off a trooper in hot haste to Neufels.

11l news spreads apace, nor was it long before the tale reached Ertha von Reuth. On leaving St. Enx the previous evening she had made her way back to her chamber to find her servant lying as she had! left her, and. in spite of her anger and fears for Karl Zips, was herself soon sound asleep. It was broad daylight when she woke, roused the maid, gave her some inkling of what had befallen her overnight, and bade her dress herself in the garments provided by the castellan. Within an hour, an old woman, she whom they had met the previous evening, brought them food, telling them at the same, time that they were freeto go wherever they chose within the castle walls. She it was who told them of the rumour rife among the troopers concerning the defeat of the Emperor's army and the advance of the Swedes, how St. Enx had sent for aid to Neufels, and how the greater number of the garrison did not expect that an attack upon Staren would be long delayed. Grete's fears woke anew at the old dame's •ale, Kemmel had seen little of war's hazard since Tzerklas had driven Count Mans* field and his adherents from Saxony in the summer of 1625. Her mistress, however, was undismayed; these Protestant Swedes were Iter uncle's allies and from her heart she wished them success. Did they but succeed in humbling the captain of thu dragoons, (hen indeed fortune had in store some recompense for her late humiliations. She would willingly put up with the risks and discomforts of a siege, so long as it ended in the ruin of St. Em and his master, and in her freedom. Breathing a prayer for the Swedish King and Saxon Elector, she fell to questioning the woman as to all she had heard.

This latter, her name was Anna Griming, seemed to view the approach of the enemy with little apprehension. "Aye, mistress, we shall hold Staren, never fear," said she, her dim eyes glittering. " My sire, my man, his sire and grandsire died on these very walls, sons of mine have given their lives for tho plaoa ap4 iiave-hddift play better msa. than, ikss%,

northknd .Swedes. Ave. Stareti will mak* a brave raffle of it," mistress, mark my word*. Our store of water is at the full, and have we not the Herr Osers to lead the men. Hurt', he wit! hold Staren ii any can." The lady opened her eyes at the mentioff of the man she hated. "Captain St. Box," wkl she with lifted brows "Who else, mirtrßs*. f have never seen him when it- came to thnist ami party, bat they say he's a rare fighter* mindful, of all that it soldier needs, ever ready to take a soldier's risk. The strength of" th* boar, the lion's heart, and the cunning of the fox are his. And we women love linn for all his scant «p*evh and hard fenfires, dft* spite the scar on his cheek and the ravel of his brow, for this St. Ku.v. they say, m hi* life did no man wrong, nor woman, nor child cither. Ask the causle children of the Herr «iters, mistress, and roti'il hear a Song tale." Kit ha ron Heath tossed her head. "Children's tales are hum and of little account," said she; "1 have seen better men thai tins (iters de St. Km." Old Anna looked up in the. coll proud face ami. looking, smiled. Von have seen good men then, mistress. Good is he who can match our master." It was not Without some misgiving that the two women went out with the old, dame, who if tough of speech and withered a* a store-apple, wis of a kiodfy heart and put herself at some pains to d-" their pleasure. (hit from the keep int<i*|ho court went the three, climbed the stairway lhab led to the battlements xi\*ni the" outer walls, and thence looked out across the. forest. North arid south, vest and east spread that russet vista; save for a, small clearing beneath the hillock on which the castle stood, trew and nought else met the eye. trees and tic. • y clouds ;*-•,-ini in a sky of bine. Below them were the quarters of the garrison, before which St. KuxV- followers «ere. lounging, some at the dice, soma solacing themselves with tobacco, whiles others yet were washing their clothe* «-nd spreading thcttt on the flags to dry. Laughing, jesting, hey sprawled, with many a. curious glance at, the women upon 'i-o wall • a hard-featured, battered company, but men who could ride and swing blade, who recked as little of life a.-> they did of » Dane or a Swede. Without all was- brightness, within ail was sombrw with the grey of ago. Only in one nannw corner,, between the few' worn steps at the entrance to the keep and a lichencovered angle-buttress, nestled a garden, where a few mangolds wore abloom,, where, on a bed of scented valerian, * black cat, watt at that moment asleep.

The sight of her four-legged gukie of the previous evening recalled to Mistress Ertha's mind the creature's master. Not; that the dragoon had bern absent, from her thoughts, but the spectacle <>! the cat basking in the. September sunshine woke a tide of bitter memories. Her heart sank when she thought of old Karl Zips, whose life had been offered her by her enemy .it the price of her pride. " Had the castellan shun her father's huntsman, she too, .so her conscience told her, bad a share in his guilt. Was this then a toquital of long service, of loyal response to a mad appeal '! The man had followed her unquestioningly, had served her to the utmost <>! his power, had risked his life for hers, yet she had shrunk from asking his life in return. If she loathed St. Rux, fih'j had little mercy for herself. What man of tho*o reckless riders who lay mending their harness in the sunshine would not, have cried shame upon her tor her deed, '! Little peace was hers as she wandered along the ramparts. Would that she could have undone the evil that her pride had wrought. She would have given her fortune to have lived that evening again, could have sunk on. her knee* to St. Eux for the. retainer she had sent,to big death„ Old Anna Griming was talking witW the waiting women, and Mistress Ertha, caring nothing for the company of either, took her away along the wail.*, where hero and there the snapdragon ."till blossomed, where the jackdaws wheeled and, chaptered. She reached the outer gangway at length, and, to avoid conning.lace" to face with the sentinel, she turned dow'tv a narrow stairway witli the intention of returning to the courtyard and so to lie* chamber. Better the silence of the keep than the sunlight and the beauty of thar forest when her heart was so heavy. With skirt* drawn about her ankle's sbst hurried down the steps, galled by spur of conscience, to stand on a sudden stock still at the sound of her name. "Mistress Eriha, my mistress}, call* ed a voice, from close at hand. / ';• She knew the tones and looked backward up the stairway, at the wall above, away across the. castle square, and then her glance fell on a man standing in a narrow court immediately beneath her. "Karl?" she cried in delight, aiming losing her footing at the sight of him. "'Tis 1, mistress/' rejoined the huntsman. "Now, Heaven be thanked, I see vou safe, since 'Lis to you that 1 owe my life." The woman's checks grew crimson, though but a moment before she had been as pale as those, brought face to face with the dead. "Your life?" she faltered, and then from her heart, "Thank God "Aye, my mistress," said Karl Zip?, looking upwards, "after Heaven, 1 thank thee. But have a care or thou wilt slip, the treads are .narrow." She had come nigh to falling, had Er- ? tha von Reuth, from where she stow! all a-tremble to the narrow high-walled court where the man was prisoned. Her brain reeled at the sight t him, her heart wa* full; down on those steep-pitched stairs she sat and wept. "Cheer tin*, my mistress," cried old Karl beneath. '* Heaven will stand by thee as thou hast stood by thy servant." At this up sprang the woman, berprid* quenched in her tears, and down the steps she hurried with her face alight. Through the courtyard she tripped, catching a glimpse of her maid with Anna Griming upon the ramparts, vrith no thought foe the laughter and rough speech of the men-at-arms. Light, of heart, she passed them by, sprang up the few stairs to the keep, and on the topmost step tame face to face with the castellan.

. " Herr St. Eux," she blurted, and hesitated as much for lack of breath as of words. " Mistress von Retail." The man spoke with some slight impatience. " My servant," she panted. St. Eux'a face hardened ; he caught he* up sharply. " Re who was to have been hanged &6 dawn but for the fact that the priest who should have shriven him overslept. But at sundown—" Mistress Ertha came nigh to sinking or* the flags. "But, sir, if I crave his life?" she protested, as the tears welled to her eyes. She leant with one hand upon the stonework beside the archway, her head wits bent, her fingers were fast closed upon her skirt. The man saw her plight, and it looked as though he would have given her his aid. but instead he drew back and answered very gravely— " His life is yours then, mistress. '7'is the second time that i have pleasured Mistress Ertha von Reuth, and this tirrw without hope of requital." The other sprang upright in a moment, her features ablaze. So the < hurl still mocked her while he did her wi11.,. For an instant her eyes met his, grey and impassive as ever. "God send 1 requite, you," she "breathed. ''God send I requite you for all 1 have taken at your hands." Her skirts touched him as he stood aside to let hi-r pass, lie caught a glimpse of a pale set face, as slie went, her way tearless in the sacrifice of her pride. i.To lie continued daily.)