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JULY 30, 1904 » SUNNY SOUTH NINTH PAGE. best. The gown becomes you, and the fil is perfect—’’ The gray eyes shone more brightly because of the shadows beneath them, and Celete knew they gained that unnatural sparkle from their tears. At nine the duke came, trying to as sume a jocular assurance. At signt of Charlotte's striking costume he nodded approval toward Cflete. The girl hung her head for the part she took in mak ing Charlotte's misery. “It is a glorious morning my dear.” Charlotte had noted his entrance. Now she glanced up absently. “Is it?” “Yes, and here Is something even brighter.” lie flashed a magntlicent neck lace of diamonds. Charlotte did not reach out a hand. CHAPTER XXII. The Bridegroom Cometh. 1 early morning the news of D’Aubant’s flight with Barbara Klikoff threw lit tle AVolfenbuttel into a fer ment of gossip. “Sly dog,” laughed the men In private. '-Who would have thought It— three months, and no one to suspect. Ah, these French—these French.” And the court ladies— those who had never been l tempted, and those who 1 . ne\ ey been caught—shredded the “They are very beautiful: I—was bewll- ' ,nan Tvit h unsparing tongue, for men dered.” She looked down at the scln- a ised her of beine- heantif.ii ,, tlllatlng stones, shuddered, then laughed, wondered secretfv how L Yet thP - v "They are superh-and are they really whe. 5 llow a woman must , mine?” w • their S ° mad ! y beloved and, wearied ■ "All yours—for the Empress Charlotte.” , own lack-splrtt lovers, they Ho said it dubiously in spite of hrs laugh, pondered upon the Chevalier D’Aubant. She gave him a look that he could not < larlotte could not avoid hearing understand, then lowered her eyes to the snatches of the discussion which con I K^s again. stantlv went on - . , hen t.et me see how they will look.” the c ; who • ,* ’ to wiiot the driver duke hurried on, snapping the clasp , , spirited D'Aubant and his red- I around her throat .and standing off to ad- h;i.red woman from the burgomaster's a a' door—that the tTeeing couple did n 't -xchange a syllable when they shifted """ages at Eilsleben—that the woman a - a glorious beauty. One thing Char- | "Yes, yes, but you must take good care name like a far away echo, and stopped still, deadly still. Her throat choked. ■"iD’-Aubant—D’Aubant,” sl»e called hts name, and flung herself face downward across the bed. The storm passed like an April deluge. She sprang up and dashed the tears ftroja ber eyes. “fjelete—delete”—the maid came instantly—“undress me—there —never mind folding that dress. I snail not wear It again. You may keep it for yourself.” She wound a long loose robe about her. “Now, go.” flours and hours passed—12. I. 2. 3. '‘harlotte gathered the robe close about If nrough bedside of her aunt. There lay the trou bled and wrinkled face on Its pillow. "Poor old aunty.” murmured the girl kneeling down and kissing the lips that never scolded her. Little by little Charlotte crept under ♦ he covering, like a child that wants to sleep in Its mother’s bed. la Mar—nothing. I assure you.” D’Aubant sneered at the other’s anxiety. “It's not that,^ Henri, and you. know it; you are not yourself tonight; you do not know what you ask; you demand a foolish thing of me, and Insist as if your very life depended on it—” “It doe%” D’Aubant Interrupted quietly. “Then tell me frankly, Henri, why—” D'Aubant brooded long. There came a change across his face. He smiled as he turned toward his friend. "Alphonse, you are quite right; we have been good friends too long for doubts to come between us now. We were Before the dew had dried on the grass, news passed from lip to lip In Wolfen- butotel that their princess would marry the Russian prince. And by express com mand of the tsar the ceremony would take place October 25. at Torgau, the rP "«M °, U , t . a band. residence of their mutual ally, the King ■ bant continued: “\ What! Arc you not pleased? I thought ; of p 0 ] and 1 about that Klikoff w you very fond of jewels.” i ' ing to me; I did not idlng mi>-c "They will show to greater advantage at night." Charlotte suggested mechan ically. ”1 hope he may like me better this time." lot'.e did not hear, a tale brought by a courier, that D'Aubant had been killed at Madgcburg—and the woman had fled alone to Russia. J 11 ee days of this constant tattle gall ed >ho gray girl to her very soul. She knew that every tongue babbled about tin tffair. she heard their whisperings in every corner. Do not speak me of it—1 wish to "ear no such gossip,” Charlotte had si lenced on e who cam? to her. So when -lie approached the scandal-mongers, tho-> talked listlessly of uninteresting things. .Meanwhile every courier brought news Cnat the tsarevitch and his sullen train drew nearer Wolfenbuttel. i harlotte scarcely heard what went on about her. Her bruised soul writhed be neath this tale-bearing of which she felt not to discuss religion." The old man chuckled with suppressed excitement. Charlotte made no reply; she seemed to forget him completely. Her silence gave the duke a queer feeling of uneasiness, and lie turned to go. At the door, lie paused, and came hack. “Charlotte,” he said, with great ear nestness, “you understand how much l this marriage means to me—and to Ger many.” perfectly—I will do my duty to you—and to Germany.” She spoke with, the quiet decision of a statesman who considers nothing except expediency. The dead heart behind her lips uttered not a sound. "Celete,” she ordered when the duke had departed, “ask Aunt Frederica to come here immediately.” Charlotte waited beside her window with one hand hanging loosely at her side, until Aunt Frederica came tin, fol lowing the maid. otie guineren ine iooe v.ose ouuuv , together y ou and I. Alphonse-man thinner garments. and slipped man know T can t £ The PHnoess Charlotte is here_I love her. Alphonse, and—God pity her—she loves me." He spoke the last three words so gently, so tenderly, and so low that the other man scarcely heard them. Dc la Mar lepned forward. “Do not pity me, Alphonse. T am hap pier to love her. and to lose her, than to win any other woman that lives.” D'Aubant rose to his feet. “Now do you understand?” Tie caught his friend’s puzzled ex pression, and half comprehended what was passing in his mind. “Yes, T know what you think,” D’Au- “vou are wondering woman. She Is nothi ng to me; T did not even know she had come to Wolfenbuttel, and never desired to see her again. They tricked me into ■ taking her away to avoid a scandal. At The fortified city of Torgau lies on the Madgcburg I was seized and sent to Elbe, some 20 leagues nearer the sea. Thorn—some day T shall tell you.” as the river runs, than Dresden. Here ! Again the ticking of the clock dripped King Augustus, of Poland, the Arm ally | Cf^Ttrn here „ Jf . _ , _ , , . A I escapea fiom l norn and came here, of Peter, held hi? court at Schjoss Har- T must seP her. Alphone-that is all." tenfels. Torgau had been named by the ! “What can you do?” De la Mar asked tsar as the most convenient place for j gently. him to be present at the marriage. j “God in heaven. Alphonse! Merely to For two weeks the little city overflowed j see her—to see her—do you. understand with Russians pressing forward the me yet. , . , , • ... „ . , , De la Mar put an arm about him. speediest preparations. Behind them, like D>Aubant drop ' pPd hJs vhln into his hands the storm behind the waves, Peter, a very j and studi(!d thp fire. Unshaven for denwin of restlessness, urged them ti» ' weeks, gaunt and hollow-eyed, trembling greater haste. On Saturaay the tsar i and unsteady, he looked little like the came himself, a whirlwind of energy, to j light-hearted Henri D’Aubant who frank- see with his own ej#es and finish with his i ly took all things as they came, own hand I “Where are you lodging, Henri?” The entire day of Saturday Peter hur- I “ r have taken no lodg,ngs; * reached CHAPTER XXIII. The Friendship of De la Mar. ried De la Mar from one task to another, and did not dismiss him until late in the night. De la Mar had taken quarters in a house near the castle gates, where he could the more conveniently dispose the guard of honor which fell particularly under his charge. At three the young Frenchman climbed the stair to his own apartment, and laid his hand on the knob. Wearied with a multitude of worries, he dragged himself in to catch a few hours’ sleep. By daylight he must be abroad again. His fire had dwindled to a glow- Torgau only an hour ago.’ “Then you rest wth me—” “But—” "You must get some sleep whilst T make a place for you in the guard for tomorrow." D’Aubant nodde# his acquiescence: he knew long before this that De la Mar would do as he asked. “No. I cannot sleep until this matter Is settled—” “It was settled. Henri, when you ask ed it.” D'Aubant smiled a. grateful satisfac- 1 tlon, and hy the very pathos of that smile Tie revealed the tottering weakness of soul and body. “Gome. Henri—come with me.” De la Ing bed. He closed the door behind him I Mar urged, lifting him to his feet and and turned toward his easy chair, where i half supporting him to the room adjoin- a pipe lay near at hand. Ten minutes I * n g own. for a smoke, then to bed. I “ Now ' *n to slpe P whl,!:t T >' m,r But something moved in the room, “Outside, Celete.” She pointed to the herself the target. But these outward door, then composedly faced the older annoyances were as nothing to the voice- w P r J lan : „ , , . . less vacancy within j ,. *^ un * I'redcrlca. is It true?” Her aunt , „ Her starved heart had feasted on the : ‘' Yes. 1 my dear.^i^is^trJe’; every one i But s< ? m< * hin * moved ln the room ’ j T'Auhnnt lay like a log where he had beauties of Paradise where Love walked knows it, but they say nothip* where i an< * a ^ ,ar startoc ^ ‘fallen across the- cot. Do la Mar covered glorified. She had listened to his songs >' (,u caa hear—or Prince Klikoff, the I “Sergius,” he called, thinking it must | him with a heavy robe closed the door, "id smiled into his face, yea, had touch- w °man’s uncle.” i be his servant who waited up for him, ! drew a clonk about h!s own shoulders, ed his very lips, and known the tender her nil 1 ”' s . tir; sbe * rcw whlter - I “Sergius?” In the dim light he sa w a I an d passed out into the night, pressure of his arms. Then a staggering , n ore lightly—hut’ she safd P notlUng 0 ' 1 '^ f ‘S‘" rP sitting there perfectly silent, his blindness came, and she groped through "Barbara Klikoff,'" Aunt Frederica con- lung corridors of solitary silence. tinned, keeping her eyes averted, “was From her isolated misery she could even jiving with him at' the burgomaster's smile on those who chattered and who , u * e ' „ The J' tan away together that I chin In Ills hands. “Sergins! He must be asleep.” The man lifted his head, and De ]a Mar saw CHAPTER XXIV. The Bond Unholy. The shtgeish mist filled every chink and did not understand. Often she felt a nighty „ , “Do you know that to be true’”' n ad desire to scream at them; to torture ■ “There can be no possible doubt. Prince these .smooth-faoed liars that jeered at j Klikoff went with a party of men to the her In secret; to make them suiter, to j house and frightened them. They escaped see If they, too, could smile in the very a hack door. Their first driver took -y»>- M •>«■>»• B»< >«■»<■«». iron, the woman s lips. deburg.” Her heart begged pitifully for some- Charlotte steadied herself against the tiling that would never come to her window sill. “That ts enough—I wtnt again. She trembled at the far-away ' n0, ? G of the details.” Her hands were galloping of a horse and watched eagerly I in front °f ker I sjle . . . , . \ IUlns them apart with a gesture of de- for the rider; the sudden opening of a fiance, then wheeled. At the door she door threw her appealing eyes toward it. turned like a wild thing, and flew back For despite all that happened, despite her i n £aln. denials to herself, the woman waited and .??*• a , un I-’ - !T' Gr ® nothing else— nothing? Hie old woman held her face away and shook her head. | a stranger in rough garments, with i crevice In Torgau. Clammy and creeping, ready; wtiat would he do? He glanced round at the soldiery and guests. The duke paused; a louder blare of mu sic proclaimed the entrance of the tsar. Peter and Alexis came in together from the side. The tsar strode like a moving tower to his position near the altar. There he turned, faced the protopope, the reti nue of people, and the guests. Alexis, nervous and 111 at ease, kept sullen pace beside his father. The duke moved forward again with Charlotte. D’Aubant leaned toward her breathlessly. She came on and on, her dull eyes fixed aheard. Would she see him? She must, he would force her to •look at him. For an instant all attention had center ed on the Russian despot, and few were j watching the bride. Now she came ! abreast of D’Aubant so close he might i reach out his Tiand and touch her. He might have drawn her unresistingly into his arms. Slowly she turned her head, inevitably as the earth turns toward the sun. She stopped still as a statue, and looked Into D’Aubant’s eyes. The woman started violently; a glad cry from the heart died on her lips, but D’Aubant heard it; she stumbled blindly to him. D’Aubant had almost caught her when De la Mar held him back. “Henri. Henri.” he whispered warningl.v. There was a quick rusillng In the throng nearest the girl. Many sprang to their feet. Had the princess fallen? What had happened. "Caution. Henri,” De I-rla Mar swung to his elbow. Charlotte lifted her face dauntlessly, and smiled as If apologizing for a piece of awkwardnfss. She brushed her train behind her and passed on. The duke seemed embarrassed and wor ried that she should have caught her foot and stumbled almost at the altar. High Mass began, In a strange tongue, and according to a strange cuurch. Alexis followed the services with passion ate devotion. The priests frowned to note that Charlotte gave no heed. To her It seemed only a confused mumbling that meant nothing. After hours and hours the grand chan cellor, Golovkin, came forward hearing the imperial crown of Russia. Alexis and the woman turned and faced the body of the hall. She stood beside him and saw him crowned. With great impressiveness the chancel lor shifted the diadem to Charlotte. Be fore her eyes there rushed a great blur of faces swimming In a muddy sea of light. Amongst them all she saw but one. Suddenly she felt a mighty stillness in the hall, a stifling concentration. For to the rear a musket fell rattling to the floor; a wonaan screamed. Charlotte trembled. One pair of eyes she saw, steady as stars, looking into her own. Golovkin' had been speaking for some moments of responsibility and power. Charlotte looked directly at him, but did not hear. Then he placed the crown upon her head. She staggered beneath the ponder ous weight of gold and jewels. Every vestige of color faded from her face. Her form bent like a tender tree; she swayed and tottered. Then her eyes wandered past the chancellor to D’Aubant and she held herself erect with royal pride—her brows sustained eommandingly the Im perial diadem of ail the Husslas. Peter stood gazing at the girl k his arms folded across his cheat. When she fal tered under the crown, a bitter smile, half of contempt, half of disappointment, showed barbarously plain on his face. But the girl steadied herself with splen did nerve and rose to the duties she had assumed. Years afterward it was told how hrave- ly Charlotte met the great responsibilities which so suddenly came upon her. ! D’Aubant saw it all, heard it all; he | felt the very beating of Charlotte's heart; he felt her hand reach out from its over- | load of gems and creep Into his own. The lonely tsar drew a long, long ! breath. His huge chest filled like a . swelling billow to find in th's child <of Brunswick a soul as dauntless as his ! own. Peter stood with folded arms ln a i contemplation most profound. h!s * a *o j witness. They scarcely breathed, i fixed on Charlotte, and a smile of tsar's masterful tone rous»d them- quiet sadness about his lips. , . - The wedding service was done, yet no i one dared rouse him from his reverie. ! The great throng hushed Its murmuring and grew still as death again. Charlotte 1 felt his searching glance: sne thought of : D’Aubant, and she smiled. Instantly the tsar awoke and started j forward. He Ignored his own carefully ! ordered recessional and took the place | beside his son's wife. Peter threw hts . arm hajf about her shoulders, and gent- ; ly led her fratn the hall. Right or wrong. Peter invariably decided promptly, and never looked behind him The younger officers held their eyes away from a prodigy that it was dangerous to Th; _ them: | “De la Mar, fetcli my son.” and Pete did not move a muscle in limb or faro until the unwilling Alexis stood nerore him. I "My son. some day you must take up mv work: you cannot shirk it then. You should begin at once to learn what tna; work means. Here are dispatches from ! the Dniester- read them.” Alexis hel I j out his hand. The tsar wajehed his j son's perfectly blank expression. An ! ejaculation escaped him. not t'f any new ~ ... . . . . . to. . v. disappointment in Alexis, but of a o<*n Charlotte s draperies brushed D’Aubant : tuguUg irritation. Alexis showed all to > plainly that he had not the faintest com • as she passed. She did not look at him again: she dared not. De la Mar gave the order for h!s men , to file out. j “Come, come, Henri,” he was obliged to I whisper before the man heard_him. As ia part of the well-oiled military machine • D’Aubant kept his place In ranks. De la Mar marched his men. dropping ! them off two and two, through the castle I at different stations. D’Aubant found himself placed alone at the door between a large hall and a smaller ante-chamber : adjoining it. In the larger room musi cians were already twanginig their In struments. There was to be a function of some kind, he did not know what. It was not long before the room began prehension or Interest in what he read. The exasperated tsar snatched the pa pers Alex* trembled, but his father did not storm. On the contrary he spoke very quietly: "This is ill news and demands our presence. We leave here together, you and I. in an hour. Make yourself ready.” “In—an—hour?" gasped Alexis. “An hour, and that means precisely one hour. I shall give orders that, your wife journey to Thorn where we may perhaps join her. Thence she goes to St. Petersburg." “But I cannot prepare in that time—” “Then you go unprepared.” Peter's to fill with gaudv uniforms and strutting patience was short. plumes. The beauties of Poland. Ger- j Alexis quivered from head to heel with many and Austria drew from D'Aubant only a sigh of utter weariness. He lis- J tended to their babble as one wlfo hears (the distant lashing of the sea. and wntrh- j ed every door for Ch.-iiiotte. Then sev- I ei'al men entered the little ante-room, be- ! hind him. D'Aubant turned, and came ! face to face with Peter. The tsar stopped j at the door to gaze on the brilliant scene Several young officers kep* respectifully in the background. "CFodunoff. present my respects to the king and say that I am ready.” The young man. disappeared. Peter had not laid aside the simnle : uniform of his own troop. That mighty i frame of his irked at decoration or re- i straint of any kind. Now he stood half . within the door, and his brow grew dark, i for he saw his son listening earnestly to i the protopope, and to Slonski. the fanatl- i cal priest, who was Peter's most implaca ble hater. “Always those cursed priests.” he mut tered. tfien ordered curtly: "Fender, bid the tsarevitch attend his wife; it is time to begin.” Peter laid his hand on the chancellor’s arm. “Come with me, Golovkin.” He I took Golovkin by the arm -"id started i to leave the room, when De 1a Mar hurst in and stopped him. He handed the tsar a. sealed packet and whispered. “From the Dniester.” Peter tore open the dispatcli and read it twice: it was very brief. The muscles of his face contracted with a fearful impotent passion. Only on-.e he glanced into his father's face—the glance of a wolf that fears to spring. Then he stag gered Into tlie hall and rushed away. Peter shrugged his shoulders and turn ed to other things. “De la Mar. call Klikoff." When KlikDff came De Ta Mar would have withdrawn, but the tsar bade him wa i t. “Gentlemen, necessity ealis me imme diately to the Dniester. De la Mar. pro vide a carriage for myself and the tsarevitch, to be ready In an hour. Direct Kostoff to select an escort of twenty men under his command. See to it.” De la Mar vanished. “Klikoff I look to you that my son is prepared to accompany me." T^irion followed Alexis to his quarters. This left Peter alone with his chancellor. “Golovkin, it is best that the Tsarevna Charlotte proceed at once to St. Peters burg. by way of Thorn. You and Klikoff will arrange her suite and accompany her. not later than Tuesday. Wait at Thorn for advices from me. And see to it. Go’.ovkin. that the tsarevna receives all honor and comfort: De la Mar will command her escort.” Then the tsar dismissed these matters from his mind D'Aubant for some time had quite for gotten the tsar and what was happening behind him. His eyes and thoughts were in the other room. There had come a hurst of triumphal musl": a wide curtain paroxyism. a twitching and jerking of ! waf! pulled aside revealing Charlotte and every feature—that unfailing sign of seated together upon a sort of rage inherited from Ivan the Terrible, ! da jp Here the tsar's messenger had so the old Russians said. found Alexis and called him away. King He threw ills arms frantically about Aueustu5l ca me immediately a.nd stood him. tore down a curtain end trampled | . ,. charlotte The girl never looked it under foot: then he grasped a slender ' nr » mdiant and hapnv than she did chair and dashed it to pieces on. the floor. r ;" val rnbes of Russia. Peter stopped, the struggle writhini? I ‘ n , snid to bp a p „re love match.” across his face Another momentary , ' women to each other, pause, and the lines about his month wnispei *.-t-icii i settled into shape. He had decided, j (TO BE CON IINL - J straggling beard and fierce eyes. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” The man rose slowly from his chair as if he moved in a stupor, and fronted De la Mar. 'God Almighty! D’Aubant!” De la It smotherrd the three high gables of the Rathhaus, blotted out the battlements of the castle and shut every door with a muffing wall of gloom. And day began in Torgatl. began with nothing to mark it. for there was no dawn. By the hands on the clock Char- the woman hoped. On th-? sixth morning after D'Aubant's flight, Charlotte opened her sleepless She hated the very sunlight that “When he conies back, will you tell me —no, no—do not look at me that way— he will oomo back. 1 know It. streamed through her diamond-shaped : no > m >’ child—he will never come panes and criss-crossed the bed with er- j ba ™' ... , . . .' ratio marquetry. She had listened dully her throat and & triedToHsp^k.^^^^ *" to the news of late, caring little when •-j; onlv want ed to know because-be- ench report brought Alexis nearer. But cause—” she covered her face, and ran liuw a sun had risoi that would not go from the room. to rest again until she imt him face to j Aunt Frederica stood gazing after her tace. Charlotte turned her back to the ''i!} 1 misty eyes. hght and ciosed her eyes again. ataW nf ^ Why should I care? Why should I | swift, care? Nothing matters to me now.” . The good old woman, with the grim The girl sobbed silently on her dampened determination of one who charges a bnt- ptltow. terv, followed her niece and told iter that The clock struck. Celete .came bustling D’Aubant was dead—dead in Magdeburg, in anti threw the curtains wide apart. Then she came out and left Charlotte Mar staggered back pale and cold, half knew when her marriage morn had drawing his sword—“D'Aubant!” i comc - “Yes,—D'Aubant,” the haggard man re- | night before, and for many piled, walking over to the door and lock- ! n *- e d 1 t s - she had not slept. Tt mattered ing it carefully. Then he wheeled about. no * * nto w fi at channel she forced her came toward De la Mar, rested against I ^° A Ug u hts ;, th * y Persistently returned to the table and scanned the other's face. ° Antoni s love, to D Aubant s death “in God's name, Henri, what are you ^har otte crouched in bed; she had spent doing here? And you were not killed at ! hp J: ,3St P 1 *?*- ™ a 1denhood. Madgcburg'’” Tt was 7 °^ ,ock: ° h - h °w steadily the , hours passed! Gulda stirred on her couch in the comer, for Gulda, the faith ful. had come to her again. Presently 'Gulda sat up. and looked over to Char lotte's bed. "Not quite, unfortunately. 1 have fallen ' into my old ways again, and want a chat with you—you do not relish it, eh, Alphonse?” D'Aubant seemed making an effort to trifle with iiis wretchedness. De la Mar slowly regained composure, but still stared at the man as if he did not comprehend; then the pale and pinch ed face woke him to a fuller understand ing “Thank God she sleeps.” the maid lis tened and lay down again. Eight o’clock, and the tiring woman came to robe her for a morning Interview with the tsar. She bore their dressing "Sit down, Henri—here, this chair js ! as an unresisting doll. "Good morning, my Lady—your bath L ready; what gown will you wear?” fch e asked cheerily, all in one breath. “It docs not matter, Celete—anything will do.” “Then I shall fetch the dark velvet gown with the—" “No, no, Celete—any one but that." It was the dress that had been made quite alone. Alexis tarried along the road, and did not reacli the castle until nearly night. It was arranged that Charlotte, the duke and the counselors should mee.t with him at 8. At 8. the clock lteelf was not more punctual than the woman; the clock wore not a colder face than hers, and for her to wear before Alexis. Celete its hands moved with little more of me- stoppe-d her swift untying of the pack- ehanical precision. Charlotte stepped «*e. , , . ^ - regally into the glare of lights where - - — “But. my Lady, the duke requested that Alexis sat with the duke, Larion standing full of Russians? You are sticking your you wear that particular one for the behind his prince. | head into a lion's mouth.” prince." Celete finished her sentence in Alexl.s glanced up, and his insolently I “Yes, I know, I know,” D’Aubant ans- spite of Charlotte's protest. careless expression changed to a wonder- wered wearily, as If lie had argued that “How dare you tell me what I must ing admiration. He stumbled to his feet, , very question with himself. “There's no wear? I will wear that first gown. ^ awkwardly amazed, and mumbled some- ; sense 1n my coming here—I know that “But.” Celete made fi ra V e t ® S; D ■ thing. ' j Alphonse, but 1 cannot help it. You do you wore that one yesterday . The girl dour Highness. she answered most ! not understand-God Jn heaven! Why was desperately afraid of Charlotte, yet graciously, "we are honored to have you do you force me to chatter like an old dreaded to disobey an express command again as our guest. Her eyes_wandered j woman at her wash tub’” she had received from the duke. and she caught Larion’s glance; tha i De Ja Mar's svmpathv asked no oues- "Fetch me that sown ” Charlotte out man’s wild soul devoured her with mad , Rons £ her off decisively. I shall not lea-\e my desife, and he smiled with the lips of room today.” j Barbara. Charlotte flinched as she fln- Her angry glance set Celete to smooth- ished her welcome to the prince, ing out the discredited gown. Charlotte { Then the prince of Russia stammered sat perfectly still on the edge of her 1 out his formal proposal. Charlotte ac- : cepted It ln th° briefest manner. Like •*fs vonr mistress awake?” Aunt Fred- I Alexis, her only thought was to have erica called from the door. ! done with the Inevitable at once. It "Yes auunty ” Charlotte answered with j seemed Incredible that the thing should prompt gaiety’ springing from bed and all Ire over in a moment. But death is standing erect’in the center of the floor, swift; ’tis life alone that drags and Un- Aunt Frederica fidgeted nervously into | 2«« the room, and avoided the others eye more comfortable; you are weak and ill , The mighty Peter came and went. He —try some wine—you startled me at It ft only the vague recollection of a huge first He poured a glass which DAu-. m an with abrupt manners, who drew her ••Drink 1 ' it •’ at . 1 to him. snoke gently, and kissed her Drink it, De la Mar insisted; “you . are tired; your eves look as if you had i brow as a father mlf?ht ' dread van- not slept ln years.” I lahed and she leaned on him Instinctively. D’Aubant swallowed the wine impa- , They would he friends, tiently, merely for the sake of peace; it ; When the tsar was gone Charlotte gazed angered him that he could not keep *his i upon a glorious diamond lying in her trembling hand from spilling it. | hand. She scarcely remembered when "Now, D Aubant, tell me how you he had placed it there or what he had came here. We believed you killed at sa j d M ”No-I U 'was in prison at Thorn until A “ er tha *' 1 " tprminab, « h(n "' s ' ber two weeks ago. It is hard to travel ! n ? other anJ th e ’ adle s decked her for without money, and at night.” ! i* 1 ® bridal. “Do you not know that this town is Larion Klikoff surveyed her In astonlsh- There was an embarrassed silence. Char- 1 nent. Kuno must have been wrong or loti,, looked from her aunt to Celete, and must have lied tg him-lmpossible that quickly made up her mind. ! she should have loved D'Aubant; the 3 . , P ™ HV i a v out that new vel- i woman did not live that had auch splen- wi the nearl trimmings. I did self-control. “Celet . _ vet gown with the pearl ^ st look m.v best today. Alexis being relieved of his question \unt FVederica wheeled abruptly-she ; and Charlotte of her answer, they had Aunt wne t a no thing else to talk about. The duke had been adjusting tne cuna chattel unremittingly to both, while the ,,,*7” i Russian lapsed into complete silence. The "Yes look my best. The crown prince I old duke was delighted beyond his power comes today—did you not know It?” * ’ iiirTi uiu»>—j— . -,_a ■Well, what of that?” demanded Aunt Frederica. „ , Charlotte’s eyes dropped a moment then bra vel v held their own. A glimmer comprehension flitted across Aunt Frederica’s face; something 1 oCh a r 1 ott torn or glance told of her desperation. Aunt Frederica gripped Charlotte by the W ”Wci!. what of that-wbat If the grown pince does c-ome today. , , ch doggo j ai r frightened the older woman. ’‘Surely, n "surely, Charlotte, you cannot mean to—” . •• ‘■That Is just what I do mean. the * ot “ p and went to fetch her knitting. . When charlotte-returned from her bath, the smug-faced Celete bjVjj rbaT -i 0 tte laid out for an elaborate toilet. Charlotte assisted feverishly. muttered to “Why should T care?" *he muttered to herself a hundred times mirveved The gown was on. and she surveys herself critically In the very “Tea, my Lady. You look your very to conceal It. “Now that you voung people have agreed,” he said, “we older heads can settle upon the terms.” He nodded to Larion and his own counselors of state. Charlotte gladly left the room. When she gained her own apartment! she sank into a chair. ‘Nine o'clock—I thought it must be near midnight.” Celete timidly approached: her mistress did not see her. Celete almost laid her hands on the magnificent gown and jewels which had served their purpose. “Do you wish to change ’these? Shall I take—” Charlotte brushed her aside. “Go-go away. Why do you stand here an« ««pe?” Celete flew from the room and did not look behind her. Charlotte tottered to a table. She tore the tiara from her hair, the .necklace from her throat, dropping them heedlessly to the floor. "Well. It la decided-decided just as If I were a horse for sale, led out, exhibit ed T>(flight, and sent back to my stall, leaving them to haggle over the prlcn But no.” she blazed out In her wrath. I’ll not be batered: I promised D’Au- its accompaniment to the two men’s thoughts. Then D’Aubant began to speak, without lifting his head. “Alphonse, do you remember telling me once on the field of Pultowa, that you hoped for the day when you could render me a service? I am ln desperate need, and come to claim it of you.” De la Mar reached out his hand and laid it in D’Aubant’s. “What do you require ?” “I must be at this marriage tomorrow,” D’Aubant answered very slowly and very quietly. “But the tsar himself has revised the invitation lists—he has even excluded princes of the Brunswick line—you would be recognized and captured—” D'A.i bant brushed aside objections with a most impatient shrug. "It does not matter; T must be present. Do not look at me as If you thought me demented. I am quieter than you. Be fore you came ln, I sat here planning how It could be arranged.” D’Aubant’s voice grew stronger. “There will be a guard of honor for Alexis and the tsar?” De la Mar nodded. “Those men you select?" "Yes.” “I must be one of them—the one nearest^ the altar.” D'Aubant closed his hand with a gesture of decision. "Impossible, Henri—impossible. The men have already been chosen, for weeks—" “One of them must be displaced, and myself substituted,” iTAubant asserted doggedly. De la Mar became alarmed at the sul len air with which A’Aubant urged his demand. Manv attempts had lately been made on Peter’s life: De la Mar was sincerely attached to the tsar, and this man seemed in the mood for any mad ness. “Look at me. Henri "Why do you ask this? What do you intend to do?” "Nothing to compromise you—nothing to compromise my dear and cautious bant. D’Aubant—” the girl repeated the friend, De la Max—my grateful friend, De Nearly two hundred years before this Martin Luther himself had consecrated the castle chapel at Torgau; and the su perstitious heir of Holy Russia would have ventured fust as bravely into a building specially set apart for the uses of hell. The bigoted protopope who jour neyed from Moscow to perform the cer emony, came in terror lest the tsar should force him within these accursed walls. Had the tsar suspected half the dis quietude that this possibly inspired among his enemies he would perhaps have had Alexis wedded before.this very al tar. But for once Peter refrained from crushing the prejudices of the priests that surrounded his son. He caused a tem porary altar “to be erected in the great hall of the castle where Alexis might be gratified by every rite and mysticism pe culiar Jo the Greek church. It came gloomily to noon and many bells were ringing, jangling and strangling ln the fog. The husheU tread of troops came up from the street, mingled with the subdued murmurlngs of a multitude, for this mid-day darkness hung heavy alike on bell and human tongue. The bridal procession moved slowly to ward the main hall, bearing Charlotte as a log is pushed ahead of a sluggish stream. She walked steadily, leaning on the old duke’s arm. She paused at the door and felt the pressure of a solemn silence within. Then they entered. Who went before, or who followed her, she knew not. The murk and mist outside crept stealthily into the bridal hall. Curtains of somber crimson across the wondows shut out ill-omened day. Huge mirrors reflected thousands of candles, each sur rounded by a faint halo as if burned within a charnel house. Draperies hung in limp ungainly folds; moisture glistened on helmet, blade and pennon-staff. People coughed and choked from the smoke of flaring torches. Afar off, as Charlotte heard It, there rose a wail of music. The bride came on and on, every eye following her. She stared ahead through the -curling fog and saw only the confused massing of lights that blinded her. Down the long aisle, rigid at his post, D’Aubant waited. Charlotte came straight on and saw nothing; D’Aubant saw only the woman, nothing else. Every nerve in body and brain grew strong and THE SUNNY SOUTH The Great Southern Literary Paper to the Man ner Born, of Unexcelled Excellence. THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION Unexcelled 4s a Newspaper, With Every Letter of That Important Word Emphasized. Both These Great Weekly Papers One Year ONLY $1.25 THE SUNNY SOUTH as the great Literary Weekly cannot be equaled. Its serial stories are from the best writers. Its sketches of travel and adventure, commerce and customs, fact, fashion, fancy and fiction are well presented and each week gives a literary treat as full as a banquet and delightful as a feast. 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