1
bridled Etoile-Filnnte and ridden out
of the camp without warning or fare
well to any. Thus she went, knowing
nothing of his fate. And with the sun
rise went also the woman whom be
loved la Ignorance,
r' "Do not think me without feeling
without sympathy, pity"
"If you loved me," he pursued pas
sionately "Ah, God! The very wort
from me to you sounds Insult! - And
yet there is not one thought In me thai
sounds insult if yon loved me, could
you stand there and bid me drag 01
on the air:
"Who goes therer
Cecil never heard It Even the old,
long accustomed habits of a, soldier's
obedience were killed in him.
"Who goes there?" the challenge.
rang again.
uu ne never neara, out went on
blindly. From where the tents stood
' there was ft stronger breadth of light
, through which he had passed and was
passing still light strong enough for
It to be seen whence he came, but not
strong enough to show his features.
"Halt or I flrer The sentinel
brpught the weapon to his shoulder
and took a calm, close, sure aim. He
did not speak. The password be bad
forgotten as though he had never heard
or never given It -
Another figure than that of the sol
dlej on guard came out of the shadow
and stood between him and the senti
nel. It was that of Chateauroy. He
was mounted on his gray horse and
wrapped In his military cleak, about to
go the round of the cavalry camp.
"It A one of my men," said the chief
carelessly to the sentinel. "Leave me
to deal with him."
The guard saluted and resu -d his
beat
"Why did you refuse the word, sirf
, "I did not hear."
'vnooatjor me, veneuar i "way are yon absent from your
this life forever, nameless, friendless, squadron?"
hopeless, having all the bitterness but There was no reply. ',
none of the torpor of death, wearlnf "Have you no tongue, air! Why are
out the doom of a galley slave, though you here?"
guiltless of all crime?" 1 There was again no answer, :
"Why speak so? Ton are unreason Cbateauroy's teeth ground out ft ru
ing. A moment ago yon Implored mi rlous oath. Yet a flash of brutal de-
not to tempt yon to the violation oi light guttered In his eyes. At last he
what you hold your honor. Because J had hounded down this man, so long
eld you be faithful to It you deem m out of his reach, into disobedience and
cruel." , I contumacy.
"Heaven help me! X scarce kmra . "Why are you here, and where have
what I say. I ask yoa If yoa were you been?" be demanded once more,
'woman who loved me could yoa decidi "I will not say."
thus?" ' - The dark and evil countenance above
"These are wild questions," she mur him grew livid with fury.
murtd. "What can they serve? I be' "I can have you thrashed like a dog
ileve that I should I am sure that J for that answer, and I will. But first
fthould. As It is as yonr friend"
"Ah, hush! Friendship Is craeler thai
Hate."
"Cruel?"
"Yes, the worst cruelty when we seek
love a stone proffered us when we ask
for bread in famine!"
listen!! know as well as though you
had confessed to me. Your silence
cannot shelter your great mistress'
sham. . Ah, ha, la Faustine! So ma
dame your princess Is so cold to her
equals only to choose her lovers out of
I my blackguards and take her midnight
"Lord Royallieu," she said slowly, ai ; intrigues like a camp courtesan!"
if the familiar name v.-ere some tie be k Cecil's face changed terribly as the
tween them, some cause of excuse for Tile words were, spoken. With tho
these the only love words she bad evei I light and rapid spring of a leopard be
team without disdain and rejection-; reached the side of his commander.
cue ubuu ou lue uorse s mane, tue out
er on the wrist of bis chief, that it
gripped like an iron viae.
"You lie, and you know that you lie!
Breathe her name once more, and. by
heaven, as we are both h Tag men," I
will have your life for rour outrage!"
And as he spoke witn his left hand
he smote the lips that had blasphemed
against her. ' r A 1 , -
Chateauroy wrenched his wrist out
of the hold that crushed it and drew
his pistol. Cecil knew that the laws of
active service would hold him but Just
ly dealt with if the shot laid him dead
lu that instant for bio act and hht
words.
"You can kill me; I know It. Wet!.
use your prerogative; it will be tlu
sole good you have ever done to me." .
And he stood erect patient, motion
less, looking into Lis cIiAf s es w::li
a calm disdain, with '. ' a nuuetered
challenge that for tl:e n.t moment
wrung something of savage'.- respect
fnd oi' sullen admiration out from the
soul of his great foe.
lie did hot fire. It was the only time
in which any, trait of abstinence from
craelty had been ever seen in bim. HO
planed to the soldiers of the guard
with one hand, while with the other he
still covered with his pistol the man
whom martial law would have allowed
him to have shot down or have cut
down at his horse's feet
"Arrest him," he said simply.
Cecil offered no resistance. lie let
them seize and disarm him without an
effort at the opposition which could
have been but a futile, unavailing trial
of brute fwce. lie dreaded lest there
should be one sound that should reach
her In that tent where the triad of
standards drooped in the dusky dis
tance. He was content with what he
had done content to have met once,
not as a soldier to chief, but as man
to man, the tyrant who held his fate.
None knew, not even Cigarette. be
:;t alone, so fnr away that none sought
hor out, besMa the picket Ere tli.it Lad
lor.s died out, with the Ut'Je white 60s
of Zaralla curled on theses riot falJsof
"Lord ' Eoyalileu, ; It Is unworthy of
jpou to take this advantage of an inter
Tlew which I sought and sought fof
your own sake. You pain me; yot
wound me. I cannot tell how to an
, ftwer you. You speak strangely and
"Without warrant
' He stood mute and motionless befo
flber. his head sunk on his chest fit
"knew that she rebuked him Justly,
. "Forgive me, for pity's sake! Aftei
tonight 1 shall never look upon youi
race again," -
- "I do forgive," she said gently, while
ner voice grew very sweet. "You en--dure
too much already for one neediest
pang u vm aaaed by me. All 1 wisn is
that you had never met me, so that this
last worst thing had not come unto
.-you! You wrong me If you think that
I could be so callous, so indifferent as
to leave you here without heed as to
your fate. Believe In your Innocence!
You know that I do as firmly as though
you substantiated it with a thousand
proofs. Reverence your devotion to
your honor! You are certain that I
must or all better things were dead hi
me. You reject my friendship. Yoi
term It cruel, but at least it will be,
faithful to you too faithful for nic to
pass out of Africa and never give you
one thought again. I believe In you
Do you not know that that Is the high
est trust to my thinking, that one hu
man life can show In another's? You
decide that It Is your duty not to free
. yourself from this bondage, not to ex
yose the actual criminal, not to take np
your rights of birth. I dare not seek to
alter that decision, but I cannot leave
you to such a future without infinite
pain, and there must there shall be
moans through which you will let me
hear of you, through which, at least, I
can know that you are living." .
.. She stretched her hands toward him
with that same gesture with which
the had first declared her faith in his
Cuiltlessness. The tears trembled iu
t.cr voice and swam la her eyes. lie
:
r;aij;
echni
"G.i
If I f
r 1 c
i t !
f t'
c .
1
1 her hands in his and held thorn
ntrainst Lis breast one lustaut
t the loud, hard ranting of his
ard you! Col' keep you!
z hear
d rew
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t v
1 1
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we
1 f
ever 1;
1 t J v.
Let
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r'..-ir t j vr
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1 .M
1 1
CHAPTER XXIL
IB warm, transparent light of
an African autumnal noon
shone down through the white
canvas roof of a great tent In
the heart of the encamped divisions at
the headquarters of the army of the
south. In the tent there was a densely
packed throng, an immense, close,
bushed, listening crowd, of which ev
ery man wore the uniform of France,
for they were In court and that court
was the court martial of their own
southern camp.
The prisoner was arraigned on the
heaviest charge that can be laid against
the soldier of any army, and yet as the
many eyes of the military crowd tu ra
ta on mm wnere ne sxooa surrounaea
by his guard, his crime against bis
chief was forgotten, and they only re
membered Zaraila. He preserved en
tire reticence in court The Instant the
accusation had been read to, him he
had seen that bis chief would not dare
to couple with it the proud, pure name
be bad dared to outrage. - His most
bitter anxiety was thus at an end. For
all the rest be was tranquiL
No case could be clearer, briefer, less
complex, more entirely Incapable of de
fense. The soldiers of the guard gave
evidence as to the violence and' fury of
the assault The accuser merely stated
that, meeting bis corporal out of the
bounds of the cavalry camp, he had
asked him where be bad been and on
bis commanding an answer bad been
assaulted hi the manner ' described
with violence sufficient to have cost bis
life had not the guard been so near at
band. The statement passed without
contradiction by the prisoner, who only
repnea that the facts were, stated ac
curately as they occurred and that bis
roasons for the deed be declined to as
sert When it was finally demanded
of him if be bad aught to urge In bis
own extenuation, he paused ft moment
with gaze under which even the hard
eagle eyes grew restless, looked across
to. Chateauroy and addressed bis an
tagonist rather than the president:
Only this that ft tyrant a liar and
a tradncer cannot wonder if men pre-
rer death to submission beneath insult
But I am well aware that this Is no
vindication of my act as a soldier, and
I. have no desire to say words which.
whatever their truth, jnight become
hereafter dangerous legacies and dan
gerous precedents to the army." '
That was all which he answered, and
neiuier ms counsel nor his accusers
could extort another syllable from bim
He never moved once while the decree
of death was read to bim, and there
was no change In the wearv calmness
of his eyes. He bent bis head In ac-
qaiescence.
"It Is well be said simply.
It seemed well to bim. Dead, bis
secret would lie In the grave with him
and the long martyrdom of his life be
ended.
In the brightness of the noon Ciga
rette leaned out of her little oval case
ment and, for the first time also, hap
piness was not with her.
They were, gone forever all the elas
tic Joyahce, all the free, fair hours, all
the dauntless gayety of childhood, all
the sweet, harmonious laughter of a
heart without a care. They were gone
forever, for the touch of love and pain
had been laid on her, and never again
would her radiant eyes smile cloud
lessly, like the young eagle's, at a sun
Jhat rose fci;t ' to be greeted as only
youth can greet, another dawn of life
that Is without a shadow. To her It
seemed." impossible:. that 'this patrician
who had his passion should not return
it She only thought of love as she
had rlwnys seen it quickly born, hotly
cLemhed, wholly indulged and without
ti or restraint.
"And I came without my vengeance!"
she mused. To the nature that felt
the ferocity of the veudrtta a right
and a due there was wouudinrr humili
ation In her knowledge that r.he hnd
left her rival unharmed and hndVorue
hither, out from his '-night and his
presence, lest he should see In her one
glimpse of that folly which sin would
have killed herself uuder her own steel
rather than have betrayed either for
his contempt or his compassion.
The touch of a bird's wing brushing
her hair brought the dreamy compari
son to her wandering thoughts. She
started and lifted her head. It was ft
blue carrier pigeon, one of the many
6he fed at that casement and the swift
est and surest of several she sent with
messages for the soldiers between the
various stations and corps. She had
forgotten she had left the bird at the
encampment.
She caressed It absently, while the
tired creature sank down on her bosom.
Then only she saw that there was ft
letter beneath one wing.
She found an old French cobbler sit
ting at a stall in a casement stitching
L ather. lie was her customary reader
and fcciibe la this quarter. She touch
ed Liai with tke paper. "Good 111
tllotu, wilt thou read this to me?"
Ar.1 L f" 1 aloud:
Of a woman in perfect health attracts
the ere at once. Sucb a woman is all
too rarely art-a. . The most of wotcci;
bear scars of suffering on their free
kich no smile
can bide, and
often in their very
carriage betray
the womanly
weakness which
oppresses them.
There can be no
perfect health for
the woman who
suffers from dis
ease of the delicate
womanly organ
ism. Her general
health is to inti
mately related to
the local health of
the womanly or
gans that these
must be cured be
fore the general
health can be
established.
Dr. Pierce's fa
vorite Prescript! on
snakes weak women strong and sick
women well. - It cures womanly dis
orders and diseases; brightens the dull
Se, rounds out the hollow cneeK ana
ves strength for wifely duties and
maternal cares. i',; ':'
Ht health is the bent now that It has fccca
fiv (our yeara. write Mrs. rhebe ftforrta, of Ira,
Cawa Co., N. Y., Box 51 "I bav taken mh
two bottle of your medicine. Favorite Pre.
acripttoa and 'Golden Medical Diaooverr.
These medicines have done me more good than
all that I have ever taken before. I couldn't do
my work only about half the time, and now I
can work, all the time for a family of foor.
Before I took your medicines I waa sick la bed
earl half the time. My advice to all who are
troubled with irmale weakness is to take Dr.
Pierce's Pnvorite Prescription and 'Golden Med
ical Discovery the most wonderful medicines
la the world."
Dr. Pierce's Common Sense Medical
Adviser is sent free on receipt of ai one-
cent sumps to pay expense of mailing
only. Address Dr. K. V. Pierce, Buf
ralo, K. Y.
.Q
H
The Frei Phkss is prepared to supply
elegant and beautiful calendars to ftd
vertisers. - Don't place an order until
you see our samples. Don't forget this!
-SATISFACTION-
ily customers are being satisfied
with the choice Staple and Fancy
Groceries I am o String. I want
other customers to appreciate &e
good things I sell.
Try an Order Today
for your satisfaction ." tomorrow.
Those who find an inferior bit in
anything I sell are compensated if
they will only tell me the difficulty.
: 191 want a share of your pat
ronage.
MARK NEWBORN.
Cor. Queen and Gordon Sts.
L. HARVEV & SON.
LEADING
INSURANCE
AGENCY,
KINSTON, Ni
The Pride of the Eye.
is among the sins. of the
v fltsh of which we are all
warned, but the lover cf
fine China hopes it doesn't
mean her, for sue docs
want to indulge a bit in
this feast of beauty. Our
lines of ihiaa and Glass-;
' ware f re complete.
03. II. L. Cil!: h ill.
INSURANCE
: Life, "
" : . ; Fire;, . ,
arid
Accident.
tSTBest Companies Represented,
SAMUEL ACC3TT,
KINSTON. N. C
Uith Hew Type ,
and Machinery, larg variety
and stock or Tapers and cor
petent workmen,
THE FREE PRESS
Is prepared to do all of your
Job Printing in neat and
artistic style.
I I I I I I I I 1 1 1 I 1 I I 1 I 1 1 i 1 l I I i I
ARE YOU TIRED
OF QUACK .MEDICINES
THAT ULA.VTB5 DONE? VOTJ NO GOOD?
GIVK
IIAORIS LITIlia WATER
itriai; f
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The man or woman who has used Bturrls Llthla Water has made a
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tor return of bottles. Htrr!s Llthla Water carbonated In quarts and pints.
As a table water It Is nnexcolled. For sain by dealers. '
,, , Local Distributors: Temple-Maw ton Dbtjo Co. lvd S. E. Hood.
OABUIS I ITCIA 8raiXGS;rO., Harris Sprks, 8. c.
I .J I I I I . I . I . I . I 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 1 1 1 I . I I t I I
"""e
Tobacco FBties !
Tobacco Flimes ll
Have Plenty of Sets Already Alade.
Can Deliver On An Hour's Notice.
Roofing1, Plumbing,
Heating and Genera Repair Work Done in a
First-Class Manner.
S. H. ISLER, JR.,
KINSTON, N. C
TUCKER OR OS.
WILMINGTON, N. 0.
The place to bny your Cemetery
Work at Bottom Prices In Foreign
and Domestic Granite and Marble.
Lettering and Finish the Best.
Latest Designs.
All work delivered.
ALEX FIELDS,
Agent Lenoir County.
DR. W, R. JONES,
PHYSICIAN and SURGEON,
,s '. .'kutstow, k.c.
Residence and offim a.t Xfra 1T tM
Loops', Blount street. -
A..Lorrai : W. A. ICrrcnu
LOFTIN & MITCIIELL,
Attoriteys-at-Law,
, . kihstow, k. c.
Office in Court House Building
HOUSE & ORMON D, $u
Attosnhts at-Law,
kinston, w. c
WiB prsctics whsmar thsir asrvicai ara dssbwt
On. aiaailMr af thm in k. 1 1
their offics. at tha rsar o I'm eoart hoots, dunn.
Sioa hoars, bstwsso ths hoars ot t .4, at. and 4 p. at.
HERE IS A BARGAIN
FOR YOU I-
Cur entire line of BEAUTIFUL
TRIMMED HATS to be close J
out AT COST. We will also sell
cheap for cash Laces, Ribbons and
Notions
Come and inspect our line. We
can save you money. .
.llS5T.:EACIIAr.GC0;
loo:; HEnEi
Where are yon orolnir? Down here to
Barren's Repair Shops. Ton know that
they do the best work hi the shortest
time for the least money. Brand neweart
wheels at 14. Call and see ns.
W. A. HARRKLL. Manairer.
Southwest corner Gordon and lierlta
QCreets, junston. m. V.
Cotton Glims amid Piress
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snd the tiri on a cKinrs
r-p-nr stni-k the liiarfc
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e c i U tar, The ccKv
t him d vn, that sil. I j
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