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About Eugene daily guard. (Eugene, Or.) 1904-1924 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 1911)
3 O NoG OF It N NY MAURICE HEWLETT CocrrllHt. Wit. T U.ur(f. H..1.1I. SYNOPSIS. ,h. dv of the robber barons Earl Gemulf, I li Ball o- the North, is master of the fief of 5.5nU ""ere be lives in the Castle of i rvr ttnrlett, blustering giant returns Bp hnrder foray with a captive girl of twelve b"t, mhom he establishes at Speir as his ward, y1 Donna Sabine. He has murdered her w .nd her five brothers. She is an Imperl- Tmtle personage, and soon the household is 0U'J ! ft-DanL Clotilda, the housekeeper; beLains andNitidis, maids of honor; Bl.iichffialn. chamberlnin. Father SorKeSi 6hI 1 adviser; Bubo, a hunchback, and Fir "i . .tranping youth of good parentage, Mas " h Bridle. She reigns as queen of Speir Ut llrZ and a half years. Firmln she chooses ,Wv friend. Preparing her for her first com fsorges learns that she is Kenny of CoWwar head of the great house of ancient lineage. ' CHAPTER III. (Continued). FATHER SORGES wiped the sweat from his forehead with a red handkerchief; he euiped down his dismay twice or thrice be fore he could speak. When at last he was late there was a different note in his voice BOtc wnich announced that he had taken a "Ah my sweet and gracious lady," he said, ' lt an! Ho has murdered your father, " Lr brothers. You are alone." Sabine said Tthing; but she heard him. "Renny of Cold " aur'" went on the good Sorges, apparently Ire'ssing Heaven; "Renny of Coldscaur, the creatcst next the Throne, a child twelve years old in the house of her father's assassin!" He hrned suddenly. "What of your kinsfolk, lady? What of the Prince Bishop Valeric? What of Bishop Stephen, my old master? What of your cousins whom these princes have in ward?" But she stopped him with a lifted hand. Blaise, my father, knew nothing of these per ion's, Father, nor they of him. He denied them his lands and would never enter theirs." Sorges wailed. "I might have known, Lord help me! Did ever Renny do else to his brother but hate him? Oh, house of sorrow, house of sorrowful fate! Ob, proud house brought low! lord God, shall this endure? Madam," he said, turning to the silent girl, "the pity of this fact overwhelms me. But I will grow stronger by the mercy of the just God. You are alone but for me. Therefore I will be strong. Let us pray." Sabine stared at him, but did not see it at all. "Thank you, Father," said she, very much Renny. "I have Firmin." But at this the priest , lost hold of himself. "Firmin! Firmin!" he shrilled. "Firmin, that clod! Do you put Firmin up agninst the Earl of Pikpoyntz, Madam? As well put up a rag doll. Oh, Madam, Madam de Renny, you are mad, you are mad! The man will eat you raw. devour your great inheritance; you will be as a field flower in the hollow of his hand. lie has slain Blaise; now do you think he will stay for ton? No more o' this, i' God's name, or I shall rave!" He began to wring his hands, dimly con scions that he was.' adjuring rock. Sabine looked him full in the face. Her unflinching ejes had a cold, bright speck apiece. n "I will never meet the Earl of Tikpoyntz un til I can come as Renny against his foes," said he. Whereat Sorges laughed aloud a laugh of agony. "I have been a servant of your father's brother," he said, "of Bishop Stephen, of Havi lot I know the traditions, the incredible greatness and sorrow of your high house. You fill meet the Earl, you say you, child and ith Firmin. Firmin! Firmin! O Lord of us "II, what is this?" He mocked at her in his distress, more of a 'ool for his pains than Firmin could ever have bn. Sabine grew dryer and dryer, less of an orphan and more of a queen, with every groan of the infatuate old man. She got up; she was very cool indeed, with- resentment or gratitude, but plainly mis ress of her resolve. "I think our discussion concluded," she said. "We will go on with ur preparation another time." Then .she ed out of the room in her stateliest man eP t0 lhe arm of Firmin, attendant on the "We. Sorges saw her begin to talk to that "npassive .T0"t; he threw his arms up like crowning, shut his eyes and strained his d "Pnir throilL'll clonehnH tr.Mli Tin. tot md0W Was a londstnnn rlrnw Mm tr iv-if,., nd Judpe. ne gaw (,e twQ )lpa(s to(,t)tueP f girl s leaning, eager, confidential; she was 'dlKIUJJ verv taxi ..-.I l. l.i: J - ..II . "--I. iiiiu, uu uem I'll, ITilllV IT- "g- Firmin knpt his; it was hung, but he r"nd DCe r tW'CC aS K mlpas-v' Tbf'n fi t' aw '"'m (,ro') '"'s m'Ktppss' a,'m np(' J" hls own lightly round her waist. She did J jeem to notice the liberty; the torrent ol h truu'''"s vo'cwl at last, perhaps carried "r W"R- Sorges, frozen to the window, uld do nothing but stare. His heart ham "ed at h's ribs, well nigh choked him. Then e iea rl a light step behind and, turning, saw ''anchmains. Sneir ti,i man.- -;.i-.tii- t, O ' ,he Valley of Stones over the terraces v?rJ fine, o ft priest whipped his hands behind his back lare at the maid. The maid smiled ten- derly in his face; thatvpoor face was streaked with wet. u "Dear Father Sorges," said she with her hand on her heart, "are you going forth on yor errand of mercy?'' 0 "lexim so engaged, mistress." 0 "And can you tell me where to find our lady? She was with you of late." -. ' "She was; but, as you see, I am alone, or could be." . "Ah, she is gone to meditate vour coun sels?"' "God, woman!" cried, 'the bid priest, "she is meditating anything else you choose. Be so good as to let me pass. Stay!. Come with me. I will give you a note for her. I must make a journey a long journey, my Saviour." "Willingly, my father." Rlnnehrhains, all agog, waited, her eyes sparkling. Sorges with ; a fluttering hand Basilida, Who botched a couple of slips. He finally achieved, folded and tied with silk a longish note. "There, mistress," he said, "give that to your lady in one hour from now. lt is important. Forget anything you choose, but forget not that. In one hour from now, if you please. There, there, my child" for Blanchmains, with clasped hands, was kneeling before him "there! May God and our Blessed Lady be to you all that you deserve. Watch over our Lady Sabine. I must go indeed." And gone he was. Blanchmains sat down in Sabine's chair, playing with the note in her hand. First she compressed her red lips, then she looked out of the windows, lastly she untied the note and set herself to master it. "Pest!" she said, "it is in Latin. Oh, a much too learned lady. Well, well, let us see. "Pi lectissimao et honoratissimao suae, Pominae Sabiuae," she read. Ah! an address. She wandered on till she came to something which made her frown. "Reverendo in Christo patri Stephano navilotiensi Episcopo." Now, who might he be? But at the next name she caught her breath, literally pnuted. "Inclyta domus atque miserrima de Keini," she read and leapt into full conviction. Renny! Renny of Cold scaur! Now she knew with whom she had to deal. There came a green light into the eyes of the chalk faced girl at this phase,' which may have become her and yet not have been very pleasant. It gave her a blank, sightless ap pearance, the look of a socketed statue, a tragic mask. Her lips moved, but all the words to be understood were in French. "Renie pas Reine," they were, which littered she shook the glaze from her eyes and resumed her search for landmarks. 'Firminium, garcionom im probum." Firmin? Well, Firmin would be use ful. "Improbum" was improbably a compli ment. At the end were four words in a' lan guage she knew. "Je vous sauveray ancor," she read and was able to smile again at the priest's simplicity. As she scrupulously re folded and retied the billet "All. Father Sorges, Father Sorges," she said, with a whimsical twist of the head, "if you are for saving her I must be for saving myself." For some time she sat still, twisting her fin gers, pinching her lips, frowning, as she puz zled. She guessed Stephen of llavilot to be a kinsman of Sabine's Lord or Earl of that place, which lay. she knew, far in the West, in Campflors. If gorges were going thither, a (knowing his Western origin) shj guessed he might be, it would take him three weeks or a month. She knew his horse and guessed at the ro;'d.s. Three weeks to go, three to re turn sis weeks. Time enough to tur round in good! Now, what else? Sabi; was a Kenny, eh"? That must mean Keif?,y of Cold scaur, for Pikpoyntz was a towering falcon who llew high for his quarrt. Were there any other Rennys? At tlQ moment her0eyes caughlupon the book lying openi the table. She jutoped at it. Father Sorges bad bta Ui such a hurry to fetch at his Stephen of navi lot that he had left the Speir Register. There then, at last, she had the whole story to her hand.Q Donna Sahyie de Renny of Coldscaur of course! Stephen, Bishop of Havilo9 of course! Yes, and there was Valeric, Prinee Bishop of Grand Fe also a Kenny. Blanch mains grew cheerful, in a chilly sort of. way, for she saw the whole thing. Sorges was go ing to rouse the Rennys; on Firmin's account, it appeared! Well, she was going to rouse Fir min on her own account. It remained to bo seen whose account would get quietus first. Rlnnchmains was clear that Sabine must not be Countess of Pikpoyntz if she could help it. She did not know, of course, that Sorges was now equally clear on that point. She thought be was only afraid of Firmin; slio began to see her way. Should she deliver the note? If it discredited Firmin it would do no harm. Noth- Had Loved Him in a Wild Beast Fashion, Came ing would so effectually egg on Sabine, the little mule. But she was not certain; it would be safer to deliver it to the fire. This was done, and then she went out to watch the young couple olOho terrace. Father Sorges was in such a hurry to reach his lodging that he fluttered down his six hun dred steps three at a time. His first net when he landed at his door was to thank God very heartily that he had not arrived in pieces; his next, to eat a hunch of bread; his third, to forage in his cupboard for a parchment roll. This turned out to be a rough map, made by himself, of the stages of his journey, made forty years before, from llavilot to Speir. He now turned his map upside down. "What I have to do," said he,, munching his' crust, "is to avoid the Karl's garrison at Cnntacutc. I must go west to Farlingbridge. Being then in Logres, I shall be Rafe. Then I drop down the two rivers to Minster-Morrow, afterward from city to city Cragarn, Breault, Saint-Save, Blemish until I strike on Joyeulx Saber. It may take me any time between three weeks and five, but God will be with me and I shall cer tainly get there." He was not long over his equipment; his breviary, his cloak, a comb com pleted it. Arms he would have scorned had he had any within reach. lie did wear, however, his crucifix outside his cloak. Then he saddled his flea bitten old roan, pulled the girths as tight as he dared and shambled off along the western road. The mountains closed in on all hands, the roaring Sar drowned the plod of his horse's hoofs, lllanchjnnins had been right in one tiling. He was going to rouse the Itohnvs but not against Firmin. CHAPTER IV. Inciyta Domus Atque Miserrima. II ION Renny came before his lord to re ceive iinestil lire from kingly hands of a kinglv fee and franchise lie stood with his own hands held out. fettered with a golden chain. The (.'(instable handed to the King the Sword of Estate, the King severed the chain, Kenny was free. The fetter then served for cincture; with liis own chuiu the King girt Kenny round the loins; (lie trumpets shrilled in the market place at Kenny-Helm; under the pvrul tower the heralds craved ac ceptance "du tres haul!, tres puissant, fedmite Prince, Monseigneiir Blaise par la jaaee de pieu, Keitii de Coldscaur, r?icur Marie, Cousin du Roy," iS;c, See. Thereby this princely person stood sclged of Coldscaur, and all MarPilion knew him for an Earl, though ho chose to have no titk-Kut Kenny of Coldarnur. Such was the custom instituted by Eudo the Wolf, sea pirate, descended froiji Romans (fi'(Q a di Cneius I'oinpilius Arrhenis, as they boasted, when he came to the kingdom of Jadis; .d Mill it held at every violent death of a Kenny. "lclyta domus atque miserrima," wro Sorges to his pupil, the latest Renny; and truly enoueh wrote be. If the records of a wrr w VV famous realm, the annnls, chronicles, ro mances, fnitz et gestes, Rolls of Parliament, Files of Chancery and nij) he rest of such gear can report me a noble house more rooted in pride, more furiously insisting upon proud observance, more blotted with blood, more wicked or more miserable, I have searched their folios In vain. There are traditions about most of the great old families of Jndis; their names are proverbial, or symbolical, if you please. Thus Pe Breaute must always break women's hearts; Pe Flnhault hand down inordinate desire from father to son; Bototort after Bototort be shifty; Melsa profuse with what Melsa spared him; but Renny, it was said, warred upon his own kind, drained his own blood, heaped sin upon sin for himself, killed without mercy, was killed without ruth thieved, lied, debauched, blasphemed but never abated ono jot of his claim to bo Creeping Out. royal; and whether he pnltered with God, his King, his honor or his salvation, never swerved from the Renny creed, which was: "What I need I claim, what I claim I have, what I have I hold. "Renie pas Reini ," ran the legend of the house cut deep upon tho escutcheon oyer the portal at Coldscaur; "Renie pas Keini," said every man of them to his brother ill' turn, and enforced it or paid for it with tho sword. Inclyta domus atque miserrima Arrhenensis, indeed. There could be none more famous in flic realm of Jadis and none more wretched. A race of heroes, incalculably ancient, very near the throne, handsome as some full lined rank of gods and hag ridden by a desperata black fate. So it was with them. From that far day when Eudo Reini the Wolf, having harried Mnrvilion for twenty miles square and built his crag castle upon the embers, brought into it his fierce Byzantine wife, Basilida Kyriozoe, with her dyed purple plaits of hair, her white face and her green eyes from that day a doom malignant and perverse sat down by the marriage bed. Not a Renny died in it, though each in turn. killed and was killed to call it his. Not a Renny, save Eudo him self, so much as died fighting a fair field. Renny after Renny stood in his hall, flushed and splendid, and rooted his enormous claim like a flag at his right hand. He claimed to be at once master of men and slave of his own appetite. For that he always paid dear, yet Hie man who killed him to abate it set it ip anew. I shall not attempt to follow them out In detail; they were many and of divers degrees in arrogant rascality. Let their names suffice. Eudo the Wolf had the grace to be killed in some sort of battle. True, he was shot before the engagement began shot in the eye by a shaft from ambush and tumbled into a ditch to be out of the way. Basilida, who had loved him in a wild beast fashion, came creeping out in the dusk to ti ml him. It is said that the sound of her wailing could be heard for two miles over Dunfleet marshes. She found him lying defaced and dishonored in his ditch, his sword untarnished by any blood. This served her turn well enough. They left live hil(!:en behind them io fend for them selves; ami fend they did with steel. Tho lust Blaise followed Eudo, Blaise Red foot, iif he was called. 1 1 is sons killed him and suc ceeded to his inheritance, each in turn tread ing on his brother's body. Stephen, Hnlcro, then Blaise II. Blaise II., having no brothers left.ind his children too young for his atten- tion, picked a quarrel with the flgliling Bishop of Cragarn, a kinsman by marriage. He caught the cliurclimanOiiid built a blind tower of masonry to hold Om fast. To this day it is called the Mitre Tower. The Bishop, indeed, died in it, but he did mnnage to grap ple with his eneffcr, who had come in to revile him. The pair of them fell down the ladder way together nnd broke between them nlJnuO of worthless necks. Blaise III., Uariciu, o Punstan, then three nalcros In succession Haloro Wryneck, Hnlcro Stiffneck, Halcrt Outneck the Wydos and the rest of them most be passed over. What was reported of tha horses of King Duncan of Scotland would fit their case. Out of ono Rolf and his high minded, unhappy wife, Isotta de Chapres, came a fourth Blaise before Rolf was drowned in his cifitlo ditch ono dark December night Ho was vilely drunk, it seems; yet ho got nearer ti?a bed at home than any of his house befor or since. Blaise IV. married his niece, Sibyl l.askerville, with tifllc of a dispensation from Rome, but no one ever saw the document. Thi Blaise was huge and middle nged, the bride a baby; and Blaise was an ill-conditioned giant. He fell foul of the Countess Isabel d Forz and had his tongue cut out by an adven turous knight, ono Salomon do Born. Blaise Sanslang is his name for all time. Out of his progeny this history comes, fo he had many. sons. These were their names: Blaise, who reigned at Coldscaur as Blaiso V.; then Otho, who had a daughter Mabilla by his wife, the heiress of Joyeulx Saber, in CampflorR, and no other issue; then Roger, who was killed, with all his sons, fighting against his brother, the Chieftain, lie, too, left a daughter at home, Iloldis, or Hold, to wit. Of these ladies anon; but there were two other brothers, church men both, and ono of them, the elder, was Valeric, Prince-Bishop of Grnnd-Fe, and the other was Bishop Stephen, of navilot, whom Sorges had served. It was when Blaise V., son of Sanslang, had reigned some dozen years at Coldscaur with a wife alive, five sons and a daughter that the Earl of Pikpoyntz suddenly crossed his borders one misty autumn night, surprised the Scaur, reddened all the sky from edge to edge with the flames he set a-going, secured some thousand head of black cattle and paid off old scores by cutting down Blaise, his five sons and his wife in their own hall. This particular Blaise, by comparison mild man nered, was indubitably a scoundrel, but he net his death he and his boys as became a Renny. It was the hour of ease arid min strelsy in the hall. Ho was weaponless and in silk; his wife was by his side on the dnis; the cliild, grave eyed Sabine, was on his knee. Below sat the retainers and household, all unarmed; in the midst a young minstrel was singing a song of the South, which praised in tho fluent Southern fashion the great house, "miraculous flowers of beauty, of honor and of knightly deeds." In the hush which followed the sudden burst of clamor outsido the great doors were flung open and Pikpoyntz, in full armor, but bare headed, as ho always was in his fighting, strode in at the head of his guards. "Renny, you poisonous thief," he roared in the tones which had earned him his nickname, Bull of the North, "I have come to send you to hell!" Blaise, with ono sweep of his eye, saw what his chances were. Ho never moved, but "Sit down, all of you," he said to his household, and was obeyed. His wife's hand trembled on his linn, the young men, his sons, insensibly took hands; but not a soul moved. "To your work, Pikpoyntz," said Blaise de Renny then, and Pikpoyntz did it. There is no reason to think that a soul was left alive in that hall but one. That was tho child Sabine, whom you know by this time, a prize he meant to turn to better account thun his herd of trampling cattle. For the fact was that Blaise and his five sons were tho last males of the long line of Eudo, unless you are to count the two church men his brothers, which, for obvious reasons, is forbidden. Valeric, Prince-Bishop of Grand Fo, in Logres was one of these a grent man, whose intellect, at least, scandal could never tarnish. The other was Stephen de Renny, Bishop of llavilot, in Campflors Sorges' friend of the West. So far, therefore, Pik poyntz had swooped to a purpose if his pur pose had been only to scour the Scaur. But he had swooped to utill better purpose. After the males came the women, for Cold scaur is a female lief. Donna Sabine, became Renny of Coldscaur, was heiress of nil Mar v i 1 ion and very marriageable. In her right he could possess himself of her royalty by a clean title instead of a bloody one, and if this was not in his mind when he compassed his deed of shame he is not tin; man whom history re ports. After her, it is true, came two other women .Mabilla, daughter of Otho, and Hold, Roger's daughter. Of these be may or may not have heard, as also that they were older than the heiress anil more instantly to be wedded. But if he knew of their names he must have known also of their conditions, that Mabilla tic Kenny was said to be be trothed to the King's brother and that Donna Hold was in the ward of the Prince-Bishop of Grand Fe. Wisely, I think, he chose for the bird in the hand; hawklike, he swooped where the brood lay thickest. The little Donna Sabine was the youngest of the cousins, but as well as the Kenny name she has the Renny inheritance. And that was a whole shire anil marched with Pikpoyntz. I beg ti?e reader's pardon for this long winded digression, but there was no help for it. You me to deal in this book with the fortune of yje three cousins these last of the Konnys. You iiinsl know whence they sprang in order that you may judge of the length ol their jumping. And now for Campflors, Father Sorges and Mabilla de Renny. U'o D Continued.) 1 i ! m I'i I'- i'. : r" !' ri i r, W v.
