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.)
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