Adventure Magazine Cover — page 119: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Can a Man be True? gaily papered hall. ‘Touching the spring, she let in a ray of light. No sign of Gisdel till she whispered softly: “Follow me—don’t speak! Wrap your- self in my sable cloak.” As Gisdel obeyed, she ripped a frill of chiffon from her skirt and flung it over his head. Swift as lightning she unbolted the door leading to the street. The strange fig- ure of the shivering monarch passed out,— and now the dawn was breaking; the Queen’s carriage still stood at the door. Gisdel sprang into it, gasping the word ‘“Home” to the amazed coachman, who recognized the King’s voice beneath his disguise. The gold domes of the Palace were tipped with rosy light. As Gisdel approached, he pulled himself together sufficiently to give another order. “Stop at the sentry-box,” he gasped. “The troops must be called out at once! The Queen has been murdered!” The carriage drew up promptly. Gisdel did not wait for the footman to pen the door. In a moment he had sprung to the pavement. Then a strange sight greeted his bloodshot eyes. The Palace was sur- rounded by soldiers and the distant sound of firing reached his ear. To his intense surprise, Bistoff rode up on a white charger, and the King saw he was fully armed. “T regret that I have to place you under arrest, your Majesty,” he said. “What does it mean?” cried Gisdel, white to the lips. “Has every one gone mad? What does it mean, I say?”’ “Civil war,” answered the Court Phy- sician, with his most military air, “and few are found loyal to their King.” “But you—you are on our side!”’ gasped the terrified youth. ‘No,’ answered Diarmid Bistoff unhes- itatingly, ““I am on the side of Maldio— the—Thinker!”’ 9 CHAPTER XXXIV THE OLD HOME OTI and Maldio had said their good- by to Red Tower, since the King could no longer blind his eyes to the call of duty. It became increasingly urgent for him to return to his country and restore peace. Count Bistoff’s letters and telegrams 683 implored him to delay no longer, for the hour was drawing near when the nation must learn that their beloved Thinker still lived to serve Lambasa, given back from the tomb as if by a miracle. When the fateful hour came to make a final decision and to answer Bistoff’s en- treaty by an arranged code, Maldio looked long and searchingly into the tear-dimmed eyes of his girl-wife. “Loti,” he said, ‘‘when I see your sor- rowful face, and feel the force of my love for you, I am almost tempted to disappoint my deliverer and write to Bistoff that I will never set foot in Lambasa again! Sometimes I feel it would be better to re- main dead and buried to all my subjects, and put aside the vainglory of a throne for peace, for love and quiet living. The temptation is strong—it comes upon me in weak moments, when I feel your arms about my neck.” : Loti’s heart stopped beating, and in that brief second of breathless joy she saw him given forever into her keeping, divorced from the burden of royalty—no longer a king, but merely the man and the husband, the one being who made the world for her a paradise of love. Then, horrified by the overwhelming flood of selfish desire, she stamped out that wild human longing, call- ing into power the brave spirit which ruled her true being. She knew she had every- thing to lose, yet her higher nature warned her that, if she failed to spur him to action, the coming years would be ever darkened by shadows of regret. Now her eyes were no longer dim. In the moment of victory they met his questioning gaze with the light of undaunted courage. “Tf I were to hold you back,” she whis- pered, “‘the day of remorse would follow. I should be ashamed to look my King in the face, knowing I had dragged him down, feeling he must regard me as the evil genius of his youth. You would not be the Maldio I trusted and adored, if you failed to fulfil the call of a great destiny. Though the parting is bitter—the very thought of it seems to me as a living death—I am ready for the blow. I shall wait—like the wife of a soldier, with my heart in the fray. I shall be ready to join you, in any capacity, the moment you bid me come. I only pray that as soon as it is possible you will let me be near you, even though our love must take the form of a secret intrigue. I would GomicdooksEeo |