The Argosy — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

248 THE ARGOSY. lover,’’ I said to myself again and again. No longer had I any doubt what answer I should give her. I must see him who had won the love of Isabella de Gavarnie. ‘“You speak of strange things, Madame Gavarnie,’’ I said after we had sat for some minutes in silence—‘‘of a service which I cannot so much as imagine ; of aman whom I am anxious already to know. Yet, if it be to your interest, I will go to the end of the earth. There is nothing, surely, to keep me in England. If this employment you name be an honorable employ- ment, such as a soldier may follow, your friend shall find a willing comrade. Tell me only, where shall IJ look for him; what shall I say to him; how shall I make myself known x She rose and clapped her hands; no childish delight could have been ex- pressed more prettily. | ‘“T knew you would go; I knew you would be my friend,’’ she exclaimed, looking up to me with eyes which betrayed a womian’s gratitude, ‘‘and you shall never regret, never to your life’s end, that you- have been willing to obey me. ‘Tomorrow, you leave England, captain. In three days you will be in the mountains where my childhood was spent. I beg you forget the name of Isabella de Gavarnie before you cross the Spanish frontier. Keep the secret between us as you value your safety. ‘Think of nothing but the new career which fortune has opened to you. For myself, wlien I have need of you, my messenger will come. And you will not fail me—I know it—I know it, oh, I have known it since first you spoke to me in the silence of my house.”’ She waited for my answer with an excitement she could not conceal. For myself, it had all come so swiftly upon me, she had spoken of such strange things, that curiosity alone would have sent me upon hererrand. And it seemed ridiculous, indeed, that I must step in between the drama of the moment and the drama to come with a word upon a small matter which even my lady’s grand manner would not permit me to forget. ‘‘ Well,’’ she cried, observing my hesitation, and taking alarm at it, ‘* you do not answer me.”’ | ‘*Madam,’’ I replied with a laugh to cover the shame I felt, ‘‘ point out to me the railway company that will carry a bankrupt to Spain for the honor of his company, and my answer is made.”’ It was good, upon my word, to read the pity in her eyes when my mean- ing was made plain to her. Swiftly, lest I should refuse her, with hands that trembled upon the silken slings, she snatched at her satchel and took from it a letter sealed with a black seal and addressed already to me. ‘‘Oh,’’ she exclaimed impatiently, ‘‘ that I should forget it! Of course your friends have thought of that. This letter will tell you of things you need to know. Believe me, Captain Falconer, the debt is mine a thousand times. And you will keep the secret of Isabella de Gavarnie? She may call you her friend ?’”’ She laid the letter upon the table, and turning, held out both her hands tome. For a’moment I had them in mine, and looked into the eyes of her- who had come so mysteriously into my life. No word was spoken, no other EComicbooks (Eo)