The Scourge of God

her dying words had changed his whole existence. Not only was he no more the heir to the wealth she had put by for him--his honour never halted for one moment in telling him that, or in dictat

eded in his search at all, to find that man's children and put before them a plain accoun

ictions, he knew. Also Martin Ashurst's acquaintance with the land over which the Grand Monarque reigned was amply sufficient to tell him that here, and under the all-powerful domination of the self-righteous De Maintenon, Louis would never allow a hated Protestant to step into the wealth and titles of so Romish a family as

nd straightforward, he swore

assage and room of the hotel, and that naught should be omitted which testified to its sumptuousness and magnificence--he recollected that he was still grasping in his hand the packet which the dying woman had directed that han

s of her Church should at once be communicated with, since the monk now praying by her side would not, he was aware, quit the house, even though he had to

he could open that packet which

hteously, if her own dying words were true--could not be prepared hurriedly. Instead, upon her bed, now transformed into a temporary bier, as the great room in which she had died had been transformed into a Chapelle Ardente. Also the courier was gone, the Church apprised of the death of its open-handed benefactress; already the Abbé Le

d been closeted for an hour with the clergy. For the Church was the principal inheri

e sat behind the high closed gates refreshing himself with the flask of yellow muscadine which the butler had brought him, and discu

still

e--he had dismissed his own servant an

nfield, long, and with a curl to it. But, except that and the letters, nothing else. Whose hair i

t may be, was not desirous that the place whence it was dated should be known. At least such, Martin Ashurst fancied, might be the case. The paper it was written on was yellow with age, the ink faded,

qualities of mind and heart which you have transmitted to me. Yet I pray God that I may find in myself the strength to do so, to cast away from me the pride of race, the fierce cruelty of heart, the intolerance of all that is not within my own circle of vision. Also your power of hating anoth

nier of the de Rochebazon wealth shall ever be mine, that I shall enjoy a barren title. This you can not force me to do. I will support no title whatever. Henceforth, neither de Rochebazon, nor d'An?illy, nor Montrachet, nor Beauvilliers have aught to do with me. I cast them off. I forget that the house which bears those titles is one with which I have any connection. I go forth into the world

de Beau

n his chair. "A stern, fierce determination that," he muttered to himsel

n the father and son had taken; how the iron will of the one had beaten down th

to have tracked my steps, I know not how. Yet that you shall never be able to do so in the future, I leave it at once, and from the time when I quit it I defy you to ever discover my whereabouts. Let me remind you that this change of faith alone is a bar to my ev

intolerant and contemptible pride, and, fallen as she became, I love and adore her memory.

aper turned over at the word "eno

tin lay b

herwise she would have known of his existence, his whereabouts. And--and--she was a just woman in spite of the deception of her life. If she ha

ose to his mind he sta

ext, the woman--his wife--Madame! Also La Chaise and Chamillart. La Chaise, a bigot--Chamillart, the man they speak

lmost it seemed as if the deep boom of the great bell echoed in hi

vailing. Yet--yet---we will see. Only, even though I should find him, even though I forced from one of them the acknowledgment that he still lived, was the true heir, would

latterly-embraced Protestantism of his, which, through this embrace, now caused him to desire to outwit these scheming papists. Yet he might have found the answer by studying his own feelings, his own resolves, arrived at the moment he learned of the hidden secret of the great family to which

l adherents as to set right the horrible wrong that had been committed--committed, in the first place, by the real de Rochebazon himself toward his children by the renunciation of a

t doing. Rose, calm and collected, knowing that he had undertaken a task that must deprive him of that inheritance which by his silence

ould spurn him from his threshold with curses for having unearthed him, still he would do it. To right the wrong! To repay in some way all that he had already received from this family--his education, the luxury that h

ented himself at once before him, already clothed in decor

it be at St. Cyr. She is much

ou asc

avour to do

you

, knowing full well even as he did so, the little likelihood which existed of his obtaining any info

o volunteer some, to tell her that he knew the secret of the manner in which the existence of Cyprien de Beauvillie

oman who was rapidly bringing a corrupt king, a corrupt court, a co

n this monstrous act of injustice, a partic