He caught her in his arms and kissed her, and in their happiness they did not hear a step without nor see the door open gently as Père Antoine looked in. They were standing in the middle of the room, and the sunshine touched her golden hair and illuminated Péron’s glowing face.
Père Antoine hastily closed the door and went down the stairs. He was smiling, and there was a tender light in his blue eyes. It was not until he reached the street door that he wiped a tear from his cheek and crossed himself. He had had a gentle vision of Françoise de Nançay, as he saw her last, with little Jehan in her arms, and the old wound ached; but then he looked up and saw the sun shining and remembered that to-morrow was Christmas.
THE END.
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Watches striking the hour and moving symbolic figures were manufactured as early as the sixteenth century.
The House of the Wizard
By M. Imlay Taylor
12mo, $1.25
“The House of the Wizard” is a tale of life in England in the time of King Henry VIII, and is a fresh proof of Miss Taylor’s versatility. The Wizard is an astrologer and miracle-monger such as the superstition of those days stood in awe of, and through him are united the various threads of interest in the novel. The main interest is furnished by the love story of Betty Carew, who was maid-of-honor to two of Henry’s ill-fated queens, and thus the reader obtains vivid glimpses of the lively court-history of the period. The reader will enjoy the vigorous portraiture, the dramatic force of the scenes, and the quaint dialogue, which bears the impress of the England of long ago.
“This story is a strong, well-studied and striking reproduction of the social and political conditions of the age of King Henry VIII.... As a romance, it is swift, overflowing with life and action.... In respect to the dramatic vividness and force of her picture, Miss Taylor shows the unerring instinct of the born story-teller.”