CHAPTER XII

SUNRISE

The thunder clouds had rolled away to eastward.

A rosy glow was creeping over the sky. The air was fresh with the coming of dawn. Softly they laid Hellayne by the side of a marble fountain and splashed the cooling drops upon her pale face. After a time she opened her eyes.

The first object they encountered was Tristan who was bending over her, fear and anxiety in his face.

Her colorless lips parted in a whisper, as her arms encircled his neck.

"You are with me!" she said, and the transparent lids drooped again.

Those who had not been slain of the congregation of Hell had been bound in chains. Among the dead was Theodora. The contents of a phial she carried on her person had done its work instantaneously.

Suddenly alarums resounded from the region of Castel San Angelo. There was a great stir and buzz, as of an awakened bee hive. There were shouts at the Flaminian gate, the martial tread of mailed feet and, as the sun's first ray kissed the golden Archangel on the summit of the Flavian Emperor's mausoleum, a horseman, followed by a glittering retinue, dashed up the path, dismounted and raised his visor.

Before the astounded assembly stood Alberic, the Senator of Rome.

Just then they brought the body of Theodora from the subterranean chapel and laid it silently on the greensward, beside that of Basil, the Grand Chamberlain.

The Cardinal-Archbishop of Ravenna was the first to speak.

"My lord, we hardly trust our eyes. All Rome is mourning you for dead."

Alberic turned to the speaker.

"With the aid of the saint I have prevailed against the foulest treason ever committed by a subject against his trusting lord. The bribed hosts of Hassan Abdullah, which were to sack Rome, are scattered in flight. The attempt upon my own life has been prevented by a miracle from Heaven. But--what of these dead?"

Odo of Cluny approached the Senator of Rome.

"The awful horror which has gripped the city is passed. Christ rules once more and Satan is vanquished. This is a matter for your private ear, my lord."

Odo pointed to the kneeling form of Tristan, who was supporting Hellayne in his arms, trying to soothe her troubled spirit, to dispel the memory of the black horrors which held her trembling soul in thrall.

Approaching Tristan, Alberic laid his hand upon his head.

"We knew where to trust, and we shall know how to reward! My lords and prelates of the Church! Matters of grave import await you. We meet again in the Emperor's Tomb."

Beckoning to his retinue, Alberic remounted his steed, as company upon company of men-at-arms filed past--a host, such as the city of Rome had not beheld in decades, with drums and trumpets, pennants and banderols, long lines of glittering spears, gorgeous surcoats, and splendid suits of mail.

The forces of the Holy Roman Empire were passing into the Eternal City.

At their head the Senator of Rome was returning into his own.

At last they were alone, Tristan and Hellayne.

His companions had departed. With them they had taken their dead.

Hellayne opened her eyes. They were sombre, yet at peace.

"Tristan!"

He bent over her.

"My own Hellayne!"

"It is beautiful to be loved," she whispered. "I have never been loved before."

"You shall be," he replied, "now and forever, before God and the world!"

The old shadow came again into her eyes.

"What of the Lord Roger?"

She read the answer in his silence.

A tear trickled from the violet pools of her eyes.

Then she raised herself in his arms.

"I thought I should go mad," she crooned. "But I knew you would come. And you are here--here--with me,--Tristan."

He took her hands in his, his soul in his eyes.

The sun had risen higher through the gold bars of the east, dispelling the grey chill of dawn.

She nestled closer to him.

"Take me back to Avalon, to my rose garden," she crooned. "Life is before us--yonder--where first we loved."

He took her in his arms and kissed her eyes and the small sweet mouth.

A lark began to sing in the silence.

THE END

WHAT ALLAH WILLS

_By Irwin L. Gordon_

_Author of "The Log of The Ark"_

_Illustrated, net, $1.35; carriage paid, $1.50_

Take Morocco for a background--that quaint and mysterious land of mosques and minarets, where the _muezzin_ still calls to prayer at sundown the faithful.

Imagine a story written with power and intensity and the thrill of adventure in the midst of fanatical Moslems. Add to this a wealthy young medical student, a red-blooded American, who gives up his life to helping the lepers of Arzilla, and the presence of a beautiful American girl who, despite her love for the hero, is induced to take up the Mohammedan faith, and you have some idea of what this remarkable story presents.

WHAT ALLAH WILLS is a big story of love and adventure. Mr. Gordon is the author of two notable non-fiction successes, but he scores heavily in this, his first work of fiction.

UNDER THE WITCHES' MOON

_By Nathan Gallizier_

_Author of "The Sorceress of Rome," "The Court of Lucifer," "The Hill of Venus," etc._

_Illustrated by The Kinneys, cloth 12mo, net, $1.50; carriage paid, $1.65_

This romantic tale of tenth-century Rome concerns itself with the fortunes and adventures of Tristan of Avalon while in the Eternal City on a pilgrimage to do penance for his love of Hellayne, the wife of his liege lord, Count Roger de Laval.

Tristan's meeting with the Queen Courtesan of the Aventine; her infatuation for the pilgrim; Tristan's rounds of obediences, cut short by his appointment as Captain of Sant' Angelo by Alberic, Senator of Rome; the intrigues of Basil, the Grand Chamberlain, who aspires to the dominion of Rome and the love of Theodora; the trials of Hellayne, who alternately falls into the power of Basil and Theodora; the scene between the Grand Chamberlain and Bessarion in the ruins of the Coliseum; the great feud between Roxana and Theodora and the final overthrow of the latter's regime constitute some of the dramatic episodes of the romance.

"This new book adds greater weight to the claim that Mr. Gallizier is the greatest writer of historical novels in America today."--_Cincinnati Times-Star._

"In many respects we consider Mr. Gallizier the most versatile and interesting writer of the day."--_Saxby's Magazine._

_A third CHEERFUL BOOK_ Trade--------Mark

SYLVIA ARDEN DECIDES

By Margaret R. Piper

_A Sequel to "Sylvia's Experiment: The Cheerful Book"_ Trade--------Mark _and "Sylvia of the Hill Top"_

_Illustrated, decorative jacket, net, $1.35; carriage paid, $1.50_

In the original CHEERFUL BOOK, with its rippling play of incident, Sylvia proved herself a bringer of tidings of great joy to many people. In the second book devoted to her adventures, she was a charming heroine--urbane, resourceful and vivacious--with an added shade of picturesqueness due to her environment. In this third story Sylvia is a little older grown, deep in the problem of just-out-of-college adjustment to the conditions of the "wide, wide world," and in the process of learning, as she puts it, "to live as deep and quick as I can." The scene of the new story is laid partly at Arden Hall and partly in New York and, in her sincere effort to find herself, Sylvia finds love in real fairy tale fashion.

"There is a world of human nature, and neighborhood contentment and quaint, quiet humor in Margaret R. Piper's books of good cheer. Her tales are well proportioned and subtly strong in their literary aspects and quality."--_North American, Philadelphia._

A PLACE IN THE SUN

_By Mrs. Henry Backus_

_Author of "The Career of Dr. Weaver," "The Rose of Roses," etc._

_12mo, cloth, illustrated by Wm. Van Dresser, net, $1.35; carriage paid, $1.50_

Gunda Karoli is a very much alive young person with a zest for life and looking-forward philosophy which helps her through every trial. She is sustained in her struggles against the disadvantage of her birth by a burning faith in the great American ideal--that here in the United States every one has a chance to win for himself a place in the sun.

Gunda takes for her gospel the Declaration of Independence, only to find that, although this democratic doctrine is embodied in the constitution of the country, it does not manifest itself outwardly in its social life. Nevertheless, she succeeds in mounting step by step in the social scale, from the time she first appears at Skyland on the Knobs as a near-governess, to her brief season in the metropolis as a danseuse.

How she wins the interest of Justin Arnold, the fastidious descendant of a fine old family, and brings into his self-centered existence a new life and fresh charm, provides a double interest to the plot.

VIRGINIA OF ELK CREEK VALLEY

_By Mary Ellen Chase_

_12mo, cloth decorative, illustrated by R. Farrington Elwell, net, $1.35; carriage paid, $1.50_

A sequel to last year's success, THE GIRL FROM THE BIG HORN COUNTRY (sixth printing). This new story is more western in flavor than the first book--since practically all of the action occurs back in the Big Horn country, at Virginia's home, to which she invites her eastern friends for a summer vacation. The vacation in the West proves "the best ever" for the Easterners, and in recounting their pleasures they tell of the hundreds of miles of horseback riding, how they climbed mountains, trapped a bear, shot gophers, fished, camped, homesteaded, and of the delightful hospitality of Virginia and her friends.

"The story is full of life and movement and presents a variety of interesting characters."--_St. Paul Despatch._

"This is most gladsome reading to all who love healthfulness of mind, heart and body."--_Boston Ideas._

Selections from The Page Company's List of Fiction

WORKS OF ELEANOR H. PORTER

POLLYANNA: The GLAD Book (360,000) Trade Mark Trade----Mark

Cloth decorative, illustrated by Stockton Mulford.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

Mr. Leigh Mitchell Hodges, The Optimist, in an editorial for the _Philadelphia North American_, says: "And when, after Pollyanna has gone away, you get her letter saying she is going to take 'eight steps' to-morrow--well, I don't know just what you may do, but I know of one person who buried his face in his hands and shook with the gladdest sort of sadness and got down on his knees and thanked the Giver of all gladness for Pollyanna."

POLLYANNA GROWS UP: The Second GLAD Book Trade Mark (180,000) Trade----Mark

Cloth decorative, illustrated by H. Weston Taylor.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

When the story of POLLYANNA told in The _Glad_ Book was ended a great cry of regret for the vanishing "Glad Girl" went up all over the country--and other countries, too. Now POLLYANNA appears again, just as sweet and joyous-hearted, more grown up and more lovable.

"Take away frowns! Put down the worries! Stop fidgeting and disagreeing and grumbling! Cheer up, everybody! POLLYANNA has come back!"--_Christian Herald._

_The GLAD Book Calendar_ Trade----Mark

THE POLLYANNA CALENDAR Trade Mark

(_This calendar is issued annually; the calendar for the new year being ready about Sept. 1st of the preceding year. Note: in ordering please specify what year you desire._)

Decorated and printed in colors. _Net_, $1.50; _carriage paid_, $1.65

"There is a message of cheer on every page, and the calendar is beautifully illustrated."--_Kansas City Star._

MISS BILLY (18th printing)

Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by G. Tyng . . _Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"There is something altogether fascinating about 'Miss Billy,' some inexplicable feminine characteristic that seems to demand the individual attention of the reader from the moment we open the book until we reluctantly turn the last page."--_Boston Transcript._

MISS BILLY'S DECISION (11th printing)

Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by Henry W. Moore.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"The story is written in bright, clever style and has plenty of action and humor. Miss Billy is nice to know and so are her friends."--_New Haven Times Leader._

MISS BILLY--MARRIED (8th printing)

Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by W. Haskell Coffin.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"Although Pollyanna is the only copyrighted glad girl, Miss Billy is just as glad as the younger figure and radiates just as much gladness. She disseminates joy so naturally that we wonder why all girls are not like her."--_Boston Transcript._

SIX STAR RANCH (19th Printing)

Cloth decorative, 12mo, illustrated by R. Farrington Elwell.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"'Six Star Ranch' bears all the charm of the author's genius and is about a little girl down in Texas who practices the 'Pollyanna Philosophy' with irresistible success. The book is one of the kindliest things, if not the best, that the author of the Pollyanna books has done. It is a welcome addition to the fast-growing family of _Glad_ Books."--_Howard Russell Bangs in the Boston Post._

CROSS CURRENTS

Cloth decorative, illustrated. _Net_, $1.00; _carriage paid_, $1.15

"To one who enjoys a story of life as it is to-day, with its sorrows as well as its triumphs, this volume is sure to appeal."--_Book News Monthly._

THE TURN OF THE TIDE

Cloth decorative, illustrated. _Net_, $1.25; _carriage paid_, $1.40

"A very beautiful book showing the influence that went to the developing of the life of a dear little girl into a true and good woman."--_Herald and Presbyter, Cincinnati, Ohio._

WORKS OF L. M. MONTGOMERY THE FOUR ANNE BOOKS

ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (40th printing)

Cloth decorative, illustrated by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"In 'Anne of Green Gables' you will find the dearest and most moving and delightful child since the immortal Alice."--_Mark Twain in a letter to Francis Wilson._

ANNE OF AVONLEA (24th printing)

Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"A book to lift the spirit and send the pessimist into bankruptcy!"--_Meredith Nicholson._

CHRONICLES OF AVONLEA (6th printing)

Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"A story of decidedly unusual conception and interest."--_Baltimore Sun._

ANNE OF THE ISLAND (10th printing)

Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by H. Weston Taylor.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"It has been well worth while to watch the growing up of Anne, and the privilege of being on intimate terms with her throughout the process has been properly valued."--_New York Herald._

THE STORY GIRL (9th printing)

Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"A book that holds one's interest and keeps a kindly smile upon one's lips and in one's heart."--_Chicago Inter-Ocean._

KILMENY OF THE ORCHARD (10th printing)

Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"A story born in the heart of Arcadia and brimful of the sweet life of the primitive environment."--_Boston Herald._

THE GOLDEN ROAD (5th printing)

Cloth decorative, illustrated by George Gibbs.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"It is a simple, tender tale, touched to higher notes, now and then, by delicate hints of romance, tragedy and pathos."--_Chicago Record Herald._

NOVELS BY MRS. HENRY BACKUS

THE CAREER OF DOCTOR WEAVER

Cloth decorative, illustrated by William Van Dresser.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"High craftsmanship is the leading characteristic of this novel, which, like all good novels, is a love story abounding in real palpitant human interest. The most startling feature of the story is the way its author has torn aside the curtain and revealed certain phases of the relation between the medical profession and society."--_Dr. Charles Reed in the Lancet Clinic._

THE ROSE OF ROSES

Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color.

_Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

The author has achieved a thing unusual in developing a love story which adheres to conventions under unconventional circumstances.

"Mrs. Backus' novel is distinguished in the first place for its workmanship."--_Buffalo Evening News._

NOVELS BY MARGARET R. PIPER

SYLVIA'S EXPERIMENT: The Cheerful Book Trade------Mark

Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color from a painting by Z. P. Nikolaki. _Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"An atmosphere of good spirits pervades the book; the humor that now and then flashes across the page is entirely natural, and the characters are well individualized."--_Boston Post._

SYLVIA OF THE HILL TOP: The Second Cheerful Book Trade----Mark

Cloth decorative, with a frontispiece in full color, from a painting by Gene Pressler. _Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"There is a world of human nature and neighborhood contentment and quaint quiet humor in Margaret R. Piper's second book of good cheer."--_Philadelphia North American._

MISS MADELYN MACK, DETECTIVE By HUGH C. WEIR.

Cloth decorative, illustrated. _Net_, $1.35; _carriage paid_, $1.50

"Clever in plot and effective in style, the author has seized on some of the most sensational features of modern life, and the result is a detective novel that gets away from the beaten track of mystery stories."--_New York Sun._

WORKS OF CHARLES G. D. ROBERTS

HAUNTERS OF THE SILENCES

Cloth decorative, with many drawings by Charles Livingston Bull, four of which are in full color . . . . $2.00

The stories in Mr. Roberts's new collection are the strongest and best he has ever written.

He has largely taken for his subjects those animals rarely met with in books, whose lives are spent "In the Silences," where they are the supreme rulers.

"As a writer about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable place. He is the most literary, as well as the most imaginative and vivid of all the nature writers."--_Brooklyn Eagle._

RED FOX

THE STORY OF HIS ADVENTUROUS CAREER IN THE RINGWAAK WILDS, AND OF HIS FINAL TRIUMPH OVER THE ENEMIES OF HIS KIND. With fifty illustrations, including frontispiece in color and cover design by Charles Livingston Bull.

Square quarto, cloth decorative . . . . . $2.00

"True in substance but fascinating as fiction. It will interest old and young, city-bound and free-footed, those who know animals and those who do not."--_Chicago Record Herald._

THE KINDRED OF THE WILD

A BOOK OF ANIMAL LIFE. With fifty-one full-page plates and many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston Bull.

Square quarto, cloth decorative . . . . . $2.00

"Is in many ways the most brilliant collection of animal stories that has appeared; well named and well done."--_John Burroughs._

THE WATCHERS OF THE TRAILS

A companion volume to "The Kindred of the Wild." With forty-eight full-page plates and many decorations from drawings by Charles Livingston Bull.

Square quarto, cloth decorative $2.00

"These stories are exquisite in their refinement, and yet robust in their appreciation of some of the rougher phases of woodcraft. Among the many writers about animals, Mr. Roberts occupies an enviable place."--_The Outlook._

WORKS OF GABRIELE D'ANNUNZIO

Signor d'Annunzio is known throughout the world as a poet and a dramatist, but above all as a novelist, for it is in his novels that he is at his best. In poetic thought and graceful expression he has few equals among the writers of the day.

He is engaged on a most ambitious work--nothing less than the writing of nine novels which cover the whole field of human sentiment. This work he has divided into three trilogies, and five of the nine books have been published. It is to be regretted that other labors have interrupted the completion of the series.

"This book is realistic. Some say that it is brutally so. But the realism is that of Flaubert, and not of Zola. There is no plain speaking for the sake of plain speaking. Every detail is justified in the fact that it illuminates either the motives or the actions of the man and woman who here stand revealed. It is deadly true. The author holds the mirror up to nature, and the reader, as he sees his own experiences duplicated in passage after passage, has something of the same sensation as all of us know on the first reading of George Meredith's 'Egoist.' Reading these pages is like being out in the country on a dark night in a storm. Suddenly a flash of lightning comes and every detail of your surroundings is revealed."--_Review of "The Triumph of Death" in the New York Evening Sun._

The volumes published are as follows. Each 1 vol., library 12mo, cloth . . . . . . . . $1.50

_THE ROMANCES OF THE ROSE_

=THE CHILD OF PLEASURE= (IL PIACERE). =THE INTRUDER= (L'INNOCENTE). =THE TRIUMPH OF DEATH= (IL TRIONFO DELLA MORTE).

_THE ROMANCES OF THE LILY_

=THE MAIDENS OF THE ROCKS= (LE VERGINI DELLE ROCCE).

_THE ROMANCES OF THE POMEGRANATE_

=THE FLAME OF LIFE= (IL FUOCO).

* * * * *

Transcriber's Note:

Some words appear in both hyphenated and non-hyphenated forms in the original; these variations have been edited for the sake of consistency.

Minor punctuation errors have been corrected.

End of Project Gutenberg's Under the Witches' Moon, by Nathan Gallizier