Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1872-04-11
Miscellany.
HEELS OVERHEAD.

80 HEELS OVERHEAD.
The last year we were in Paris, in the
apartment above ours there resided a no
BILE French family-the De Saintvilles-
consisting of the widowed marchioness, a
young sister and grown-up son.
This son, the young Marquis de Saint
ville-perhaps on account of an unsuc-
cessful love-affair, perhaps from having
nothing to do-had fallen into i'll health,
and, after the manner of sick men, he
often made the task of amusing him,
which devolved on his adoring feminine
belongings, by no means easy. They in
yited guests, they played new games OF
cards with him, they strummed the guitar
and the piano, they chatted, they tried a
thousand of the numerous expedients
women keep at hand for such occasions;
but the young scion of noble house re-
manned hopelessly blue.
AT length, one happy day for his patient
relatives, he hit upon the brilliant idea of
becoming a musician.
: "lt will amuse me to practise" he
said; and the two ladies felt that it would
be an immense relief to them, although
they were too French-that is, too polite
and too wise to say so. But they lost
no time in procuring master and putting
matters into his hands, rejoicing inwardly
in their release from an irksome and
thankless task.
In the apartment above the one occu-
pied by this amiable family there lived an
English lady of means, of family, and OF
middle age. The Cuttlewents were very
respectable people-very respectable, in
deed. Mrs. Cuttlewent was own cousin
to lord. Mr.. Cuttlewent was a thor
Ough Englishman he did not like French
ways; he preferred to reside in England,
! the special place prepared and set apart
by Providence as suitable residence for
, could neither understand nor sympathize
with Mrs. Cuttlewent's preference foI
Paris. sse3
2 Perhaps plain, old-fashioned people
may think the love Mr. Cuttlewent bore
Mrs. Cuttlewent was not strong over
mueh..
1T is not that my husband loves me
any the less, my DEAR" Mrs. Cuttlewent
once. condescended to explain to us, but
England, even without the wife of his
bosom, is less uncomfortable than hated
France, eeen aoihb her. As for me, of
course, I could not be expected to live
away from Paris and Mr. Cuttlewent
and understand each other perfectly.
Ours has been a very happy marriage.
Mr.. Cuttlewent is a man of great good
sense"
- About the matter of keeping the Chan
mel between himself and the "wife of
his bosom," the reader may be inclined
to indorse this opinion of Mr.. Cutie
vents good sense before | have finished
my sketch. There were no children to
embarrass this happy arrangement of af-
forv ar,I (t11ff1 n,,1 60,
servants alone composed the family in the
apartment above the De Saintvilles.
We used to get great deal of amuse
ment out of Mrs. Cuttlewent, although
sometimes she was very provoking. She
had habit of making little presents
where she expected a return of generosity
with interest, of course. These little
meannesses are sometimes practised by
the aristocracy. She would also borrow
and forget to send back-not always from
weakness of memory, I fear.
One day, there came a knock at the
door, and Mrs. CuttleWent's serving-man
was there-a Frenchman, of course; Mrs.
Cuttlewent could not endure an English
servant.
He was the bearer of Mrs. Cuttlewent's
compliments, and request that madame
would be SO good as to lend her beautiful
card-tables for the evening; Mrs. Cutie
went expected some guests, and her tables
were insufficient" The tables went. Tht
following day they were returned, in
deed; but the rare and beautifully -orna
mented cards, which were the admiration
of our friends, had been removed from thu
drawers.
e...tsAh, madame, )" Mrs. Cuttlewent amiably
explained, "your cards were so beautiful
and became so in love with them, that
I could not resist | retained them as
@souuensr of you, my dear friends, and Of
your kindness. l wish l could obtaiI
more of them; they are the handsemest
have ever SEEN"
All this with such grand air that W,
scarcely knew whether to be most veXet
or most amused; and the spirit to brav,
this grandiose old lady, and demand ou
property, was entirely wanting, I an
ashamed to say.
But Mrs. Cuttlewent, though sh
had her way SO completely witt
us, was not so successful will
her neighbors, the De Saintville's. Fo
some reason or other, this noble family
had taken dislike to the lone woman
who lived above them, and declined tt
know her. Now, Mrs. Cuttlewent had ,
relish for high society, and felt hersel
calculated to shine in it. 1t seemed al
easy thing and favorable chance for hel
TO obtain access to the best French socie
ty through these good neighbors; but
though she made constant advances tn,
De Saintyilles made no demonstrations il
return. Her bows, when she occasionally
met them on the stairs, were coolly re
turned, and she met with no encourage
ment in her efforts to bring about
friendly relation with them. After re
peated rebuffs, Mrs. Cuttlewent began t.
feel her dignity 1nsulted and soon, fron
desiring, ofkalI things, their favorable nc
tice, She went to the other extreme G
hating them with all her heart, and
burn with an intense desire to make hel
self positively disagreeable to them.
Things were at this pass when the maj
quis was seized with that musical idea
Assasnovelty, he took to 1t with all fervo1
deyoting himself to the necessary praC
tice OF scales and trills with praiseworth
perseverance. l suppose he acas an an
noyance to Mrs. Cuttlewent He was t
us, in measure but Zone learns to er
dure what one cannot cure" I am sur
we never contemplated the possibility Q
putting a stop to his practising. But
seems, whether out of spite or with
hope of efecting some result, Mrs. Cut
tlewent's man appeared, one morning, q
the door of the De Saintvilles' antecham
per- when the sound of the piano pre-
Canned the marquis employed in hi
studios, and communicated a formal mes
sage from his mistress:
Mrs. Cuttlewent sends her compl
ments to the Marquis and Marchioness
Saintville, and hopes that it may not il
convenience the Marquis de Saintville t
change his time of practising on tn
piano, SO as not to do any of it betwee
the hours of, ten and two, as at that tim
Mrs. CuttleWent is in the habit of atten,
ing to her devotions, and music, howevt
delightful, is apt to distract her thoughts