Litchfield enquirer., 1872-04-25

! cteoa Oit Oi ttl1 YtiDiiC 1fslsfd lo1S UclOAt i the victim of it had learned to do without cf.stchas. This example had always 1 struck M de Ris most powerfully 1e often thought of what it Nould be if hs himself were to lose his leg in over zeal ous debate; and though he WAS not a fear
 CT of duels, having fought several without
 much deirinaent to himself Or his adyer- l saries, he caused the name 'sPritchard' to
 be neatly set in red enamel on a locket
 which he usually wore at his watch chain;
 and every time he felt tempted to take an 1 excited part in politics he consulted this i! loeket, learning thereby the great and prudent lesson that half the questions
 which set men by the ears are not worth l the breath that IS wasted OH them. There 1 was another excellent and cogent reason l for RI. de Ris's abstention, which was
 this: Rich, young, and clever IS he was 1 (for he was clever, md had been told 1t
 so often that he really had some excuse
 for being muifestfy conscious of. itl, he
 could not, had he joined a political party,
 have remained on the ruck He must l have come to the frpnt; and, had his par 1 ty triumpned, he must have risen to pow CT, which of all things in the world was what he most dreaded. As private mo-
 bleman he could pick his society as he
 pleased; fit about from palace to green
 room; be en intimate terms with pIinces and artists, opera-singers or bishops; lift
 his hat on a race-course within the same
 five minutes to duchess and . ballet 1 girl; and in word, wherever he went,
 cotton with the pleasantest people, with
 out feeling under any obligation to shake
 the hand of wheezy retired grocers be-
 cause they were champions of the minis
 try, or listen to the emetic-like biandish-
 ments of semi-official journalists. Once
 minister or an ex-minister, however, all
 this would be changed, Even if he had
 held office but day he must go on stilts
 to hour of his death, be on the alert about
 his dignity, and hold unimpeachably
 orthodox views as to the blending of lib-
 erty and order under well-established
 government. This was why he so sedu- 1 lonsly held aloof from everything that re-
 sembled an opinion. This was why he
 always kept quiverful of repartees ready 1 for those who sought to ensnare him; and
 bition amounted only to this,-to contin-
 ue leading to the dying day the un- troubled and amusing life he had lived
 ever since he was his own master.
 However, it is not in the vastness of our
 wishes, but in the intensity of them, even
 when moderate that lies the danger of
 disappointment; and we introduce M. de Ris on morning of last autumn when
 there happened to him one of those griev-
 ous things which prove how utterly vain
 are human calculations.
 It was about nine o'clock. Wrapped in I a velvet dressing gown, the count was
 seated in his teilet-room, opposite bright
 fire of beech logs, and looking out of the
 window to watch costly the rime of Octo- ber's frost being melted of the trees by | the early sun. This was not in Paris, but at the counts country-seat, distant about two hours by rail from town,-an agreed ble place, made up of medieval pictur- sequences and modern comfort, and situ- ated in district where revolutions and issues of tenpenny bank-notes had no ef- feet upon the inhabitants. The count was staying there for couple of days rest between two visits to the shooting boxes of indefatigable Nimrod friends; and, having arrived late the evening before, he had luxuriated in bed this morning rather longer than was his wont when within gun-shot of well-stocked coverts. M. Narcisse, his confidential valet, entered with a tray bearing his masters chocolate, newspapers, and letters, and laid these things on hand-table near the arn- chair. Then, this done, he said, with that lively and irrepressible tendency to converse which one had better not discourage in 8 French servant under pain of rendering him sulky, "What morning, M. le Com te! suppose M. le Comte intends going over the estate? - ''I suppose must, Narcisse," smiled his master, showing not much disposition to move, but rather drawing nearer to the the fire; and he took another glance at the window "These rounds of inspection to poultry yards and pig-troughs are rounds of tribulation, Narcisse. You must lay me out my thickest boots, the yellow gaiters, and the yelveteen coat. I am not likely to meet anybody
 sFYour nsighbor, Mime. de Claire, ar- rived-at the Chateau de Beaupre last night, M. le Comte, answered Narcisse, quite discreetly
 It was the forte of M. Narcisse, was dis cretion; for all which he was 8 brisk valet, with eyebrows, like two circumfex accents, which gave him perpetual air of aston in headlong way, as If he were haunted by the constant vision of express-trains about to start without him.
 "Eh Mime. de Claire is at the Castle?" calculated M. de Ris, rousing himself completely at the name which his servant had pronounced, and casting third and much more wide-awake glance ct the win dow. "Ah see the sun is shining. Narcisse; so, instead of the velveteen, per haps may as we'll air that new shooting suit have not yet worn; and-stay-as to the boots, won't have the thickest, not the thickest of all, mean-those with the nails-a medium pair will do. nsg @as M. Narcisse was just then bustling about the room at the rate of ten miles the hour, and setting out razors, strop, and shaving brush on the dressing table as if an imaginary guard had just rung the train-beH for instantaneous departure. He finished his precipitats work to his satisfaction, and then vanished to fetch the suit that had never been worn and the boots that were not the thickest. M. de l Ris, the while, left alone, and still think ing apparently of Mime. de Claire, gazed l pensively for short space into the fire. His reverie-which seemed to bea not un- | pleasant one-may have lasted couple of minutes; then he turned to his choco- late and his letters, slowly stiring the one in its cup, and examining the envelopes of the others before opening them.
 II The counts gallant proclivities brought so many feminine missivss into his hands,
 that there was nothing novel in the fact that four out of the seven letters on his tray should be in ladies' writing. There were two mauvs envelopes, primrose, and pale blue one, all addressed in that cramped and pointed calligraphy which speaks of the hard sharpness Of French steelnibs, these instruments seeming in- deed specially designed by Providence to
 check the torrents of correspondence
 which would flow from Frenchwoman's
 mind if only the native pens would glide
 more smoothly over the paper M de Ris read his letters attentiyely; and it
 looked as if they entertained him, for he
 was nearly three quarters of an hour over
 them. At the conclusion he took out of l Dresden bowl, shaped like a dog head,
 enough Turkish tobacco to roll himself .
 cigarette, and prepared for the other spis- | A II II.