The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1874-05-14

| ".
have said. In what way a fortnight
absence in France could possibly b
connected with a change of heart OF
the part of Harry relatively to the sub
lect OF marriage was a quite insolubl,
question to her. She simply said:
"Well, take care of yourself, Harry
and come back as soon as you can.
And Harry made mis- adieux then h,
went to his elder brother, and was
closeted with him for an hour but h,
reached town in time for the noon trair
to Dover, and before night ho was
landed safe in Calais.
Shall 1 tell here what il was that
brought Harry Waring to Calais Or
the whole, 1 think it will be better sim
ply to record what he did. Perhaps
some of my readers have OWNED his
secret already. But will give q clev
to the mystery by reminding them oi
what they know already-that Calais
was for more than two hundred years
an English possession, and that finally
it was retaken by the French under the
Due de Guise in the year 1868. Among
the forlorn band of five hundred Eng.
lishmen who then garrisoned the town
was an ancestor of the Warnings, a man
of wealth, who had spent the better
part of his life there, and who fell dur
| ing the final assault. His former resi-
dence, now in the poorer instead of the
better part of the town, as it was three
hundred years before, had been long in
use as hotel of the second class. To
this hotel Harry betook himself, with
very definite and important plan in
his mind. A single servant accompanied
him.
1t was a quaint, spacious, tumble
down rookery of place, such as the
traveller in any old French town will
find in the more ancient quarters. 1t
did not look very promising in the way
of comfort and neatness, but it had
every appearance of being we'll patron
lied. Harry Waring doubted whether
he should be able to find any place in
it, after all.
The landlord hustled out into the
spacious courtyard to meet him, and
feared that he could not accommodate
milor suitably. There was, to be sure,
an attic chamber, indefinitely high but
milor would not think of taking that ?
And the Frenchman smiled inwardly at
the odd taste of the stranger in coming
to his hotel at all, while he cursed, also
inwardly, the fate that had just inveigled
him into letting his best rooms to pair
of commercial travellers, and at a
shamefully low price.
Harry Waring, on the other hand,
had much ado to conceal his satisfaction
at finding the merest foothold in the
old hotel. But it was important not to
awaken any suspicion of his object.
&c am sorry" said he, that you have
nothing better to offer me than a sky
parlor. But tits my whim to come to
your hotel. I love to get away from
those modern buildings; and perhaps
you can give me a better apartment
soon. Meanwhile I shall busy myself
in studying your old CITY,"
The landlord hoped to accommodate /;
meanwhile he would take every pains
to make milor comfortable az Gin
q1tien1e.
"Stay," cried Waring, who had been
closely scanning the courtyard during
the dialogue, "I will tell you what
monsieur shall do if he pleases. He
shall build me little pavilion on this
side of his court yard, where the sun
shines. There I shall carry on my
studies like the hermit that am my
servant shall take care of the room and
of my books, and will pay you round
ly beforehand for gratifying an Eng
lishman's whim."
This proposition caused M. Heritier
to shrug his shoulders more actively,
perhaps, than he had ever done before.
What radical, revolutionary, an un-
heard of proposition "But those
are capable of any ything,"
reflected he /; milor does not come to
this old place every day-no, not every
three months. Doubtless milor is as
rich as he is odd. I shall not be the
loser"
There was long debate over Harry
Warnings proposition. We will see
what can be DONE" said M. Heritier, f.
nally; and the result was that next
Harry Waring was overseeing
q gang of carpenters who were prepar-
ing to put up box fifteen feet square
in the old courtyard that had been un-
changed in external appearance, except
by decay, for more than century.
Great was the curiosity manifested over
the Englishman's whim. All day long
the do-nothings of the hotel peered out
Of their windows at the workmen there
was some growing, indeed, over the
pounding and hammering that went on,
but "milor had made ample satisfac-
tion beforehand to his landlord, and on
The whole think M. Heritier's guests
we're more entertained than annoyed by
The extraordinary performance in the
courtyard.
While the carpenters were at work
Waring established himself comfortably
in his sky-parlor. His principal anxiety
now was to get the early occupancy of
his room in the courtyard. He had
5aken little interest in the construction
except to hurry it on. Since the loca-
ion of the new structure had been de-
he had divided his time be-
jween his books and long strolls in the
country. Itwas afterwards remembered,
however, that in the selection of the
precise spot for his little building,
Harry Waring had been almost unrea-
sonably particular. Nothing would suit
him but that it should be placed exactly
here, and not there, to get the "sun-
light " at such and such an angle
loot to the right or the left would not
answer. M. Heritier could not see
SSfst the Englishman wanted of the
mn ;SSummer-time /; for his own part,
"a was efsS enough of the shade in
Tune or july, &What droll of a crea-
ure p he would exciaiim TO himself.
9 1t must be that he is touchea~iin the
orains. But that is no matter as long
Is have his money"
The carpenters worked on meanwhile,
with provoking slowness, as it seemed