The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1875-03-03

all its pomp my beloved solitude. curse
It. Paul, with all the bitterness of my
heart. / became indebted to it. last night,
it is true, for fantastic apparition that
both charmed and delighted me; but am
also indebted to it to-day for ridiculous
adventure which am the only one not to
laugh at, for was its unlucky hero.
| was but little disposed TO work this
morning; went on sketching. however,
until noon, but had to- give it up then;
my head was heavy, | felt dull and disa-
greeable. had a vague presentment of
something fatal in the air: | returned
for moment 10 the mill to get rid of my
traps; quarreled, to her surprise and
grief, with the millers wife, on the subject
of / know not what cruelty indigenous
mess she had served me for breakfast; i
scolded the good woman's two children
because they were touching my pencils;
finally, administered sss;gorous kick to
the house-dog, accompanied with the cele>
brated formula: "Judge whether you have
done anything to mel .
Rather dissatisfied with myself, as you
may imagine, after these three mean little
tricks, l directed my steps toward the
forest, in order to hide as much as posi-
sible from the light of day. walked
about for nearly an hour without being
able to shake of the prophetic melancholy
that oppressed me. Perceiving at last,
on the edge of one of the avenues that
traverse the forest, and under the shade
of some beech trees, thick bed Of moss,
| stretched myself upon it, together with
my remorse, and it was not long before
fell into sound sleep Mon Dieul why
was it not the sleep of death?
have no idea how long | had been
asleep. when was suddenly awakened, by
a certain conclusion of the soil in my i'm
mediate vicinity; l jumped abruptly to
my feet, and L saw, within five steps of
me-, on the road, young lady on horse
back. My unexpected apparation had
somewhat frightened the horse, who had
SHE'D with some violence. The fair eques-
trian, who had not yet noticed me, was
talking to him and trying to quiet him.
She appeared to be pretty, slender. ele-
CANT l caught a rapid glimpse of blorde
hair, eyebrows of darker shade, keen eyes,
a bold expression Of .countenance, and a
felt hat with blue feather, set over one
ear in rather too rakish style. For the
better understanding of what is about to
follow, you should know that was at
tired in a tourists blouse stained with red
ochre; besides, l must have had that bag.
gard look ami startled expression which
impart to one rudely snatched from sleep
a countenance at once comical and alarm
ing Aud to all this, my hair in utter
disorder, my beard -strewn with dead
leaves, and you. will have no difficulty in
understanding the terror that suddenly
overpowered the young huntress at the
first glance she cast upon me; she uttered
feeble cry, and wheeling her horse
around, she fed at full gallop. re.
1t was impossible for me TO mistake the
nature of the impression L had just pro-
duced; there was nothing hattering about
it. However, am thirty~five years Of age,
and the more or less kindly glance of a
woman is no longer sufficient to disturb
the serenity of my soul. l followed with
a smiling look the flying Amazon. AT the
extremity of the avenue in which | had
just failed to make her conquest, she turned
abruptly to the left, to 60 and take par
allel road. L only had to cross the add
joining thicket to see her overtake cayal
cade composed of ten or twelve persons
who seemed to be waiting for her, and tC
whom she shouted from distance, in a
broken voice: .-
Gentlemen gentlemen! a wild pan
there is a wild man in the forest?'
My interest being highly excited by
this beginning, l settled myself comfort
ably behind, thick bush, with eye and
ear equally attentive, They crowd around
the lad it is supposed at first that she il
testing, but her emotion is too serious te
have been causeless. She saw, distinctly
saw, not exactly savage, PERHAPS, but q
man in rags, whose tattered blouse seemed
covered with blood, whose face, hands
and whole person were repulsiyely filthy
whose beard was frightful, and eyes hal
projecting from their sockets; in short, ar
individual, by the side of whom the mos
atrocious OF Salvador Rosa's brigandi
would be as one of Watteau's shepherds
Never did a mans vanity enjoy such {
treat. This charming person added tina
l had threatened her, and that / haC
jumped at her horses bridl like the spec
tire of the Mans.*
The response to this marvellous story il
a general and enthusiastic shout
"Let us chase him ! let US surround
him! let us track him! hip, hip, hurrah!
whereupon the whole cavalry force start
of at gallop in the direction of the anna
BILE story-teller.
had, to all appearances, but to re
main quietly ensconced in my hiding
place in order to completely foil the hun
tiers who were going in search of me il
the avenue where | had met the beauti
full Amazon. Unfortunately, / had tn
unlucky idea, for greater safety, of max
ing my way in the opposite thicket. As
was cautiously crossing the open space
a Wild shout of joy informs me that hav
been discovered; at the same time l Sc
the whole squadron wheeling about ant
coming down upon me like torrent
There remained but one reasonable cours
for me to pursue, it was to stop, to affec
the surprise of quiet stroller disturbe
in his walk, and to discomfort my assail
ants by an attitude at once simple an,
dignified; but, seized with foolish sham
which. it is easier to conceive than ex
plain, convinced me that vigorous effor
would be sufficient to rid ME of this i'm
Fortunate pursuit, and to spare me the al
noyance OF an explanation, commit tn
error-tbe ever deplorable error-of hun
rying on faster. or rather, to be fran
with you, of running away as fast as m
legs would carry me. l cross the roa
like hare, l penetrate into the thicket
greeted on my passage with heavy wolfe
of joyous clamors. From that momen
my fate was sealed; all honorable expla
nation became impossible for me; | ha
ostenslbly accepted the struggle with il