The Portland daily press., 1877-07-09

Charles French Wife.

and am inclined to believe this. There are
men who saunter and men who swagger,
men who strut and men who lope, men who
trot along like walking doll, and only one
OF hundred who know how to walk. Such
one was my friend Charlie Howard. He
was magnificent fellow. Not strictly hand
some, although he had the three necessary
points to make him so, viz: a pair of fine,
dark, expressive eyes; proud, sensitive
mouth, and superb figure; but fortunately,
a saucy nose kept him from being a regular
ly handsome man. And say fortunately, for
handsome men are generally insipid.
But Charlie could walk. In crowd people
turned TO see and admire the elastic step, the
perfectly easy position of the body, and the
noble carriage of the head set so haughtiy
on the broad shoulders. One could say on
watching him walk, ''There is man." He
bore the sobriQuet of Prince Charlie remarka-
bly, well, not only on account of his royal
bearing, but also because he was the prince
of good fellows. In short, tickle fortune
must have been in one of her happiest moods
when he was born, for ne was the only son
of wealthy parents, the idol of loving moth
er, the pride OF the kindest of fathers, an i'm
mense favorite with the world in general, land
the fair sex in particular.
Now have known him since he was boy
in roundabouts, when we used to play to-
gether, quarrel and scold each other, fight,
forgive each other, fight, forgive each other,
and make up. We were always like younger
brother and elder sister, and as we grew old
or we left off fighting somewhat and confided
in and advised each other. And so we grew
up to manhood and womanhood together,
left off childish things and prepared for the
business of life. Those HAPPY, happy days!
A tired woman sometimes looks back to
~ and for ha fr;a n1sbi
of her life-for the boy and girl confidence,
the friendly advice; yes, even the hot argu-
ments, the petty differences and little quar-
rels; but all in vain.
Well, our hero went away to school. He
would come home tor his vacations each
time, seeming more selfreliant and manly.
To be sure, he had thelusual amount of col
lege boy conceit; talked very knowingly on
calculus, trig., Latin, metaphysics, and espec-
tally human nature; had a new "girl' each
time who was "stunner," perfectly charm
ing not quite up to his ideal, perhaps, flor
he had an ideal-who has not at twenty p
still he didn't know but what some time, etc.
As he was one of the GLORIOUS human boys"
of whom Miss Alcott has given us type in
her Laurie, and of whom the prince has al
ways reminded me. He of course danced, base
balled, smoked, firted, hazed and got hazed,
came near being suspended once or twice,
but somehow owing, I suppose to his won
derful good luck-always managed to come
out of each scrape unframed, and owing to
his inherent nobility Of character, untainted.
And so the princes four college yearsswore
away, and there came lovely June morning
when his delighted friends listened to the elo-
quent vale uttered by the star of the class I
remember how the platform was covered
with flowers when he finished, and how
many pretty girls wasted their pin-substance
on elegant baskets and bouquets, which were
acknowledged most Handsomely by the re-
cipient, and then left in his room to wither
and die; for of course he could not travel
home looking like an animated horticultural
show, he gravely said.
The prince was to study law, but before he
commenced he was going absoad for year.
He should winter in Paris, he informed me.
and show the inhabitants of that benighted
city how to enjoy life.
eyes," said /, Sand you will come home a
sort of coDglomeration of English fop, blase
Frenchman, German student, and Italian
count You will wear your hair parted in the
middle,your moustaches waxed you will spyrt
an eyeglass; you will carry one or TWO scars
on your face as souvenirs of Heidelberg; you
will have grown stout from guzzling beer !;
you will shrug your shoulders and say Ma
.(oi? and worst of all, you will have French
wife,"
How we shouted over the absurd picture l
have drawn, and how often / thought of it
years after that.
Letters came back telling of his safe arrival,
of delightful trip through England, Scot.
land the Emerald Isle; then letters from
Paris speaking in glowing terms of that city
then they ceased. I heard through his
mother that he went in the following spring
to Germany and the Tyrol, and at the close
OF summer to the Danube. Then he wrote
that he should remain abroad another year
and should winter at Rome.
During his absence great changes had come
TO me. Mother dead, father lost his property,
and ], obeying lifelong inclination and con-
quering the dread of public opinion, went
upon the stage. made my debut in New
York, and tickle public approved of me.
self up wholly and conscientiously to my
profession. loved it and it alone. To the
first Intoxicating thrills of success succeeded
the consciousness of the importance of nv
work and the resolve to labor faithfully in its
discharge. Aud so months went by, and
another year rolled away, and still another.
The memory of my boy friend had faded
almost imperceptibly, and had come to be as
a pleasant dream, when one night, as l was
playing in the role of "Lady Gay Spanker"
in a crowded New York theatre, by some
strange Impulse ! raised my eyes to one of
the boxes, and there looking down at me
with his old sweet smile, was Charlie Howard.
And, strange as it seems 10 me now, recall
that at that very momeut there flashed into
my mind a picture of a jolly, laughing, teas
ing, tantalizing boy, rolling cigarettes and
advising me to control my temper better.
Charlie was alone, and after the curtain
fell for the last time sent for him to come to
me. He was not much changed in appear
ance. His hair was not parted in the middle,
his moustache was not waxed, he had no
shrug Of the shoulders; he was only browner
and bigger and older and had tired look in
his eyes. I saw him often for several weeks.
and remarked his quiet, subdued manner, a
subtle vein OF sadness, sort of intense re-
pressed emotion, which seemed to underlie all
he said and did. Occasionally az stealthily
watched him saw far-away, dreamy look
in his eyes which would deepen and deepen,
until it was actual pain, and the sensitive
mouth would culver like woman's and from
these symptoms sagely concluded that he
must be in love.
OF course was consumed with curiosity,
but would not ask him, for Charlie had al
ways given me his confidence of his own
accord, and would not urge it now. And
eo Wdltcos uoplPS IL WOulQ come, ana my
patience was rewarded.
had gone to quiet town on the seashore
to rest for few weeks, and was surprised one
day after dinner on receiving Charles card.
He had come down from the city, he said, 10
have good old-fashioned visit. And such a
visit we did have! 1t was almost the old
days revived. There was so much to talk
over that the afternoon slipped by without
our knowing it.
After tea we fingered on my balcony watch
ing the sun set. 1t had been a lovely mid
summer day, and the sun went down in royal
pomp and splendor. The golden, and purple
and crimson fingered lovingly on the waves
long after his departure. Gradually thew
faded too; then came the dim, exquisite twi-
light, vague harbinger of the night; then the
stars one by one swung out their pale
lanterns, and finally from out the ocean a
great white moon arose. We sat listening to
the dash of the surf on the rocks below. and
the mountain song of belated bird, watch
ing the lights of the village and giving our
selves over to the witchery of the hour,
The strain of long-forgotten song which
Charlie and had once been very fond of
came floating into my mind, and began
softly to sing:
.Do you recall that night in June
upon the Danube river
For Gods sake stop" cried Charlie; ~
can't bear that"
"Ny dear, excitable friend, you were once