Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1880-08-05
The Sister of Mercy.

In the chamber on the first floor in tht
Avenue Montaigne, woman was dying
From the apartment itself, which was al
most empty, it would be difficult to dis
cover TO what class of society the dyins
woman belonged. The salon was empty
Not single piece of furniture renamed il
| it. Some old blue velvet curtains were
still hanging at the windows, doubtless be-
cause the brokers mad diSdained to take
them. 1t was old velvet, yellow at every
crease, and eaten away by dust. In what
had been the dining room, there remained
only dilapidated Cane-seated chair and q
little table of white wood covered with
bottles of all kinds On the floor were two
or three dirty towels, still wet. a sponge
and a Clipped salad bowl, that served as a
washing basin.
The bedroom was evidently the only
room that the bailiffs had spared. There,
a threadbare carpet still covered the floor.
AT the foot of the bed was a large arm
chair placed as if it were sentry-boX. The
stuff curtains had been left, but a practiced
eye would have seen by the rents in the
muslin curtains that rapaciouS hand had
torn away the lace.
Two billets of wood were smoking sadly
in the fireplace, having for sole companion
kettle, from which emerged two or three
leaves covered with a white foam. The
room was lighted from sanded courtyard
in the midst of which a close cropped grass
plot humiliated itself at the foot of an
rcacia. The leaves had fallen the black,
gnarled branches, twisted into knots, were
waiting for the rays of spring in order to
put on little verdure.
Madeleine, 'murmured the sick woman,
81 am thusty."
A woman of some fifty years, who was
standing by the window, came up to the
bedside and poured few drops of potion
into glass. Then she raised the head of
her mistress, approaching the glass to her
lips, and said:
'Does Madame la Comptesse suffer
much ~
Yes there is fire there" replied the
sick woman, placing an emaciated hand on
her breast.
The woman, who was dying thus in de-
serted and desolate room, was no other than
the Comptesse de San Castelii, about whom
there was 50 much talk few years ago.
Now, of her past luxury, there remained
only an Indian shawl of reddish brown,
embroidered with gold, in which. she
wrapped herself up for want of bed
cover.
The success of the Countess in the world
of fashion had not been forgotten, and more
than one European Prince still keeps me-
dallion in which the features of the fallen
idol have remained young and smiling. To-
day her black hair seems to fatigue her
enfeebled head with its weight; life has
already retreated from her hollow cheeks
and pale brow. A dry and jerky cough
tears her bosom; at the age of thirty-five
death has marked her as his own.
A sovereign, who had enriched her, had
left before her for the regions where go the
souls of those who have souls. The Prince
X, her third loved, has ruined himself and
disappeared. The Banker L., who had
given the Countess her hotel in the Avenue
Jena, can no longer even pay his margins
at the Bourse. 1t is only by miracle that
he has been able to escape the hand of the
Law. He was not declared a bankrupt
personally, but the company that he directed
has gone to join the swarm of companies
that are of no account. Raoul is in Africa
with his regiment; Gontran is married !;
Adrien has disappeared. A hurricane of
ruin has blown upon all her old adorers.
The two or three who have held out have
been wearied by repeated requests for
money another is placed in such an ele-
vated position that he is unapproachable.
The Countess has sold her jewels, one by
Oft bar har nj
after her toilets her furniture
She has still but one only friend, DR..
D., whose fortune she made, but Dr.
D himself, whose fortune has been en-
croached upon by unlucky speculations,
has scarcely anything to live upon but the
income obtained from his practice. Still
he comes to see the Countess every morn
ing, and after each visit ne leaves louis on
the corner of the chimney piece. 1t is this
daily louis that has hitherto kept the Coun-
tess and her chambermaid.
Madeleine, who has seen the horses and
arriages and diamonds, who remembers the
days when the Countess had fifteen servants
and fifty admirers, cannot believe that these
times will not return.
AS for the husband of the Countess, he
never knew his wife. The marriage was ar
ranged by the Prince de M, and post
of three thousand francs a year was given
to the ruined descendant of great family
in exchange for his title. be saw his wife
during the marriage ceremony, then he took
possession Of his post, and sometimes read
with mediocre interest in the newspapers
that the Comtesse de San Castelli was OBJ
tanning great success at st Petersburg and
at Paris.
1t did not seem to him that she was his
wife, and when he was questioned on the
subject the Count replied coldly:
Il believe that she is relation who has
turned out badly.
Madeleine had passed more that thirty
nights in the large arm chair at the foot of
her mistress bed. The doctor said: ''That
woman needs rest. There are Sisters of
Charity who have imposed upon themselves
the mission of watching over the sick.
will send one here tonight