The true northerner., 1883-05-18

would have. Come in, and il shall be
done ut once. Arlette, my child, thou
wilt have the goodness to measure mon
sieur's foot immediately"
The honest shoemaker is little ex-
cited at this sudden order from a for
eigner, and speaks hurriedly.
"Arlette, my daughter, is more pre-
else than can be with the measure
ments," he explains to his visitor. "Her
eyes are much younger than mine, you
must know"
The other smiled mt this. He is very
we'll suited with this arrangement, and
so Arlette, blushing little-for it is a
new experience for her to have dark
eyes bent on her so earnestly as now
does as her father desires.
Remember, L am very particular, I"
says the young man, when she has
nearly completed her task. Il should
not like to be badly fitted. Will it not
be best to repeat the measure, so as to
be sure?"
"But yes, monsieur" responds Guy,
"it is best to be sure"
1t is very pleasant, this unlookedfor
little incident, and the young man de-
termines to enjoy it. Arlette, kneeling
before him the better to do what she is
about, ventures one shy glance at his
face, but, finding him looking tenderly
at her, bends down her head. Yet on
no pretext can he prolong the situation
further, but after Arlette is through he
remains to talk with the girl and her
father.
"Falaise is very beautiful, he says to
Arlette, after Guy has returned to his
work, and the girl, at her fathers re-
quest, goes with him few steps to
point out nearer way to the Hotel de
Normandie than the route by which he
came.
"Does monsieur really think so ?" is
her response. Il am very glad, for
monsieur must know that L love Fa-
laise."
"Yes, it is very beautiful" he re-
peats: "but know what is much more
beautiful STILL" he adds; and there is
no mistaking his meaning, even if the
little pressure he gives her hand had
been omitted
Monsieur must not say such things, +"
she says, slowly, after pause.
But L shall say such things, because
they are true, my pretty one. Look at
me, Arlette."
They are in narrow lane by this
time, where there is no one but them
selves.
Look at me, Arlette," he said again
She does look at him, with her sweet,
wondering face. In the gathering twi-
light he can yet see the soft curves of
her lips and cheeks. He can not help
it that he puts his arm about her; and
it is all so new, so strange to her, that
she does not resist him.
Does Arlette know that she is very
beautifully" he says, gently, and then
draws her closer to him.
Il must go back, now," she says,
simply, and so he releases her. Mon
sieur will find the way now, doubtless,
If he will remember to take the next
turn to the right" she continues, when
he has taken away his arm.
"Yes," he replies, 1t will be very
easy; and now this is for showing me
the way" and he puts silver coin in
her hand, and then, moved by sudden
impulse, kisses her once, twice, and
turns away.
She is not angry with him when she
is alone once more. Something new
and sweet has come into her life, and it
has all been so sudden that she is be-
wildered little. But she does not try
to analyze her feelings. She knows
only that this foreigner, who looks so
fondly and speaks so tenderly, has told
her that she is beautiful and has kissed
her. And that is quite enough for Ar
lette now She wonders, as she goes
homeward, if Count Robert could have
looked like this stranger. She thinks
of him all that night, and on the NOR
row, and as she stands at her washing
tank beside the Ante, she is thinking of
him still Foolish little Arlette! But
what should one do when one is but Is,
and has been kissed by the handsomest
man one has ever seen? Surely one
need not be very angry or try to forget.
The morning is half gone when she
sees him entering the archway to the
washing-sheds, but he does not see her.
She hears his voice i'll goodhumored
passing chat with the woman there.
What if he should not see her. At last
he comes out the shed toward the free
tanks. Surely, he must see her now.
But he stops for word with Babette
and Susette, with Dorothee and Cert
rude before he comes to her..
"Ah, my pretty one" he says careless
ly, as if this were the first time he had
seen her; but look in his face tells
her that he remembers, and she under
stands why he spoke to all the women
on the way.
He has a sketch-booR with him, and
now, as he leans against post near
her, he takes pencil and sketches
rapidly. Now and then he says a word
to her, and the women near by look at
him in the pauses of their work with
shy, admiring glances. At last he holds
up paper.
Would you like to see, my good
friends?" he says TO the women; and
then Babette, Susette, Dorothee and
Gertrude crowd about him and examine
his drawing with voluble EXPLANATIONS
of delight.
"There thou art, Dorothee, to the
life" says one.
And there is Susette," says another;
"hpd monsieur has drawn me- too " she