St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-09-22

familiar voice Of my narse to Arthur
! ! one hot night, ss my friend paid me his
usual visit.
g Who is sher' I whispered feebly
to Arthur. Ii had !, grain of sense OF
consecutive thought left, it always came
/ to me when Arthur was in the room.
lone of the trained nurses from
Bellevue, old boy. a nice girl. She is
bringing you through splendidly. How
do you feel Tonight Temperature rath-
! er high and / sank off into sleep OF
| something, with Arthur's cool hand on
my brow
When 1 awoke the gas was turned
up, and my nurse stood over me with a
wine-gglass full of medicine.
| e You must take this said she, in a
mildly authoritative voice.
looked at her for the first time. She
was neat, elderly person, not at all
handsome, but large and very power
full. It seemed to me at that moment
as if she We're Boadicea, or the Maid OF
Saragossa, or Miss yex Blake, or some
thing of that order.
AS she poured down the draught ]
felt my whole internal economy obey
ing her. / swallowed, gasped, breathed,
because she told me to. Then she left me.
The blinds were open, and moonlight
streamed into my room. / saw the
clouds, and the cats; | saw the passers-
by. There was balcony outside my
windows, and several people clambered
4 up on it and looked at me. There was
a newsboy whom had offended. and a
| member of the Stock Exchange whom /
had failed to please. At one time the
balcony became unpleasantly crowded,
and again it was empty.
Fhe sounds went on, and the crowbar
fell with disagreeable persistency. Just
then lady stepped on the balcony and
| calmly entered my room.
Would you be kind enough to tell
me what that noise is outside, asked
sOh!'' said she, giving a little scream.
rather astonished evidently. "a man
and a bed lin the parlor2 What does
all this near, please:?"
'.Well, why net?,fs said I. rather Of
Tended, and with the egotism of illness.
Some scattering remnant of what
once had been my intelligence sug-
gested that this young lady might be
one of Arthur's sisters, who had come
home unexpectedly, and had stepped
forgive the dreams of a sick many over
the balcony into the parlor.
''Who are you?n / asked
81 am Helen Froment, the governess,
said she; "sent down by Mrs. Clark for
some forgotten books. The train ran
off the track. ! got here just now. /
have rung and rung and rung, but as
no one let me in, /, seeing the blinds
opea, naturally clambered over the
iron railing, and here l am. Now, who
and what are your
II am sick man, Horatio Bronson,
/ believe. Arthur brought me here y
.'Oh, of course! How absurdp He
wrote to his mother all about you. /
had forgotten. My nerves have been
SO shaken by that railroad accident I
had forgotten that you were here. I
beg athousand pardons for this intru-
sion. | will creep. up into my room
and disturb nobody"
''Stop q minute, my mind is weak.
Turn up the gas, please. will youo How
do you happen to be called Helen Fro
ment, like the picture on the wall?''
The lady laughed and turned up the
gas. ut is curious coincidence, y
said she. ..The young ladies call me
the Rubens. / am simply a German
girl. with a common enough German
name, Helena Froment, the governess. .
{ l took n good look at her.
SheWas a quiet girl, in a gray travel
ing dress, although / thought her
smiling German face not unlike that of
the picture.
Then the gas went down, and she
went off, and the crowbar went on fall
ing every five minutes outside, and the
little bell tinkled at three o'clock.
About this time Arthur began to fade
away. It seemed to me that only saw
him once after this, and then I said to
him: mice girl, Helen Froment,'' in
jocular way. .i @
He laughed and said. "What queer
things you do say!' S.
Il mean the goYerness, your sisters !
governess, hoping. 6. he would tell me
about her. a sss
''Oh! yes; the governess; yes; ha!
ha! Helen Froment. Oh! yes. Horatio,
old fellow, keep cool; keep quiet. |
Yes. She is a nice girl enough" but
he laughed and would not explain.
Arthur disappeared about this time
/ asked for him, and they said he had
gone away. should have missed him
more, but Helen, Helen Froment, be-
came 50 devoted to me. She did not 60
back to Mrs. Clark with the books. She
staid and nursed me most assiduously. |
She could draw and paint very well in
water colors, and finding that this quiet
accomplishment amused without weary.
ing me, she was kind enough to sit by /
my side and let me watch her. Then
she told me quaint stories in German
accent, and read poetry to me, and in a |
low recitatiye, or in a sort of chant she
gave my weary ears the relief of pretty