Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1883-04-28
smiling to himself and wonder

All but she is good Frenchwoman
and hates a Prussian as much as /
do. Who knows, who knows?r
1t was time of high hopes and
romance; and Gabriel was one of
those soldiers who were always
thinking of the baton de Dl0rechdL
that lay, according to the proverb,
at, the bottom of every French
soldiers knapsack.
The dark eyes of the unknown
beauty had rested on him and gone
straight down into his soul. What
mattered ii to him that she was
companion to the empress?
"The emperor himself was only a
! lieutenant at my age" he sand to
| himself "and Marshal Murat was a
stable-boy. A colonel is not enough,
l must be general and count at
least, and that shall be my countess.
| / swear it,
Meantime, within the pavilion,
he could see the empress reclining
back in an easy-chair, and listening
to the words of the prince, who was
talking earnestly to her, while the
dark.eyed young lady stood behind
the char of her mistress in an atti-
tude of respect, with her face turned
away so that the young cuirassier
could not see it.
The door was wide open, and he
kept pacing slowly up and down,
as to be near it, but could not hear
all that was said.
Only the Prussian seemed to be
urging something on the empress
which she was unwilling to grant,
for he heard her say:
at will be useless, prince. You
do not know his majesty
Then the prince said something
in low tone, at which she turned
to the dark-eyed young lady and
observed:
"Inez ma belle will you go to the
palace and bring me from my cham
Der the small vinaigrette on the ta-
BILE ?n
The young lady courtesied, kissed
the hand of the empress, and back
ed out of the presence. AS she came
out she cast another look at the
handsome sentry, in the same wide
eyed innocent way she had done
before, and answered his salute
with slight smile and bow, then
turned away to the palace, just as
the Prussian prince shut the door,
observing:
"There's no need for the sentry to
| hear all that passes madame"
Gabriel felt irritated at the action,
but continued his walk for some
minutes till he heard the Prussian's
voice say, in its coarse lound tone:
Every well, madame; then / can
count on your influence with 1nez."
AS he spoke he opened the door,
and Gabriel saw the empress come
| out, and heard her answer:
"You shall have it, prince, but
| fear il is no use.o
Then they moved away, and Ga
| briel was left wondering what it
was that the Prussian was asking,
and what was all the mystery about
it. He could not unraYel it by pa
cling up and down but he watched
the prince and the empress saunter
away down q shady alley OF the
park, when the beautiful young la
| dy came in from the palace and
stopped as if in disappointment at
the door, seeing the pavilion empty.
Gabriel felt his heart thump against
his ribs as the lady looked at him.
She was going to speak to him
and, for the first time, she too show
ed symptoms of slight agitation.
Instead of looking at him, as before
as if he were q handsome piece of
furniture, she seemed all of sud-
den to realize that he was young
man, and that she was alone with
him, for she blushed as she said
II beg your pardon, but where Is
the empress-has she gone ?"
"Her majesty passed down the
path to the fountain of Hercules,
mademoiselle," replied our hero,
growing crimson in his turn, as
he noted the color of his compan-
ion, and then he drew up and sa-
luted, as she bent her head and
passed by him with low Thanks,
monsieur" and vanished.
Gabriel Lenoir stood staring after
her. She had called him "mons-
ieur," but that was only her polite
ness and ignorance of military eti-
quette.
And she had cast down her eyes
as she passed, while her cheek was
crimson.
So was his own for that matter.
1t was hard to tell which was the
more bashlul of the two. But at
least he dared to look after her, and
as he did so, he noticed that flow
er fell from the bosom of her dress,
while she hurried on without notic-
ing it.
Then the young cuirassier's face
lighted up ioyfully, and he stalked
IN hRrn Hover
lay, though it was outside OF his
regular beat; snatched 1t eagerlyi
and then rushed back and was stlh
and solemn as ever.
He did not see, as he turned back,
that some one watched him pick up
that flower, none other than Mad
emosielle Inez herself, who had
Just rounded a big evergreen, and
peeped back through the branches:
AS she saw it, smile dimple herd
red lips, and she tossed her pretty
little head and murmured
"How absurd But he's very
good looking. What a pity he Is
only private soldier"
She went ON again, for she saw
the empress coming with the Prince
of Potsdam, and she fastened up to
her mistress to be rewarded with a
smile and:
"rhanks, mademoiselle, we were
talking OF you. Do you know that
the Prince of Potsdam has just been
asking my influence with his majes-
ty, to secure your hand in marri-
age? 2"
The pretty maid of honor turned
os while as a sheet. glanced uD at
the empress in Il frightened sort OF
way and answered impulsively:
"Oh, your majesty, for Heavens
sake do not-do not ="
She could say no more. Her
voice appeared to fail her, and at
that very moment:
"Clank Clank Clank ~
The relief passed by them, chang
the guard of grim cuirassiers, and
at the head, after the corporal,
marched the young fair-haired re-
cruit.
10 Inez the interruption was
welcome, for they came so near
that conversation was suspended by
the noise of their accouterments.
AS they passed, her eyes met
those of the young cuirassier once
more, and both Of them flushed
crimson again. The Prince OF Pots
dam noticed the fact and stared
sternly at Gabriel, who returned his
stare with the stern visage of a sol
dier on duty.