Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1883-12-05
MARGARET AND LUCILLE.
The story of an Illinois Man who Cared
More for a Field Of Corn Than for

More for n Field Of Corn Than for
Ruins.
At the Lord Warden Hotel in Dover we
found Jean Vallot, Swiss courier, who
had spent his life in the service of travellers
between England and Italy, and who accom-
panied us during n tour of several months
I'm Western Europe. He was at least sixty
years of age, though still alert and vigor-
Gus; and in his manners there was that
Difference TO his employers and that AFRO
gance to inn-keepers and servants which
characterized the couriers of the last gem
GRAFTON, whose Office, was far more impor-
tant than is theirs Of this day OF railways
and multiplied facilities FOR travel. How
imperious he wasghenhe dared Henever
allowed anyone 4}se TO assist us in and out
of cars and Carriages I; he pushed aside the
walters mt the hotel tables, that he alone
might attend us. He was scrupulously
polite in his salutations, yet IL the least M
usual service was required of him, or If his
advice as to routes and conveyances was
not taken, his frigid air and frowninS brow
and compressed lips showed seltishness and
u stubborn will, and, while strictly proper
i'm demcanor, he had, when he pleased, tho
faculty of making one thoroughly uncom-
Portable.
All we ever learned from him of his his
tory was what he told us one evening at st.
Martins, on the road from Geneva to Cha
mount 1t was wild night and we were
the only guests at the inn. BY a blazing
wood-1rc we were forgetting the chill and
fatigue of the day, when l noticed that
Jean, who stood in n recess waiting for his
morning orders, was intently perusinS q
letter. 1t was the first indication we had
seen that he had any interest beyond him.
self, and | said:
"You have letter, Jean; | hope it brings
YOU good news"
"Ncithcr good nor bad, mademoiselle; it
is from my girls
"Your grlsl Where are they? and how
old are theyy and what are their names
Pray sit down and tell MS all about them"
'There is not much to tell :" he replied, as
with a respectful bow he took the proffered
chair. "They are Margaret and Lucille,
fifteen and eleven years old, and L have
them at n small pension near Bruxelles."
"And where is their motherW
''She Is dead these five years."
"Poor girls that is sad"
ayes, and no, mademoiselle. She was n
good woman, but always ailing. If she had
lived could not have paid the doctor and
a servant and kept the children at the pen
sion too. Now | hope they will soon be
able to do something for themselves"
"Was your wife from your own coun-
tryV
so no, from England. Perhaps Swiss
woman would have been stronger, and
made me less of trouble, but Margaret Dane
was n pretty girl and very good.tempered,
aud seemed healthy enough in those days.
She was Lady Vernon's maid, and / was
their courier through long journey. One
Sunday an accident kept us at a dull little
town in Bavaria, and whether / had taken
a class too much of beer, or how it was, /
II ser can cxplain; but lost my head and
asked her TO marry me. | was forty and
she ONLY twcnty-onc. IL was great mis-.
take. She had lived ut the Hall and was
used to comfort, and had done very well
alone: but, as | said, she was always ailing,
l. "A
of them howcvcr-Dieu mcrci survived
their first year. had 10 particular fault
t. find with her; | suppose she did as well
as she could; but it would have been far
better if she had remained n lady's-maid
and n bachelor"
strange that she was always ailing,' and
has been five years dead. She must have
been very unhappy"
II dare say she was, but couldn't help
il. was unhappy myself. And that's the
way with half the people in my station, il
they would only speak their thoughts. The
truth is. madcmoisciio, ho man should
marry who hasn't plenty of money, There
was my friend, Louis Meyer, at BruXclles
lie was getting on capitally-had engage
ments with the best parties and II thousand
francs laid by, when he must needs marry
q Young ouvernante-English, too-and
now he is far moro unfortunate than am.
] saw him when we were there, and he told
me he had been Obliged to give up travel
ing and was then acting merely as valet de
place, picking up what he could here and
there with ah occasional EVENINGS wait
ing when there were festivities at tho court,
And why? Because he has ten children,
eight of them daughters; and one of the
eight n cripple-think of that! the eldest
girl, just thirteen, he has apprenticed to a
hair-drcsscr; the next two will soon begin
the lace-making; but still there are five,
....ll ...n.
cielw
"Yet he surely has some pleasure with
his family?"
pleasure !"-with a shrug of the shout.
ders-"it isn't pleasure he is looking for,
but breadw
'But his case is an unusual one"
"Ma fol no. There was Maurice Hahn,
of Strasbourg, who had always been a very
prudent man, only rather given to foolish
sentiment-liked his room hung round with
bits of pictures, and never forgot mass.
lie had saved somuch that he hoped another
year TO take n small inn on one of tho baula
wards and begin business for himself
What did he do but marry widow he
found ut the Adler in Trieste, an Aus
TRAN, with two boys and not n sou; and all
because he fancied she looked like the Dres
den Madonnal He has never come back; O
wiser man rented the Lion dor; sore one
saw him lately among the walters u the
'Adler;' and you may be certain that by
this time he wishes he had been content TO
admire tho widow at q distance, as we do
the saints In the churches. The only one
of nv set L ever knew better himself by
marrying was Henri Caller, from my owl
village near Geneva. His wife was from
Roucn, but had kept lodgings In London fol
twelve years. She was older than he, and
anything but handsome; but she had laid
by good bit of money, and she made {
comfortable home for him between his
/ In liitb m aaio coll In
only the rich can afford to marry"
"Butyop wouldn't be without your daugh
tersY'
"No, perhaps not. now 1 have them,
am attached to them, certainly, and shall
do what | can for them, but that is little.
am getting old. They must soon shift fol
themselves, for they have no relatives {,
depend on, and of course their lot will b'
hard. Boys might get on; but grls-bah
So you see il all comes to this, that it would
have been better for them and for me i
they had never boon born,v
just then Jean was summoned To the hail
and with his parting bow no said:
pardon my speaking so much. IL ha,
been wiser ] should have had a differen
story to tell"
A profound melancholy came over me a
/ this revelation of life cold, calculatin,
view which sacrificed heart and soul to ma
terinl interests and ] said to myself, Is 4
create a class whose tastes. nay, who's,
necessities can be satisfied only at the ex
pcnse of the deepest and purest instincts o.
our nature?-and ut intervals through tn,
night woke to hear above the bowling o
the wind and the beating of the rain, Jean,
satirical cry: "Pleasure! 1t isn't pleasur,
hs Is looking for, but breod~
Morning rose calm and fair. Mont Blon,
leaned white against tho azure sky. PHI
swollen Arve flashed in the sun, and Ill The
! world seemed made for joy. We were early
on opp way, gnd Jean had relapsed into hi.
usual teciturnity, and nsver again while