Bismarck weekly tribune., 1884-09-05
THE LION s CLAW

LIE LllIN II slilLA wv
Translation from Md'lle. Bouchier.l
Julien de Rhe, lieutenant in the navy, had
come back in sad condition from his expe-
dition to Cochin China; and when, after three
long months Of illness In his Touraine home,
he grew strong enough to walk few yards
on the terrace Of the banks Of the Loire, with
his mother and sister on each side Of him
how lovingly they had nursed him, the good
souls! those shivering fits still came over
him sometimes il the autumn winds were
colder than usual.
You should go to Pau for the winter
said the doctor; "the climate is mild and not
too hot-just the thing for you calming and
soothing; and you viii come back to your
mother in three months time man again.
And so it was that, toward the middle Of
November, Julien de Rhe, leaning from his
nnlit window in the Hotel Garderes, looked
out upon the sublime panorama of the Pyre-
nees, putting the while at those cigarettes
which seem 80 delicious to convalescent
and fell to thinking Of those he had smoked
formerly in secret between de ks on the
Borda They brought back all the sensations
of his sixteenth year.
"Why, the place is full of pretty women, !"
said the young fellow the first time he went
out to listen to the band in the Place Royale,
and to stroll in the sun in front of the statue
of good King Henry; and though he was
neither a ibertine nor fop, the sailor, be-
ginning to enjoy life again, dressed himself
in his best cap, and his frock coat with the
three new gold bands, and the rosette Of the
Legion of Honor, that his mother had brought
to him when he lay in bed SO ill that he never
hoped to wear it but once-on the black
cloth of his coffin
1t had been good idea, all the same, to
come to Pau. How beautiful it all was-the
sun that warmed without burning, the blue
heavens, the wide landscape, with its far of
boundary of hills, and beyond its snow peaks
rising into the sky. And how amusing twas
to stroll about in that cosmopolitan crowd,
among the fair foreigners, and listen to their
voices talking every language i'll Europe, and
mingling together like the different songs Of
the birds in an aviary. It is true that there
were some disagreeable sights as well-such
as the young Englishman, for instance, in the
last stage of consumption, who was wheeled
about in a little carriage by his servant,
wrapped in shawl and comforters the Eng
lishlnan, who had eyes like boiled goldfish,
and wore a black respirator over his mouth.
All! it was enough to make one shiver. And
then after tho first movement of pity-men
are such egotists-Julien remembered what
he looked like himself when he landed at
Toulon, as thin as a skeleton, with circles
round his eyes like two rings of chocolate:
and he thought that, now he was cured, he
had had a narrow escape.
And Julien de Rhe felt that it was good
II,
out there in the sunshine, well dressed,
freshly shaved, and proud of the rosette at
his button hole. And he gave money to the
beggars, gazel after the pretty women who
passed him, and at last stopped, feeling quite
softened at the sight, to watch the pretty lit
tie American girls in black stockings and
gloves and floating white dresses, who were
dancing in a ring around one of the trees of
the Place Royale to the tune of the double
auick march which the band was playing.
He was just ready to fall in love, this
happy convalescent, and it was case of love
at first sight the day he saw Mademoiselle
Olga Barbarine, the most beautiful girl of
in front of the Hotel Gassion, where she
lived with her mother.
It was o'clock in the evening, and she
or six admirers, in pink, who accompanied
her had jumped Off their horses together, to
help her down. She took the first hand that
came aud as soon as she was off her horse,
she knocked on cne of the tables in the ver-
anda with the handle OF her riding whip,
and, calling for cup of milk, which she
drank at draught, stood there moment,
laughing, looking like some goddess of old,
with her slender form distinctly outlined as
if nodded in her black riding-habit, and the
waves of her shining auburn hair loosened
from her mans hat and falling on her shoul-
ders. She held her empty cup in both hands,
satisfied, and, as it were intoxicated by the
fresh beverage, and behind her the setting
sun Lit up her golden hair till it encircled
her face like halo.
Then, suddenly grave gain. she put down
the cup OH the table, gave slight, disdainful
bow to the group in pink, and walked, with
queenly step, into the hotel, tapping her
boot with her riding whip.
Three days later Julien de Rhe, who had
spent his time asking his friends, "Who is
she? am badly in love with her; adore
her." etc., was introduced-not very diff
cult matter-to the Barbar1nes, and made
one OF the squadron of admirers Of the beauti-
full Russian
Was she really Russian, this irtoxicat-
ing creature, who had been galloping about
all day and waltzing all night, ever since the
beginning Of the season? Yes, by her re-
puted father, her mothers first husband the
Count Barbarine. But every one knew the
mother had been divorced just at the very
time of her daughters birth, and that Mad
anne Barbarine, whose father was New
York banker named jacobson had long kept
up a iaison that was almost public, with
northern prince-some Christian or Oscar.
Had she any nationality, this child who had
been brought up, by turns, in Scotch nur-
sery, in convent at Naples, in school at
Geneva; who had slept half her nights on the
cushions Of express trains, and III whose
memory. as in stereoscope, there was moth
ing but u succession Of watering places, sea-
side towns, winter Cities and other places of
fashionable resort, to which, for the last fif-
teen years, her mother-still a handsome
woman. in spite of the eruption on her face
had carried her blase person, her ennui, her
samovar, and her pet monkeyss Alas! she
had no country, this strange girl, who, with
all the modesty Of maiden, had the audacity
of boy, and who said, laughing at herself,
"As for me, I am neither from London nor
from Paris, nor from Vienna. nor from
ca 4, l. y