Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1884-09-26
TUE LIONS CLAW.

lGE lsVh j SLAH.
Julien de Rhe lieutenant in the navy, had
come back in sad condition from his eSpe-
dition to Cochin China and when, after three
long months of illness III his Torralne home he
grew strong enough to walk few yards on the
terrace Of the banks Of tho Loire, with his moth
er and sister on each side of him-how lovingly
they had nursed him, the good souls.-those
shivering fits still came over him sometimes +
the autumn winds were colder than usual
"You should go TO Tau for the winter, said
the doctor; 'the climate il mild and not too hot
just the thing for you-calrninS and soothing;
and you viii come back to your mother, II three
months time, man again"
And so it was that, toward the middle Of No
vember, Julien de Rhe, leaning from his sun
tho sublime panorama of tho pyrenees putting
the while at those cigarettes which seem SO de
ic.ous to a convalesceut and fell to thluklng Of
those he had smoked formerly in secret between
deck on the Borda They brought back all the
sensations Of his sixtecnth 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 Roy ale. and to
stroll in the in front of the statue OF good
King Henry; and though he was neither
libertine nor fop the sailor, beginning to en-
joy life again, dressed himself in his best cap,
and his frcck coat with the three new gold
bands, and the rosette Of the Legion Of Honor,
that his mother had brought TO him when
ho lay in bed so i'll that he never hoped to
wear it but oIco--on the black cloth of his
coffin
1t had been good idea al the same, to come
to Pau How beautiful it was--the sun that
warmed without burning, the blue heavens,
the Wild landscape, with ITS 1ar-oH boundary
Of hills, ana beyond its snow peaks rising into
the sky. And how amusing 1t to stroll
about II that cosmopolitan crowd, among the
fair forei gners, and listen to their voices talk
in, every language il Europe, and mingling
together like the different songs of the birds in
an aviary. 1t is true that there were some dis
agreeable sights as well--such as the young
Englishman, for instance, i'll the last stage Of
consumption, who was wheeled about in a
little carriage by bis servant wrapped in
shawl and comfortcrs; the Englishman who had
eyes like boiled Goldfish, and wore a black
TO make enc SILVER And then after the frst
movement Of pity-men are such eCotists-
Julien remembered what he looked lie him
self when he landed at Ioulon. as thin as
a skeleton, with circles around his eyes like
two rings of chocolate; and he thought
that, now he was cured, ne had had narrow
escape.
And Julien de Rhe felt that it was good thing
to be alive, to breathe the soft warm air 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,
.gazed after the pretty women who passed
HIM. and at last stopped, feeling quite soft
ene, at the sight, to watch the pretty little
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-qIck i
nlarcil which the band was playing.
lie was just ready 10 fall III love this happy |
convalescent and it was a case of love at first
sight the day he saw Mademoiselle Olga Bar !
hariuc, tue most beautiful girl Of all the Rus
slan colony, jump from her horse in front Of i,
the Hotel Gasslon, where she lived with her !
mother
It was five O'Clock in the evening" and she !,
had just returned from the hunt The five or !
her had jumped off their horses together, to
help her down. She took the first hand that |
came, and as soon as she was OFF her horse |
she kno cked On one of the tables in the veranda
with the handle of her riding whip, and call
ing for a cup Of milk, which she drank at q
looking like some goddess of old with her
slender form distinctly outlined as if nodded
III her black riding habit, and the waves of her
shining auburn hair loosened from her mans
hat and falling her shoulders. She held |
her empty cup in both hands, satisfied, and |
and behind her the setting sun lit up her gold |
Ell hair till 1t enc,rcled her face like halo
Then, suddenly growing grave again, she !
put, down the cup on the table gave a slight !
disdainful bow to the group in pink, and walked /
with d 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 "Tho il /,
she? l am madly in love with her; ! adore |.
her," etc, was introduced--nota very difficult i
matter-to the Barbarines and made one of |
the squadron Of admirers Of the beautiful Rus
sian
Was she really a Russian this intoxicating |
creature who had been galloping about all day
and wa]tzing all night ever since the beginning |
Of the season? Yes, by her reputed father,
her mothers first husband, the Count Barba-
rine. But every one knew the mother had !
been divorced just at the very time Of her |
daughter birth: and that Madame Barbarine, |
whose father was New York banker named |
Jacobson, had long kept up liaison that was |
almost public, with a northern prince--some |
Christian or Oscar. Had she any nationality, |
this child who had been brought up by turns, |
in a Scotch nursery in convent at Naples, in |
school at Geneva; who had slept half her !
nights on the cushions of express trains, and |
in whose memory, in stereoscope, there |
was nothing but succession of watering |
places, seaside towns, winter cities, and other |
places Of fashionable resort, to which for the |,
last fifteen years, her mother-stll a handsome |
woman in spite Of the eruption on her face
had carried her blase person, her emu i,her |
samovar, and her petmonkeys? Alas shehad |
no country this strange girl, who, with all the |
modesty of maiden, had the audaclty of |
boy, and who said, laughing at herself, Gas |
for me, am neither from London, nor from |
burg am from the table d'hote."
Had she any relations? Nome it seemed |
Hor true father--the Oscar or Christian, to
whom Madame Barbarine SO often alluded had |
been dead several years. and her father &C
cording to the law-the Russian count--had |
never taken any notice of her. He was com
pletely ruined and had no other means Of ex- |
istance but his gun. He was dead shot, and |
earned his living by winning prizes at the pig |
con matches, like a sort Of civilized Leather
periodic attacks of motherly sentiulentalism
that set ones teeth on edge they rang so false, |
she was blessed with the most perfect, absolute.
and utter selfishness When Olga, who was
then eight years old, had had typhoid fever,
and nearly died of it. Madame Barbarine, while |
she was nursing her little girl for appearances |
sake, never once forgot to put on her greaced |
gloves at night to keep her hands white.
: Julien de Rhe learned all these things when |
he enrolled himself in the flying squadron that ,
vac always maneuvring round about Madem-
oiselie Olga Barbarine.. Yet he fell in love |
with her desperately, this strange and touching |
GIRL who looked him 80 straight in the face,
and who, the day the lieutenant was introduced I
TO her by mutual FRIEND said to him, as she T
lit her pheresli cigarette: s.
s.Ah! you are the man who is so much in
love with me? How do you do?''
And she shOnk his hand like I1an
He fell in love with her, the good honest
sailor, and to love her all the more that, be-
lore long, he come to understand and pity her
Tor he Yaa not mistaken: Olga WAS strange