The Dickinson press., 1884-09-13

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and sat down with him by the billiard
table, which was covered with dead
flies. They had luncheon in a hot and
shadeless arbor, through whichthe mid
day sun darted his merciless rays. But
what of that?-they had taken their
ease and they were comfortable all the
same. Madame Bayard had tied her
bonnet to the trellis-work, and her hus-
band, in q boatman's straw hat that the
inn-keeper had lent him, carved the
duck, merrily. Little Leon and No
rine, who had made friends directly,
emptied the salad bowl ofcrcam cheese,
and gamboled about in the grass. After
luncheon they went out in o boat, and
intoxicated with the fresh air and the
country, the busy family who lived in a
street in Paris that was damp even in
the dog-days, we're determined to enjoy
their rustic idyl to the full.
Yes, there was a moment-as they
were coming back in the boat, before
q delicious sunset, with little pink
clouds on a green ground-when Mad
ame Bayard, grave Madame Bayard, who
petrified the shop-boys with q look, be-
gan to sing the well-known air, ITO
ward the Shores of France" keeping
time with the splash of the oars, with
which her husband was rowing in his
shirt-sleeves. They dined in the same
arbor they had lunched in; but this sec
ond meal was sadder; the night moths
which came and buried themselves i'll
the candles frightened the children, and
Madame Bayard, overcome with fatigue,
1o1 1,or111, ckrop of1, RI r1,occ tho SIM.
pie riddles on her desert-plate.
No matter! They had had q good
day, and when they came back, in a
first class car, they felt they had done
the thing thoroughly. Madame Bay
ard, with her head leaning or her hus-
bands shoulder, watched Leon andNo-
rine, who had fallen asleep on the
nurses knees, and, half asleep herself,
whispered in a happy voice:
1--WE are doing a good action, Ferdin-
and, in taking in the poor little thing.
And then she will be a companion for
Leon. They will be like brother and
sister.
And so they grew up together.
Those Bayards really were very
worthy people. They made no differ
ence between the humble orphan and
their own beloved son-who was de-
stined some day, under the firm Of
"Bayard & Son." to menopolize rhu-
barbs and engross castoreums-and
they loved her as if she had really been
their daughter, little Norine, who was
as intelligent as she was sweet, and as
delicate of mind as she was dainty of
body. The nurse took two children
now to the square of the Tour Saint
jacques when it was fine, and in the
evening, at the family dinner-table,
there were two high chairs side by side,
for the foster brother and sister. Mon
s1eur and Madame Bayard were not
long finding out, for that matter, that
Norine had a very good influence on
Leon. She was quicker, more nervous,
and more teachable than the boy, who
was Emphatic and heavy--as his father
said--and she seemed to communicate
something other own lightness and flame
to him.
"She shakes him up," said Madame
Bayard.
Since his foster-sister's arrival, Leon
had grown brighter and more animated
every day. When they were old enough
to learn to read, Leon drove his mother
to dispair. He could not get on, but
stuck over ono of those alphabets will
pictures where the letter E is under al
elephant, and the letter z under
zouave; but as soon as Norine, who hat
learned to spell very quickly ant
could read syllables already came to hi
aid, and the little fellow began to MAKE
wonderful progress. It was the same
thing when they were both sent to
children's school kept by an old Mis-
Merlin, in the Rue de lHomme-Arme
According to the misleading prospectus
:. sent out by Miss Merlin to the shop
keepers Of the quarter, there was &c,
garden" attached to the establishment
that is to say, four broomsticks in
sanded court-and it was there that, o,
the first day in the play hour, the limo
cent Leon broke out into cries of terro,
at seeing the mistress drive one of he
kn~itting-needles into the front of he
dress when she had to interrupt her worl
for a moment. One Of the big girls
who was sitting in the corner with TIL
fool's-cap on, explained this phenomenon
to Leon and Norine; but, all the same
the boy could never get rid of an i'm
preston of superstitious terror when b
was in the school-mistress's presence
This terror would have paralyzedh hi
childish faculties and prevented him, il
school, from following Miss Merlin
wand when she pointed to the map o
, Europe or the table of weights ant
measures, if Norine had not been Their,
, to reasure and encourage him. From
the beginning she was the best pupil il
, the school, and to the idle and back
: ward Leon she was o sort of ~fraterna
counselor and affectionate teacher. A
, about four o'clock Madam Bayard use.
to watch the two children, whom tn
nurse had brought home to the shop
SETTLE themselves by her in her glas
! bureau, and note how Norine, openin.
a copv-book or o lesson-book, would ex
! plain to Leon some exercise he had no
+ understood, or make him repeat til
imperfectly learned lesson.
l "The good God rewards u.s." Madam
g Bayard would say sometimes to he
1 husband at night, between the curtains
"That little Norine is a treasure,
So good, and so hard-working! I wa
J, listening to her, to-day, working wit
r Leon. 1 really think without her h
would never have learned his multipl
cation table.
1 "Trust me Mimi replied Bayard; q
shall not forget. We are getting on yer
we'll; we will give her a dot and MARI
her, won't we, when she is old enough
X