The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1884-09-19
A BOURGEOIS ROMANCE.
BY Francois coppee.

j =! 10A ScRPNNs d.. 49, . IRE
Handsome Madame Bayard, in her
black dress and plainly braided hair,
was sitting at her desk ut the back Of
the shop, writing quietly in an immense
brass-bound ledger, when her husband
cam home, after having done his com
missions for themorning. II estopped on
the threshold to grumble at his workmen
for taking SO long a time to unload Q
wagon from the Northern Railway, that
was drawn up by the pavement, filled
with a dozen barrels of glucose for the
great chemist Of the Rue VieilIe du TEN.
pie.
II have bad news for YOU" said Mad.
anne Bayard, wiping her pen in a little
pot of steel shavings, as her husband
came into the glass cage. "Poor yoisin
is dead"
Icons nurse! All, poor woman
And her little girI?"
"That is the saddest part of it, my
dear. One of poor Voisin's relatives
writes to me that they are too poor tc
burden themselves with the child, and
that they will be obliged to send her tc
the asylum. Oh, those peasants"
The druggist stood silent for a mo
ment, pulling his thick blonde beard
then, suddenly looking at his wife with
kindly eyes, he said:
You know, Mimi, she is Leon's fos.
ter.sister. If we were to take her"-
"That is what l thought" his hand
some wife answered, simply.
"That it right!", cried big Bayard,
STOPPING over his wife and kissing hel
on the forehead, without troubling him
self about what his workmen and shop.
boys might think Of it. "That is right,
You are a good woman, Mimi; we will
fetch little Norine home here, and she
shall be brought up with Leon. That
won't ruin us. AndI have Just done q
grand stroke of business. We will go
to Argenteuil Sunday and fetch the
child; it will be a nice little excursion
for u.s."
They were worthy people, the Bay
ards, and an honor to the drug trade.
Their marriage had joined two houses
that had long lived rivals: for Bayard
was the "son" of the "Silver Pestle, "
which had been founded by his great
grandfather, 1856, in the Rue Vieille
du Temple, and he had married the
heiress of the Offering to Esculapius,'
of the Rue DIES Lombards, an establish
ment which dated back to the first EN-
pire, as was duly set forth by it's sign
board, copied from Guerin's celebrated
picture. Worthy people! very worthy
people! And there were many more
like them still in the old Partisan com
merce, whatever people may say, keep
ing up the old traditions, giving back
the pain BENT to the parish church,
going to the upper boxes at the Opera
Comique on Sundays, and innocent
Of the secret of false weights. It
was the cure of Blanc-M anteaux who
had made the match-he and his
brother of Santa Merri. The cure
of Blanc-Manteaux had administered
extreme JUNCTION to Bayard the IA
Their on his death bed, and it
had frightened him to see a young
man Of twenty-five weighed down by
the whole responsibility of such an i'm
portant house as the "Silver Pestle,' q
house famous for it's ipecacuanhas: and
his confrere of Saint-Merri had been
very anxious to establish Mademoiselle
Simonin, whom he had confirmed, and
whose father, old Simonin of the "Off-
ing to Esculapius, famous for its cam
phors, was one of his most solid parish
toner's. Their joint negotiations sue
ceeded; the camphor and the ipecacu-
anha-two excellent specialties-were
united in the holy bonds of matrimony
there was a dinner and i ball at Vefour's;
and for the last ten years Madame Bay
ard had worked quietly every day, win
Ter and summer, in her glass cage: and,
with her pale brunette skin a d her sim
ply braided hair, was the ideal of all
the young shopmen in tho Sainte- Croix
de la Bretonnerie quarter.
For q long time there had been a
trouble IN this happy home, a cloud
in the pure sky the Bavard's had. no
heir; and it was not till five years after
their marriage that little Leon made
his appearance. You may imagine how
joyfully he was welcomed. Now they
would be able to write some day, under
the "Silver Pestle," these magic words
"Bayard & Son." Only as the child
arrived Just at the isinglass-melting
season, when Madame Bayard's pres
ence in the shop vas indispensable, she
could not think OF nursing him herself.
She, was obliged, too, to give up the
idea of taking a nurse for him at home,
on account of the unhealthy atmosphere
of this corner of old Paris, and she was
obliged to content herself with q Jour
ney to Argenteuil every Sunday, with
her husband, to see her son this nurses,
Mother Voison, who was overwhelmed,
as one may suppose, with coffee, sugar.
end other delicacies. At the end
of eighteen months Mother Voison
brought back the baby in splendid
condition, am now, for the last
two years, a nursery-maid, care
fully chosen, had taken the child
out for an airing every day in the
Square of the Tour Saint. Jacques, and
displayed the fine rosy cheeks and DIM
pies of the future druggist to Ter COM
nanions. SO that the good Bayards,
when they heard ofthe death of Mother
Voisin, could not bear to think of the
little girl who had been fed with the
same milk as their son being abandoned
to public charity, and they went to
Argenteuil to fetch her.
Poor little Norine! For the fort
night since her mother was laid in the
grave she had been taken in by a cou-
sin, who kept an inn and billiard-room
and although not five years old, she
was already set to wash the tumblers.
I Monsieur and Madame Bayard thought
her charming, with her great eyes the
color OF the summer sky, aud her lux