Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1885-03-26

''no doubt we shall contriye to dine at least
every second day, and we can lie In bed a
good deal, as we have done before But to-
morrow, my friend, is Christmas, and this
day week is New Years day."
"Wellf'
"Welll-don't you see what that meansi
On New Year day we give gifts to those we
love-
"Ah!-Gabriellel did not think of thatT'
''My dear Paul, you never thinSl That is
why love you. But just see how 1 am
placedi YCu know that, if she chosc-if she
took back her word 10 me-Gabrielle might
have present9-.dresses Jewels what you
Will And II shall walk with her round
the Boulevards; the windows are full OF
pretty things; she viii scarcely lccl ct them,
for fear of vexing me; and I shall not be
able to turn my eyes from them, for thinking
Of what should Ike to buy for her. shall
see the people crowding in and out, laughing,
joking, happy in giving and receiving-and
for Gabrielle, nothingl Even the booths on
the edge Of the pavement we must pess-
even the most trifing keepsake, l cannot give
il herl That is what happens on New Years
day to the poor man who has a sweetheart"
"If had only something left to send to the
pawnbrokerI'
The exclamation escaped me unawares,
was so moved by Raours evident pain of
mind. 1t made him laugh, however, he de-
clared that was my instructive resource.
And, indeed, there was some truth in this,
confess it.
"Let us look things in the face" said at
last; "surely there must be sons resource, If
we can only think of it. l shall go to Levi
Jacob tomorrow; / shall demand loan;
shall tell him"
''That your friend Raoul Girard wants to
buy present for his nfiianced on New Years
day? That won't soften the flint that does
duty for heart with Levi Jacob, my dear
PAUL. And besides you owe him too much
already"
'Too true And can you, then, think of
nothingg
Nothing. You know that since LIE Petit
Monde stopped no other journal has accepted
my articles And my wretched salary as
critic for LIE Drame is already overdrawn;
they will advance me nothing. / had some
hope when the editor of The Monde gave me
that letter to M. Beauvais. 1 thought he
might have paid us something in advance.
But that hope has failed"
For some tine we both slipped our coffee in
silence. had never before seen Raoul thus
in open rebellion against his poverty; had
never before seen that shadow on his brow
which darkened it tonight.
"Our only hope now," said at last, gloom
lily, ''seems to be in miracle"
"Say at once-in letter from the director
Of the Odeon!'
'And why nots Only would not call that
a miracle! You know what [ said of your
comedy at the time, Raoul-you lcuow what
Tisson, Of Le Drame, said of it"
II know, my dear Paul, that if you were
director of the Odeon the rehearsals would
begin tomorrow. But evidently NJ. Des-
nouettes opinion is not ours. l wish he
would send back the manuscript; l could
make short story of it,
| Raoul spoke lightly, but I knew that this
particular failure hal bitterly disappointed
him. Six months hard work had been given
to that comedy. There were scenes and stu
ations in it that-but this is quite needless
depression.
"Have not heard you speak of q relative
Of yours living in tho Quarter?" l ventured
to say; "an uncle, WIS it not, who is rich9
Perhaps he"
"Useless to think o" it'll He is rich-how
rich nobody knows but. himself. But he is
miser; he grudges himself every mouthful he
eats and every fagot ho burns. Hc must be-
lieve that there arc pockets in the winding
sheetl You remember that day in the gar
dens of the Luxembourg last summerg'
"Quite well. We were sitting under the
trees, feeding the birds with the crumbs left
over from our breakfast. An old man hob
bled past and frowned at us. What was it
he said to you, RaoulY
"'Young man, he said never give away
what some day you may want yourself
And that is the mani I never yet have asked
anything Of him for myself. Twice Invent
to him, when my good uncle at Provins-his
own brother-was lying ill and in want
Rather than give me money-rather than
part with his cherished coin, he actually gave
me one or two things he had about him, arti-
cles of vertu-to sell!"
~ remember. What singular mani"
"He is cur; can call him nothing elsel
When my poor uncle at Provins died went
to him again. Tt was about the costs of the
funeral Pay for ALL he said; then bring
an exact account to me- I paid for all;
partly with what I could scrape together,
partly by q loan from you. When l went
back I found that my worthy uncle had
given strict orders to the servant never on
any showing to admit me again. That was a
year ago, and he owes me the money to this
day 1t would make me rich now-if could
get It'll"
"And you bave not seen him sincel"
II have not tried. My interviews with
him were not pleasant. He affected to be-
lieve that my story was a fiction; that only
wanted his money to spend it on my folliesi
He made me swallow adders! Pahl Say no
more Of him. He is the one man on earth
that hatel"
Raoul said this in a tone which left no
doubt as to the reality of his hatred. I
noticed how his face flushed and his eyes
blazed, and CO lid imagine how badly the old
miser must b i've treated him, since Raoul's
anger was the rarest thing in the world.
Nothing more passed between us on this
disagreeable subject; but could see that
Raoul had not dismissed it from his mind.
He was silent and preoccupied,, and the
shadow rested on his face I knew that he
was thinking also of Gabrielle Dumaine, and
how he could offer her no gift on New Years
day. That might seem small thing, com
paratively; but it was not SO to Raoul Girard.
For he was very proud.
We left the cafe of La Source unwillingly
the plash and ripple of the fountain seemed
to murmur: Stay; call for another glass Of
absinthe, another cup Of coffee. But two
francs!-forty sous!-and IN indefinite num-
ber of dinners to expend them onl We tore
ourselves away from La Source.
Arm in arm we went along the Rue Racine
and across the Place de pOdeon, on the way
to our common lodging. Raoul was strangely
SILENT and noticed that he walked at much