Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-12-04

On New Year day we give gifts to those w
lOvc-"
"Ahl-Gabriellel I did not think of thatIn
my dear Paul, you never think That /
why | love you. But just see how l an
placed Ycu know that, if she chose-if shl
took back her word to me-Gabrielle Nigh
have presents dresses - jewels - what yoI
Will And II shall walk with her roupC
the BOulevards; the windows are fun O
pretty things; she win scarcely look at them
for fear Of vexing me; and l shall not b,
able to turn my eyes from them, for thinkin:
Of what l should like to buy for her. / shall
see the people crowding in and out, laughing
joking, happy in giving and receiving-and
for Gabrielle, nothingi Even the booths on
the edge of the pavement we must pass
sven the most trifing keepsake, 1 cannot givl
it 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
pawnbroker!'
The exclamation ESCAPED me unawares,I
was SO moved by Raoul's 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, l
confess it.
"Let us look things in the face" I said at
last; ''surely there must be some resource, if
we can only think Of it. shall go to Levi
Jacob tomorrow; l shall demand a loan; I
shall tell him"
''That your friend Raoul Girard wants to
buy a present for his atianced On New Years
1ay9 That won't soften the flint that does
1uty for q heart with Levi Jacob, my dear
PAUL. And besides you owe him too much
already"
'ToO true. And can you, then, think of
nothingr
Nothing. You know that since LIE Petit
Monde stopped no other Journal has accepted
my articles. And my wTetched salary as
critic for LIE Drame is already overdrawz;
they will advance me nothing. i mad some
hope when the editor Of The Monde gavo ne
that letter to N. Beauvais. l thought he
might have paid us something in advance.
But that hope has failed"
For some time we both slipped our coffee in
silence. had never before seen Raoul thus
in open rebellion against his poverty; 1 had
never before seen that shadow on his brow
which darkened it tonight.
sour only hope now,n l said at last, gloom.
ly, Seems to be in a miracle
"Say at once-ina letter from the director
Of the Odeonr'
And why not9 Only I would not call that
4 miracle! You know what l said of your
comedy at the time, Raoul-you know what
Tisson, Of LIE Drame, said Of it"
II know, my dear Paul, that if you were
director of the Odeon the rehearsals would
baoin fn naOr7aO1r D,,4 arsJ..A1. nT n
ouette's opinion is not ours. 1 wish he
would send back the manuscript; I could
make a short story of it."
Raoul spoke lightly, but / knew that this
particular failure had bitterly disappointed
him. Six months hard work had been given
to that comedy. There were scenes and stu
atoms in it that-but this is a quite needless
DEPRESSION.
"Have l not heard you speak of a relative
Of yours living in the Quarter / ventured
% say; IAN uncle, was it not, who is rich2
Perhaps he-n
Useless to think Of It'll He is rich-how
rich nobody knows but himself. But he is q
c%liser; he grudges himself every mouthful he
eats ard every fagot he burns. He must be-
ieye that there are pockets in the winding
siA~CO4 lOu ICAALCIlkDCl bldD CdN Ill LllS RAI-
lens Of tho Luxembourg last summerI'
'iQuite well. We were sitting under the
trees, feeding the birds with the crumbs left
over from u breakfast. An old man hob
bled past and frowned at us. What wa it
he said to you, Raoulg'
"'Young man, he said, never give away
what some day you may want yourself
And that is the mani never yet have asked
anything Of him for myself. Twice Invent
to him, when my good uncle at Provins-his
own brother-was lying i'll 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"
81 remember. What a singular mani"
"He is a cur; l can call him nothing elsel
When my poor uncle at Provins died 1 went
to him again. 1t was about the costs of the
funeral Pay for ALL he said; then bring
an exact account to me- / paid for all;
partly with what l could scrape together,
partly by a loan from you. When 1 went
back l 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. It would make me rich now-if / could
get i'll"
"And you have not seen him since?'
II have not tried. My interviews with
him were not pleasant. He affected to be-
lieve that my story was a fiction; that 1 only
wanted his money to spend it on my folliesI
He made me swallow addersl PAIL Say no
more of him. He is the one man ON earth
that / hate!"
Raoul said this in q tone which left no
doubt as to the reality of his hatred. l
noticed how his face flushed and his eyes
blazed, and could imagine how badly the old
must have treated him, since Raoul's
was TIE rareSt thing in the world.
Nothing more passed between us on this
disagreeable subject; but I could see that
Raoul had not dismissed it from his mind.
he was silent and preoccupied, and the
shadow rested on his face. l knew that he
was thinking also of Gabrielle Dumaine, and
how be could offer her no gift on New Years
day. That might seem a small thing, COM
Daratively; but it was not SO to Raoul Girard.
For he was very proud.
We left the cafe of La Source unwillingly;
he plash and ripple Of the fountain seemed
% murmur: Stay; call for another glass of
lbsinthe, another cup of coffee. But two
'rancsl-forty sous!--and an indefinite num-
Der 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 rOdeon, ON the way
10 our common lodging. Raoul was strangely