The Warner weekly sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1885, 1885-01-09

"Ihe signal man 8 mouse rs Just In 1rOnI
Of us; he may have 4 fire, and If the
lady likes to get down? Hill Sabatier |"
A second lantern approached them.
$50 and see if the signal man has o fire
in his house.
Fortunately he had. The General
was as proud as if hehad gained a bat
tie or finished the last stripe of knitting
in his famous counterpane. He went
back to the Queens carriage to tell her
the results of his efforts, aud a moment
after the three travellers were in a low
rooted room of the little house, stamp
their feet on the floor to get rid of the
snow on their shoes, while the signal
man, who had brought them in and who
still wore his sheepskin, knelt down be-
fore the fire and threw some dead wood
upon the dogs.
The Queen threw her cloak on the
back of her straw bottomed chair and
sat down before the CHEEKY blaze. She
took off her long, Swedish kid gloves
and began to look about her.
1t was a peasants room. There was
q dry, uneven, earthen floor: strings of
onions hung from the earthen rafters;
an old poacher's gun was fastened over
the chimney-peice by o couple of nails.
and there were a few lowered plates on
the dresser. The General made q grim
ace at two cheap pictures that were
pinned on the wall; one, the portrait of
M. Theirs wearing the ribbon of the
Legion of Honor, the other Garibaldi
in his red shirt. But what attracted
the young Queens attention was a wick
er cradle, by the side of the large bed,
half hidden by striped chintz curtains,
from whence there came the murmur-
ings of a child awakened from its sleep.
AS soon as he heard it the signal man
left the fire, went to the cradle and
rocked it gently.
"By-bye, chickie, bye-byel It is
nothing-only friends of daddv's."
He seemed q kind father, this man in
his goatskin, with his bald head, his
rough old soldiers mustache, and those
two deep sad lines around his mouth.
"Is that your little girl? }" the queen
asked with interest.
Eyes, ma'am; it is my CeciIe. She
will be three years old next month"
"But-her mother?" inquired Her
Majesty, h~esitatingly. And as the man
shook his head, "You are a wiiowerY"
But he shook his head again. Then
the queen, touched, got up and went to
the cradle, and looked at Cecile who
had gone to sleep again hugging q card
board dog tenderly to her breast.
"Poor childp she murmured,
WASN'T it a heartless thing to do
for a mother to abandon q child of that
age?" said the signal man in o smoth-
cred voice. THAT she should have
left me after all was my own fault. /
ought not to have married a woman too
young for mel ought not to have let
her go to town where she picked up
evil acquaintances. But to abandon
this darlingl Wasn't it Infamous 2 And
now / have to bring up the poor mite
myself And Il can tell you it. - not
easy with all the work / have to do.
In the evening / am very often obliged
to leave her there screaming and crying
when / hear the whistle of the train.
In the daytime, though. / take her with
me, and she is quite used to it already,
the darlingl She is not afraid of the
railway now. Only yesterday Twas hold
ing her in my left arm, while / waved
my flag with my right. Well, she.never
even trembled as the express train went
by. But, you see, what troubles me
most is having to make her frooks and
caps. Fortunately, / was q sergeant in
the Zouaves once and know how to use
my needle"
"But, my poor frisnd," began the
Queen, cit is a very difficult task for
you. / should like to help yon. / sup
pose there is a village near here, and
there must be some good people in the
village who would take charge of your
little girl. If it is only a question o.
money"
But the signal man shook his head.
"No, good lady, no. / am not proud,
and I would accept with all my heart
ANYTHING that was done for Cecile.
But / will never part with her. No,
not even for an hour!"
aBut why?"
"Why?" repeated the man, IN his
deep voice, "beceuse | can trust nc one
but myself to make this. child what her
mother was not coed wemanl But,
excuse me would you kindly rock Ce-
Gle a moment? I am wanted on the
track"
Who can tell what thoughts passed
through the mind of the young Queen
Of Bohemia that winter night as she sat
rocking the poor signal mans child,
while the General and Baroness whose
help she had refused, sat and sulked
before the fire? 4Now then, ladies and
gentleman, the express is starting; take
your seats" the Queen put her purse,
swelled with gold and the bouquet Of
yi0fets from her belt, into little Cecilo's
cradle and went back to her seat in the
train.
But her Majesty stayed only two days
In Paris. she. rafntnad to Prague al