New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-08-19
THE LIONS CLAW.


Julien de Rhe, lieutenant in the navy, had
come back in sad condition from his expe-
dition to Cochin China; and when, after three
long months Of illness in his Touraine home, he
grew strong enough to walk few yards on the
terrace Of the banks Of tho Loire, with his moth
er and sister on each side Of him-how lovingly
they had nurscd him, the good souls those
shlverinS fits still came over him sometimes if
the autumn winds were colder than usual
s'iou should so to Pau for the winter said
the doctor; 'the climate is mild and not too hot
just the thing for you-calming and soothing;
and you will come back to your mother, in three
months time, man again. "
And so it was that toward the middle of No
vember, Julien de Rhe, leaning from his sun
lit window III the Hotel Garderes, looked out on
the sublime panorama of the Pyrenees, putting
the while at those cigarettes which seem SO de-
icious to q convalescent, and fell to thinking Of
those he had smoked formerly in secret between
decks on the Borda They brought back all the
sensations Of his sixteenth year.
''Why, the place is full Of pretty women, " said
the young fellow the first time he went out to
listen to the band in the Place Royale, and to
stroll in the sun in front Of the statue of good
King Henry; and though he was neither a
ibertine nor a fop the sailor, beginning to en-
joy life again, dressed himself in his best cap,
and lis frock coat with the three new gold
bands, and the rosette of the Legion of Honor
that his mother had brought to him when
he lay in bed so i'll that he never hoped to
wear it but once-on the black cloth of his
coffin.
1t had been good idea all the same, to como
to Pau How beautiful it was-tho sun that
warmed without burning, the blue heavens
the wild landscape with It's far-off boundary
of hills and beyond its snow peaks rising into
the sky! And how amusing it was to stroll
about in that cosmopolitan crowd, among the
fair foreigners and listen to their voices talk
ing every language in Europe, and mingling
together like the different songs of the birds in
an aviary. It is true that there were some dis
agreeable sights as well-such as the young
Englishman, for instance, in the last stage of
consumption, who was wheeled about in a
little carriage by his servant, wrapped in
shawl and conlforters; the Englishman who had
eyes hike boiled goldfish and wore black
respirator over his mouth. All it was enough
to make one SILVER And then after the first
movement Of pity-men are such egotists-
Julien remembered what he looked like him
self when he landed at Toulon, as thin as
a skeleton with circles around his eyes like
two rings of chocolate; and he thought
that, now he was cured, he had had narrow
escape
And Julien de Rhe felt thatit was a good thing
to be alive, to breathe the soft warm air out
there i'll the sunshine, well dressed, freshly
shaved, and proud of the rosette at his button
hole. And he gave money to the beggars,
gazed after the pretty women who passed
him, and at last stopped, feeling quite soft
ened at the sight, to watch the pretty little
American girls, in black stockings and gloves
and floating white dresses, who were dancing
III ring around one Of the trees of the Place
Royale, to the tune Of the double-quick
march which the band was playing.
He was just ready to fall in love, this happy
convalescent, and it was a case of love at first
sight the day he saw Mademoiselle Olga Bar
barine, the most beautiful girl of all the Rus
SIAN colony, jump from her horse in front of
the Hotel Gassion, where she lived with her
mother.
had just returned from the hunt The five or
six admirers, pink, who had accompanied
her had jumped off their horses together, to
help her down. She took the first hand that
came, and as soon as she was Off her horse.
she knocked on one of the tables in the veranda
with the handle OF her riding-whip, and call
ing for cup of milk, which she drank at
ught,. stood there moment laughing,
looking like some goddess of old with her
slender form distinctly outlined as if nodded
IN her black riding habit, and the waves of her
shining auburn hair loosened from her mans
hat and falling on her shoulders. She held
her empty cup in both hands, satisfied, and,
as it We're, intoxicated by the fresh beverage,
and behind her the setting sun lit up her gold
'en hair till 1t encircled her face like halo
Then, suddenly growing grave again, she
put down the cup on the table, gave slight,
disdalnful bow to the group in pink, and Walked,
her boot with herriding whip.
Three days later Julien de Rhe, who had
spent his time asking his friends, ssWho is
she? am madly in love with her; I adore
her" etc., was introduced-not very difficult
matter-to the Barbarines, and made one of
the squadron of admirers of the beautiful Rus
siam.
Was she really Russian, this Intoxicating
creature who had been galloping about all day
and Waiting all night, ever since the beginning
of the season? Yes, by her reputed father
her mothers first husband, the Count Barba-
rlne. But every one knew the mother had
been divorced just at the very time of her
daughters birth, and that Madame Barbarine.
whose father was a New York banker named
Jacobson, had long kept up liaison that was
almost public, with northern prince-some
Christian or Oscar. Had she any nationality
this child who had been brought up, by turns !
in a Scotch nursery, in q convent at Naples. in |
a school at Geneva; who had slept half her |
nights Oh the cushions of express trains, and
in whose memory, as in stereoscope, there |
was nothing but q succession of watering |
places, seaside towns, winter cities, and other
places Of fashionable resort, to which, for the |
last fifteen years, her mother-still a handsome
woman, in spite of the eruption on her face
had carried her blase person, her emu her
samoyar, and her petmonkeys? Alas she had !
no country, this strange girl, who, with all the
modesty Of a maiden, had the audaclty of |
boy, and who said, laughing at herself, GAS |
for me, | am neither from London, nor from |
Paris, nor from Vienna, nor from st Peters, |
burg. am from the table d'hoteD
Had she any relations? None. it seemed, |
Hor true father-the Oscar, OF Christian, to !
whom Madame Barbarine SO often alluded had |
been dead several years, and her father ac- |
cording to the law-the Russian count-hsd |
never taken any notice of her. He was COM
pletely ruined, and had no other means of ex-
istance but his gun HI was dead shot, and |
earned his living by winning prizes at the pig
con matches, like a sort of civilized Leather
stocking. As for the countess, though she had |
periodic attacks of motherly sentimentalism |