The Arizona sentinel., 1886-06-19
IN 1'HE FAMILY.
N1r. Gobelin's Nephew Decorated With the Coveted Red Ribbon"

With the Coveted Red Ribbon" M. Exupere Gobelin, the retired agent for an insurance company, over sixty, and one of the best preserved bachelors in the north of Paris, would have also been one of the happiest had not the cravings of an unsatisfied ambition ren, @dered him miserable. This fly in M Exupere's ointment was nothing more nor less than an unappeasable desire to be decorated with the ribbon of the Legion of Honor. On the evening of a certain day, when life without the afore- said red ribbon had seemed less worth having than usual-he had been reading in his journal the nomination of one o1 the companions of his childhood as Chevalier of the Legion-a friend pro. posed to him to visit a theater in the Rue de la Tour d Auvergne, now Haus- mannized out of existence. Exupere consented, and was taken behind the scenes by his host, who was intimate with stage manager. This worthy official received them politely, but seemed abstracted and no little an. noyed.
 On rotfcing Exupere's fine presence and imposing bearing, the stage man. Sger, suddenly turning to him, said:
 Monsieur, allow me to ask you to do me favor-a real favor. The prin- cipal witness in the marriage ceremony that is celebrated in the third act has disappointed me. It is not speaking part, but none the less an important one. Might l so trespass on your good nature as to ask you to fill the role?"
 '1, monsieur? Why, I've never been on the stage in my life. I shouldn' t know how to look {"
 "You have only to look naturally, my dear monsieur, and you will have the appearance of man perfectly con,me U Jdut and diSttngue. The witness is SUD- posed to be retired cavalry officer, and it may be said without fattery you have exactly the physique for the service, as we say in the theater' 5
 *'But I should be recognized"
 Mot the slightest danger. Our hair dresser will, in second, make up your head and face in way that would puzzle your most intimate friend. And then, with the red ribbon in your but ton-hole-"
 1.-The ribbon-a red ribbon in my but ton-hole," broke in Exupere, in voice trembling with emotion, and his face suddenly becoming deep purple.
 He had hardly got the words out of his mouth when the cunning stage man. ager, feeling that he had gained his point, pinned deftly upon the ex- agents breast the coveted decoration. EXupere was calm, but majestic, under the fire of the opera-glasses-a calm as French officer might have been under the fire of the enemy's artillery. On beholding his handsome figure in the mirror in the green-room, after the cur tain had fallen, and where the stage manager was waiting to compliment him, he said to himself:
 No; in fact am no longer the same person; now I am the man I should ber'
 The unhappy Exupere dreamed that he was really member of the Legion for the rest of his days. Meatime, a piece of good fortune came to him. From being possessed of a very limited income, he suddenly became quite we'll to-do, thanks to an unexpected inher- itance. One morning he received a communication from a country notary informing him that his first cousin, Eustache Verduron, had bequeathed to him his entire property, real and per sonal, which represented an income of over twenty thousand francs. At the close of this agreeable epistle the village attorney added that he did not consider that he was trangressing the bounds of professional d scretion by observing that in so making his will his cousin had dis inherited his nephew. Albert Gobelin, who had been guilty of having married against his wishes, in Algiers, a respect able but poor girl. @EThe whole coun- tryside, added the kind-hearted notary, ''pities the young man, who is fine fellow and deserves the greatest sympa- thy"
 Thus it came to pass that Exupere GObelin inherited a fortune, but not without greatly commiserating his un- fortunate relative.
 ''I shall certainly make inquiries about this young fellow" he said to himself, land discover if can in what corner of Africa he has hidden himself with the girl of his choice. If he is really as deserving as they say, we'll I'll make him my heir. I'm not one of your selfish, rapacious old curmud- geons I am not like some of the surly old misers of my acquaintance; I am generous and charitable. And to think that there are some shabby fellows who have been interruptions enough to get themselves decorated and to strut around with the Cross, while T."
 His mania for being decorated had now over-mastered all other passions in the breast of the late dabbler in insur- ance. He was tempted more power fully than ever was St. Anthony in the desert and felt urged to the point of it. legally assuming the coveted honor by something within him stronger than his better self.
 One morning, not being able to stand the moral Cor immoraD pressure any longer, he entered a shop and pur- chased a dozen assorted Legion" rib bons. Then, hurrying home, like some