Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-08-21

point de malice which gives flavor. Of ey-
cry one she had something good TO say.
But it was q b0HTe d1ne,n was her favorite
verdict. And once when she repeated the
words, and | with a smile replied, " | think,
madame, that you must have very bonnie
Ggle to see so much good in all, she said,
rUstling the Figaro little, =" do not think,
mademoiselle that there are many bad
souls l at least have found good in even
the least good. Tenez when you came in
my maid was reading the Figaro to me 1--WE
read it every day from beginning TO endl
and something in it stirred up old memo
ries, and reminded ne of a story of my
young days which is case to the point
Even q murderer is not wholly bad. If
you have time l would tell you the story.
The remembrance weighs upon me to-day,
and it might be relief 10 speak of it,
We eagerly pressed her to do so, and she
began;
" You must have heard Of him, think
it was q celebrated affair. 1 lived then in
the Rue de Lille" There she waved her
hand toward the center Of the big ethyl in
the house which still goes by our name.
was Young at the time of my story, and
my husband was away with his regiment,
and the children and ! had, besides the
women, only one man TO wait on us. This
man, Jean, was a faithful, but slow, little
I HISLOH, VIII GOlc NGlNSt Jt-ChSt anu SILVER
buttons and his long hair down his shout
ders, as our country people do.
THE maids were only two Of them from
Brittany - the cook and the children's
nurse. While my husband was away did
not enter much into society but our family
was large, and so it happened that, al
though | refused invitations from the out
side world, yet dined out sometimes, and
oftener still had little family dinners at my
hotel. 1t was very geatale my house,
Mademoiselle; forgive an old woman's
pride in The long past it is all gone now,
all gone" she repeated with q smile, but
something glistened in her eyes. " 1t had
been furnished and prepared for me when
married, and was very pretty i'll the
fashion of the time. Different from
that Of To- day, you know; furniture
with visible legs, chairs not hard
to get out Of once you sat down. The
rooms were hung with pale silks; one was
amber satin, the furniture ebony-that was
my own and specially prided myself on
all nv reception rooms being arranged so
that one could talk in them. Talking was
another fashion which hear is going out.
People meet nowadays, / am told, only and
always to eat. All, well eating is good in
its way, but | think | should miss the con-
versaton of my youth. Not but that we
ate, too, and | was proud of my cook and
of the compliments | received upon her
skill. She was a short sturdy peasant like
4 strong pony in figure. and though l saw
much less of her than of some of the maid
| servants, still | took special interest in
her because she came from a village close
to nv own country home, and | had known
something of her family all my life. She
had Z sad kind of manner, not like the gay, |
ready Parisians; but | knew the Bretons
were rather heavy, and l paid no special |
attention to it until one day when went
TO order dinner found her in tears.
- Why Yictorine, ma .fie,' L said-sbe
was old enough to be my mother but it is
our way, you know" what ails you ?"
"Ah, madame she said, it is nothing
But | insisted, and at last she sobbed
out:
at is my son, Madame, my SON.
"'Your SON. | said why, is he not
always abroad with his regiment"
Yes, Madame, away, always away, bnt
| it is a long time Je N e,ulatie.'
We'll, / sat down and made her sit by
me, and talked to her and patted her
hand and comforted her as well as could
promised her that when Pierre came home
we would make fete to celebrate his re-
turn. And then | glanced at the clock,
and saw l had no time left for ordering
dinner, so jumped up with the words:
~ must run away. Victorine | have
promised my sister-in-law to meet her, and
1 cannot stay to order dinner, so | leave it
| to you to make US q good one. There will
be four to dine, and mind you have some
| thing nice to keep up your reputation with
ces Messieurs. My brother and my brother
| in-law are coming, and even the best of
men, you know, Fictorine, are little gOur-
| mdnd'
"She smiled, as had intended to make |
bar In by littla r1liu1eDt and iola |
and ran away, thinking what blessed |
cure work was, for knew her mind would |
be too busy with the dinner for her to fret, |
and that she would pray and cook alter |
nately, or probably do both together.
1.-The dinner, mesdames, was so perfect |
that l still remember it! Such Julienne !
soup, such outlets. such fricandeau; all |
very simple, naturally, but different for |
instance from the dinner to be served lis |
here to-day. My maid has just brought !
me the bill Of fare. Potage au vermicelle |
au gras; bpuf entoure legumeS. All, well, / |
do not want to complain. 1t is better than | |
deserve, and as Monsieur fAbbe often re-
| minds US, one must do penance either here !
or hereafter, and the more here accepted !
| the less hereafter"
/ While saying this the little lady laughed |
softly as if pleased, and | having heard |
| from Madame Brute of her self DENYING |
charm of that bonnie hunleT which is the |
characteristic of French courage in small |
trials as well as in great.
well Mesdames" she went on, Eve ate |
our little dinner very socially; just q little |
Dartie c1rrec-my sister, her husband, my
| brother and l. We cid not hurry ourselves. |
/ We talked; ah, such talk We all knew our
! little Paris well, and the men were gay and
| kind, nv sister full of esprit There was
l. i Ill 70
| eat for several minutes together in the heat
! of argument OF the delight of thrust and
parry. Dinner began at half-past 6, a late
| hour for those days, but it was before the
| dessert was on the table. Still We talked
and laughed, and laughed and talked until
! little accident disturbed US. My brother
was helping me to wine and he spilled
| some of it on my dress, to his despair, for
| to tell the truth, Mademoiselle, he had
! been complimenting me upon my toilet
! all the evening There it is" she said,
/ pointing to one of the portraits | have
mentioned. Simple enough, you see; only
! a soft maize gauze looped and pulled over
| China silk with crimson bows; my hair a
! little powdered and brushed up, with a
| crimson rose fastened in one side with q
diamond spray. So, when he saw the red
| stream running down my pretty dress he
| Jumped up, naughty word full of = IRIS "
escaped him, The was generally SO correct |
before ladies and he rushed out of the
room, not stopping to ring the bell, and
called out for Jean Victorine Marien |
| any name he could think of, TO come and |
clean my poor dress. We, in the dining |
room. smiled at his despair, but, surprised |
that no one answered him, too, jumped |
up and went out to beg him not to trouble |
himself. But he paid no attention to me
ard ran on down stairs, and |, Mesdames-
excuse me, we were young, | only twenty |
one, he not very mach more-after him !
heller skelters. to the kitchen, where, of |
course, 1 expected to find only my own ia
miliar servants. Judge, then, of my, of
our surprise. when, bursting open the door,
we found that we had intruded upon an |
evening party. We stood transfixed at the |
door, framed by it, l in the dress which |
was the cause of our intrusion, by my side
nv tall, handsome Bernard in his evening |
clothes. buckled shoes, and silk stockings,
dinner napkin still in his hand, and within /
a regular tableau viyant. Two couples
Standing up to dance, mute and notion
less now. Jean, clumsy, short, heavy, in
his Breton costume, with his long black
locks hanging over his shoulders holding
his partners hand she. my maid, fine
tight.laced Partisan in the neatest OF cos
- bar hi1h-heeled, buckled shoes