St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-06-14
shoulders somewhere in the most patient

shoulders somewhere in the most patient
mind, asked me:
so you are from France?"
es. am just on pleasure-trip.
Perhaps you are from Paris"
mo. from Nancy"
1t seemed tome that an extraordinary
emotion passed over her. How I saw it.,
or. rather, felt it, do not know.
She repeated very slowly:
$50 you are from Nancy?"
The man appeared at the door, with his
face impassive as the faces of deaf men
are.
She observed:
1T makes no difference; he cannot
hear
After few seconds she spoke again:
You know a great many people at
Nancy?"
Why, yes-nearly everybody"
THE Saint-Allaize family?"
Yes. very well, indeed. They were
intimate friends of my father"
what is your name?"
told her my name. She looked at me
nxedly, and then said in that low voice
which always accompanies recollection:
Yes, yes, 1 remember perfectly we'll.
And the BrismareS-What has become of
them?"
''They are all dead"
"Ah! And the Sirmonts-do you know
them?"
Yes. The last one is now general"
Then, all quivering with emotion-with
anguiSh-with | know not what vague,
powerful and sacred feelng-with 1 know
not what desire to speak, to tell every
thing, to avow all that she had hitherto
hidden away in the very bottom of her
heart-to talk of those whose mere name
had so agitated her, she said:
Yes, Henri de Sirmont, 1 know him
well. He is my brother"
And l raised my eyes to her face start
led with astonishment. And all suddenly
an old memory came back to me.
Long years ago it had made a great
scandal in Lorraine. A young girl, beau
tiful and wealthy, Suzanne de Sirmont,
had eloped with a non-commissioned Off
Ger OF the very same regiment of hussars
that her father commanded.
He was handsome young mana son
of peasants, indeed, but looking superb in
the blue dolman. this soldier who had
made love to the daughter of his colonel
Doubtless she had remarked him first, and
learned to love him as she watched the
brilliant squadrons wheeling by. But how
ne had ever managed to speak to her-how
they had ever been able to meet, to come
to an understanding-ho she had ever
dared to let him know that she loved him
nobody was ever able to find out.
Nothing had ever been suspected or
feared. One evening, just at the time the
soldiers term of service was over, he dis
appeared with her. They were long looked
forever found. No news was ever OBJ
tanned concerning them, and all considered
her as dead.
And had found her again in that CHASTITY
valley!
Then [ exclaimed, in my turn:
Yes, l remember it all now. You are
Mile. Suzanne
She nodded her head. Tears were fall
ing from her eyes. Then, with a look di-
recting my attention to the old man at the
door, she said:
THAT is he"
And l understood that she loved him
still-that she saw him still as when the
first sight of him had charmed her girlish
eyes.
asked:
Tell me, have you been happy?"
She answered in voice that came right
from the heart:
''Oh yes!-very happy. He has always
made me very happy. l have never
had cause to regret anything"
L looked at her-made sad. surprised.
amazed by the power of love That rich
girl had followed that man-that peasant.
She had become peasant herself She had
accustomed herself to his life-a life with
out pleasures, without luXuries, without
refinementS of any kind; she had bowed to
all his simple ways. And she loved him
still. She had become country wife
wearing the coarse bonnet. the canvas
apron. She ate from an earthenplate upon
wooden table-ate cabbage soup, boiled
with potatoes and lard. She slept at his
side upon bed of straw
She had never thought of anything but
nm! She had never regretted the dainty
dresses, or the rich textures, or the ele-
gancIes, or the softness OF the sofas, or the
perfumed warmth of curtained rooms. OF
the caress of downy beds into which deli
cate bodies plunge for sleep. She had
never wanted anything but him-he was
there-she desired nothing more.
She had abandoned life quite Young
and society-and those who had reared he1
tenderly, loved her fondly. She had come.
alone with him, to dwell in that savage
ravlne. And he had been everything to
her, everything she could wish, everything
she had dreamed, everything she had
waited for, everything she had hoped for.
He had filled her whole existence with hap
piness, from first to last.
She could not possibly have been NOR
happy.
And all night long, as I listened to the
hoarse breathing of the old soldier living on
his pallet beside her who had followed him
from so far away, kept thinking of thai
strange and simple adventure, composed of
so few Incidents.
And l left at sunrise, after shaking
hands with the old married pair.
~
The narrator paused. A woman said:
That is all very WELL But she ha6
too facile an ideal-wants too primitive
and exigencies too simple. She must have
been silly"
Another woman murmured SLOWLY
what matter!-she was happy"
And far away, in the depth of the hori.
ION, Corsica buried herself in the night :
slowly melted back into the sea-efiac e
her vast shadow which she seemed to have
made visible only in order to tell us the
story OF those two humble lovers who
found shelter On her shores.
GUY DE MAUPAssANT.
CAFES NOVEL, AND CuTyy