Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-03-06
THE BUTTON.

When the painter John Bayard de-
seconded the mountain, where he had
passed the whole day among the trees and
birds, formidable appetite was raging in
his stomach.
He entered the first inn he met and
asked to be waited on Immediately. The
room was filed with men, who drank and
smoked, as it was in Alsace, the country
Of beer and big china pipes.
John Bayard came too late; the dinner
was over.
"We,l, give me anything, you have GER
tainly some ham"
The little servant girl to whom he spoke
burst out laughing in his very nose, and
answered.:
Eyes! yes! will bring plate of it to
you"
He was looking ut her with amazed
eyes-she was all round, with rosy cheeks,
arms naked and hard as marble, teeth
white and pointed, like those Of young
wolf, which her laugh showed unto her
ears. According TO the fashion of Alsace,
a large butterfly, made Of ribbons, fiut-
tered on her head, covered to tie temples
by disordered mass of golden hair, and
her short petticoat with pressed folds, al
lowed one to see a pair Of fine legs, firmly
planted on the ground.
THAT will do said John Bayard
When the ham that Smclt good, the
brown bread whose crust cracked under
the fingers, and the pint glass of beer
foaminG and sparkling, We're placed be-
fore him he began TO drink and eat with
prodi2ious activity.
But as he drank only the balmv air OF
the mountain and tasted twelve hours, q
plate Of ham was not enough; he called
for a second. then for third, then for a
fourth; and for the purpose of extinguish-
ing the fire lighted in his throat by the
salt, he swallowed pint glass after pint
glass with the utmost alacrity.
Meanwhile, little by little, tepidity in
vaded all his being. He leaned lazily
on the back of his chair, his eyes full Of
pleasure, and interested himself i'll what
was going on around him.
Apparently it was late. One after the
other the drinkers rose, shook hands with
their friends and babe them ''good night"
then gravely they hooked their china
pipes on the rack, covered their heads
with their big felt hats and departed.
When a table was left unoccupied the
little servant climbed on chair, and
stretching herself she put out the light
suspended over that table.
Although anything witnessed by him
was very natural, John Bayard found the
people before him acting queerly. The
drinkers and the little servant girl ap-
peared to him set Of lunatics. If he
had seen them walking on their heads he
could not be more astonished.
Soon the room became n penumbra,
filed with smoke. in which our friend re-
manned alone with the hostess, who,
seated behind the bar, knit, waiting for
his departure.
''To leave the inn! Yes, it was the
hour for that" OF course he ought to
leave the place or else to ask if he could
have a room Tor the night and breakfast
for the morrow.
All those thoughts passed vaguely
through his mind without transforming
themselves into acts. by and by" said
he. by and by" He felt himself
growing heavy under the weight of such
a beatitude, and so happy in the enjoy
ment of his laziness that he would have
remained the balance of the night. by
and by, when | have eaten what is left of
ham on my plate and drank those few
drops of beer in my glass"
Now, as his hunger was satisfied and
his thirst quenched he treated the ham in
amateur, by small pieces. Shortly, he
was coming to the end of it, when sud
denly he felt hard body under his fork.
You" seid he: ''you will be pleased
to let me alone and go 10 sleep on the edge
of my plate, like the well bred bone that
YOU are
Putting il aside, he was struck by its
strange form; n common bone is not per-
fcctly circular and fat. and above all,
never is it pierced with four systematical
holesl So he took the object between his
thumb and index, and he examined it.
His eyes dllated with surprise; he had the
gertrude of holding n button. Yes. a
button, and moreover. n button pertain
ing 10 a pair of trousers.
.'Whatm thought he, ''never have /
seen pig wearing trousers, therefore the
fellow who was the owner of the thigh
from which that piece of ham has been
cut was not a pig, but-but-a MANI /
and reaching this conclusion he shook
with fear.
And he heaped reason over reason for
finding an irrefutable syllogism. You
would have caused a good deal Of surprise
to him if you had told him that, admit
ting this bone to be g button. il might
have fallen accidentally in the sailing tub.
No, he had fixed idea relative TO the CO.
relation OF that button with the being Of
which he had eaten numerous slices.
He looked around him very much fright |
ened. His Elances rested or the hostess:
for the first time he noticed that she was !
dressed in mourning-a widows mourn |
inC-and that her face with prominent !
cheek bones expressed a hypocritical fero- /
city Undoubtedly that woman had as |
sassinated her husband, and for prevent /
ing her crime TO be known she had trans /
formed the body Of her victim into ham
and sausage"
He must do his duty, he must denounce /
the murderess of whom he had discovered /.
thu awful deed 10 the police. He rose,
,Iided toward the door, deadening the
loise of his steps, his eyes fixed on the
Woman. who, perhaps, seeing him going
mt. could guess his design ana might
rustrate its accomplishment by killing
lin also.
Thanks to the precautions taken by him,
re made his escape successfully. Once in I
he street, under the sparkling phaatasma-
yor;a of a beautiful moonlight, he tried TO .
discover the residence of the chief Of DO /