, 1888-09-12
A BORROWED FARE.

NJ. Aristides Dufour, retired mercer, a
widower with one daughter, is seated in
his dining room, near a set table, at
which from time to time he throws a
despairing glance. He holds his paper
before him, but it is scarcely probable
that he reads it, for he has held it upside
down for a good minute and has not yet
discovered his mistake. Behind his
green spectacles, the ex-mercer's impa-
tent, ~preoccupied glance falls ten times
to the minute on the old china cuckoo
clock, which, without hurrying, without
tagging, goes on its quiet way and re-
peats its monotonous tic-tac. Then the
above mentioned glance falls again on
the tureen in which the soup is growing
cold. And the glance grows tender, as
his nostrils are assailed by the appetizing
vapors that escape from beneath the lid.
There are two overs at the table, and
two chairs extend their backs invitingly
to the diners. M. Dufour is waiting for
some one, some one who makes him
wait. But, like the late Louis XIV,
whom he resembles, perhaps, in this
particular alone, the ex-mercer does not
enjoy this, especially when the compan-
ion of his vigil is a repast which has
nothing to gain from such a delay.
Promptness at table, as in business, is his
hobby; he is no longer in business, the
worthy man, but he still eats. Break
fast and dinner are, to him, so many
notes of hand, coming in at fixed hours,
and which he must honor as he would
his signature. At those hours NJ. Arts
tides Dufour fills his stomach, dutifully,
conscientiously, with the same pune
tuality that he formerly observed in
emptying his strong box on the 18th and
Both days of the month.
And when you know that the cuckoo
clock is on the point Of sounding half
past 6, you can form an approximate
idea of the violent state in which M.
Aristides Dufour, retired mercer, wild
over with a single daughter, found him
self at the opening Of this veracious his
waiting for his daughter before sitting
down to table, since five minutes before
6 o'clock.
Never since NJ. Dufour retired from
business Chat is to say, since he had the
misfortune to lose his Incompatible wife,
Nine. Celine Dufour, born Robichon,
who was, at the same time, his clerk and
his p~artner) had such a catastrophe fallen
upon his peaceful house. Not to nave
tasted his dessert at half-past 6l-for
that hour was about to strike, it was
striking, it had struck. Half-past 81
The little door of the rustic clock has
opened wide, the mocking bird, Tapping
his wings, has hurled out his 'cuckoo"
in a particularly ironical voice.
To see, for forty-five minutes past, an
excellent soup losing all its good quail
ties at a few feet away, and, in the bar
gain, not to know what good or bad his
dear little Charlotte was doing-it was a
cruel torture, in which to anguish of
the heart was added cramps of the
stomach. Never had NJ. Dufour been SO
near to compromising a suicides mo-
tives. His glance, now become a little
wild, wandered over the table, vaguely
seeking among the knives, the forks and
the spoons the instrument with which he
would put In end to this horrible sus-
pense.
AT this moment Gertrude, the old ser
want, monsieur's cook and mademoiselle's
maid, a veritable female factotum, enters,
grumbling, into the dining room.
NJ. Dufour, his patience and his
strength exhausted, has let fall his paper.
His two plump, soft hands, hanging at
the eXtremities of his swinging arms,
look as if they too wanted to fall off.
''Well, sir, " snaps Gertrude.
"Well, Gertrude" signs the unfortu-
nate man.
Hadn't 1 better take back the soup2"
'Do you think SO, Gertrude2 Charlotte
cannot fail to come in in a moment. 1t
is even quite surprising that she is not
here now. When did she go out, and
where has she gomez"
''Mademoiselle left at 4 o'clock, as she
always does, to take her piano lesson.
The lesson lasts an hour. Half an hour
to go, as much to come back. Made
moiselle should have been able to return,
as is her custom, at G o'clock"
"And it is thirty-tive minutes past g."
x cat this hour, you know, the omnibus
is often fulP'-
deuce take the omnibusl"
"Or mademoiselle, encouraged by the
fine weather, may have wanted to take a
little walk and come back on foot by the
Rue de la PAX. And there are many
dressmakers', many jewellers shops,
many things to see in the Rue de Ia Paix
for young people"
MAY the devil fly away with dresses,
and jewels, and young people too, when
they are as late as thisl I'd like TO know
what there can be to see at dinner time2
"A hungry stomach has no ears nor
should it have eyes"
without reckoning the lovers, the
coxcombs who follow pretty passers-by,
whispering in their ears a lot of silly
"Pshaw, I'm easy enough on that
score. Loversl You're joking, Gertrude,
Charlotte is a good girl, thank heaven
She knows how to put a whi~ppersnapper
in his place if there be need. She has