The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-19

Notwithstanding her thoroughly cheerful
nature, Angelique liked solitude; and it
was to her the greatest of recreations to be
alone in her room, morning and evening
There, she gave herself up to her thoughts;
there, she INDUCED to the full scope in her
most Joyous fsncies. Sometimes even dur
ing the day, when she could go there for
moment, she was as happy as if in full free
dom she had committed some childish
prank.
The chamber was very large, taking in at
least half of the upper story, the other half
being the garrett. It was whitewashed
everywhere, not only the walls and the
beams, but the joistS, even to the visible
copings of the mansard part of the roof ;
and in this bare whiteness, tue old oaken
furniture seemed almost as black as ebony.
At the time of the decoration Of the sleep
ing room below, and the improvements
made in the parlor, the ancient furniture,
which had been bought at various epochs,
had been carried upstairs. There was a
great carved chest of the Renaissance
period, a table and chairs which dated from
TIE reign of Louis Kill, an enormous bed
stead, style Louis XIV, and very hand
some wardrobe, Louis XIV In the middle
of these venerable old things a white porce-
lain stove, and the little toilette table COW
erel with a pretty oilcloth, seemed out of
place and to mar the dull harmony Cur
tanned with an old-fashioned rose-colored
chlntz, on which were bouquets of heather,
SO faded that the color had become
scarcely perceptible pink the enormous bed
st ad preserved above all the ma jeSty of its
great age.
But what pleased Angelique mora than
ANYTHING else was the little balcony on
which the window opened. OF the two
original windows, one of them, that at the
left, had been closed by simply fastening it
with nails. and the balcony which formerly
extended across the front of the building,
was now only before the window at the
right AS the lower beams were still
strong, a new floor had been made, and
above it an iron railing was firmly attached
in place of the old worm-eaten wooden
balustrade. This made a charming little
corner, quiet nook under the gable point,
the leaden lashes of which had been re-
uewed at the beginning of the century. BY
bonding ovor a little the whole garden front
of the house could be seen in very dilapi-
dated state, with its sub-basement OF little
cut stones. its panels ornamented with imi-
tation bricks and its large bay window,
which to-day had been made somewhat
kitchen door was covered with zinc. And
above, the interduces of the top, which pro-
jected three feet or more, were strength
ened by large, upright pieces of wood, the
end, of which rested on the string course of
tue first floor. All this gave to the bal
cony an appearance of being in a perfect
vegetation of timber, as if in the midst of a
forest of old wood, which was green with
wall flowers and moss.
Since she occupied the chamter, Ange-
liuue had spent many hours there, leaning
over the baiustrade and simply looking. At
first, directly under her was the garden,
darkened by the eternal shade of the ever
green box trees; in the corner nearest the
church, cluster of small lilac bushes sur
rounded an old granite bench; while in the
opposite corner, half hidden by beautiful
ivy which covered the whole wall at the end
as if with mantle. was little door open
ing upon the Clos Marie, a vast, unculti-
waited field. This Clos-Marie was the old
orchard of the monks. A rivulet of purest
spring water crossed if, the Chevrotte,
where the women who occupied tde houses
in the neighborhood had the privilege of
washing their linen; certain poor people
sheltered themselves in the ruins of an old
tumble-down mill; and no other persons
inhabited this field which was connected
with the Rue Magloire simply by the mar
row lane of the Guerdaches which passed
between the high walls of the bishops pal
ace and those of the Hotel Voincourt In
summer, the centenarian elms of the two
parks barred with their green-leaved tops
the straight limited horizon, which in the
center was cut off by the gigantic brow of
the cathedral. Thus shut in on all sides, the
Clos Marie slept in the quiet peace of its
abandonment, overrun with weeds and wild
grass, planted with poplars and willows
sown by the wind. Among the great peb-
l. H. 10 Ian I'D Gin
went, and making a continuous music as if
of crystal.
Angelique was never weary OF this out-of-
the-way nook. Yet for seven years she had
seen there each morning only what she had
looked at on the previous evening. The
trees in the little park of the Hotel Noin-
court, whose front was on the Grand Rue,
were so tufted and bushy that it was only
In toe winter she could occasionally catch
glimpse of the daughter of the countess,
Mademoiselle Claire, young girl OF her
own age.
In the garden of the bishop was a still
mora dense thickness of branches and she
had often tried i'll vain to distinguish there
the violet colored cassock of monseigneur,
and the old gate, with its Venetian Stats
above and at the sides, must have been
fastened up for very long time, for she
never remembered to nave seen it opened,
not even for gardener to pass through.
Besides the washerwomen in the Clos, she
always saw the same poor, ragged little
children playing or sleeping in the grass.
The spring this year was unusually mild.
She was just 16 years of age, and until now
she had been glad to welcome with her eyes
alone the growing green again of the Clos
Marie under the April sunshine. The shoot
ing out of the tender leaves, the trans
parency of the warm evenings, all the re-
viving odors of the earth had simply
amused her heretofore. But this year at
the first bud, her heart seemed to beat more
quickly. AS the grass grew higher and the
wind brought to her all the strong perfumes
OF the fresh verdure, there was in her
whole being an increasing agitation. Sud
den inexplicabe pain would at times seize
her throat and almost choke her. One
evening she threw herself, weeping, into
Hubertine's arms, having no cause what
ever for grief, but, on the contrary, over
whelmed with so great, unknown happi-
ness, that her heart was too full for re-
straint In the night her dreams were de-
hghtful. Shadows seemed to pass before
her, and she fell into such an ,ecstatic state
that on awakening she did not dare to re-
call them, so confused was she by the angelic
visions of bliss. Sometimes, in the middle
of her great bed, she would rouse herself
suddenly her two hands joined and pressed
against her breast as il heavy burden
were weighing her down and almost suffo-
eating her Sha would then hmm M. rush