Wichita eagle., 1889-07-11

speed and confidence! The brow SO near
his own had conceived and executed a
crime! Those hands, joined upon the
confessional, were red with blood!-were
perhaps still soiled with it as it had run
from the veins of his victim!
And in the horror that assaifed the
Able Faber as the penitent spoke there
was possibly little terror, for he could
find no words in which to respond but
the conventional
Confess, confess, my son; the mercy
of God is infinite"
''Wel, listen to my story" said the
man, his voice vibrating and harsher
than ever in its hopeless sorrow.
''By trade [ am a mason, layer of
brick and stone, and came to Paris at 90
years of age with friend and compan-
ion of my childhood and from my own
village. We lived together and learned
to read together ct the public schools.
He was called Philippe and was more
than a brother to me, and l am called
Jacques. He was also tall, handsome, a
good worker and carried his heart in his
L.
duh, not even as good a mason as Phi
lippe, yet so proud of having such q friend,
SO glad to walk beside him in the boule-
wards and to have him clap me on the
back and call me his great stupid In
short, | loved him, and though he left
me three-quarters of the time to go and
amuse himself with his comrades In the
cafes l still loved him.
st was natural at his age; he was
happy and liked pleasure; he was free,
with no cares to worry him, and was
not free-f was forced to be saving, for
had an old and infIm mother in my vii
lage home who needed all [ could give
her. 1t was for this first began to take
my meals with a woman who lived in
the same house with me and made her
living by furnishing the pot-au-feu for
all the masons.
Philippe did not do this, but ate else
where, and I remained, perhaps for an
other reason-I loved the daughter of
the household, loved her madiy. Poor
Catherinel and you will see presently,
NJ lie Cure, to what ali this is coming. I
lived there for three years without tell
ing her Of my love for her. l was too
poor, too Indifferent worker, and
scarcely earned suff1oient,to care for my
self and my mother. When she left me
for heaven, for she was q good and pious
woman, | did better-I saved a little
money-enough, it seemed to me, to
start a household. spoke to Catherine,
and at first she said neither yes nor no.
"Parbleul was not attrective-I see
it now, and it was not until her mother,
who liked me web, talked on my side
that our marriage was finally agreed
upon. All, NJ. lie Cure, spent then
some happy weeks, though feared that
Catherine had only accepted me and did
not love me. But she was good girl,
with a. good heart, and meant to wait
i loved her SO much she would surely
love me.
"Of course, had told Philippe, whom
I saw every day upon the scaffolding-
we were then employed by the same pa
tron-told him, I say, everything. The
result, IL. le Cure, you have doubtless
OWNED. Philippe was handsome man,
gay, free handed, everything. in short,
that was not, and soon, witl.ot.. either
Of them intending it, Catherine was saad
about him. She was a good girl, as Eve
old you, and she told me of it as soon
as she knew it herself. Ali the same,
shall never forget that moment.
''Ah, well, I loved them, loved them
both, NJ. lie Cure, and believed it would
be for their happiness. Philippe had al
ways made a good salary, but had saved
nothing. l gave him my savings; he
purchased furniture, and they were Lar
red Every thing at first went well, and
here was one child, boy, named Ca
mile, and | was the godfather; it was
after the birth Of the child that things
began to go wrong. | had been mistaken
Philippe was not meant for marriage;
ne loved pleasure and gay company too
much. You, who spend your life among
he poor, N. le Cure, know by heart this
'ad history; IN the beginning the worker
who little by little glides into idleness,
and absences of two and
;hree days; then who reports only at the
md of week, makes q scene and ends
~ beating his wife. In less than two
Years Philippe had become one of these
''In the beginning sought to stop him
to correct him; my remonstrances only |
made him furious, separated US and |
stripped the household for the furnishing
If the Monte de Pete all the faster. One |
hight he had the shamelessness to make |
ne a shameless propo-2l-of his own |
wife, too, that poor, pale Catherine, as
honest as the Holy Virgin. There was |
Gene between US, accusations and in |
ults, heaped upon US both by this
drunken fool. l struck him, andre |
lounced even seeing Catherine and my
,odson. Philippe I only saw when we
HANGED to meet (Which, as he worked
nut little, was infrequently) on the same
suilding.
Still loved them all too well to lose
hem from sight; yet l could only prowl
he quarter on Saturday nights when
philippe had gone TO drink up the wages
lie had Just received, and if there was too
much misery in the household, which
earned by listening TO the gossips, doing
what could to relieve it. Philippe, the
hameless, discovered this, and, finding
hat l would still come TO the aid of his
7ife and child, found it very agreeable.
ITO abridge-years passed thus, PHI
ppe ever sinking deeper and deeper into
ice, but Catherine, with my help, had
cen able to bring UP her son as brave,
onest and true as herself, though not rs