Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-06-14
SARAH.


decai will be sufficient. He lived in the Troi.
sieme- Dataillon-d Antique, in the jewish quar-
tar, and I was captain in the Second
Zouaves can still see his little dwelling,
with its low, vaulted door, thick, solid and
studded with nails in strange designs, its
white walls pierced with occasional and heav.
lily barred windows, those strange walls OF
Africa which calmly stare at each other
across the narrow streets ard incline at the
top until they almost meet. And l remem-
Der him also as l saw him first, in his little
shop among his goods exposed for sale, dust
ing his babouches and velvet slippers, orna-
mented with jewelcd buckles, pearls and
golden bratds.
Slippers, however, were not all his shop
contained He was an omni-merchant, and
you found in his stock everything that you
did or did not want, from the ferule of a cast
Off cane to gems Of rarest value A strange
acquaintance for me to have made, and it
came about through an adventure, a defense,
rather, of this Jewish merchant, whom q
rascal was seeking to defraud Of his money.
Briefly, Mordecai was moved to gratitude,
and the next morning, as a souvenir, be-
slowed upon me Kabyle gun, beautifully
inlaid with ivory and pearl
From that day l was as one of the family;
they ran at my coming, and called upon me
always to admire the thousand and one odds
and ends which the Jew was constantly pur-
chasing from all quarters, and from which I
was always expected to take my choice.
Naturally, since be liked me SO much, it
ended in my liking him little, for friend
ship, like love, is certainly contagious. Mat
tors in, Sbaroo wi iDrr
as I stroned in the Rue Rationale with q
group of comrades, the Jew met us, and
stopped me to describe cargo of valuables
which had Just arrived for him from Me-
quinez, and which he wished me to see i'm
nediately. would do SO, l promised him,
so soon as dinner was over, and giving him
a hand shake, was about to rejoin my COM
rades, when carriage passed us the horses
going at a gallop, shining for a moment in
the sun; ght-then gone like flash.
We all turned with cry of admiration
every one, that is, save Mordecai the Jew.
A sudden pain in my hand recalled his pres
ence to me; wheeled, to find him pale as
piece of linen, sweat pearling his brow, his
fingers gripped upon mine, and his eyes fol-
lowing, with a gaze Of flame, the vehicle
which had just gone by, and in which re-
clined a woman whose beauty had brought
from US that cry of admiration.
"What is it," I cried, dismayed at his ap-
pearance; "what is it-are you ILL"
"Ill? no. he began; then, with a groan
and a Hebrew word-a curse, doubtless-he
whirled about and fled ike a mailman in the
opposite direction from the vehicle.
"And you didn't know here" Villaret de-
manded, as rejoined my comrades, still talk
ing of this beautiful woman whose carriage
was not yet lost in the distance; ''or did you
not see who it was2"
NO." responded, "and 1 scarcely saw her
before she was gone"
"What! you really didn't know herr She
is the-but what do you call him, the Jew
you were talking to moment agol Morde-
cal? Well, she IS Mordecai's daughter!'
"Daughterf Impossible! he has never even
mentioned that he had one!"
at is the truth, all the same. She is his
daughter, and there is story attached which
/ will relate to you, as we finish our cigars.
Nothing extraordinary, but still story, and
short.
Five years ago." continued Villaret, "this
woman was the most beautiful ornament of
her fathers shop, and clothed in the elegant
Jewish costume which displays SO perfectly
the curves of the body. Tall and slender as
you sec her today, and with long lashes shad-
ing her black eyes, she was as lovely as a
houri escaped from Mahommedan paradise.
Whether she was adored among her kind and
kindred / leave you to imagine. She was
Sarah, Judith, Rachel in one, and truly an
object of worship to her father, who daily
thanked his God for having blessed him with
a child so beautiful.
well, Constantine, like all other garrison
cities, is sad place, as you know, One begins
and ends, particularly when one is young, by
finding nothing better to do than to drink
absinthe morning and night. One wearies of
this, it is true, and when one is ennuied one is
not indifferent TO pretty girls The point Of
which is, that there was at this time in Con-
stantine young Chasseur d'Afrique, GER
tain lieutenant by the name of Goblin, a hand
some Lyonnaise Of % years, always spick and
span in new costume, and bored to death,
SO bored, indeed, that he had recourse to the
singular distraction Of visiting street after
street, emitting none in the whole city Of
Constantine.
This strolling naturally drew him at last
TO the Rue Troisiene-Bataillon, where, for
the first time, he saw Sarah-which, by the
way, is really her name-nonchalantly seated
beside her father, aud amusing herself by
counting the pearls in her collar. Under
pretense of buying bsbouches, Goblin halted
st the threshold; but it was neither tho velvet
nor leather ones covered with their strange
ornamentations, nor the gold embroidered
ones Of Turkey or Morocco which drew his
gaze. No. his fascinated and ardent eyes
contemplated, as in an ecstasy, this splendid
beauty 50 suddenly revealed TO him, and
already the passion Of love was dawning in
his soul
TRANQUILITY the merchant showed his wares
and continued TO talk, though Goblin con-
tinued absorbed and silent; and TRANQUILITY,
also, the young girl, apparently Indifferent
70 everything about her, applied herSeH TO
recommending the counting OF her pearls.
For moment she remained thus, then, tired
perhaps OF the heutenants persistency, she
got up, and, with a glance of the eye nearly
lnsolent IN its chalenge-clear, piercing.
rspld-a glance which buried itself like two
points OF light in the answering gaze of the
young man, she turned and passed from
sight behind the inner door.
w ell. monsieur demanded Mordacai as
loom unnamed absorbed, which DO you pre-
ferP
His voice recalled the heutenantSthoughts;
be moved bruSqueiy.
Neither he responded, decidedly. 7 wish
neither; but look you, jew, tell me what you
ask for your daughterr
Ny daughterf cried Mordecai, amazed;
did l hear you aright-did you say my
daughterr
les, and tell me quickly your price for
heal wish herr
ssAbf I saa - - - A., a..