The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-01-17

did not lose things sometimes perhaps
one might be happier than le ban DSeu
intended who knows?' Wilfred laughs
softly to himself at this bit Of philoso-
ply, and madame hastens into the inn
yard to speak TO Pauline, the maid, who
is gathering about the pavement in her
wooden shoes, quite forgetful, appar-
emily, that it will soon be time to serve
the dinner The look of vexation re-
turns to Wilfrcd's face when he is alone.
81 would rather lose almost any thing
else,s he says to himself just then
there is knock at the glass door Of his
room, which opens upon the gallery en-
circling the au6erge on the inner or
courtyard side. A tall, good-looking
fisher-girl stands there bare-footed and
bare-legged, holding in her hand the
missing eyeglass hook.
''Is it this which Monsieur has lost?'
she says, somewhat timidly. Wilfred
eagerly responds that it is
II found it on the plage but now"
says the girl, las was coming back to
the cliff with my net Alphonse
Cauchon, it was he who said to Lac that
the American Monsieur at the Auberge
Chretien had lost it, and Monsieur will
see that | have brought it at once to
him.
"It is very good Of you to take so
much trouble, says Wilfred, gently, and
he is about to offer her coin for the
service she has rendered him when the
girl shakes her head decidedly
'But no, Monsieur, it is not necessary
to pay Elise Rigault for doing simple
duty that costs her no trouble or pains"
True, true" assents Wilfred, 'but
Elise will not mind, hope, taking some
little thing from me that will help to
keep the American in mind after he has
left Arromanches." And, saying this,
he hands her a small, velvet-framed
picture of the Sistine Madonna which
stands on table by him and on which
his eyes happen to fall at that moment.
Elise takes it hesitatingly.
Surely she says, 'Monsieur can not
mean for me to have this!" And she
looks from the picture to Wilfred, and
from Wilfred back to the picture, in be-
wilderment
"Yes, that is just what do mean" :"
answered the other, with decision.
Elsie looks about the room, with its
many little devices for comfort and lux
ury-for Wilfred has something of the
sybarite in his composition-and then at
the ood-looking owner of them all, and
seems for moment lost in thought.
Monsieur is very kind" she says at
length, ''and he may be sure that Elise
will not forget him" And then she bids
the American good-evening, and goes
down the steep gallery staircase to the
inn yard, and disappears in the twi-
light, holding the velvet frame fast in
her hard hand.
Wilfred is too glad to regain Eleanor's
gift to think very much about the man
ner of its restoration, but the next
morning, as he sits under his tent, he
sees the fisher-girls crossing the sands
not far away from him. Among them is
Elise. bon jour, Monsieur" they call
out as they pass. Elise is the last one,
and she turns her head for another look
at him. He waves his hand kindly, and
she smiles and hurries on to her COM
panions.
The days go on quietly at AFRO
manches. One day is just like another,
but the young man does not mind that.
The walk down the pLage after break
fast; the reading and writing under the
red and white tent: the chats with the
occupants of the other tents; the walks
towards Bayeux or elsewhere in the
afternoon the evening spent among
the fishermen and their boats-these
things are what fill up his harmless, if
not severely profitable, days. Every
day the lines of bare-legged fsher-girls
crosses the silyery sands and every day
he waves his hand lightly to Elise and
thinks of her not again till the next
time he sees her
Elise's memory is longer. Indeed, he
is never far out of her mind. When she
is alone she repeats softly to herself the
words he said to her, and wonders
vaguely if all Americans are like him.
So the days go by with her; each with a
little pain, the cause of which she does
not quite know: each with little
sweetness in it when she sees him under
his tent on the pidge, O. catches a glimpse
of him in the village.
But August comes at length to its
end, and Wilfred makes up his mind to
leave Arromanches. Every one is sorry
to hear that he is going, and fully hall
the village gathers about the diligence
in front of the Auberge Chretien on the
morning of his departure. All the
Chretien household are there in full