Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-02-22
4 LINGERING aooD-BYK.


He shook hands with mother and daughter,
said goodbye, yet fingered and said goodbye
again when stern officials ordered him of. He
ioitered at the carriage door till tho very last
moment
He sighed as he walked away from the termi-
nus, and he was full of thought through all the
dreary length Of the Rue de LAFAYETTE
Happy fellow. to be beginning life with
such girl as that for his companion" he
mused thinking of Cyril: 'She is SO gentle,
yet so bold, SO fresh and frank and gay and
clever-a child in ignorance of all base things
a woman in power to understand and appre-
ciste all that is great and noble. If ever care
again for womankind my love will be Just such
a girl as that. 1 wonder if there are MANY
such and where they are to be found"
He wondered too. though he scarcely shaped
the thought whether, if the world were rich in
girls as innocent and as bright, and endowed
with all the qualities that made Margaret Hat
rel charming, ne should be attracted to any
other specimen Of the kind he had been at
tracted to her. He wondered whether it might
not be the individual and not the type which
had fascinated him.
He pondered these questions as if in a purely
speculative mood, but was careful not to an
swer them. They were doubts which foated
through his mind like cloudlets in a summer
sky. And in his mind there foated also the
image of girls face, fresh and fair. with no
faint or tarnish Of the world, no artificial en-
Enlistment OF paint or powder, pencil or brush,
upon its pure young beauty. The image
haunted him long after the train had carried
Clara Arden and her daughter to Calais long
after they had settled down quietly at River
Lawn.
He did not forget the commission which
Mrs. Arden had entrusted to him. He went to
the hue Chauve Souris on the morning after
that prolonged leave taking at the station and
found the house which, if there had been no
alteration IN the numbering Of the street with
in the last twelve years, must once have
sheltered the girl who loved Robert Hatred.
1t was a narrow house, with a shoemaker's
shop on the ground floor, kept by one of those
small traders who do more in the way of re-
pairing old boots and shoes than of selling new
ones. There was side door, which WAS open,
and narrow passage, leading to staircase,
where there was just enough light to reveal the
dirt and shabbiness of the walls and the indi-
cations Of poverty upon every landing.
Florestan went to the top OF the house with
out meeting anybody, but he heard the voices
OF children upon the first floor, domestic
quarrel upon the second, with voices raised to
their highest pitch in accents of recrimination.
and on the top story q woman was singing a
monotonous sentimental melody, in apparent
inconsistencies Of the strife below. 1t was
evident there wore separate households upon
each stor:,.
The sing-song voice of the woman IN the
garrett was so suggestive Of peaceful MENACE
that Florestan took courage to knock at her
door. which was opened by the singer, a faded
woman with gentle, long-suffering cast of
countenance, washed-out cotton gown, and a
little cashmere shawl pinned across attenuated
shoulders. baby in a cradle in the corner
near the hearth accounted for the monotonous
chant which Florestan had heard outside.
He apologized for his intrusion, and told her
he was in search Of a woman who had lived in
that house twelve years before Would she
direct him to the oldest inhabitant of the
house?
"You won't have far to 20 to find her." an
swered the woman. There's only one lodger
who has been in this house over two or three
years, and l fancy that one must have lived
here ever since the taking of the Bastille. No
body knows how old she is, but it wouldn't sur
prise me to be told she was hundred. II she
has sense enough or memory enough to an
swer your questions she ought to be able to tell
you anything you want to know about former
dodgers"
''Who is this persona"
Smile. de Lafont, a pensioner Of q noble
family In Iouralne. She is a distant relation
OF the Marquis de Lafont, who allows her
tiny pension. Her grandfather and grand
was left helpless lad in Paris. She will tell
you her story. She loves to talk of her youth
and Its dangers. And though she has a very
poor memory for events that happened yester-
day she remembers the smallest things con-
nected with her childhood"
IF that Is the condition Of her mind she
may have forgotten ledger of dozen years
ago." suggested Gilbert.
Il can't answer for that. can only tell you
that she must have been in this house with
your ledger. If you want to talk to her can
take you down to her room. She is very poor,
but her room il always clean and neat She has
Just strength enough left to attend to that, and
when her sweeping and busting are done she
sits all day by the window rolling her thumbs
and talking to her canary bird"
poor old soul! I feel interested in her
from your description, and shall be very
much obliged if you will introduce me to her.
ITO be Continued.