Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-01

| teriouslv held by their drivers from lay
! ing their contents upon the Jagged pave
ments little old-fashioned squares washed
by runlets for paving divisions, with the
big names of La Triaite, SAINT Gerrais
! Guilaun,e le Congaerant, and the Crane
| Turc-the latter the most unlikely form
of hereto ever to have SO shaken the equi
librium of the quaint town; public
fountain, market-place, many -alsleo
churches smelling of damp and decay
| their fretted arches worn with age, and
| their pictures bleached of all color by the
moist stone; primitive shops, latticed
| windows, asthmatical old men in blouses
and nightcaps in which they seem toh2se
been born, and in which they promise to
die; girls in linen towers and starched
side flaps concealing every wave and curl
of their hair, their sdbots beating the flags
with the click of castanets; groups of idle
hussars, moustached and menacing, strut
ting the dilapidated public gardens like
walking arsenals, the eternal cigarette be-
tween their lips and the everlasting Sa-
pristi and Sdcre upon them. Throw in a
cure or two, wide-hatted, of leisured and
benevolent aspect, with a smile addressed
to the world as general mon enfdnt; an
| able, less leisured and less assured of pub
lie indulgence; discreet trere, whose hur-
rying movements shake his robes to the
dimensions of balloon; an elegant
sous. prefet, conscious of Partisan tail
! oring and much in request in
provincial salons; wooden-legged
Colonel, devoted to the memory of the
first Napoleon, and wrathful at that of
him of Sedan; few civilians of profess
sional calling, deferential to the military
and in awe of the Colonel the local Cos
sip and shopkeeper on Trinity Square,
Mere Lescaiit, who knows everything about
everybody, and the usual group of antago-
nistic politicians. For the outskirts, five
broad roads, diverging star-wise from a
common center, with an inviting simplic-
city of aspect that might tempt the least
adventurous spirit of childhood to make
by one OF these pleasant, straight and
leafy paths for the alluring horizon. Add
the local lion, Great Williams Tower, a
very respectable Norman ruin, where a
more mythical parsonage than William
might easily have been born, and which
might very well hallow more ancient loves
than those of Robert and the washerwo-
man Arletta; splendid equestrian statue
of the Conqueror, and a quantity of
threads of silver water running between
messy banks, where women in mountain
Gus caps of linen wash clothes, and the
violets in spring and autumn grow so
thickly that the air is faint with their
sweet scent. Afsr, green field upon green
field stretching on all sides till the atmes-
pheric blue blots out their color and melts
them into the sky; sudden spaces of wood
making shadows upon the bright plains
and dusty roads, fringed with poplars, cut
ting uninterrupted paths to the horizon.
The weekly fair was being held on the
Place de la Trinite when Herve made his
way so far. The noise and iollity stunned
him. Long tables were spread round,
highly colored and decorated with vari-
ETY. of objects, and good humored clearly
Norman women in caps, and men in blue
blouses, were shouting exchanged speech
or wrangling decorously. Herve thrust
his hands into his pockets in pretense of
security, like that assumed by his elders
upon novel occasions, though his pulses
shook with unaccustomed force and veloc-
ity; and he walked round the tables with
uneasy impulses towards the toys and
sweetmeats, and thought a ride on the
merry go-round would be an enviable SEN
sation. But these temptations he CALAMITY
resisted, as unbecoming his serious bust
ness. Women smiled upon him, and
called him &c JOLT petit monsieur, fact
which caused him more surprise than any,
thing else, having heard his father
describe him as ugly. He bowed to them
when he rejected their offers of toys and
penknives, but could not resist the invita-
ton of fresh cake, and held his hat in
one hand while he searched in his pocket
to pay for it. Herve made up for his dull
ness by correctness of demeanor that was
rather depressing than captivating.
Munching his cake with secret pleas
ure in this Slight infringement of social
law, he wandered upon the skirt of the
noisy and good-natured crowd, which in
the settlement Of its affairs was lavish in
smiles and Jokes. What should he do with
his liberty and leisure when his senses had
tired of this particular form of intoxica-
ton? He bethought himself of the famous
tower which Pierrot, the valet, had as
sured him was the largest castle in the
world. CHANGING up the square he saw
the old wooden-legged Colonel limping
towards him, and Herve promptly de-
cided that so warlike parsonage could
not fail to be aware of the direction in
which the tower lay He barred the Col
oners way with his hat in his hand, and
said: "Please, monsieur, will you be so
good as to direct me to the castle of Will
lam the Conqueror"
The Colonel heard the soft tremulous
pipe, and brought his fierce glare down
upon the urchin with hawk-like pene-
tration. Fearful menace seemed to lie in
the final tap of his wooden leg upon the
front of Herve, and he cleared his chest
with a loud military sound like boom.
Herve stood the sound, but WINGED and
repeated his request more timidly. Now
this desperate-looking soldier had a kindly
heart and loved children. He had not the
least idea that his boom, and his shaggy
| eyebrows, and his great scowling red face
| frightened the life out of them. A request
! from child so small and feeble to be d.
rected to anybody's castle, much less to
| the Conqueror's, when so many strong and
! idle arms in the world must be willing to
carry him, afflicted him with an almost ma
| ternal throb of tenderness. By his smile he
dispersed the unpleasant impressions of his
boom and the click of his artificial limb,
and completely won Nerves confidence,
who was quite pleased to find his thin lit
tie fingers lost in the grasp of new COM
panion's large hand, when the giant in
! uniform turned and volunteered to con-
| duct him to the tower. Crossing the Square
! of GuiIlaume lie Conquerant, Herve even
became expansive.
Look, monsieur" he cried, pointing to
the beautiful bronze statue; zone would
say that the horse was about to jump and
throw the knight"
The Colonel slapped his chest like a
man insulted in the person of glorious
ancestor, and emitted an unusually grufi
boom, that nearly blew little Herye to the
other side of the square and made his lips
| tremble.
"Fd like, young sir, to see the horse
7 II al hat