The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-05-22
HOW A WOMAN LOVED.

"a .79aehing Story Of IYonaa IEho Lorod for
Hdfu Century and ASted Nothing 4, Retur7L
GAS tho marquise has said, !" began the
old doctor, Glove is an affair Of temper
ament; for my part, passion came un-
der my observation that lasted iifty-tiye
years, without day of .respite, and was
terminated only by death.'
The margaise clapped her hands.
isn't that NIGEL cried she. GLOW
delicious to be loved sol What happi-
ness to live fifty.tive years enveloped by
such affection! How huppy he should
be, and how he ought to bless life, the
man who Is adored in that fashionl"
The doctor resumed with a smile:
Indeed, madam, you are not de-
ceivcd upon the point that the beloved
being was man. You know him-he
is NJ. Chouquct, the apothecary of the
town. AS to the woman, You knew her
also-she was the old chair member,
who came every year to the chateau.
But | will make myself better under
stood"
The enthusiasm Of the ladies had
cooled and their conntenances expressed
disgust, as II love had no business save
with elegant and high born people.
The doctor continued
Three months ago / was summoned
! to TINT old woman's death bed. She
had arrived the day before in the wagon
that served her for a dwelling, drawn
by the sorry horse you have seen, and
accompanied by her two huge black
dogs, her friends and guardians. The
cure was already there. She made us
her testamentary executors, and, to ex-
plain to us the meaning of her last
wishes, related to us the history OF her
whole life. l know OF nothing more
touching.
"Her father and mother both were
chair members. She had never lived in
q house built upon the ground
When young she had wan
dered about, ragged and dirty,
They stopped just outside of the vii
lagos, along the bitches; they unhar-
messed; the horse cropped the grass:
the dog dozed, his muz2le upon his
paws, and the child rolled amid the ver-
dure, while her parents mended, in the
shade Of the roadside elms, all the old
chairs Of the commune. They spoke
but little. After the few words neces-
sary to decide who should go around
among the horses uttering the we'll
known cry, The chair.mender is herep
they began to twist the straw, sitting
opposite to each other or side by side.
When the child strayed too far or en-
deavored to make the acquaintance Of
some village urchin. her fathers angry
voice recalled her with, Will you come
here, you little wretchY These were
the kindest words she ever heard.
"When she grew larger they sent her
TO gather up the broken chairs. While
thus engaged she became acquainted
with several lads here and there, but it
was then the parents Of her new friends
who roughly recalled their children,
shouting, will you come here, you SLOW
emily boy? I'll teach you better than to
chatter with baretooted vagrantsl'
Often the little lads threw stones at
her.
"Some ladies having given her few
sous, she kept them carefully. One
day-she was then twelve years old
MS she was passing through this district,
she. met at the back OF the cemetery
little Chouquet, who was weeping be-
cause comrade had stolen two sous
from him. Those tears Of little bour-
geous, of one OF those lads whom she
imagined in her weak Migrants head to
be always contented and joyous, upset
her. She approached, and when she
knew the reason OF his trouble she
poured into his hands all her savings,
seven sous. He naturally took them
and wiped away his tears. Then, wild
with Joy, she had the audacity to kiss
him. As he was attentively gazing at
the money, he let her go ahead. Seeing
that she was neither repulsed nor beat
en-, she began again; she Rugged him
with all her might, with all'hcr heart.
Then she ran off.
"WhGt was passing in her miserable
head? Had she attached herself to this
boy because she had sacrificed her yag-
abond's fortune for him, or because she
had given him her first tender kiss?
The mystery is the same for children
rs for grown-up people. For
months she dreamed of that corner Of
the cemetery aud of the boy; in the
hope OF seeing him again she robbed her
parents, pocketing Il sou here and an
other there from the money she col
lected for chair-mending, or the sums
with which she was sent to buy pro-
visions.
"When she returned to the district
she had two francs in her pocket. but
she could only catch glimpse OF the
little apothecary, looking very neat,
through the window OF the patenal
shop, between bottle filled with red
LIQUID and shelf well stocked with
drugs. She only loved him the more,
fascinated, agitated, rendered ecstatic
by this glory OF colored water, this
apothecary OF sparkling glass.
"She kept in her memory the inetiacCe-
able recollection of him, and when she
met him the following year, back of the
school-louse, playing marbles with his
comrades, she Rugged and kissed him
with such violence that he how!ed With
fear. Then to quiet him she gave him
her money-three francs twenty cen;
times-a genuine treasure that he stared
Mt with wide.open eyes, He took itand
let her caress him as long as she want
cd to.
"For four years more she poured into
his hands all the money she could get,
which he poCketed conscientiously in
exchange for willing kisses. 1t was one
time thirty sous, once or twice two
francs, once twelve sous only (she wept
with pain and humiliation on account OF
the smallness of the sum, but the year
had been bad), and the last time five
francs, q huge coin that made him laugh
contentedly.
0she had no thought but Of him. He
awaited her return with certain i'm
| H. eo,,, her which mnde the Young girls