Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-04-26
III

III
- Perfect happiness exists nowhere. and
Captaln Mercadier, who believed that no
had found 1t az the Cafe Prosper. soon re-
covered from his illusion.
For one thing, On Mondays. the market
DAY, the Cafe Prosper was untenantable.
FROM early morning it was overrun with
iiruck-peddlers, farmers, end poultrymen.
heavy men with coarse voices red necks
and great whips in their hands, wearing
blue blouses and otter-skin caps. bargain
ing over their cups, stamping their feet,
striking their fists, familiar with the ser
want, and bungilng at billiards.
when the Captain came, at IL O'Clock, for
ms hrst glass OF absinthe, he found this
crowd gathered, and already half drunk.
ordering quantity of lunches. His usual
place was taken, and he was served SLOWLY
and badly. The bell was continually
sounding, and the proprietor and the
waiter, with napkins under their arms.
were running distractedly hither and
thIther. In short, II was an ill-Omened
day, which upset his entire existence.
Now one Monday morning when he was
resting quietly at home. being sure that
the CAFE would be much too full and busy,
the mild radiance of the autumn sun pcr-
suaded him TO 60 down and SIT upon the
stone seat 10y the side Of the house. He
was sitting there depressed and smoking q
damp cigar when he saw coming down the
end OF the street-it was a badly-paved
lane leading out into the country-a little
girl OF eight or ten, driving before her o
half-dozen geese.
As the Captain looked carelessy of the
child he saw that she had wooden leg
There was nothing paternal in the heart
or the soldier. Ii was that Of hardened
bachelor. In former DAYS in the streets of
Algiers. when the little begging Arabs pur-
sued him with their impOrtunate prayers,
the Captain lad often chased them away
with blows from his whip; and on those
rare occasions when he had penetrated the
nomadic household Of some comrade who
was married and the father of family, he
had gone away cursing the crying babies
and awkward children who had touched
with their greasy hands the gliding on his
uniform.
But the sight of that particular infirmi-
ty, which recalled to HIM the sad Specta-
Gle of wounds and amputations, touched
on that account, the Old soldier. He felt
almost a construction Of the heart at the
sight of that sorry creature, half-clothed
IN her tattered petticOats an old chemise.
bravely running along behind her geese,
her bare foot in the dust, and llmplng on
her ill-made wooden stump.
The geese, recognizing their home, turn
ed into the poultry-yard, and the little one
was about to follow them when the Cap
tain stopped her with this question
Eth little girl, what's your name?"
"Pierette, Monsieur, at your service"
she answered, looking at him with her
great black eyes. and pushing her disor-
dered locks from her forehead.
You live in this house, then? / haven't
seen you before"
Yes, | know you pretty well, though,
for sleep under the stairs, and you wake
me up every evening when you come
home"
us that so. my girl? All, well, must
walk on my toes in future. How old are
Nine. Monsieur, come All-Saints' day.
as the hndlady here q relative Of
yours?n
mo. Monsieur; am in service"
And they give your"
Soup, and bed under the stairs"
"And how came you to be lame like
that, my poor little one!"
BY the kick of a COW when / was five"
Have you father or mother -
The child blushed under her sunburned
skin. ~ came from the Founding Hos
pital," she said, briefly. Then with nm
awkward curtesy, she passed limping into
the house, and the Captain heard, as she
went away on the pavement of the court,
the hard sound of the little wooden leg.
Good heavens he thought, mechanically
walking toward the CAFE that's not at all
the thing. A soldier. at least, they pack oil
TO the lnvalIdes, with the money from his
medal TO keep him IN tobacco. For an
officer. they fix up q collectorship, and he
marries somewhere in the provinces. But
this poor girl. with such an infrmity-
that's not at all the thing
Having established in these terms the
Injustice of fate, the Captain reached the
threshold of his dear CAFE. but he saw there
such a mob of blue blOuses. he heard Such
a din of laughter and click of billiard-balls,
that be returned home in very bad humOr.
His room-it was, perhaps, tho first time
that he had spent In 1t several hours OF the
day-looked rather shabby. His bed-cur-
tains were the color of an old pipe. The
fireplace was heaped with old cigar-stumps.
and one could have written his name IN the
dust on the furniture. He contemplated
for some time the walls where the suhIlIhe
lancer of I,eipsic rode hundred times TO a
piorious death. Then, for an occupation,
he passed his wardrobe IN review. IL was
n lamentable series of bottOmless pockets,
socks full of holes. and shirts without but
tons.
Then he thought of the little lame girl.
"Tbat,s what I'll do. I'll hire the next
little room. Winter is coming, and the
little thing Will HteIe uhdot 'H0 80
She will look after my clothes ana my
linen and keep the barracks clean' a 'aio''
Bnt a cloud darkened the comfortable
nicture. The Captain remembered thaI
ruarter-day was still long way OF, ana
t6at his account at the Cafe Prosper was
assuming alarming proportions. ,..,x
Not rich enough" he said TO himself
And in the mean time they are roDDlus
me down there. That IS posltVe; me
Loard is too high. and that wretch OF
yetar,norv piays beziqle much too well.
bove maid his way now for eight days.
Who knowsg Perhaps | had better put the
l;ttle ono in charge of the mess, soup di
.cgfo IN the morning, stew az noon anu
,.C,7o,J every eyening-campaign hle' IN
fact. | know all about that. quite tne
Going out he saw at once the mistress OF on
the house, q great brutal peasant, aIo Ghe
little lame girl, who ootn Win p tbe dpne.
in their hands were turning o'eI 'n0
NVs q Rn 90 she know how to sew, to wash, to
make soup ?" he asked, brusGueiy'
Who-Pierotte! Why
Does she know little OF oil that
"Of course. She came from an asylum
where they learn how TO take care Oh theih-
selves ,,,uoco,,+o;n
''IpU me, llttle one, huNtN VIZ ONtN
.,,,ol,;no 10 fine child, IL am not soaring
you~~no? Well. my good woman, wiilyou
iet me have her? 1 want servant.
IF YOU will support ner."
"Tben that IS finished. Here are twen-
4. sIancs Let her have tonight dress
and a shoe. Tomorrow we'll arrange the
And. with friendly tap on Pierette's
cheek. the Captain went of; delighted tha ad
eovervfbinp was concluded. Possibly he
tboI;obt ne would have to cut OF some
classes shDSs of beer and absinthe; and be eau
ti@ a1 OF the veterinary's skill at 6ezlqae,
Rnt chat was not worth speaking OF, am
the new arrangement would DC qu''e 'he
thing.
".
CAPTAIN, you are coward ..o
Snrb was the apostrophe with which the
csrvatides of the Cafe Prosper hereafter
SS q the Captain, whose visits became