Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-01-02
CHAPTER XVI.

How delightful 1t was to be In the bright
south again, to feel that there was a real sur
in the heavens above, and here and there n
real friend on the earth belowl What re-
lief it was to have done with squalor and iS-
noble penury,to be delivered from an engage
ment which ought never to have been entered
into, to come and go at within a word, to be
as free as air
This was the sort of thing that Chris kept
calculating to herself from morning to night
after her arrival at Cannes and perhaps she
would not have INDUCED in such calculations
quite SO often II she had been sure of being as
happy as by rights she ought to have been.
Tho Lavergnes were kindness itself They
received her and treated her like a daughter
of their own, showing her, indeed, more con-
sideraton than the generality of parents are
accustomed to show to their children, in that
they asked no questions at all and allowed
her to tell them as much or as little us she
pleased about the events of the past summer
and autumn. Other old friends, too, turned
up, and were loud and hearty in their well
come. jose, back from a pedestrian circuit
among Pyrenean watering-places; the man
who sold roasted cheStnutS the shabby SER
gent de Vile; the italian musicians and the
geod-humored lazy begGars-with all these it
was Joy and wonder to chat just as of
yore; because not one of them was u bit
changed, and mono Of them seemed to realize
since the last season." of which they spoke
as though it had ended the day before yester-
terday. Yet beneath all these pleasant re.
newals of old associations there lurked an
amari aliquid of which Chris was increas-
ingly conscious. "Rein nest change il ny a
qu'un Francois de plus" said tho king of
France, when he returned to a country in
which everything was changed except him.
self. Chris was in the opposite predicament;
for although Cannes and its Inhabitants re-
manned unaltered, she was no longer the girl
who had once been happy there; and what
was unfortunate and inexplicable was that
the things which had formerly sufflced to
make her happy had now lost power. Well,
to be sure, her father was dead, which was
good and respectable reason for sadness !;
only, when she examined herself, she found
that that was not the real reason; or at any
rate, not the sole one. Then poor dear Peter
was no more, and she missed him at every
turn yet somehow the loss of Peter did not
seem altogether to account for the listlessness
and WEAKNESS which oppressed her. "I
don't know what Is the matter with me-"
Chris said TO horself, with sigh "but
everything seems very unsatisfactory"
II was Dr. LaverSne who at length enlight.
ened her as to the true nature of her malady
The doctor had heard from his wife, who had
heard from Chris herself, all that could DO
safely told about Val Richardson, and he
knew that the girl was well I'd of bad bar
gain. Also he was acquainted with the cpl
sodes attendant upon her Il Sht to Paris; for
of these she made no secret Now, with such
facts before him and with certain we'll known
and unmistakHble symptoms staring him in
the face, DR.. Lavergne had made a diagnosis
of her case which he flattered himself was
substantially accurate. Only he could not
prescribe a remedy, because, for one thing,
he did not believe in prescriptions of any
kind, and for another, he needed some further
information before he could even suggest q
possible cure.
Therefore, while she was helping him to tic
up his roses one afternoon, he said abruptly:
"Mademoselle, you are worrying yourself
and that is an extremely foolish thing to dc
People who worry themselves become pr,
naturely wrinkled."