The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1892-12-16
NINA.


all those choreographic establishments
which the Partisan grisette visits regu-
larly in order to lose her heart-and not
infrequently her rosy cheeks and the
freshness Of her youth.
Harcourt pretended to study medicine,
and it was among these pretty girls
sellers Of flowers, embroiderers of linen,
and painters models-that he managed
to forget the terrors of the hospital and
the scenes o. the surgical amphitheater.
Charles Harcourt had just arrived at
the time Of life when soft down shows
on the lip, when love knocks at the
breast, and when the heart resembles q
lusty tree, full of vigor, from which has
fallen as yet neither leaf nor fruit.
The trombones of the orchestra roar,
like thunder on stormy sea; the vio-
Inns scream like sea gulls above the
waves; the music rolls and growls like
some hungry beast. All is confusion.
White shoulders and gold lace gleam
through the heavy air. The innocent
and the guilty dance together in the
same delirious motion.
advancing wildly and as wildly retreat
ing, far in corner sits slender girl
watching the dance with an air of sad
ness Her mournful eyes follow the
crazy motions of the crowd with aston
ishment, and a light sigh moves the
folds of null on her breast.
In the midst of this indescribable
confusion, this pellmell of figures and
voices, appears that of handsome boy
of twenty-five, remarkable for his vivac-
ity and the boldness of his speech and
gesture. Finally, when the violins have
ended their agonizing cries and the
lamps are dying before the oncoming
daylight, this boy, whom his friends sa-
Lutte as Harcourt, leaves the ball, new
conquest upon his arm-it is the slender
brunette Of the corner
Charles Harcourt appeared no moro
at the balls of the Latin quarter, but
spent his days at L'Ecole de Medicine,
passing his first examinations with dis
tlnction. In one of those fascinating
little houses-such are Beranger pre-
tends to have inhabited at twenty
Charles made his home, guarding jcal-
ously the dangerous happiness OF a
union contracted without the help of
lie maire and which is called morganatic
to avoid the use of less delicate phrase
His conquest of the ball was named
Nina. She was q good and affectionate
child, and in spite of the anacreontic
quadrilles of the Latin quarter. she was
innocent. She had kept her heart in-
tact. 1t was her sole economy Charles
and Nina loved one another like two of
La Fontaine's doves. But Nina was Il
consumptive, and Charles read with az
fright the death Of his happiness in the
paling face of his beloved.
His care Of her was untiring; but this
implacable malady never releases, and
soon in kiss Charles received his mis-
tress's last sigh. Nina died in the hos
pital; her long illness having exhausted
their feeble resources, and Charles had
the cruel courage to deliver the body of
his beloved to the investigations of the
pathologist. He wished to pursue, even
in the flesh, this rival who had killed
her. He made use of cynical usage to
preserve the skull. This, with a plaster
mask nodded upon the emaciated body
Of the dead girl, was all that remained
to him.
Mina's loss affected Charles profound
ly. Out Of a character frivolous and
careless, devoted only to coarse pleas
ures, had grown "a deep and serious love
This honest and generous affection had
stihed the germs of evil Nina dead,
he was seized as by vertigo, and he
plunged into the abyss. He found him.
self face to face with evil, and threw to
this monster the rest Of his youth.
In this ocean of false pleasures the re-
membrance of Nina was drowned. and
petulant little grisette called Mariette
took her place. One night in November
Mariette and one Of her friends, Charles,
and one of his companions were together
in little house on the Rue Ores. The
night was cold and sinister; masses of
heavy clouds were driven across a gray
sky, the moon showed her mounful face
only at intervals, sudden showers beat
upon the windows, and the wind howled
at the cracks.
These four young people drank and
sang, unaffected by the storm and theiI
strange environment. II was the strange
medley of the students life that showed
in the small room-here signs of work
and there the broken bottles of a drink
ing bout, A small table held dried
tibia, pile of medical works, some
empty wine bottles and some articles OF
the toilet. There, too, was the plaster
cast of the dead Nina, figure slender
to meagerness, the eyes cavernous and
empty, the lips distorted into a painful
smile, the plaster discolored by the kisses
placed upon those lips in eternal fare
we'll Upon the chimney were candle
o small clock and human skull. Al
one side tiny couch, on the walls racki
for pipes and some cheap Autographs
Mariette and her friend Rose lounget
about in untidy dishabille. Earnes
made a pretense of study, while Charles
dulled by the warm and heavy air O
the room, leaned on the long table il
silence. 1t was group worthy of tn,
brush of Callot.
what is the matter with CharlesY
cried Ernest, shutting his book noisily