San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-04-07

pig
The white road that leads from Cau-
debec to Villequier mounts for shost
way very steeply, until it is some height
above the little meadow beside The Seine.
On the right is wooded hill, and tho
top of the descent to the meadow is Dor
dered by silver stemmed, slender armed
birch trees, which at evening time look
weird and ghostly.
AT the foot of this road, on the side
nearest the town of Caudebec, there
stands pleasant looking white house,
with a high roof and two huge chimney
stacks. The porch and bay window
are covered with climbing roses, which
have stretched their branches to reach
an upper row of lattices.
A large grass plot, with Hated path
running around it, is in fir Mt of the
house; and this path continsJs on the
left and is soon lost to sight in shrub
berry, backed with trees, that leads to
garden behind. On the other side low
stone wall, so old that it is many col:
ored with moss and lichen, divides both
front and back garden from the orchard
which slopes up the hill beside the
white road.
The river makes sudden bend out
ward after it has passed the house, SO
that its steep green bank borders the
road just opposite Mademoiselle Chau-
melles dwelling. Only few days ago
the high autumn tide of the Barre swept
furiously over this bank, across the
road, and through the tall iron entrance
gates, till it flung shower of yellow
foam and stones and twigs against Mad
emoiselle Chaumelle's windows.
The river looked quiet enough this
morning, half yelled in soft mist that
gave warning of coming frost. The trees
far on the left, where the river takes a
dark bend toward Caudebecquet, looked
much less dense than they had looked
yesterday; SO many brown and gold
leaves had fallen under cover of the
darkness.
The lattice above the bay window
opened, and bright girls face looked
out. For a moment her earnest, dark
eyes gazed lovingly across the Seine, and
then leftward toward the mist yelled
bend, but Madelaine Leroux was practi-
cal, and she knew that if she meant to
gather Aunt Virginie nosegay before
breakfast, she had little time to spend in
admiring the view from her window.
The few remaining blossoms on the
Gloire de Dion rose below her window
Of
creamy noisette roses on the porch.
When she reached the garden the bor-
der flowers that had looked so gay from
her window proved themselves to be de-
ceptions; the tall white daisies, on which
she had reckoned, had blackened tips,
and the chrysanthemum petals were
nipped brown. She gave little cry of
triumph as she looked around. Just
against the iron fence in front of the
house she spied a bunch of China roses, SO
exquisitely varied in their rosy tint that
they seemed too lovely to be real. Ma
delaine thought this as she stood looking
at them; she was so absorbed by their
beauty that sudden grunt made her
start.
one saw cLOL-
nous pig in the middle of the grass plot.
1t was grouting both with its fore feet
and with its snout in search of some
treasure which it evidently expected to
find under the turf, and it grunted as it
grouted.
"Go away, go away, you nasty, greedy
creature" the girl cried in frightened
voice. You are spelling Aunt Vir-
ginie's grass plot. Go, l sayr' She
swished her pale blue skirt at the in
truder For an instant it left off grout-
ing, but it stared at Madelaine with such
fierce little red eyes that the girl drew
back in alarm.
"What shall do? / believe pigs bite
when they are savage" Then she shout
ed: "Josephl Elisel come, come! Jo-
seph, make haste! The garden will be
spoiledT
The huge pig had gone back with
grunt to its grouting, but the girls cries
seemed to irritate it; it came toward
her, shaking its huge sides and grunting,
looking, she thought, still more savage;
it was between her and the house, and
as it continued to advance on her Made
laine suddenly lost courage and she fed
to the entrance gates.
A passer by stopped as she reached
tha,n
IT. ha oon tInuad.