The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-10-28
MADAME'S STORY

CuS 1u6INNcus 0ih ouO not9 va UAu onSB
now? I remember there was some ex-
element"
Madame sighed. ut is : very hong
TELL me. madame" / begged. Igive
the story in her own words, ! would
that I could give her accent. Her Eng
lish was almost perfect, though rather
studied and occasionally confused as to
lenses. But her ~singularly pure, clear
voice and q faint foreign ~softening Of
each syllable made her charming to lis
ten to.
"Well, as / think / told ron long ago,
Marie went away from me for n long
year.. When she was very little, / send
her to a convent in Toronto, and I do
not see her very often. She grow up so
pretty, so spirituelle, the pale pink face
and big eyes, black eyes and long, long
lashes-oh, she is beautiful! She sway
like a rose in the morning, quite slender,
and her small feet do not hurt the how-
ers. She is a flower herself, charming.
She come home, and the lads in the vii
lage are distracted, and ! am too.
sIt is very hard to watch Marie. She
is so quick and so beautiful. She laugh
in my face and say: Do not fear, my
mother. / always stay with you. AS for
the men, i hate EN- ALL Then she dance
away with the pale pink ribbons flying
from the pink robe, and the lads follow
her everywhere. She read love stories
novel, she call them, and they put strange
things in her head.
'She' will not marry the lads in the
village, she say, but some rich man will
come from the city and take her away,
and I, her mother, will have plenty of
beautiful dresses and a maid to wait up
on me. Then / scold her and say that
I do not want those things, and she
must marry a lad that / shall choose for
her. Then she dance away, throwing
the roses at me, and the ribbons autter-
ing everywhere, always ribbons and
flowers with my Marie, and when she
pass, the curling hair all tumbling
around her, there is always a sweet per-
fume in the air. You remember her
when she came from the convent
I nod. Who wouldn't remember that
wild rose OF a girl, with the daintiest
foot poet ever raved over, with q slen-
der, 1.-the, ever dancing, little figure,
with her pretty gowns following every
movement, with her glorious merry
black eyes and the seashell pink on her
cheeks. Remember MarIe9 l. who had
followed her floating ribbons, had picked
up the roses she let fall, had been as
crazy about her as ere was village lad
| Remember her? Yes, as one remembers
a sprite, q fairy, q delicious dream.
Sigh as one signs for departing youth.
Those mad, happy days have nothing
to do with me now, A moment agO-s
day ago-I was bored. cynical. blase, and
now I would give my life to be dancing
once more through the woods aftel
Marie-after flowers and streamers and
q floating gown catching on the wild
rose b~ushes-after MAriei IL once NOR,
the woods could seem as green. the SIX
as blue, q girl as fair as Marie!
$50 she will not marry, and by and b.
a girl from the convent write Marie t,
visit with her at her home, and / an
tired, and ] let Marie go. She stay ON
whole year, and | weary for her, and sh
come back. When / see her, the tear
come in my eyes. She is pale and THU
and 80 quiet. feel dreadful. | ask he
what the matter is, and she say, Moth
ing at ALL But /, her mother. kno,
better, and / watch and wait.
Zone day q letter come for her, and
is a mans handwriting ON the entelDps
Marie take it and cay nothing at al
Then I feel bad, very bad that my littl
girl have q lover, and that /, her mothel
know not of it. After q long time 81
tell me his name. Itis Jean Lefroy. an
she knew him at the houseof her 2fient
and he tell her he love her, and I ask b.
il she love him-although / think It nj
right that / do not choose for her-an
she say she do not know. But One ds
Mons-Mr. LEROY come and say:
"sWhy yon not write me, MarieY' an
she say to him that / am her mother. an
he bow very low to, me and say:
! Madame, I love your daughter. al
I write and ask her when / may con
and tell her mother that / wish to mar
her, and she do not answer me at all,
ALL and he stride very fierce about d
room, and Marie put her head OF n
shoulder and say that she love me, b
= mother. only. And he ask very quick
\ why you say you love me? q
{ Maria will not answer. She Just p
I her hands to her ears and will not list
to him. / think she must be crazy 81
speak hard to her, but she just run o
OF the room. Then he go away and 9
!. he will come back again that evenin
! Then I speak to Marie, and she say the
is another man. too, and she do not knf
: which she like better-that when b
= them is there that she like the otE
j one better-and it is making her p,
and thin. Then / am very severe WI
her and tell her it is very wrong; I'll
= she cannot love either of them, or {
a would know. But she say she think 1
- will marry IN Of them, and / tell |
= tAl-A NJ n nEw~- - a~~- AA-sLk -