New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-01-29

| "Ycs. she was handsome then, he admitted
| in answer to our comments, but hdlt eaVase,
to have been converted. heard that in the early
days Of their marriage she spent most oil her time
eoncoctins charms and notions ,s TO Nsep n me.
the risht sort. pr added drylv he
soon wearied Of her; then there were
| scenes. tears upbraidings. Madame was leaio9sI,
with cause. il report spoke truly Monsieur hau
| a temper-enn. no one was surprised when' }us.
| q year ago, NJ. de Valcyre announced that they
had separated by mutual consent, and that ma. Ma,
| dame had returned to her friends Since then
! he has been travelling. and. no doubt. is mnch
happier without her.
While she, poor soul, is irettng her ., heart ,t
out" Mrs Brandon put In though nave 10
doubt he was brute to her"
The agent shrugged his shoulders with dep
There were faults on both sides. Madame :;
| but it was hardly possible for any man to live
| in peace with such toquee as she is
"Toquee P" Mrs. Brandon repeated do you
mean that she is mad2 If so. it is certainly not
"Nlais non, Madamel" he protested: "shc is
not mad only eccentric, cratic, capricous Her
returning in this mysterious way is proof OF
il. OF course have no right TO interfere with
her. but shall certainly let NJ. de Valeyre know
at once that she Is here. You must not be SUD-
After few more words he took his leave
The days that followed were fully and pleas
antly occupied in exploring Nice and It's en-,
virons. which were now TO all Of us. We summed
ourselves on the Promenade dcs Anglais; drove
on the Cornce Road heard the band in the
Jardin Public and lOitered among the tempting
The weather was glorious. Sunny days and
moonlit nights succeeded each other in unin-
tcrruptcd splendOr. and made il dncnlt for us
to believe that we were actually within few
The presence of the mysterious Madame dc
Valcyre in the house was no longer q matter
of doubt Not only had we all heard her rest
less footsteps overhead and the unintclligible
muttcring which sounded strangely uncanny,
but more than we had caught sight OF her
tall. slender figure clad IN loose. white
wrapper-pacing TO and fro in the shadowy garden
alleys sitting on the bench under the gnarled
old olive tree. Once. at dusk. met her on the
staircase fitting silently upstairs to her own lonely
rooms but she passed me quickly without re-
turning my salutation even glanclng at me-
"C'est drole!' Josephine often remarked ITO
shut herself mp like that, without even servant.
And how does she get her food ? She never seems
TO beyond the gates"
We agreed that il was drolc' but did not
trouble ourselves greatly about the matter hav-
ing more interesting occupation for thoughts.
One evening. in the third week of our ten
ancy. the Others were gone to the theatre, AMI
I. pleading letters TO write, had remained at home
with companion but "Chum,' having given
Josephine permission to go ont
Chum. by the way. was the only ono Of the
party who did not appear to like his winter
quarters. He had not been in his usual rude
health and spirits since we came. to the villa.
but seemed restless and depressed. Even now.
as he Law curled uD my gown. h" could not
and shiver. looking uncasily about him: 81,
Sat in the dining-room, out of which the
other rooms opened. TO. the right was the cnr-
tanned doorway doors there none Of the
salOn-to the left. that which admitted 70 Mrs
Rrandon's bedroom. leading out of which was
Miss Testers The dressinoroom Of the latter
had been converted into bedroom for Georgic
and the last of the suite was nv own chamber.
The evening was warm and very still. Glanr,
ing thromgh the open W ndow. which was shaded
nv 2 TN eucalyptus ] caught pmnsc of
stV full Of and tho trpcfODs line
Of tremulOus silver showed where the sea lay
sleeDing.
As lowered my head TO my writing again my
eye was arrested by a slight movement of the
pOrtiere which screened the drawing-room door
way. | looked up quickly, but seeing nothing
unusual, concluded l had been mistaken.
writing busily again, when the dog stirred
uneasily. grOwlrd, then suddenly sprang to his
feet, gazing, with dila'ed eyes and ears erect;
sg% in the the dsST as SrS fa
see a hand-the long. slender hand Of a woman-
put forth from within 10 draw the curtain back.
For moment it remained motionlcss, grasping
the portere, and ! hid time 10 note every de-
tail of it's form and color: the fine but
dusky skin. the delicate taper fingers ono
ring. Then the curtain was abruptly withdrawn,
and figure appeared r the opening: tall.
slender woman envcopcd in a loose wrapper of
some gau7v Algerian stun.
1t was Madame dc Nalcyrc. had never had
full view of her face before, bnt | recognized
her ut orce as the original of the Dortr1it
thinner, older, with wild and troubled look
in her lovely dark eyes. but the same
Too startled to sneak. ] stared at her. and
she looked back silently and ixcdv at me.
Then. before I could rise address her. my
and leisurcly step and passed through the OPP
pOsite doorway
lamp and followed her. She had ALREADY traTcrSc1
Mrs. l}randon's bedroom and was passing into
the beyond
Pardon. Madame -" I called after her
hnt she neither caused nor turned till she reached
the threshold of my own room. the inner one
of the suite.
Drawing back tho nortcrc with one hand. she
looked at me over her shoulder-a look that |
thrilled me. so ear"est II was. SO impcrious, 50
fraught with meaning 10 which | had not tho |
clcw-hut uttered not a word. Then she passed |
in. and the heavy curtain droppr1 behind her
In seconds space | had followed her into
the room.
10 my utter astonshmcnt she was not there ! |
looked round bl0nky, raising the lamp al oye my
head. There was no other door but that by which |
thc Lad entered no closet, no cupboard recess
in which She could be concealed And yet she was
gone-vanshed, il seemed, into thin air For a
moment stood, looking about me in utter be- |
wildcrmcnt then sort of panic seized MEAN
irrational fear Of knew not what or whom.
l hurried back through the empty and silent |
rooms, not daring to cast glance behind me and |
took refuge in the tiny Kitchen where sat with |
Chum on my lap starting nervOusly at every |
sound ill the OF hers returned.
j had decided TO say nothing of what had Or" |
cura,d to Miss Lester or GcOrrie lest il should |
alarm thcm but Mrs Brandon must tell for H." |
relief Of my own mind, though hardly expected |
She would believe my story. In fact il sccmcl. |
even 10 myccf, incredible that ! could well |
excuse her scepticism.
II was as ] anticipated. She heard me ont with |
q lool; Of mingled aNonislmcnt and ncrc'lnliiv. |
Ny dear Edith,%s said when had finished: |
= excuse me- but-are You quite YOU dill not |
fall asleep and dream all this
am quite sure that / wide awaiSo |
then as ] am now
But it is 50 utterly unaccountablc,7 she oh
iccted: mot only her disappearance but her ap-
pcarance How did she get into the drawing
room in tho first instance? She was not there
when we went ont am certain. and she coull |
not have entered il aftorward without your seeing
her Why did You not ask her what she wanted |
what she meant by it?"
Il was too startled AT first, and when recovered |
myself she had vanished"
well hope / shall encounter her myself