The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1893-07-01
NINA.

A1lu La OTduUc NAduIlllelt, III loIt u
all those photographic establishments
which the Partisan g~risette visits regu-
larly in order to lose her heart-and not
infreQuently her rosy cheeks and the
freshness Of her youth.
Hsrcourt pretended to study medicine,
and 1t 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 q the surgical amphitheater.
Charles Harcourt had just arrived at
the time of life when a soft down shows
on the lip, when love knocks at the
breast, and when the heart resembles a
lusty tree, full of vigOr, from which has
fallen as yet neither leaf nor fruit.
The trombones of the orchestra roar,
hike thunder on a stormy sea-; the vlo-
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 CLEAN
through the heavy air. The innocent
and the guilty dance together in the
same delirious motion.
While the dancers turn and whlrl,
advancing wildly and as wildly retreat
ing, far in a corner sits a 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 a 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 Sd
Lutte as Harcourt, leaves the ball, a new
conquest upon his arm-it is the slender
brunette Of the corner
Charles Harcourt appeared no more
at the balls of the Latin quarter, but
spent his days at L'Ecole de Medicine,
passing his first examinations with dis
tinction. In one of those fascinating
little houses-such are Beranger pre-
tends to have inhabited at twenty
Charles made his home, guarding jeal-
ously the dangerous happiness of a
union contracted without the help of
ls marie and which is called morganatic
His conquest of the ball was named
Nina. She was a good and atfectionate
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 F~ontaine's doves. But Nina was a
c~onsumptive, and Charles read with af-
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
o O In a 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 hat
the cruel courage to deliver the body OF
his beloved to the investigations of the
~pathologist. He wished to pursue, ever
In the flesh, this rival who had killed
her. He made use of a cynical usage t.
preserve the skull. This, with a plaste.
mask nodded upon the emaciated bod,
Of the dead girl, was all that remained
to him.
Mina's loss affected Charles profound
ly. Out of a character frivolous an,
careless, devoted only to coarse pleas
ures, had grown a deep and serious love
This honest and generous affection ha,
stifled the germs of evil. Nina dead
he WAS seized as by a vertigo, and II
plunged into the abyss. He found him
self face to face with evil, and threw t
this monster the rest of his youth.
In this ocean of false pleasures the re
membrance Of Nina was drowned, an
. petulant little grisette called Marriott
took her place. One night in Novembe
Marietta and one of her friends, Charlie.
and n of his companions We're togethe
in q little house on the Rue Ores. TIL
night was cold and sinister; masses {
heavy clouds were driven across a era
sky, the moor showed her mounful fac
only at intervals, sudden showers bef
upon the windows, and the wind howle
at the cracks.
These four young people drank an
sang, unaffected by the storm and the
strange environment. 1t was the strang
medley Of the students life that shove
In the small room-here signs of worl
and there the broken bottles of a drinl
ing bout. A small table held a DIRE
tibia, a pile Of medical works, son
empty wine bottles and some articles
the toilet. There, too, was the plast
cast Of the dead Nina, a figure slend'
to meagerness, the eyes cavernous al
empty, the lips distorted into a paint
smile, the plaster discolored by the kiss
placed upon those lips in eternal far
we'll. Upon the chimney were a candl
small clock and a human skull. /
M side a tiny couch, on the walls rae.
for pipes and some cheap lithograpl
Marietts and her friend Rose loung,
about in untidy dishabille. Earne
made a pretense of study, while Charlie
dulled by the warm and heavy air
the room, leaned on the long table
silence. 1t was a group worthy of t
brush Of Callot.
"What Is the matter with Charles
cried Ernest, shutting his book noisi.
''he IL a. sober as 4 merchant"
800 ---..--- -. -
HE Is thinking of Nina" said Ma
cite, bitterly.
"When a mistress is buried, that Dug
TO end the affair."" said Rose, decided
"But often, even when l am here
find him sitting before that plaster cas-
said Mariette, sullenly.