Fairhaven herald. [volume] (Fairhaven, Wash.) 1890-????, 1893-03-12

and this frivolous girl, only % and as pretty
as picture by GreuZe One evening" on
coming home with his little boy, for whom
he had stopped as he passed by the refuge,
Tony Robec found letter on the mantel-
piece from which, as he opened the en-
velope, Clemantine's wedding ring fell out.
In this letter the heartless creature babe
him and her son goodby and asked their
forgiveness a. the same time.
The romantic jurymen of the present
day, who always acquit outraged husbands
who kill their wives and their lovers under
the pretext of passionate crimes" would
find our Tony very ridiculous and even a
little despicable if they knew that he felt
more sorrow than anger. He wept great
deal, and when little Adrien said to him:
Where is mamma? Is mamma not com
ing home sooni" he kissed the little fellow
passionately and replied, Il do not know"
Clemantine had gone away at the begin
ming of May-ah, me, for how much is the
Odor of lilacs responsible sometimesl-and
Tony, when the July rent day came, sold
nearly all his furniture and paid his debts
and went to live in the Rue Delambre,
wishing to be as far away as possible from
his former home And there he lived quiet
ly and honorably with his little boy, and
his neighbors took him for a widower.
Toward the end of September he received
letter from his wife--four incoherent and
despairing pages, whereon the ink was all
blotted with tears. Her lover, a medical
student, had gone away for his vacation to
his family far down in the south, and he
did not write to her or give her any sign
Of life. She, the traitress, was abandoned,
betrayed in her turn, and she repented and
begged and implored to be forgiven. This
made poor Toby suffer terribly. But do not
get excited, ferocious jurymen, who have,
all of you, a heart like the Moor's of Ven
ice, and give back, if you please, your es-
TEEN to the poor fellow, for he was proud
and did not answer his culpable wifes epis-
tie
He heard no further news OF Clemantine
till on Christmas day.
Now, for many years he had had the
touching custom Of going on that day with
his wife to carry an humble bouquet-a few
half frozen violets, with a little rosebud In
their midst--to their firstborn's, their little
Felix's tomb, who had died when he was
out at nursing, and for whom, wishing to
have his grave near to them, they had
bought right Of burial for five years at
been already renewed.
For the first time Tony Robec had to
make this pilgrimage alone with his little
boy Adrien, and as he passed through the
gate to the cemetery under funereal win
ter's sky-and now, cruel Othellos of the
jury, you will again despise this weak
hearted husband when | tell you that he
suffered more than ever as he remembered
his absent wife, the fugitive.
Where is she nowW thought he. What
has become Of herr"
But on reaching Felix's tomb, which he
had had some trouble in finding, he stopped
surprised
There was laid on his tombstone two or
three playthings, such as the poorest people
buy-a wooden trumpet, polichinelle and
a wooden dog-which had just been placed
there, for they were quite new and had evil
IDENTIFY been bought that very day at some
CHEAP street stall
"Oh, playthings," Adrien exclaimed as
he saw the poor offerings.
But his father, having perceived piece
Of paper pinned to one of the toys, stopped
and picked il up and read there these words
written in a handwriting he well knew
For Adrien, from his little brother Felix
who is now in heaven with the Christ
child"
Suddenly Tony felt his son press up
against him and heard him murmur in a
frightened voice, Mammal" and Tony
saw few steps off kneeling under a clump
of cypress trees a woman clad in beggar's
dress and shawl, and, OH so pale and with
such sunken eyes, who stretched her clasped
and supplicating hands toward him.
Between ourselves sanguinary gentle
men of the jury do not believe that Tony
Robec thought then of him who taught US
both by word and by example to forgive
offenses," for this workman was really
religious But his plebeian heart was ig-
norant Of self love and rancor. He trem-
bled less from anger at the memory of the
outrage he had suffered than from pity at
seeing the woman he had SO tenderly loved
in such a miserable state, and he pushed
his little son gently toward her.
"Adrien," he said, go and kiss your
mother"
She seized her child in passionate en-
brace, covered his face with kisses as she
sobbed with happiness, then turning a be-
seeching look toward her husband:
How good you arep she murmured.
But he was already near to her and said,
half choking, almost harshly:
do not speak-and-take my arm"
1t is not far from the cemetery to the Rue
Delambre, and they walked there quickly.
Tony felt Clemantine's arm trembling on
his. The child trotted along beside them,
thinking already only of his toys
The concierge of the house Tony inhab.
tied stood at the door.
Madame" he said, "this is my wife who
has been for six months in the country with
her mother, who was very i'll, and who has
come home again"
And as they went up stairs he was obliged
to support, almost to carry, the wretched
woman, who had burst into sobs and was
nearly fainting from emotion and from joy.
When he reached his humble room, Tony
made his wife sit down in the only arm
chair he possessed and placed her son in
her arms again. Then he went to his bureau.
opened drawer, from which he took out a
small paper box in which he had kept
Clemantine's wedding ring and went and
replaced it on her finger, and then, for the
first time, without word Of anger or re-