The Cape Girardeau Democrat. (Cape Girardeau, Mo.) 1876-1909, 1894-11-03

HESDArTOn. %ss s he hi had
-"9r~- famous race
which had
taken cold at the derby. He had
finished his breakfast, when, glanc-
ing carelessly at a paper, he read the
news of the disaster of Reichshoffen.
He emptied his glass of Chartreuse,
placed his napkin on the restaurant
table, ordered his valet to pack his
trunks. took. two hours later. the ex
press for Paris, ran to the recruiting
bureau and enlisted in a regiment of
the line.
Though from his nineteenth to his
twenty-ffth year he had led the ener-
waiting existence of a wealthy idler,
though his finer instincts had been
dulled in racing stables and the
boudoirs of chanteuses d'operettes. at
such a time as this he could not for
get hat Enguerrand de Hardimont
had died of the pest at Tunis while in
the performance of his duty, that Jean
de Hardimont had commanded the
Grande companies under Du Guesclin,
and that Francois-Henr de Hardimont
had been killed while charging at
Fontenoy with the Maison Rouge; and
the young duke, in learning that a
battle had been lost by the French.
upon French territory, felt the blood
rush to his face as if he had received a
blow.
That is why in the first days of
November, 1870, returned to Paris
with his regiment, which was a part
of the Corps de Vinney, Henri de Har-
dimont, member of the Jockey club.
who was a fusileer of the main guard
before the redoubt of the Hautes-
Bruyeres, a position fortified in haste
which protected the cannon OF the fort
of Bicetre.
The place was sinister: a road,
d-eep-scarred with muddy ruts, trav-
ersed the leprous fields of the environs.
Beside it an abandoned wine shop,
among whose arbors the soldiers had
established their posts.
There had been fighting there a few
days before; some of the tree-trunks
along the road had been cut in two by
balls, and all pore upon their bark the
white cicatrices of the shot. AS for
the house, its aspect made one shudder;
the roof had been shattered by a shell,
and the walls, the color of wine dregs.
seemed to have been painted with
blood.
At the door of the wine shop the
Young duke stood m%otionless. his gun
slung upon his back, his KEPT drawn
down over his eyes. his benumbed
hands in the pockets of his red trou-
sers, shivering under his sheepskin.
He abandoned himself to somber rev.
erie. this soldier of the defeat, and
gazed with heartsick eye at the line OF
hills, lost in the mist, from whence
each moment, with a detonation,
burst a flake of smoke from a krupp
cannon. Suddenly he felt that he was
hungry. -.
He inelt and drew from his KNAPP
sack. placed near him against the
wall. a piece of soldiers bread; then,
as he had lost his knife, he tore 1T
with his teeth, and ate slowly.
But, after some mouthfuls, he had
nouph the bread was hard and bit
fer. There would be none fresh until
the next days distribution. if it might
please the administration. 1t was
sometimes very hard-this trade OF
war-and his mind reverted to what
he used to call his hygienic breakfasts,
when the next day after a supper a lit.
tie too heavy he would seat himself
bv a window on the ground floor of the
Cafe Anglais, and be served with
Mon Dieu! the least of things-a cut
let, some eggs mixed with asparagus
tins: and the butler. knowing his
taste, would bring and pour out from
its basket a fine old bottle of Leoville.
The deuce! Those were happy days
and he could never accustom himself
to the bread of misery.
And. in a moment of Impotence, the
Young duke threw the rest of his loaf
into the mud.
At the same time another soldier, q
LEONARD. issued from the cabaret; he
stopped. picked up the bread, moved
away a few steps, wiped it with his
sleeve, and commenced to devour il
greedily.
Henri de Hardimont was already
ashamed of his action, and watched
pityingly the poor devil who gave
proof of so good an appetite. He wa
a tall, thin young fellow, loosely built
with ~feverish eyes and a hospita
beard, and so lean that his shoulder
blades stuck sharply out beneath hi
well-worn uniform.
..You are very hungry, comrade@
said De Hardimont, approaching tn
soldier. .
"As you see" he replied. his moutl
tall