Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1894-12-03


M\ which had passed
through my own
hands.
AS l was about to pass on, the door
Of the shop opened, aud who should
come out but my friend Octave Du-
;rozel, whom | had not seen for sew
sral months. The moment he saw me,
he came forward and l noticed that
be seemed annoyed and that tie hand
ne gave me trembled in way I had
never known before.
"What has happened" 1 inquired
Of him, "you look worried"
"Oh! these women, these women !''
he growled in voice that seemed ad-
dressed to his own reflection rather
than to me. "Do not trust their
promises, do not place any confidence
in their vowsl It's enough to make a
man blow his brains out.
"l'il see that you don't do that"
said quietly, passing my arm through
his 81 shall stick to you like shadow. "
"If you only knew" continued the
poor fellow. "And 1T is only five
years ago. was In love, head over
ears in love. l loved with all the
passion and intensity of a first love-
1t was with a beautiful young girl at
Batignolles. She was staying with
her mother, and in order to remain by
her side MS long as she lived she had
refused many offers of marrisge
Louise Audry was as lovely as she was
noble in her devotion to her mother.
"You know how the heart loves to
adorn the object of its affections with
all the graces and charms Imaginable.
was fortunate enough, too, to prove
not displeasing to Louise, and before
long we had formed the delightful
plan of uniting our destinies and get
ting married. We decided to wait
two or three months before taking the
6nal step.
unexpected events, however,
caused n different disposal of our
plans. Compelled to take long jour
ney, of which the termination seemed
doubtful, l found myself obliged to
postpone the wedding until my return.
When we said goodby Louise gave me
a faithful promise to wait for me as
long rs events might make necessary.
"As token of my tender affection
l begged her acceptance of an ex-
tremely beautiful porcelain goblet
that had been left to me by my grand.
mother and which l cherished as the
apple of my eye. Louise was de-
lighted to possess an article that
would constantly remind her of me,
and promised me that whatever might
happen she would not suffer it to leave
her possession.
"rhose were her last words. Short.
ly after they fell from her beautiful
lips | started on my journey.
''Four years passed, as you know,
before l returned to France. During
that time was in the centre of Africa,
conducting explorations. and pr&c-
tically exiled from the world, receiv-
ing no news and able to send none.
AS soon as l arrived i'll Paris l hur-
ried to see Louise, to whom had tele.
graphed from Marseilles. Alas what
cruel deception was in store for me
''The house she used to live in had
been torn down and removed by the
construction of n new street. No one
knew where Nine. Audry and her
daughter had gone to live, and all nv
efforts to trace them were Intellectual
and vain.
"Several months have gone by since
then without any news to change the
unhappy state OF affairs.
"This morning, while looking
through the shops to find birthday
present for my sister, / went by chance
into the shop where you have just met
me.
81 examined first the numberless
trinkets displayed in the show cases
the ancient jewelry, the enamels, ivor-
les, china sets, miniatures aad master
pieces of the arts of the gold and
silver smiths. Then the salesman
placed in my hands some dainty
figure in Saxon china, and called my
attention to several graceful vases,
Japanese bronzes and dainty articles
of crockery ware.
while searching thus for some.
thing that would make a present q
little out OF the ordinary run L walked
up and down the shop in front of the
show cases and let no corner escape
my attention. In this way l found
myself at length in front of a tall case
with closed glass windows, beside
which young girl was sitting with
some embroidery work in her hands,