The Van Buren press., 1894-08-04

neavy grudge against mis- best 1r1end,
seeing that had loved his wife madly
from the very first.
Not another word" she would say,
severely; you blaspheme against
friendship. Poor Charles!"
And her white, dimpicd hand would
pitilessly stop my mouth, SO that, il l
had followed my inclination, would
have blasphemed from morning till
night like the worst traitor to friend
ship in the world.
The day she left off Grape, profited
by the occasion-naturally enough, it
seems to me-to propose myself in set
terms as candidate to succeed poor
Charles. That evening-it was June
evening, and the acacias made the
most of the power which certain vege-
tables possess of intoxicating one
with their perfume-that evening, her
hand did not stop my mouth at all, it
reached for the bell. Clarisse did not
threaten, this time; she acted | saw
that was on the point of being put
out by her servants-who consisted of
an old woman who had been her
nurse and whom / could have bowled
over with a breath. However, it was
no time for airy persifage. Without
waiting for Nancy to seize me by the
collar, took my hat and fed.
When day broke, had not closed
my eyes; not that the situation seemed
desperate, for l had learned to read
Clarisse's eyes But, all night long, l
had repeated over and over again to
myself:
Heaven grant that the little hotel
in the Avenue Friedland is still for
sale! We would be SO comforta BILE
there.
In spite of this, was no further ad-
vanced when September came, the last
month of my lease. was no longer
shown the door when suggested my
candidacy, but Clarisse assumed a
bored air and calmly talked Of some
thing else. Between ourselves, would
rather she rang the bell, for ! OWNED
that she was thinking:
my dear friend, you do not dis
please me; quite the contrary. But
you must confess that, in the solitude
of Chantilly ! have scarcely had oppor-
tunity to enjoy my widowhood. Let
me see if it is really worthy of its rep
utation. In year or two we can talk
of your affair"
In year or two! Pretty and charm
ing as she was, Clarisse would have a
score of adorers around her, and ador-
ers around the. woman one wants to
marry are like flies in milk-they may
do no great harm, but they certainly
do not improve the milk.
Early In September Nine. de Mono
ley informed me one day that she was
yoing to Paris on the morrow to have
a look at her apartment.
81 sincerely hope" she added, in q
severe tone, .'that you do not think of
accompanying me-
How can you suggest such thing?'
said I. with apparent submission.
"You leave at"
''At eight in the evening. as do not
wish to be seen. l shall send Nancy in
the afternoon to prepare my room. All,
poor Paris"
L
admit that this Poor Paris" made me
much more uneasy.
The next evening, at eight o'clock,
the doors of the express train. which
stops hardly minute. were already
close. Clarisse had not appeared. She
reached the station just as the bell
rang.
"Quick, hurry up, madame!" cried
the railroad official.
Hurry" repeated, opening COM
partment at random and helping
her in.
But, instead OF getting in, she fell
back, almost fainting, in my arms.
Here is what she had seen, and what /,
too, had seen over her shoulders The
seats of the compartment were unoccu-
pied, and three men, perched like
monkeys on the backs of the seats,
held to their shoulders three guns,
whereof the barrels shone in the lamp
light like cannons. One OF them, as
we opened the door, had shouted in a
terrible voice: Don't come in, for
had closed the door SO quickly that
we had not heard the end of the SEN
fence. Then Clarisse and l bundled
ourselves into the next compartment
without quite knowing what we were
doing. The train was already under
way We were alone. Nine. de Moncley
seemed half dead with fear, and must
confess | was violently shaken.
Ibid you see them?" she cried.
"What can be happening in that COM
partment? They are going to fight
to kill each other! What terrible trag.
edy is to be enacted right beside us?"
g! don't understand it at ALL" l re-
piled. only one explanation seems
possible to me. They are hunters who
have suddenly gone crazy. Other
wise, why should they climb upon the
seats? If they simply wanted to kill
each other, they could do it without all
that gymnastics
NO" suggested Clarisse, ''it is some
dreadful American kind of duel In
such case, it seems, they climb up on
anything they can find. But why
didn't they stop them at Chantilly?"
"rhe train itself scarcely stopped
there"
"Did you hear how they called out
Don't come inr? The wretches, they
don't want to be disturbed while they
are killing themselves. Goodness!
Just listenp'
The fusillade had commenced right
beside us. Several gun-shots had
sounded, dominated by shrill pierre
ing cry, which still rings in my ears.
Then deathly silence ensued: they
were all dead, however bad shots they
might have been.
Though we were making about fifty
miles an hour at the time, made