The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-10-26
THE vICoMTE DE PREBOIS,
Captain In the Fourteenth Hussars.


NJ de Saupiquet had been careful not
TO go out that morning, for he knew well
that some one would 'come for the sum-
mer house." 1t was an established Gus
tom. For 80 years past the little house at
the end of the garden, comprising Sleep
ing apartment, stable room for three
horses and a coachhouse, had invariably
been hired by an officer from the garri-
son. When there was a change of regi-
ments, the first question asked in the
drawing rooms of the Grande Rue, the
Rue de Chapitre and the Rue de Cathe-
drale was, Whom are the Saupiquets 60
ing to let their summer house to?''
For it was matter of much nicely.
The tenant must be a man who was at
once wealthy and a married man
wealthy, for rental of 1900 francs, a
figure beyond the purse of the ordinary
officer, should not brighten him off; mar
ried for certain reasons which a single
word will make clear; M. de Saupiquet
was married himself and had daughter
who was on the second tack of her nine
teenth year.
So Captain de Prebois having declared,
with satisfaction tempered with the mod
esty good taste Dictates that he enjoyed
the precious privilege of being bachelor,
he was not even invited to sit down.
At the gate, whittier the prudent propri-
etor politely escorted him, explaining on
the way the causes of his refusal, but
without delaying him on the way, CASTOR
met Mime. de Saupiquet and her daughter
returning home.
s'This gentleman has come about the
summer house, SUPPOSED said the moth
er, substantial matron, whose mere as
pect sufficiently indicated her preponder>
ance in the family.
II had come to lease the summer house."
replied the officer, with smile which ele-
waited the points of his mustache, "but we
have not been able to arrange mattersI
satisfactorily"
1T is a little expensive for simple
captain, said the lady. She had learned
to recognize an officers rank by his shout
der straps through having had SO many
army tenants.
'sOh, if it were only the price, would
consider no price too high to secure proper
quarters for my horses. And they would
have been SO well placed here"
''Ah, then see what it is; you are not
married. -
at is not my fault, madame. We have
Just come from Bayonne, where all the
women are dark. I have horror of bru.
nettes"
Mile. Hortense, pretty blond, although
remarkably well brought up, could not
avoid blushing almost imperceptibly at
this opportune declaration of principles.
WELL resumed Nine. de Saupiquet.
perhaps we can find a way out of the
difficulty. You may take the pavilion, put
up your two horses
II have three, madame, and two car
riages.''
The face of Hortense's mother lit up
perceptibly. 1T will hold them all. AS
to yourself, an apartment in town will be
more convenient for you to receive your
friends in, but first you must take look
at the place. Will you not come in nowP"
The next day all the town knew of the
arrangement and knew not which to adj
mire more--the dexterity of M. ee Saupi-
quet, who was getting his rent without
the inconvenient presence of his tenant, or
the prodigality of the viscount, who was
paying two rents for his accommodation.
The young officer had handsomely fur
nished little entresol in the Grande Rue
and soon justified, by the number and
quality of the visits he received, the pre-
cautions that Hortense's parents had taken
in his case
Meanwhile his three horses spent happy
days and peaceful nights in the summer
house These were two well bred mares
that the captain drove. sometimes in his
phaeton, sometimes in a break, and mag
niGcent Irish hunter that he rode like
centaur. 1t was not long before CASTOR
made rain or sunshine" as the saying
is, at the Saupiquets. His equipage was
often at the disposal Of the ladies' to whom
he had presented the flower of the regi-
fnent. 1t was now military salon, in
which the black coats seemed as out of
place as aNpot of jam would be in an arm
orer's window.
Among these black coats that of M de
ia Jarrie was particularly uncomfortable
When the hussars arrived, this gentleman
was engaged, or almost SO, to Mile. Hor-
tense Saupiquet, one of the best matches
OF the neighborhood In the provinces all
matters are conducted with wise delibera-
ton, and it was not unusual for matri-
monial projects to take six months in thu
hatching-a sufficient time in Paris foy
two persons to marry, deceive each other.
find it out and commence actions for di
vorce
L., he he