Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1894-09-20

y
Ibis best friend" seeing that l loved
his wife madly from the very first.
"Not another word" she would say,
severely; ''you blaspheme against
friendship. Poor Charlesr'
And her white, dimpled hand would
pitilessly stop my mouth, so that, if l
had followed my inclination, l would
have blasphemed from morning till
night like the worst traitor to friend
ship in the world.
The day she left off Grape l profited
by the occasion-naturally enough it
seemed to me-to propose myself in set
terms as a candidate to succeed poor
Charles.
That evening-it was June evening,
and the acacias made the most of the
power which certain vegetables 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. l saw that / was on
the point of being put out by her SER
wants, who consisted of an old woman
who had been her nurse, and whom l
could have bowled over with breath.
However, it was no time for airy persi-
hage. Without waiting for Nancy to
seize me by the collar, l took my hat
and fed.
When day broke 1 had not closed my
eyes; not that the situation seemed des-
perate, for | had learned to read Clar-
isse's eyes. But all night long | had re-
peated over and over again to myself:
Heaven grant that the little hotel in
the Avenue F'riedland is still for sale!
We would be SO comfortable there"
In spite of this | was no further adj
vanced when September came, the last
month of my lease, l was no longer
shown the door when 1 spoke of my
candidacy; but Clarisse assumed bored
air and calmly talkeds of something
else. Between ourselves, / would rath-
er she rang the bell, for L devined what
she was thinking.
MY dear friend, you do not displease
me; quite the contrary. But you must
confess that, in the solitude of Chan
lilly, | have scarcely had the opportu-
nifty to enjoy my widowhood. Let me
see if it is really worthy of it's reputa-
ton. 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 adorers
around the woman one wants to marry
are like flies in milk; they may do no
harm, but they do not improve the
milk.
Early in September Nine. de Mon
cley informed me one day that she was
going to Paris on the morrow to have a
look at her apartments.
81 sincerely hope" she added, in a
severe tone, "that you do not think of
accompanying me-"
Chow can you suggest such thing, y
said |, with apparent submission. "You
leave at
SAT o'clock in the evening, as I do
not wish to be seen. | shall send
Nancy in the afternoon to prepare my
room. All, poor ParisW
She no longer said "Poor Charlesp' /
admit that this "Poor Parisv' made me
much more uneasy.
The next evening at s O'Clock the
doors OF the express train which stops
hardly a minute, were already closed.
Clarisse had not appeared. She reached
the station just as the bell rang.
"Quick! Hurry up, madamen' cried
the railroad official.
"HurryW / 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, over her
shoulder: The seats of the compart-
ment were unoccupied, and three men,
perched like monkeys ON the back of
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
l had closed the door so quickly that
we had not heard the end of the SEN
tence. Then Clarisse and [ bundled
ourselves into the next compartment
without quite knowing what we We're
doing. The train was already under
way. We were alone. Nine. de Mont
cley seemed half dead with fear, and /
must confess | was badly shaken.
Ibid you see them?n she cried.
"What can be happening in that COM
partment? They are going to fght-to
kill each other! What terrible tragedy
is to be enacted right beside us?'
81 don't understand it at all, l re-
piled. "Only one explanation seems
possible to me. They are hunters who
have suddenly gone crazy. Otherwise
why should they climb upon the seats?
If they simply wanted to kill each other
they could do it without all those
gymnastics.
"No," suggested Clarisse; at 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?n
"The train itself scarcely stopped
there"
"Did you hear how they called out:
Don't come imp The wretches; they
don't want to be disturbed while they
are killing themselves. Goodness! Just
listenW
The fusillade had commenced right
beside us; several gunshots had sounded
dominated by shrill cry, which still
rings in my ears. Then a 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 ready
to get out upon the step and find out
what was going on in our neighbours
compartment. AS / lowered the win
dow two arms seized me and voice
broken with anguish, but which sound
ed very sweet just the same, gasped be-