The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-11-18
A Strange

oeo Onompo' L uOD pretend 10 say
whethesthe story is true or not, but know
that ne believed he was telling the literal
truth.
He was tall. cadaverous American
from one of the far Western States, and
was totally uneducated except for the most
elementary bran ches taught in the district
school of his native village. He had been
house and sign painter by occupation, and
when he was nearly so years of age he
came to Paris TO study art, with the de-
sign of becoming a landscape painter.
He was not in all respects the very
worst draughtsman in Paris, but there
was not the slightest d ubt that be- was
the worst painter that ever spollt canvas.
The man had absolutely no sense of color.
| and he was as devoid of imagination as q
table of lngarithms. We both drew at the
same academy. where he used to sit next
to me. and as we were the only Americans
in the place there was a sort of friendship
between us. He was an honest. uuassum-
ing, simple-minded fellow, and, with the
| exception of the delusion that he could
paint, he was by no means wanting in
| cOmmon-sense.
The students at the academy liked Roe
| buck we'll enough, though they used to
| play good many jokes on him. They de-
| cided that his name did not suit him. so
they translated it into De Chevreuil. One
| of them painted the De Chevreull arms on
the chair where Roebuck usually sat, and
we all took to calling him De Chevreuil.
l say all, but i ought to except myself, for
| being his ellow-countryman, declined TO
take any share In casting ridicule upon
| the man.
| Roebnck had begged me to come and see
a picture that he had just finished and to
| give him my honest opinion about it,
| Let's talk ahOUt mPthfnQ else for
little while" said !, as l took up one CT
| R0ebuck's pipes aud filled it. who says
you haven't any Imagination ?"
"All the chaps at the academy" he re.
piled. II don't mind, for it isn't true.
| Isn't dreaming imaginatiOn"
| Il suppose il isl
"Well, then, Pm just chock full Of imagi-
nation, for ] dream all night long. And
| dreams come true, TOO, sometimes" he
added. "A mighty queer thing happened
to me not long ago that convinced me of
that, though there was something in it
| that can't explain"
! ''Tel me about it," I cried, catching at
the possibility that there might be the
means of leading him to forget my prom
ised criticism of his picture.
| "Have you ever been al Rouong?" asked
my friend. told him that l had once
spent several days in Rouen.
| II went down 20 Havver last week to
! see Weatherby off In the Normandie, and
| on the way back / stopped over night at
Rouong. for they had told me that there
was some swell architecture there, and, If
painting don't pan out as well as l think
| it will. / may take to architecture myself.
| / took back at the churches and such.
and in the evening l started out for walk
| through the town.
| Now, there is dream that have had
| ever since can remember. l dream that
| am in an old European city, though 1
L. . l.
| where in that city there is small open
square, with two streets leading out of on
end of it. They start pretty close to-
gether and then widen apart like the sides
of n Y.
Zone of these streets-the one to the
left-is wide, modern street, pretty well
| l.ghted and with good many people in it,
But the other is narrow and dark. The
houses have sharp-gabled roofs and the
upper stories project over the lower.
| There are street-lamps in 1t, but one or
| two that are long way apart and give
mighty little light The street hasn't any
| sidewalks, and there is gutter down the
middle of it, and more smells TO the square
| inch than there is in Chicago. I've looked
down this street a hundred times in my
dreams, and I'm always afraid to go up it.
| 1t looks as If there could be no one in that
| street but robbers and murderers, and it's
my belief that most all of the houses are
empty.
"Now when l was in Rouong this time
that Pm telling you about" resumed Roe
| buck. 81 walked along down one street
and uD another without paying any attep-
! ton to the direction was taking. By
| and by got into part of the town where
the houses were particularly old and
where there didn't seem to be but few in
habitants. All of a sudden l came to an
| open square that was as familiar to me as
| Lincoln avenue in MoDtan' polls.
| 1T was the very place that had
dreamed about so often. There were the
| two streets leading out 1T one end of il.
! Ths big street was lighted up, and there
were people here and there in it. but the
| small street was Just as dark and deserted
as had always seen 1t. There wasn't
soul in ii, and the blackness and silence
of IL frightened me.
Just then a woman came toward me,
though | didn't notice where she came
from. She was middlng we'll dressed,
| and, to my mind, looked like a lady,
though l know / amt much judge OF
ladies. L was standing at the narrow
street. and wondering if l was awake or
dreaming, when the woman walked
straight up to me and says. You are an
| Enelishman. are you mott?
| "Now knew well enough that wasn't
an EnglshmaD, but then l couldn't see as
| I was called upon to set the woman's
mistake straight, so just said, We'll, sup
Dosing L n III. " Udt IUtU
"'Why,' said she, then you will help
me. | am an English woman in terrible
distress and danger. My sister is here,
| lying very i'll In a house where l believe
the people are thieves and murderers. l
impore you come with me and help me to
| take her away.
".Whv don't you get policeman" re-
piled. That's what you want. If you say
so. will find one for YOU
'sFor heavens sake. now said the
woman. There are reasons why that
would ruin everything. If you are the
brave man YOU look to be, you will come
with me. If not, we are lost
I'll come, ma'am, II you insist upon
it, said /. though | tell you in advance
that if there's any fighting to be done you'll
have to count me our. for haven't got my
revolver; and I'm not fighting man, any
way
s'She said there wouldn't be any call for
me to fight and that as soon as it was seen
that she had man with her she and her
sister would be allowed to 60. She said il
would be better If was to follow a short
way behind her, instead of walking by her
side. That suited me- we'll enough. so the
woman went on walking pretty fast and l
came along about two rods behind her,