The herald., 1895-03-25
Group of Short Stories for Blue Mondays Idle Hours
HE HEARD
HER FALTERING STEPS ON
THE STAIRS

Diminishing his servant for the night,
jacques shut himself up in his library,
! where a clear wood fire was burning brisk
ly, and slightly lowering the flame of the
| lamp he was soon absorbed in book.
/ The little clock on the mantel struck
ten silvery strokes, and In the silence that
followed the ringing of the street bell
sounded shrlly through the apartment.
AS he was not expecting any one, he did
not stir. second peal sounded, and this
timo he arose. and taking the lamp went
10 open the door.
A dark form awaited him in the vesti-
bulc. In the light thrown sharply out by
the lamp shade Jacques recognized his
wife.
"Youp' he stammered
She did not move, she did not speak,
but stood silently waiting.
Come inside" he said
He led the way to the library and made
her sit down in an easy chair, and then
they looked at ono another. 1t was five
years since he had seen her. One evening
she had left him. Coming home, he had
found the house empty, with note on the
tablo-two lines of farewell hurriedly
scrawled in pencil.
Then, as he did not question her, she
told him in few words, without pretense
! of shame, that, abandoned in her turn,
she had been alone since the evening be-
fore; that she had spent the entire day
crying She had eaten nothing, had gone
out in the evening, wandered aimlessly
about, found herself at his door and had
/ como in.
! Still he said nothing, and in chill 81
| lence five years of their life passed before
their mental vision his five years for him
and her five years for her.
When she had left him, when he had
found the house empty, it had been the de-
struction of all his joys the shattering of
his happy life. He had thought he could
never recover from the blow, and he had
lived on like a broken thing, feeling his
reason totter. That had lasted six months
"a year. Forgetfulness had come to him
as it comes after all great griefs, as it
comes at the end of all things, and Jacques
had settled down to the even, satisfied life
of an old bachelor.
She who had deserted him to run after
what is thought to be happiness had i'm
agnod herself happy, a queen, for six
months a year. just the time he had
spent in lamonting and suffering. But
the awakening had been terrible. In her
] turn Sn6 lOuuu ncTScll dUhnQODeQ
You are hungry he said, and he
went to the kitchen.
There was some soup still warm and the
remains of a chicken, which he brought
in He served her on one corner of the
table, where he spread napkin, and as
! she ate he made another trip to the kitchen
and brought back bottle of wine, from
which he filled her glass.
/ He watched her eat now, saw the color
return to her cheeks, and her hunger sat-
| isfed a sense of content gradually pervade
| her entire being
She went on to tell him that she lived
| quito near by in the same quarter, and he
! was astonished that living SO near her,
! he had been unaware of her existence.
Now sho settled back cozily in the chair,
feeling relaxed, grown tender She found
this armchair just as she had known it
before; she found all the things about her
! In their old places. Nothing was changed
--the hangings were the same, the furni-
| ture, the ornaments-all had friendly
air. an air of welcome. 1t was good to be
| in this home of which she was taking
possession again after five years.. absence.
For did not this dinner on the corner of
the table attest their reconciliation? The
lamp on the table was the same that had
lighted them when they kissed each other
in the old days. 1t was all at On end now
that equivocal existence, the misery and
disgust of those five years of slavery. She
would resume her plaoo in her home beside
the husband who forgave her; she would
make many happy days for herself after
this leaf which was torn from her life
Jacques considered her calmly, without
anger and without tenderness There
came to his lips no word of pity. The
woman seated there was stranger to
him. The other woman, she whom he had
loved, the wife, no longer existed. His
love was dead, and it seemed to him he
could feel its ashes under his restless fin
gers
Without word he went into another
room and returned with piece of paper
| bank bill of 100 francs-which he hand
ed to her.
"You have need of money!" he said,
"and if you should be in want again pray
let me know. "
He took up the lamp and waited for her
to rise. AS one in dream, she looked at
him. followed him. At the door, as he
opened it, she comprehended that her
dream was ended; that he was sending
| her away that she should return to the
black street, to her cold, bare lodging;
that he was implacable.
Her eyes implored him. Jacques opened
the door as if he did not see her. When
| she was in the vestibule he held his lamp
aloft, flooding her with light as when she
entered and repeated in calm voice that
seemed to have a casual gentleness in it:
J when you are in need, pray let me
know
And the door was closed upon her. In
the silence he heard her totterng steps
descend the stair Translated For Argo-
naut from the French of Louis de Robert
by l.. S. V.