Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-04-15


woman IN o peasants dress.
WAS it she that we heard s;n1o.
murmured the duke to NJ Etienne.
God forbid!' said n. Etienne. This
Olympe-is it they call her?-is one of
the maids of this narrow household.
That voice-it was the voice, if Won re-
member. of the enchanted princesslr
IAN enchanting voice, at all odds"
said the duke.
And at that moment the door opened,
and young girl entered with candles
in her hand. She advanced and placed
them on the table, and turned and
made reverence to her father and his
guests, letting the lids fall over two
eyes as black as midnight stars, as soft
and lustrous as May moons.
She wore plain gown of white wool.
with silver girdle, and her long.
black hair, plated in great braids. fell
over either shoulder in front nearly to
her knees. "Grands Dieuxm murmured
the duke again, Gam back again in
the days of my ancestors?.
THE enchanted princess!' he said to
NJ. Etienne, afterward, as they walked
up and down the courtyard with their
cigars. "And of an enchanting beauty.
There was no animal to be found in
the neighborhood next day that ex-
actly suited the duke. And as the old
baron made the party welcome, and
was indeed very glad of their society
in his loneliness, there was still no
horse at the end of q week, while the
lame one gave symptoms of recovery.
The chevalier rode on with their dis
patches, Ambrose going with him as
far as the safer highways, and NJ.
Etienne remaining with the dulse.-the
two spending u portion of every day
hunting and adding great store of
game to the baron's larder.
There were those who We're wont to
say that there was closer tic than APP
peared even in the remarkable resem-
blance between the duke and this con-
slant companion of his, and that the
dukes father had commended the
younger man to the kind Offices of his
heir. Certainly no one knew anything
with eXactncss of the antecedents of M.
Eticnne, other than that his education
had been Of the most complete, that he
was gentleman to the tips of his fin
gers, that his talents We're exceptional,
that he could have commanded fame
and fortune in his chosen profession of
surgery had he not preferred to be sim
ply of the household of the duke But
the fact is, that if there We're any bond
of common parentage across bar
sinister-and the resemblance was not
so apparent after long acquaintance as
at first, for M. Etienne was much the
younger-yet neither the duke nor M.
Etienne ever spoke of it to each other.
lost sight OF M. Etienne; and, as
usual thing, where the one was there
always was his shadow.
Time is not very long to young men
possessed by a passion; and although
no one ever saw the young girl alone,
yet the hours when they were not out
with the baron and the dogs were en-
dured for the sake of the mornings
when she was to be found with Olympic
watering her roses in the garden be-
hind the tower, and of the evenings
when for q half hour, it might be, she
joined them in the hall or on the stone
benches of the courtyard round the
half-chollcd fountain. There was some
thing about her that the duke
had never observed before. That vir-
gin air of innocence and truth rem
dered her illimitabiy remote and sa-
cred. When he saw NJ. Etienne at last
making more bold and walking beside
her in the garden, he fancied she was
hearing of the glories of the house of
Beauxlieuy and the excellenccs of the
duke, as he knew NJ. Etienne sounded
them to the old baron.
Somehow the duke could not make
the Roadway here that M. Etienne did.
The wall was one not to be broken
down as with some other women. He
saw there was but one course for him.
And his Impotence getting the better
of caution, of any thought of second
nuptials with princely houses and great
dots, he made proposals to the astound-
cd and well-pleased baron for his
I daughters hand and an immediate mar
riage.
1t was not to be thought that the
Baron Rene Vaux, even at the prospect
of his own increased loneliness, should
hesitate before the offer of such brill
liant future for his only child; and he
straightway told her to put herself in
readiness, since the matter was ar
ranged. There was no dissemination
on his daughters part; and surely no
prettier bridal procession than hers
ever wound up the mountain to the
chapel, she seated on her gray
donkey, around whose neck Olympic
had hung q wreath of roscs-t.le
chances of lunching presently on which
he was calculating with his long ears,
NJ. Etienne leading him and walking
by her side, her father and the duke
following on foot and Ambrose and
Olympic bringing up the rear As
they all stood before the altar, it was
with an air of confding innocence that
she turned to NJ. Etienne. But her IA
Their, leaning on his staff just behind,
stretched forward his long, gaunt hand
and took hers and placed it in the
hand of the duke, where it seemed to
that gentleman like q melting snow
flake She had thought, until that