The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1895-08-28


and the Faubourg ST. German.
Her story was touching, but quite
long, full of the pretty repetitions and
interminable incidents which crowd the
talk of women. hired a pretty little
house in the Avenue de PImperatrice [
passed the first year listening to her,
looking at her, without thinking of
work. It was she who first urged me to
enter my studio and fired me with am
bition to become great artist. Icould
not induce her to give up her pupils.
This independence touched me deeply.
I admired the proud soul which made
me feel little Inundated before the
expressed wish to owe nothing except
to her own exertions. We were thus
separated every day.
With what happiness I returned home,
so impatient when she was late, so
happy when I found her there before
mel From her pupils in Paris she
brought me rare flowers. often forced
her to accept some present, but she
1aughingly said that she was richer than
I, and the lessons must have been very
profitable, for she always dressed with
great elegance and always in black,
which she wore through coquetry on &C
count of her complexion.
Her beauty was enhanced by heavy
velvets, shining jet',, lustrous satins and
masses of silky laces. All her pupils
| daughters of bankers and fnanciers,
adored and respected her, and more than
once she showed me bracelet, a bangle
or a piece of lace which one of them had
given her.
Except when at work, we were never
separated. Only on Sunday she went to
st. Germain to see her sister, the wife
of the general, with whom. long ago,
she had made her peace. l accompanied
her to the station. She returned the
same evening, and often, when the days
were long, we would make a rendezvous
and go to row on the water or for
walk in the woods. She would tell me
about her visit, how pretty the children
were and how happy they all were to-
gether. It seemed to make her so un
happy that redoub1ed my tenderness in
order to make her forget her sorrow.
What happy times OF work and con-
fidence we had I suspected nothing.
Everything she said appeared SO true,
so natural could reproach her with
only one thing-sometimes, in telling
me about the families to which her pu-
pills belonged, she gave quantity Of
intimate details and told of imaginary
intrigues. She saw always the romance
around her and seemed to live in dra-
matte combinations. These dreams trou-
bled my happiness. T. who wished to
| fly far from the rest of the world to live
alone with her, often found her occupied
with Indifferent things But I could
pardon these dreams in woman young
and unhappy, whose life had been sad
romance, without hope of a happy de-
movement.
Once only I became suspicious, or,
rather, uneasy. One Sunday evening
she did not return. I was in despair.
What should do? Go to St. German?
I could not do that without compromis-
ing her. However, after fearful night,
I had just decided to go there when
she arrived, pale and troubled. Fer
sister was i'll; she had remained to care
for her. believed what she told me,
not suspecting the flow of words which
met the least questioning Two Or
three times, in the same week, she re-
turned to spend the night; finally, the
sister having recovered, she again took
| mn hon. o111 f1onC77i7 1ifo