The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1895-04-05

heart.
Papa Picotin. good papa" she mur-
INJURED. stroking his cheek. while the
doctor nodded approvingly as he saw
the sleep. for which he had been watch-
Ing, gradually seal up the small pa
TENTS eyelids in a slumber that meant
salvation.
II was a strange and touching sight
the man with his haggard face and
foofs dress sitting there motionless
with the child throughout the long
hours. and when at last she woke re-
freshed and the doctor bade him lay
his burden down and go home to rest
awhile. the grave nuns looked at him
with admiration in their eyes. No
mother could have been more patti, It,
more tender than this curious being N
his antic dress who ministered to the
worlds folly.
Daylight was Just about to dawn as
Picotn stepped out into the air. The
lamps In the streets had not yet + m
eNtlnguished, and a few of those m! r.
able wretches or late revelers who
haunt the night still crept in and out
OF the shadows. One of these. a man
IN rags. with vice stamped on his feat
ures, stopped Picotin and hoarsely de-
manded aims. He had been squatting
near the convent gates, and had logged
the clowns footsteps for some distance
before he made the appeal. and an un-
easy sense Of this made the latter look
at him inquiringly.
The man shvered as the cold winds
blew his rags about He was a ghastIy
fn faI Ift,rr tn, AZ
uncertain light. one hand, not unlike a
claw. held eagerly out, the other buried
in his breast.
Picotln shuddered too. He hastily
thrust all he had into the upturned
palm. and was about to pass on when
face seemed to leap out of the re.
cesses of his memory and press with a
look of concentrated malignity close to
his own.
"fou! he cried. staggering bacl1>
wards; then almost before the word had
left his lips a blow from that hidden
hand had stretched him lifeless on the
ground.
All Paris rang with the news. They
were crying it aong the boulevards and
~
sination of Picotin, the clown" Even
the quiet nuns heard this rumor Of the
outer world as they watched by the
| bedside OF the little child sleeping
! peacefully. her golden curls spread out
that had all night been pillowed on the
breast of that strange, tender-hear ed
being. whom dawn had found lying
face upwards, still cad in his testers
dress, alone and silent in the deserted
street. The pious women lowered theii
heads and sighed. They did not doubt
1t was Judgment of heaven that had
laid him low for ministerng to the de.
| praved tastes of a wicked world: still
! their lips moved in silent prayer fol
they recalled those tender, haggard
eyes which had watched with them all
4 through the troubled night.
And their prayers were answered fol
/ Picotin's body. II not his soul, was
saved.
He had been picked up and taken to
the Hospital as dead. but the wound II,
( his breast was found not to be mortal
4 after all. and a month later Bebee, rad
liant, joyous, was leading papa Picotin
/ by the hand, laughing to think that he
too, hdD been i'll as she had been.
She never knew that the miserable
i creature that dealt the blow was her
own father, and that his body. dragged
from the river, had been identified by
the clown at the morgue quite by
chance aud so gained decent burial
Picotin folded all these secrets I'm his
heart where the sunny haired child
nestled confidingly. repaying him
through the long. bright years, with
her laughter and her love.
Paris had TO digest Its disappointment
as best 1t might, for, after ALL the
clown had defrauded his admirers of a
sensational exit by getting well; stin
that night was positively his last ap-
pearance in the ring, where he never
came tumbling head over heels again,
though his old suit of motley always
hangs ready at hand, and Bebee de-
clares he shall some day go to a fancy
ball in it with her "Parequ IL est 81
beau CONNIE ca-si beauw-Alethea
Phillips.