The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-01-12
b CHAPTER III.

Life went on then at the chateau in
still and peaceful manner, and, Nv
ing only like a gentlewoman of most
restricted means, perhaps the duchess
did not really know how happy she
was. Frequently NJ. Etenne went
away for a brief while to Bordeaux
to London, to Paris and back, some
times to assist at an operation, some
times on consultation. The poor
duchess, who had once only to en-
press a wish and it seemed as If the
forces of nature fell in line to grant 1t,
did not know that practically the
greater part of the money spent IN the
household was that brought home by
NJ, Etienne, and after those journeys
NJ. Etienne, who could have command
ed fortunes had he not chosen rather
to remain the protector of her and of
her child. Seldom anything broke the
tranquil monotony. Once BeauXlieuX
was nearly drowned, and the joy of
his revival was more than joy could
have been at the restoration of power
and wealth. Once Jean broke his leg
and the monsieur set 1t, and the
duchess tended him, the little
fair-haired fellow with his appealing
face, as If he had been her own, and
he loved them as dog might love
them, or rather as a slave VINO mad sun
the memory of his own tribe and cab
ms. As for little Pierre, nothing ever
happened to him; he kept himself
out of every trouble; he was always
brought in innocent from every scrape;
,;.rl,, l, ,t,,, bur
never bring the mischief home to him.
Victorine, the half-niece of Olympic, at
the wish of madame, when the child's
parents died, was Pierre's able abettor;
and many time did Jean suffer in
silence a reprimand for the fault of
those two impish things. But Victo-
rina waa very pretty and little and ten
der, and if Pierre could connect her
with his misdemeanors, he knew he
was safe from betrayal from BeauX-
lleux and from Jean. The duchess
liked to see Victorine's pretty youth
and brightness about her, thinking of
no possible consequences, and had her
taught by Olympic to rip and sew and
dress hair; and then. in the mother
Illness Of her nature and because there
were no daughters of neighboring seig
neurs, as in old time, to BE taught the
fine arts of home, she would have her
an hour or two a day with herself in
the morning, leading her into the mys-
teries of lacemaking and embroidery,
of watcr-color painting, reading his
tory and poems, greatly to Olympe's
ill-concealed joy. Sometimes Duchesse
Il y IN
herself, a little bitterly, to think that
the niece of her serving-woman, and
the children of a charcoal burner and
of a fisherman should be the half other
household.
But while her son grew and increased
in stature and strength and in all the
finer and nobler aspects of his being
the duchess asked no more. Under NJ.
Etiennes care his scholarship was all
that could be wished; and in the mat
ter of physical accomplishment the
tall, 1.-THE STRIPPING fenced and boxed
and rode and shot with the best: and
his mother thought with fond pride
how well he would take his place and
part when he should be called to 1t.
Occasionally now the monsieur took
BeauXleuX with him on his journeys
to Paris or elsewhere, and his mother
was satified that he should first see
the world, and perhaps what Is called
life, with NJ. Etienne beside him. They
made no use of his title, however, then.
at would be absurd" said BeauxlieX,
without sou, so to say, in ones
pocket" But he was aware that that
was something not to dwell on before
the duchess. When he came home he
had much to relate to her, and much to
tell Jean and Pierre. On one occasion
M. Etenne had taken him, as If he
were his assistant, to a grand house,
the monsieurs help, and where Beaux-
lieuX had at first been dazzled by
wealth and then dazzled with wonder.
They had gone afterward in haste
across Austria, on another occasion for
M. Etlenne's services, to half savage
Roumanian prince, where, owing to his
incognito, Beauxlieux saw much of the
life beneath the barbarlc splendor, the
Partisan surgeon leaving the case with
M. Etlenne, so that for several weeks
Beauxlieux, among conditions of life
of which he had had no conception.
found himself, unaware, In his leisure
as M. Etlenne's superfuous attendant,
studying them, getting close interest
in the people of the forest. on the
mountain, in the cabins clustered In
the midst of the vast farms. 1T Is
right" said M. Etlenne, when he spoke
to him of his observations and his won
der, that your grace should know
what goes on in the world, how the