Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-02-28

sE ofthatyalley which
divides the forest in two. There we
dined with an old friend of mine, G
doctor, whose small connection was
scattered over five or six neighborinp
parishes. Dinner over, we seated our.
selves in the open, in front of the
house, and meditatively smoked our
cherrywood pipes.
The shadows were gathering upon
the tall treetops all around us with the
slowness OF a June evening; here and
there cloud of swallows was to be
seen; from little steeple, just visi.
BILE above the roofs of the houses, rang
ont the o'clock angelus, in slow,
measured tones, an interval Of silence
between each stroke; and in the dis
tance could be heard the barking OF
the farm dogs Us they called to and
answered each other.
A youngish woman, dressed in O
skirt of red material, with a white
bodice, came out of a house close by
and went toward the river; she was
carrying baby in long clothes on her
left arm, and holding with her right
hand the chubby fist of little boy,
who in turn was grasping the hand OF
q younger brother. When she reached
the bank of the River Cher the young
mother sat down on big stone, while
the two boys quickly undressed and
tumbled into the water, where they
threw water over one another with
shouts of laughter.
"There'sa q picture which would have
o tremendous success in the Salon, "
said one of my companions, who was
an artist. ''See how the light falls
upon her! And what splendid pose
How well the red skin shows up on
the dark background /"
"Are you looking at Wolf-Solange,
young gentlemen?" asked voice be-
hind us.
1t was our host, who had been de-
tanned inside by the arrival of a patient,
and who now rejoined us. OF course,
we asked him who Wolf-Solange was,
and how she came by such strange
name, and, in reply, he told us the
Ioliowfng story:
"Wolf-Solange, whose proper name
is Solange Grillet, maiden name Tour
nier, was the prettiest girl all around
Tronsays ten years ago. Hard work
in tho fields and material cares have
left their mark upon her, but she is
still pretty for o woman OF thirty, as
you can see.
'At the time the adventure hap
pened which earned for her tho nick
name of Wolf-Solange she was still
single. Her parents were tenants OF
the small farm of Rein-du-B Bois, about
eight or nine miles from here, near
Lurcey-Levy. Although poor, she
had no lack of suitors,, even among
the well-to-do young men ofthe neigh
borhood; but the only one she en-
couraged was certain Laurent Grill
let, to whom she had taken fancy
when she was mere girl and they
used to tend sheep together.
Laurent Grillet was o founding !;
his fortune consisted of his strong arm
only. Solange's parents, not seeing
the advisability of marrying their
daughter to man lust as poor as they
were, especially when she had several
much better chances, forbade Solange
to meet her lover but the parents in
junction was unheeded, and as they
lived in the same village and the for
est was close by, the opportunities of
meeting were numerous aud easy.
ho L
the lovers still saw each other. and
perceived that Leither soft words nor
blows had any effect upon Solange,
they came to q weighty decision they
would send her out to service at Ur-
say, on the model farm of M. Roger
Duhos, our Deputy.
"Perhaps you think that this step
put stop to the lovers meetingp II
SO, you are quito mistaken. The only
difference was that they had to see
each other at night. AS soon as it was
quite dark the young people slipped
away from the respective farms on
which they worked, and, taking q
short cut to save time and to avoid
the high road, met in the forest un-
known to any one.
''It was in 1879. The summer and
autumn passed in this way, then came
the winter and terrible winter il
wasl The Cher was full of pieces of
floating ice, and finally it froze right
over the high trees of Tronsays bent
under the weight of the snow; the for
est was deserted, the roads having be-
come almost impassable; and we saw
what had not been seen for many a
year--wolves
eyes, young gentlemen, wolves
They prowled about the outlying