Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-12-25

moments did not respond to his cordial
greeting.
you think me ghost. eh?' he re-
marked, laughing. "Well, you see l am
rot one"
what a pleasure it IS TO me 10 see you
again, and In the flesh" l EXCLAIMED m
reply. Il have thought Of you many
times during these ten years, and nave
thought that some misfortune had be-
fallen you; and you, like an migrate, did
not write to me- although you knew l
was in Paris. Where have you been all
this time?
"Wen. 1 have just returned, after run
ming over half the globe. II was not an
easy thing TO send you letters from the
ruins of Memphis. Thebes, Tyre, Nine
web, Bdblyon-those majestic skeletons OF
2 grandeur which moderns can scarce
~ conceive, and which can be only APP
proximately appreciated in their presence.
Neither was il very easy TO receive let
ters at those points. In a word, for more
than ten years. 1 have lived cut of from
the rest of the world. But not being
able longer TO resist a growing nostalgia,
returned to Paris, drawn hither by
my affections and by the memo
ries OF a youth which is passing away
and to see If old associations will reju-
venate me I run against you the inst
thing: take possession of you; convert
myself into your shadow, and appropriate
ali of your time But, apropos Of this
tyranny-are you married.
mo, my good friend; except to my yo-
cation"
"Brayo, Then you are mine. In fact,
I remember that your moral structure
was always that of man, serious, for
tod ~
rate habits. and having such a regard
for morality that you used 10 worry me
with your sermons. Knowing these fea-
tures of your character, l always pre-
dlcted that you would become a bene-
dict.
81 on the other hand. have wasted
nv energies Silly and madly, without
any fixed course and without occupying
myself with any serious calling. Instead
of the crucibie and the microscope. which
absorb your attention, and impose upon
YOU the life of pendulum-an isochronal
tic-tac' Of monotonous existence-I chose
a wandering life. accepting the casual
as the normal, and trusting TO chance
for the success of my efforts. Archae-
ology, as applied to history, seduced me-
by furnishing a pretext for this wander
ing life.
From Tomorrow, when you VIII DAcdh-
fast with me promptly at IL O'Clock,
will stick TO you like moss TO stone
| will not leave you for moment. ami
we shall again become the 'siar1ese
twins as they used to call us at college.
II live IN Neuilly, in cottage hidden
among foliage, alone. like human fun
gus: because do not count as compan-
ions the two servants 1 have. One Is
an Indian OF pure blood. who smells
OF musk. and who every morning on
arousing me asks me this question: From
whom does my master wish me TO free
him today? In order that you may
understand this peculiar interrogation, l
will explain that this servant Is Sepoy,
and belongs 10 the Brahmanistic sect
known as the Strangers He gets along
very well. however. with the other SER
want a woman of Normandy, who Is
without a rival In preparing beef tongue
in the style OF her country. DO not fail
me-"
make yourself easy" answered. Il
will be punctuaL"
So many emotions experienced In such
q short space of time by my cerebral
functions. habitated to a tranquil and
vell-ordered existence-on the one hand