Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1896-05-13
A DEVOTED BROTHER.

Pirotou was the waiter at the little
hotel at Avignon where had put up.
I think be was the only manservant
they kept, for he appeared to do every
thing. l have seen him sweeping rooms,
polishing the oak floors, dusting, driv-
ing the hotel omnibus, loading and un-
loading the luggage, carrying trunks up
and down stairs with as little apparent
effort as though they were made of cork,
and then, add to all this, twice day,
with his hair we'll brushed and pomaded
and serviette over his arm, Pirotou
served at table.
One could not help noticing this man,
because he had such happy looking ex-
preston. His whole face laughed, from
his bright black eyes, his lips, his trum-
pet shaped nose, even to his very hair,
which was cropped short; his teeth and
his growing mustache, which he was
beginning to train at the corners of his
mouth. He was very quick and obliging,
and he was not only favorite with the
travellers who put up at the hotel, but
every one in the neighborhood appeared
to know him and like him.
When he was seated on his driver s
box on the way to or from the station,
he had to nod, smile, touch his hat or
wink to every one we met. The fact
was, he liked every one, and every one
liked him. This popularity gave rise to
certain prerogatives and privileges. Pi-
rotor liked talking, and he was decided
ly moro familiar than one expects q
waiter to be, but it all came SO natural
ly to him that somehow every one took
it in good part.
When the table d'hote dinner was
over, the things all cleared away and
the room nearly empty, Pirotou would
glance round, and if any one that he had
taken a fancy to happened to be still
there, Why he would make his way
across the room and start a conversation
at once. 1t never lasted long, though,
for either the hotel proprietor or one Of
the customers always interrupted him
he was continually in demand for
some service or another. In spite of this
the very first day l dined there he found
an opportunity Of getting little private
conversation with me.
"I've got brother who is an officer
in the army" he Informed me, and
without waiting for me to express my
surprise he continued: "Queer, isn't it
me waiter and him an officer? It's
true, though, my brother is an officer
in the army
"Pirotou, take No. 16's box up stairs.
Pirotou, coffee for No. 3. Pirotou, put
the horse in at once
He would then disappear like flash
of lightning and cheerfully perform all
the duties required of him.
He talked about his brother in this
way to every one because he was proud
of him, and, although he knew very
little of this said brother, yet he adored
him all the same He spoke of him al
ways in the same way without any
vanity, but simply that he could not
help mentioning him, just as vine
dresser must speak about the weather
and the sun. 1t was the subject always
uppermost in his thoughts, and he
would frequently take up his thread
again hours after aud go on just as
though he had never lost it.
~ expect you wonder how it is, how
it came about?" he said to me in con-
tinuation during his next interval.
"How what is?" asked, for I could
not imagine what he was driving at.
"Why-my brother being an officer y
"Ah, yes. How did it come aboutT'
"Well, it was like this. 1t was lady
that lived near our village, an old lady,
very we'll off, and she had lost her son.
Our parents were dead, and she took a
fancy to my brother. You see, he was a
fine looking lad, and just about the age
of her boy. Well, she took to him, and
she sent him to college at Paris, just
near to her home. Then he went to the
military school, Saint Cyr. She died
last year, and can tell you it put me
about good deal when I got the news,
for the sake of my brother
"Pirotou, answer the bell-No. BIT
had the next installment Of the
story the following day.