The Opelousas courier., 1896-11-07

- t'
cooled down into su:picion and dis
content.
What secrets did Hortense confid'
to Jules which she dill not tell he
lover? Thus she has enabled this mG1
to boast Of an intimacy which sh
ought not to have accorded to him,
He would have questioned Hortenst
on the subject that very day, but sn,
and her mother had gone to England
on q visit to q relative vino had mad
that country his home. He did no
dare to write to her on such an indeti
mite statement as that suggested l.,
Jules, who, after ell, might he onl,
Dragging and lying. Then Lcmoine
applied himself to the details Of com
merce once more, and tried to forgo
his previous annoyance.
The next morning jules, decked il
his regimentals, entered his cousin:
Office again. lie was flushed and eN
cited, and had evidently been p!edgin2
his friends Of the studio in bidding
them goodby.
81 have brought that letter from
H~ortense,' he said as he flung q paper
upon Louis's table. For 4 moment
Louis was about to return it to JULES
unread, but his jealousy checked his
good impulse, and he opened and read
the note which q cousin had brought.
As Louis graspel the meaning of the
words he turned pale, but consolin5
his feelings as he handed the paper
back to his cousin. he merely said:
"Such q confidence, I think, should
hardly have been placed in q man who
can so readily violate it,"
Then he turned his back upon jules,
who strutted out with a tipsy defiance,
and prepared himself for his departure
to join his corps by q few more fare
we'll glasses with his friends.
This then was the secret OF Hortense
which he had that day learned. Her
love was for Jules, bat her mother had
compelled her to accept the rich cousin
and repulse the poor one. Should he
write to Hortense and upbraid her for
her insincerity? How could he do so
when he had hardly respected himself
IN reading the letter unaddressad to
him?
Each moment that he thought Of the
falthlessness OF Hortense augmented
his anger and reused desperate crav--
ing for action. The next morning he
informed Constant & Co. that he must
retire from bis office, as it was his in
tention to Join the ranks Of the French
army as q private soldier.
''AIy dear Lemoine," said Henri
Constant, "this is simply Quixotic.
"The war is not one of self-nefence,
but one of AMBITION
Louis was resolute, however, in his
plan of action.
"Well," sighed Henri Constant, eff
you are decided, there's an end. We
must give you a years leave, though,
goodness knows, how we shall conduct
the business without you"
Louis smiled bitterly.
In the last year of the Empire, as
III the final days Of the previous one,
haste and precipitation took the place
of care and caution; the soldiers were
rushed through their drills with as
little attention as was applied to their
kits, the III object in view being that
of having q large army to take the
field as soon as war should have been
declared the provisions Indispensable
for the campaign were considered as
duly supplied, on the strength of
those official returns which were ac-
as unimpeachable, the supplies
of the ammunition itself being almost
taken as a matter Of course.
All this was too soon realized be-
fore the fatal month of August had
but little more than half run its
course, each day bringing the out.
numbered Frenchmen nearer to their
doom in the disastrous year of 1870.
The defeats of Gravelotte and Rez.
onville had compelled the retreat of
the forces into Metz, leaving many of
The wounded to the promiscuous at.
of the victors. Without as
that they were worse cared for
than we've those wounded on the con-
side, it is certain that the
French soldiers who we're LETT on the
ield had a very bad time of it. In
;he crowded shelters which were i'm
orovised as hospitals, the dangers that
we're not the least terrible arose from
yangrene and pyaemia, and the symp.
;oms of those fatal developments
doomed their sufferers to the
Inferno DER which might have been
written the dread warning, abandon
nope all ye that enter here"
Among this crowd OF the doomed
of the lust Of empire and the
BRIDE of power were two French sol.
liers hurried in with the rest. One
lad suffered amputation OF both his
egs, the other had been the victim of
breast confusion, caused from the
fragments cfIan exploding shell, and
vas in peril f4n.sn the shock rather
han from the graSetw OF the effects of
he wound, which coGls got be consid.
red serious. Il
In any case, ho had bh.a h~ought to
hat pest house hastily ond improper
y, for there was no sigs Of eangrene
n blood poisoning in Inscriptions.
AS the former rolled his head from
ide to side upon the straw spread
'ver the earth of the shed where he
ay, his eyes fell upon the form OF his
leighbor.
"Heavens!" he exclaimed, cam I
mad? Louis Lemoine, for you must
'e, how do [ find you a comrale in