The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-06-22
ONCE


not know what has become o. Camille?'
The young man in his shirt sleeves,
who was searching the disordered cham
Der for cigarettes, stopped short and re-
Piled:
Certainly not. How should know?
1t is SO long since-and then" he add
ed, with an air of bored indifference,
what does it matter to me?''
"Oh, but know where she lives
and happily too'
Then, changing her tone as she tied
up her bundle, she said:
However, if you do not care about
hearing''-
Maurier took long whiffs of his ciga-
rette. He had the day before, after read
ing his brilliant thesis, received his di-
ploma and was now an Nj. D. In an
other week he would return to Trivas,
his native city. The name and memory
of Camille, the milliner, who had been
his sweetheart for year, at the end of
which he had brusquely cast her off,
were not altogether Indifferent to him.
Camille! Oh, yes, that was long
time agoP' he said as he looked at the
laundress, good, ugly soul from Yer
sallles, whom he had employed since
his early student days.
Not so long, after ALL said tho
laundress. Sho was looking at him
how, her hands on her hips, her keen
face expressing q sort of maternal in
terest. She was not to be go easily i'm
posed upon. She resumed:
You were rather cruel to the poor
little woman, weren't you?''
Maurier shrugged his shoulders al
most imperceptibly as he took from his
closet bottle of cognao and two glasses,
saying, as he filed them:
L broke with her when I found the
matter taking too serious turn; that is
all. One must have amusement. But to
compromise career-zut To your good
health, Mother Legrain
The laundress as she drank tho brandy
said:
ut does not prevent her being happy
now.''
AS she did not continue, after short
silence Maurier, curious, asked:
What is she doing, anyway"
"She is married. What do you think
of that? To fat haberdasher-a hand
some shop, really-Aux Trois Princesses,
Place Clichy.''
So much tho better.''
And three children-loves-r
and rosy as apples. You would never
recognize her, said Mother Legrain i'll
sidiously.
.tSDo you still SEQ her?'
Not longer ago than week, NJ
Maurier. was at my door, Rue Morgue,
when she passed with her husband and
children. They had come to Versailles
to visit the chateau and the park. She
stopped and talked with me full min
ute. And dressedl Not as she used to
be-oh, mol One could see that her hus-
band was we'll to do
And satisfied, when Maurier feigned
to yawn, that he was inwardly piqued
to interest, she slung the bundle of
CLOTHES over her shoulder with Good
day, NJ. Maurier-until Monday-good
day"
Maurier prepared to 60 out, indulging
in the following monologue:
All, me, poor Camille! Well, it is
better SO. She has found chance to-
has got married, in fact. Curious l
should so entirely have lost sight of her!
she was pretty, was CalnilIe-a tritle
thin, but good girl and full Of droll
humor; piquant face, always busted
with poudre de riz, and her silky hair
like all aureoloabout her head. How the
years fly! And she is married, sand 1 am
a.doctor, ripe for patients and domestic
life. Really, am not curious, but it
would be quite amusing to see her again
Ito SEQ her i'll her new surroundings.
And who knows? She loved me when l
sent her from me and afterward wrote
me heartbroken letters. She lives in
Place Clichy, ch? Stop minute-bah,
she must have forgotten mel Still, docs
woman forget when she has suffered?
No. 1t would be queer if, after all
What have to risk? l leave Paris III
week. I'll go to sec her. My heart tells
mo to try my luck.
With these cdifying reflections Man
ricr went down and took the Odeon-
Clichy omnibus, upon the top of which
he sat huniming until he reached his
destination, Aux Trois Princesses. In the
windows locked out upon the world an
artistic arrangement of silks and linen,
forest of walking sticks and umbrellas
and gorgeous cravats. Although not
large, the shop indicated prosperity
Maurier hesitated, suddenly embar-
raised, not daring to enter for fear of
encountering the husband or perhaps
clerk. AT length, however, he entered.
Camille was behind the counter He
recognized her ut once. Her fair face
was busted with rice powder. as it used
to be. Her silky hair formed nimbus
about her head. as hn remembered it