The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-08-15
TWO AAMy1]E5U60GAALN50
BY BRET HARTE,
COPY ight, 1897, by Bret I4arte.

vaxen check beneath thy heavy lidded
eyes. There was an exchange of polite
amenities.
And your name, ma pctite?" "Helen,
responded the young girl, naiyey.
whats yours - "Ah," said the kind
gentleman CALAMITY. pulling at his
moustache; eff you are Helen, | am
Paris" The young girl raised her clear
eyes to his and said gravely: Pardon,
Your Majesty is France" She retained
this childish fearlessness as the poor
student of the Conseryatoire, went alone
al over Paris with her maiden skirts
untarnished by the gilded dust of the
boulevards or the filth of by-ways; knew
all the best shops for her friends and
the cheapest for her own scant pur-
chases; discovered breakfasts for few
sous with pale seamstresses whose sad
ness she understood, and reckless chorus
girls, whose gayety she didn't. She
knew where the earliest chestnut buds
were to be found in the Bots, when the
slopes of the Buttes Chaumont We're
green, and which was the old woman
who sold the cheapest flowers before the
Madeleine. Alone and independent, she
earned the affection of Nine. BibelOt, the
concierge and, what was more, her conf
dence. Her outgoings and mornings
were never questioned. The little Amer
lean could take care of herSelf-ah, if her.
son Jacques were only as reasonable!
Miss Maynard might have made more
friends had she cared. She might have
joined hands with the innocent and light
hearted poverty of the coterie of her own
artistic compatriots, but something in
her blood made her distrust Bohemian
ism. Her poverty was something to her
TOO sacred for jest or companionship-
her own artistic aim was too long and
earnest for mere temporary Enthusiasts.
She might have found friends in her
own profession. Her professor opened
the sacred doors of his family circle to
the young American girl. She appreciat-
ed the delicacy, refinement, and cheerful
equal responsibilities of that French
household-so widely different from the
accepted Anglo-Saxon belief-but there
were certain restrictions that rightly or
wrongly CALLED her American habits of
girlish freedom, and she resOlutely trip
ped past he first etage four or five flights
higher to her attic, the free sky, and in
dependence!
Here she sometimes met another kind
Of independence in Monsieur Alphonse,
a ged %, and she who ought to have been
Mime. Alphonse, aged IL, and they often
exchanged greetings on the landing with
great respect toward each other, and
oddly enough, no confusion ordistrait.
Later they even borrowed each others
matches without fear and without re-
preach, until one day Monsieur Alphonse's
parents took him away, and the desc
lated soi-disant Nine. Alphonse in a
cheerful burst of confidence gave Helen
her private opinion of Monsieur, and
from her seventeen years experience
warned the American infant of twenty
against possible similar complications.
One day, it was near the examination
for prizes, and her funds were running
low, she was obliged to seek one of those
humber restaurants she knew Of for
her frugal breakfast. But she was not
hungry, and after a few mouthfuls left
her meal unfinished as a young man
entered and half abstractedly took seat
at her table. She had already moved
before the Compton to pay her few sous,
when, CHANGING to look up in mirror
which hung above the counter rejecting
tIt Va tuC SdlGs bhE cdW thC
stranger, after casting hurried glance
around him, remove from her plate the
broken roll and even the crumbs she had
left and as hurriedly sweep them in his
pocket handkerchief. There was nothing
very strange in this; she had seen some
thing like it before in these humber
was a crib for the birds in the
Tuileries gardens, or the poor artists
substitute for rubber in correcting his
crayon drawing! But there was a sin
gular flushing of his handsome face in
the act that stirred her with a strange
pity, made her own cheek hot with SYM
pathy and compelled her to look at him
more attentively. The back that was
turned toward her was broad-shouldered
and symmetrical, and showed a frame
hat seemed to require stronger nourish-
ment than the simple coffee and roll he
had ordered and was devouring slowly.
His clothes, well made though worn,
;ffed him in a smart soldierlike way and