Abilene weekly reflector., 1898-02-03
TOM DENINE. the cnhhler nnshnf

'oM DENlNE, the cobbler, pushed
j up his spectacles and gave me a
whimsical glance.
Its Gurus" he remarked, "it's Gu
rus what difference it makes to a
mans family how he is put out of the
world! Hang him, and his folks feel
disgraced forever; cut off his head with
a guillotine, and"
The old man made flourish with
his head, as though the matter were
one for serious congmtulation.
"Leastways," he added, returning to
his mending again, that's the way
some folks think. Lord! how set up
M. Lafitte was about it, to be sure, and
nll on account Of an ancestor of his who
happened to lose his head on the scat
fold with Louis XVI!
"Who was M. Laftte? Well, he was
Frenchman who once took lodgin's
on the upper floor of this house, an old
ramshackle affair now, but once mali-
sion, as you can see, and as fashionable
a street as there was in London"
80 have heard" assented.
"The Frenchman," he continued,
was man somewhere about 60 years
of age, tall and stiff in his bearing; and
though his clothes were worn and shah
by-lookin', his linen. noticed, was neat
and tidy, and as white as snow"
"'Eloomsbury,' said he, when had
showed him the room-I'm the care.
taker of the building, you see, sir--'ees
IA respectable quataie OF the city,
ees it not so, Meester Concierge?'
"'More than respectable, mossoo,'
said !, a trihe tartly. 1t was once q
fashionable part OF London
"lle sighed as he looked about the
room.
"Eet will do, Meester Concierge
he would always call me that, sir,
though | told him time and again it
wasn't my name--'eet will do for the
praisant,' with a flourish of his white
hand, as though the next month would
find him in Park Lane and so be en-
gagged the room, and paid for 1t in adj
vance.
SIN a few hours they moved in-him,
his sick wife, his daughter, Mile. jus
tine, and Polly, as cunning parrot as
| ever see.
"Purty? Well, don't KNOW For
a foreigner ma'm'selle might hev been
called purity. She was slight little
thing, with great big eyes, and long
eyelashes throwing deep shadders into
'em like grasses into a brook
He cleared his throat and spread his
hands, as though the matter of looks
was OF no consequence.
"But, Lord!" he exclaimed with sud-
den animation, "how she could sing
Gay songs, too, in French and Eye
Italian, with sometimes an English bal
lad or so. Why, sir" giving the boot a
tremendous whack, there was fortin'
in her voice, a fortin' as big as Patti's
and only for the fact Of that precious
ancestor Of hers a-losin' Of his head on
the scaifold with Louis XVI. she'd
made 1t, too, as easy as--that!" giving
the boot another whack.
"But the mossoo! How stiff he did
draw himself up, TO be sure, at the
very mention Of it.
understand me-" the cobbler cx-
planned, ut wasn't out Of any oflicious
meddlecomeness that ] first suggested
the thing to him. No; it wasn't till he
was behindband in his rent, and his
poor eyes-he was n diamond cutter,
you see, sir and sat all day with his eye
glued to a glass-was giving out, that
! thought Of some way in which mann
selle could help him better than by en-
broidering.
"The day the diamond got lost, my,
how they did go on! | thought the
house was a-fre; and when ! run up to
see, there was the old lady moaning,
and ma'm'selle and mossoo a-turnin'
everything topsy-turvy In the room.
"'What diamond?' says |, wonderin'
II they all had gone crazy, and then
between the old lady and her husband,
] found that she had been more ailing
than usual that day, and in one Of his
journeys from his bench to the bed,
a-waitin' on her, he had lost the dia-
mond he was cuttin', an extry large and
fine one.
High and low we searched for it. In
every crack and corner. The bedding.
the old rug, everything was shook out.
""Twas no use, though, and finally
we give IL up; and what was worse, Of
course the poor gentleman had to mako
1t up. 1t was tough, can tell you, for
at the best Of times they only about
made ends meet.
II thought Of ma'm'selle's voice, rare
enough to bring guinea for every
note. but thanks to that aristocrat
whose head had tumbled on the same
plank with Louis XvT.'s, darcn't men
tion II.