Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-12-24
SAVED HER LOVER.

hO't bNsN
refined girls in Lyons. One night at 6
cafe chantant he rebuked Achille Emaux,
a professional duelist, for interrupting a
singer and publicly derided him as u cad
and a reviler of ladies. A duel was in
stantly arranged to take place next morn
ing.
Mile. I4adouner was in the theater with
her uncle and witnessed the incident.
Jules, whom she loved with her whole
heart and soul, would be IA corpse before
another day had passed! That was the
one thought that filled her brain, and for
a time in her distress and agony she was
almost demcnted. But by degrees she
forced herself to be calm. At whatever
cost her lover must be saved. Half an
hour before midnight, when her mother
had retired, she quietly stole out and made
her way as furtively as II thief to Iimaux's
residence.
He had not returned, and she was oblig-
ed to wait. 1t was nearly 1 o'clock when
the bravo came in, hunming a funeral
march, as was his custom on the eve of a
duel.
"Good evening, mademoiselle," he said
as she rose on his entrance. "This is an
unexpected pleasure, though 1 regret to
say / do not recognize you, and my man
did not catch your name. Pray be seated,
mademoiselle, and tell me what l can do
for you"
She obeyed, and he seated himself oppo-
site her. She was trembling and CULVER
ing, and her throat was SO dry that she
could scarcely speak. But at the sight of
him sitting there, gay, careless and snil-
ing, and yet to be in a few hours tho
butcher of her beloved, ii tempest of pas
sion shook her, and her tongue was loosed.
"Monsieur," she cried, rising again,
you are infamous, a beast-nay, that is
an insult to the poor beasts! l loathe you!
You detile the earth! Pah! you smell
of blood! Even a beast is merciful at
times, but you-you-you''-
Emaux was utterly taken by surprise,
but he still preserved an unrutfled front.
."Mademoiselle," he said, you are very
good to come at this hour to pay me COM
pliments. What have l done to deserve
them?o
"Done!" she cried. "What are you
about to do, hound? Jules Souvestre is my
betrothed, and you insult and intend to
murder him. 1t shall not be, I say. See,
1 will fight you in his stead. Get pistols,
and we will stand on either side the room.
I have insulted you. l insult you again.
You are viler than any living creature.
Gomez
A steely glitter came in his eyes, but he
still smiled.
II am truly sorry for you, mademoiselle.
But that dog insulted me publicly, and
well, we fight at dawn"
"Insulted you? Hecould not, monsieur.
But you shall fight me. Get pistols at
once, If you are not a coward"
He still smiled.
II do not fight women, mademoiselle-I
love them. l am truly sorry, but unless
you car persuade him to an apology as
to be said. 1t is late, mademoiselle. /
will see you out"
''You shall fight me, ruffian!"
He shook his head, with an amused
smile. "Mademoiselle's best weapon is
her tongue, and that fortunately does not
KILL
She looked at him with terrified eyes.
"Do you mean to kill him, monsieur"
"Yes, " he said CURLY.
She fell back into the chair with a
%strangled cry, horror in her eyes. For a
moment she sat thus, then she flung her
self on her knees at his feet.
"Monsieur," she cried, "have pity,
have pity! 1 love HIM. Monsieur, you
will kill both of us! Pity, pity!' she
gasped.
"Rise, mademoiselle, I beg of YOU" he
said. "You have Just told mo 1 havo no
pity"
"Haye you no heart, mcnsieur?" she
moaned.
"None when a man has publicly insult
ed me. And" he went on in a cynical
tone, "who knows but 1 may do made
moiselle q favor. Men swear their vows
as lovers, but they soon forget them. I
may possibly save mademoiselle from q
life Of misery"
She flushed in momentary heat at that.
"You do not know him" she cried.
Ellis love is as great as the sea. Can you
exhaust the sea2 Has your heart never
known love, monsieur?'
He frowned. 1t recalled a time ten
years before.
"Ah, l SEQ it has!' she said quickly.
sBy that love, monsieur, have pity. You
shall have my gratitude and prayers every
day. As long as I live I shall remember
you and ask mercy for you, even as you
had mercy OH me-"
He did not answer, but gazed on her
beautiful, pleading face. 1t was a girl a
little than this one and quite as
beautiful who had died ten years ago, and
all good influences had died with her.
"You have overcome, mademoiselle," he
a..l ItIIn shall 1irn for vnI,p SaEn ~
"You will spare him?"
"Be comforted, mademoiselle. / meant
to kill him, but he shall live. We shall
| fight at dawn, but he shall not die. Come
mademoiselle, it is time you were gone
Shall l see you safely homer
"No, no." she cried as he led her to thu
door. "You will keep your oath, mon
sieur-you will not forget?"
mo, mademoiselle, and you will no
forget your ~prayers?" he said, with q it'll
laugh. "If you are right, l need them
Good night and fear nothing"
But she did fear. When she reached
home, it seemed to her almost impossible
to believe that a man with such a RUTHLESS
reputation would forbear to kill the MAJ
who had insulted him.
She went to bed, but she could not res
and soon got up again and toward
O'Clock stole toward the spot where tn,
duel would take place.
From behind a %shrubbery, in what stat
Of mind may be imagined, she saw boil
parties arrive on the field, she saw tn
formalities gone through, but she lost con
seriousness for a minute when they stoo'
pistol in hand facing one another.
When she recovered and could raise he
eyes, the doctor was binding up the arm o
her lover. Emaux's bullet had inflicted
superficial flesh wound, and Emaux wa
%apologizing to his friends. He had beel
drinking too much wine, he said.
Not till years afterward did Jules know
what his wife had done for him. Neve
again was Emaux known to show a scin
tilla of pity in his terrible profession
Nevertheless II woman prayed for hir
till the day Of her death.-Titbits.