The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1898-09-30
THE LIONS CLAW ;
An End -ths-Censury Love Ssor.
D. TRX~oss COePl.
= 1rryr. JULIEN DE RHE had re-

Y IEUT. JULIEN DE RTE had re-
turned from his station in Cochin
nina. Conyalescent, after three
months illness at his mothers nome
an Touraine, he shivered at the hrst
vintry breath in the autumn air, and
was ordered by the doctor to fau;
-Just what you want-miid but orac-
ing climate
"a I'm mid-November Julien sat at
bis sunny window in Hotel Garderes,
gazing at the Pyrenees and smoking a
cigarette in honor of his recovery.
.Nv faith! Pau is full of pretty
-omen" he said TO himself, the frs.
,ime he went TO listen to the military
hand at the Place Royale. Neither
I;bertine nor fop, the young fellow
thrilled with fresh JOY In living a.
he put on his coat with its shining
three straps, the rosette OF the Legion
NJ Honor in the button-hole-the ros-
cite his mother had laid on his bed
when he was so Ill, and that be thought
he would only wear in his coffin.
How jolly Pau was, anyhow, with
its vast horizon, its snowy peaks. its
brilliant sun. the cosmopolitan crowd,
where pretty foreigners chartered all
the languages OF Europe, like tropic
birds in an aviary. A few sad sights,
10 be sure-the consumptive young
Enplishman in a bath chair, wrapped
in plaids, with the eyes of boiled
fish, q black taffeta muller over his
mouth. 1t gave one SILVER, yet
man is SO selfish-it made Julien re-
member what a skeleton he had been
shree months ago, with chocolate rings
under his eyes. and here he was cured,
tossing silver coins TO the beggars
and watching the hearty little Amer
Jean girls in fy-away white frocks
and black gloves and stockings, da nc
ing n ''ring- around-a-rosy" TO the
bands quickstep.
just the frame of mind for falling in
love. wasn't it? Which the happy con-
valescc.t proceeded TO 90 the frs; time
he set eyes on Mile. Olga Babarine
the belle of the Russian colony. as
she dismounted in front Of Hotel Gas
son-the coup de foudre. in fact. Back
from fox-hunting one evening at five,
she had slipped from her horse into the
arms of the nimblest of the pink-coat-
ed adorers who rushed for her stirrup.
Striking the veranda table with her
crop, she had called for cup of milk.
and drank II of at draught. Look
ing like Primaticcio goddess, her
slim figure and copper-colored hair
Illuminated by the flaring sunset. she
paused. laughing merriy. a creamy
mustache on her short upper lip. Sud
denly grave. with a curt. imperious
j 3D. she left the red-coats and entered
the hotel, tapping her riding-habit
with her whip.
Three days later. after many a who
Is she? / must know her.- TO his ac-
quantances. Julien got himself intro
duced-not a difficult process-and
joined the fair Russians court.
Was she a Russian. after all, this in
toxicating creature, who rode all day
and waltzed all night? Yes, by her
putative father. her mothers first hus-
band, Count Babarine
But everyone RENE mbered that at
the time of Olga's birth, her mother
nv tsit We Va u -"tN
York banker named Jacobson-was
getting a divorce. probably or ac-
count of her notorious liaison with
northern prince-royal, some Christian.
or Oscar. or other. What was the
nationality of a child brought up sue
cessively in a Scottish nursery. Nea-
politan convent, a Genevan pensionnat.
who had slept half her nights on the
cushions of the express. whose mem
CRY was a stereoscope in which re-
volved a series of watering-p places and
winter resorts, whittier her mother,
handsome still in spite Of erysipelas.
had carried the ennui of fading CO
quette along with her samovar and her
pet monkeys? The odd girl used TO
say. laughing at herself: II am neither
of London, nor of Paris. yr of Vienna,
nor Of Petersburg-Tm of the table
d'hote."
Had she any family? Hardly more
80. Her real father. the Oscar or
Christian, so often referred to by Nine
Babarine, had been dead some years.
and the Russian count, her legal IA
Their, never bothered his head about
her. Utterly bankrupt. civilized
understanding, who won at all
pgeon-matches his unerring gun gave
him living. The countess. in spite of
periodical attacks of maternal devo-
tion-painfully hollow-was gifted
with one of the perfect, absolute.
spherical egotisms that never show a
HOW; when Olga at eight had almos,
'cied of typhoid. Nine. Barbarine. Of
The white hands-for the sake Of de-
cency sitting up with her child-did
not once forget to put on her giants
gras.
All this De Rhe learned after en-
listing in the flying squadron that ma
heuvered about fair Olga. He began to
love the strange girl who let him look
straight into her eyes. and who said
70 him, as She lit pheresli cigarette.
ne day friend presented him: "Ah.
gu are the man who are so much In
love with me? How do you do?" Civ