Gloucester County Democrat., 1899-07-13
st. syluestre.
He blade Up His Mind
Too Late.

!
| On the night of the 3lst of December
my friend .Iacobus, after having dined
| in silence at the table d'hote of the
Golden Rose. retraced with quick steps
! Grangettes street. where his bachelor
lodgings We're.
The street was solitary and badly
lighted by faroff gas jet. The north
wind, blowing directly between the two
rows of black facades, cut Jacobus'
visage and, Notwithstanding the close
/ ly buttoned oyercoat, made our friend
feel that the blood of 40 years did not
possess the warmth of prime youth.
Therefore did ne agitate with an i'm
patient hand the hammer which deco
rated the landlady's door.
1t was the daughter of the house,
Mile. Franceline Bigeard, who opened
to him. holding in one hand the folds
of her apron. filed with chestnuts. and
in the other the lamp which lighted up
her face and her sparkling blue eyes.
Those blue eyes. the fiizzly brown
hair and the bright smile of Mile.
Franceline still gave an attractive pi-
quancy to her face, although she was
commencing to fade, having attained
her twenty eighth year on st. Gather
ines day.
Il beg your pardon for having made
you wait" said she to the shlvering
lodger, .'but was in the act of split
ting chestnuts We have kept two of
my friends to supper. and tonight we
will end the year by roasting the chest
nuts and washing them down with a
glass of Fignolette. AT your service.
| N. Jacobus."
Thanks" answers he. appearing in
a hurry. Thanks, mademoiselle."
If he refused. it was not that France
lines company was displeasing to him,
on the contrary. But he kept himself
in reserve. fearing to place himself un-
der obligation to this girl who wanted
to marry and not wishing that too
much familiarity should make hin-slip.
little by little on dangerous ground.
He was not lnsensible to the blue
eyes and to the smile of thesyoung
lady, but he was afraid of marriage.
He resembIed those children who are
about to take cold bath. who dip one
foot In the water. then take 1t out
again and cannot decide to take final
plunge.
seThanksg' said be again on going up
the stairs. s.No letters have come for
me?"
"No. NJ. Jacobus. the mail carrier has
brought nothing"
"Well. decidedly I'm forgottenw sad
ly thought Jacobus as he put the key
in the keyhoIe. 1.-THE entire world has
! forgotten the way to my house"
Jacobus felt himself become. little by
little, in fit of bad temper. This night
everything had gone wrong. The logs
on the fire smoked instead of flaming;
his lamp fickered without giving light;
drafty wind passed under the door
and froze him to the marrow.
"a thinker-Joubert, believe" mur
INJURED he as he lighted his pipe-"has
said that the evening of life brings its
lamp with it, Mine lights very badly.
and my crepuscle is deucedly gloomy.
'This weakening Of the interior light
is one of the fatal consequences Of cell
bacy. Maturity and celibacy! Two un-
| healthy mediums which germinate and
start lot of bad seed that one thought
dead and that bring forth ugly flowers
with a bitter scent-tardy remorse,
sterile regrets, hesitations and fear of
old age.
"Fear especially. a cowardly fear
which keeps one from acting, which
| turns one from generous resolutions,
| from all fructuous daring. ! remem-
Der in the time of my youth. at a mo-
ment when | was about to climb an alb
rupt cliff of the Pyrenees, met man
ripe in years and already bent down.
and as | interrogated him as to the
road to follow he cried out to me:
"'Do not climb up there. The road
is a veritable foundry. You will get
out of breath all to no availp
II shrugged my shoulders and kept
on my way. laughing at the pusillanim-
ity of that middle age. and this is what
! have come to! The least pebble dis
turbs me. the most childish difficulty
takes the proportions of an impossible
ity. know no more how to dare or to
will. and retire to my bachelor cell re-
GREETING the chances that ! let slip at
the time my twentieth year fiourished
In all its freshness"
At that moment the ecIat of young
voices came from below. and in this
gay noise Jacobus could distinguish
Franceline's clear laugh.
"They are amusing themselves down
stairs~ thought he again. with a sigh.
They are drinking to the year that is
passing and to the one that win be
born
"For them year that passes away
and one that begins do not waken mel
ancholy thoughts. They are not yet at
the age when the weeks and the
months seem TO go by with the rapidity
of a swallow on the wing They viii
come TO 1t nevertheless. aud TO France
line as well as to the others She is
going on TO her twenty eighth year and
has not yet found husband Poor
girl! Little by little her cheeks win
fade, those blue eyes win lose their
brightness. her laugh will change those
clear notes for sharp and dry intona-
M ~ H 4