The aegis & intelligencer., 1899-02-17


VIA DiGGu. Ire overturned SUMMER
houses; the Eutted shooting gallery; the
swing with its wet ropes Creaking in the
" ind, and The signs near tho door scratch
ad by bull,tS--" Ahsinth," "Verniuth,'
''Wino at Go Confines IL Litcr''-which
framed n dead rabbi painted above two
billiard cti,:; tiCd crosswiSc by ribhun-
everything recalled with cruel irony the
popular ANUS, ments of bygone Sundays,
and over all this an ugly winter sky, cuv-
cred with rolling, loadcn clouds - low.
angry, hateful.
At the tavern door the young duke
stood motionlcss, his chassopot slung ever
his shoulder, his keIi showed down On bis
eyes, his numECd hands in the pockets of
his rcd trousers, shivcripg under his
shCcpskin. Yielding himself up to his
somber reveriG, the soldier Of defeat gaZed
with hcartbrokcn eyes at the slopes, half
hidden in fog, whence rose every second
minute with sullcn dctonation the white
ball of smoke of "a krupp gun.
suddenly he discovered he was hungry
KECcling, he drew from his havcrsack
lying against the wall near by, Il big
hunch of army bread. Having lost his
knife, he used his teeth and took u bite.
But few mouthfuls We're enough. The
bread was hard and bitter. There would
be no fresh supply till tomorrow, If then.
Allons! soldering was not all Ilay. And
unfortunately at this moment suddenly
he was vividly reminded of what he used
to call his hygienic breakfasts, when or
the morning following u supper Of heat.
ing nature he used to seat himself near
ground floor window of the Cafe Anglais
4 L. -.
chop, an asparagus omclct-and the wait.
er, knowing bis habits, cautiously Tn.
corkcd q slim bottle of cid Leoyillc com.
fortably lying in its basket
Gooti old days! He would never, never
get used to this pnupcr's fare. And in
moment of impaticnco the young mai
tossed the rest of his bread into the mud.
At the SAME instant Il soldier stepped
out of the tavern. STOPPING he picked
the bread up, walked u short distance,
wiped it on his sleeve and began devour
ing it greedily Henri dc Hardimont, al.
ready ashamed of his fastidiousncss, looked
pityingly at the poor devil who showed
such u good appetite. He was long,
lank, i'll built young fellow, with fever
.~,!nwGd- cT2s and n hGsrital beard and So
Sy,-TT: that his Shoulder blades stood ouI
under the cloth cf his worn capotc.
"You are hungry, comrade?" said Henri,
drawing nearer.
GAS you see" returned the fellow, with
his mouth full
Excuse nc If had known my bread
could have been of Use to you, would not
have thrown it away"
"Thcres no harm done" replied the
soldier. I'm not SO particular.
"All the same" said the gentleman, sit
was stupid of me, and l am sorry for it
But you mustn't carry away Il lad opin-
ion of ME, and as I have some good cognac
in my flask, rarsIeu! Well drain it to
gothcr.
The man had finished eating. The duke
ard he drank swallow. The Gcquaint
ance was an accomplished fact.
"And your nalncI"
"Hardimont," replied the duke, sup
pressing title and particle. And you?"
".Jcan Victor. I've only lately been
transferred to this company. I'm just
out of the ambulance. / was wounded at
Chntillon. Ah l WAS we'll eff ut the hos
pital What good ii"rsc meat broth they
give you there! But it was only 4 scratch
The major sigrod Iny dismissal, and here
| am. The starving begins again, for
believe me if you like, cCmradc, I've been
hungry all my born days."
The speech startled the voluptuary, who
had surprised himself u moment before
rcgrciting the cuisine OF the Cafe Anglais
7 he duke ga2cd 1T lis companion in hor-
ror stricken amaZcmcnt. he soldier
smiled nwkwarilly, showing his woiiish
teeth, white in the midst Of his earthly
face, and us ii he un,.,lstaUd thai Il col,
Gderco was expected Of him. Hold, he
said, suddenly c"asirg 70 'thCc" ana
thou" his comradc, Guessing him to h
rich ard furtunatc-'' hold let us walk up
| and down Il bit to w&EIa our tert, and l
will tell you things gen probably never
| feard before. My name is .Jean-Victor
.-.Jean-Vi-tor, and nothing further, for
1 am II foundling My only happy men,
| ories are those Of my earliest childhood,
| in the hospice. Tho sheets were white
| OH our little beds in the dormitory, we
played under big trees in the garden, and
there was one sister, quite young, as pale
as wax tapcr-she was dying of con-
| sumption-whosc pet 1 was liked to
| walk with her better than to play with
the other children, because she used to
| press me against her skirt and put her
thin, hot hand on my brow. But at 13,
after my first communion, the wTetchcd-
ness began.
"The administration had put me out to
apprenticeship at q chair sCater's of tho
Faubourg st. jacques. It's no trade at
all, you kDow-out of the question to
make ones living at it; the proof of that
is that usually the patron could only Sc
cure rs apprentices the poor wrctchcs from
the blind school. There is where 1 began
to starve. The master and his wife-they
were aftcrward mur,iCrCd-wcro terrible
lniscrS, and the bTcad-you got bit cut
off for you at each mcal--staid under lock
and key the rest of the time. And in the
evening, at supper, you should have seen
the miSSs, in her frowSy black cap, scry-
ing out the soup to us and hcaving n sigh
every time she dipped the ladlo into the
tSrcen. The two other apprentices from
the blind asylum We're less miserable than
l. They got no more than l; but at least,
they couldn't see tho rcproackful glare of
the old witch as she held out my plate to
me-and the worst was 1 already had my
huge appetite. Was it any fault Of mine:
l starved there as apprentice for three years
three ycars!-yOu can learn the trade in
q month, hut the administration can't
know everything and doesn't suspect that
the children aro being exploited. All, you
are surprised to see me pick bread up out
of the mud! I'm used to it. I've picked
many n crust out of the garbage heaps,
and when they were too dry, let them
soak all night in my washbowl. Some
times there were finds, to be sure half
nibbled buns frGm schcolbnys' baSkcts--I
used to hang around the schools when on
errands. And, then, when the apprentice
ship was over, there was the trade that
as told you, doesn't half feed its man
Oh, l tried other things, l warrant you
l put my heart into my work. I've been
shopboy, mason's boy, floor polishcr-
God knows what! BAIL One day the
work would give out, the next I'd lose my
place. In short, never ate my fiil-thun
der, what tortures I've felt passing q b#k
cry! Luckily for ne. ut such moments |
always remembered the good sister at the
hospice who so often told me to be honest
and l thought felt her hot hand OH NY
forehead. Finally, at Is, l enlisted. Ycu
know as well as ! the trooper gets barely
enough. Now-it's almost laughaJle-
here come siege and famine! You see,
wasn't lying just now when 1 told ycu
I'd always been hungry"
The young duke was good hearted. The
terrible confession, made by a fellow man,
by Il soldier whose uniform made him his
equal, moved him deeply. Fortunately
for his clubman reputation for sang froid
the night ind dried i'll his eyes something
that Threatened to dim them. "Jcan Vic
tor" he said, "if we both survive this ter
rible war, we sball meet again, and hope
to be of some Use to you. But for the
thprp j. IN Inl; t1,p