Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1900-02-07
THE BEAUTYPATCH
A RAILWAY COMEDY.
BY RICHARD O'MONROY.

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The Saint-Lazare station is a gay sta.
ton In the heart of the city, stones
throw from the Opera and the boule-
ward, five minutes from the Champs
Elysees, 20 minutes from the Bots de
Boulogne. In the waiting room, the
Hall Of the Lost Footsteps. lined up
before the booking offices or seeking
QUEEN devorent, there are always q lot
of pretty girls with extrayngantly yell
low hair crowned by marvellous hats.
They walk down the Rue d'Amster-
dam, their noses in the air, striking the
echoing curbstones with their little
high heels and generally carrying
small leather bags, supposed to give
them countenance. What counte-
nance! Hence trips to Saint German
or Versailles. starting from the above
mentioned gay station, are true pleas
ure trips.
Yesterday | was obliged to go to Ver-
sailles, and. profiting by my experience
in garrison there for several years.
l strolcd up and down. in no haste to
choose my compartment. The railway
carriages standing high above the lev
el of the platform, the women passen-
tics to get aboard. and there are, there
fore, all sorts Of picturesque sights to
be scen not to speak of services to be
rendered. For the latter purpose the
best thing to do Is to stand opposite
the revolving platforms. They make
the steps Mt least foot higher-enough
to make one quite dizzy climbing in. I
was on the lookout for pretty fellow
traveller might even say that had
the embarra ssment of choosing. 1t al
most looks as if the Western company
has the monopoly Of cool looking ticket
holders But. alas! Not one of them
was alone. Naturally | avoided cavalry
officers; they all go to the terminus of
the line. The infantry add to the
chances of tete-a-tetc, for they gen.
orally get eff at Courbevoie. st. Cloud
or Vile dAvray. AS to the artillery
that's risk to run. There is battery
at Suresnes, but there are two regi-
ments at Versailles as we'll.
| was at this stage of perpleXity
when, in one of the last Of the first
class compartments, | caught sight of
n pretty brunette-to BE classified
among the piGuante brunettes-velvety
eyes. fringed With long lashes. a faint
ly Swallowed upper lip and above the
left corner of the mouth-a souvenir OF
q bygone century-a dainty little black
patch that olr gallant ancestors would
have called killing. She wore a maize
colored bcngaline bodice, trimmed with
| guiDure On her head was perched q
| big hat with outspread white wings
! that made her look like Il vallyrie-
| but a say. not a warike one. Beside
| her was seated n large. elderly gentle
man, with big mustaches. decoration
| in his buttonhole. He had military
air and imposing eyebrows and was
reading the paper. But, from time tC
time he raised suspicious eyes on her
the eyes of a proprietor defending his
domain--thc husband, evidently.
got into the carriage and seated my
self dscreetly opposite the pair, bu
in the far corner Although l hat
| made slight bow on entering. ! die
not have the good fortune to claim thu
lady's attention. She seemed preoccu
pied and kept her head out Of the win
dow, as if she were expecting SOM
one. The mustached gentleman, how
ever, returned my bow most politely
He was no doubt obliged to me TO
having left the seat opposite him unoc
cupied. At the moment the train wa
starting a handsome blond young fel
low. carrying brief case under nj
arm, spranS inside breathlessly. IL
rapidly exchanged a smile of intell1
cence with the lady and then sat dow
opposite her, knee to knee.
"Look sharp" said to myself. "Ihl
is going to turn out interesting"
Naturally the big elderly man, al
sorbed in his paper, had noticed notl
ing. The whistle sounded, the tral
started. and the fair young man,
doubt to appear occupied, began t
turn the leaves of the voluminous doc
ument in the leather case. But ever
now and then he raised his eyes, an
then 1t was easy to see that the lad
with the patch smiled at him i'npel
ceptiby. 1t would have been imposs
Bile to be more imprudent, and this Ii
file mapeuver, barely concealed, ran
great risk of being discovered by tn
man with the terrible eyebrows.
NV soul is instinctively lenient to HI
man weaknesses, and at the bottom
nv heart I always find secret plea
ure on learning that the corporation
husbands counts one more victim.
as far as was possible l decided
come to the assistance of the swee
. hearts by attracting the attention
the husband. Selling the first sligl
pretcxt, l engaged him in convers
tion. As we approached Asnieres u
torod n reflection that suddenly passe
through my nina:
"ro think that that bridge was cut