St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-09-01

When at last / told her good by
she had gained an interest for me.
| had met just another person with a
'Carcasonne"
1t was three years later when next
saw Miss Celestine. Her mother was
dead and she had come to live with
hsr brothers family.
Although l was only spending few
days in Pointe des Arbres, / intended
to look up my old acquaintance, but
before / had time to do so | met her
one morning rs | was on my way to
the post Office.
She was rolling a baby carriage
while two cresS-looking children
tugged at her skirts and in voluble
French demanded her attention. She
was just in front of the gaudy little
house-the door stood open and
caught a glimpse of the much-talkcd.
of hall, while / mentally decided that
| Nine. Telesphore had now virtually
two servants!
1t seemed to me that Miss Celestine
! looked much older than when | had
last seen her and gray threads were
| beginning to show in her heavy black
hair. Her eyes had tired, dark lines
| beneath them as if she was often
! weary. but had no time to indulge
in moments of repose.
/ wondered if her 'Carcasonne" had
been all that she dreamed it to be
or if the present ever drifted away
and in thought she was back again
| in the little Acadian hamlet tending
her flowers and chickens!
As we stood chatting on the brick
pavement, buggy came rattling
down the street.
When one tarries awhile in Pointe
des Arbres, one catches the spirit OF
the place and looks with real interest
upon the most trivial occurrences
The affairs of ones nsighbors there
possess an unparalleled Importance;
| thus l turned instinctively to catch
a aglimpse ofthe occupants of the buggy
The man would have attracted at
tention anywhere. With his deep-set
dark eyes and singularly classic fca-
lures, he seemed type of the early
picturesque Acadian, and l could not
help thinking what a magnificent hero
o.s Longfellow's poem "Evangeline" he
would have made.
l noticed little about the woman at
his side, except that she was of a
massive style of good looks and
seemed much overdressed.
"Who is that man." | asked Miss
Celestine. seeing that they had eN-
changed bows.
That" she said. slowly, ''is Achille
Rodrigue, and that is his wife with
him."
| "Achille RODRIGUEZ" / repeated to
myself. Why, that was the man I
had heard several people discussing
but the evening before as | sat on
the hotel porch. They seemed to be
much impressed by the fact that
after 13 years of answering devotion
| to one woman. he had startled every
one by marrying widow who had
| long been keenly alive to the worldly
advantages of such match.
No one seemed to know exactly why
he and his first love had never mar.
| ried. Some one suggested that the
| girl had sacrificed herself to the sell
| fishness of her mother, but whatever
it was. Achille Rodrigue had shown
| constancy which his associates at
| first regarded with surprise, but aft
.Js lao, 10 M
his nature.
His marriage lately. therefore, oc-
| casioned no small astonishment. and
there were many theories advanced
on the subject.
Theophile, the blacksmith, who
seemed to know Achille Rodrigue
better than the others did. asserted
loudly that Achilles great, strong
heart had been touched by the wild
| ow's open devotion to him and that
he had married her out of pity, per-
haps wishing to bring into some
other life the brightness his own
lacked.
Apart from the speakers. sitting in
the gray dusk on the hotel porch, l
listened idly to the bits of conversa-
ton which floated to me on the even
ing air My thoughts drifted from
| Achille to the girl he had loved in
| those other days. l wondered what
had been her fate. whether she had
| married some one else. or whether
she still remembered. \ mere specu-
lation on my part. since | never eN-
pected to see either Achille or his
| first love!
YES" said. recalling myself sud-
denly and turning to Miss Celestine,
| Il have heard of Achillc Rodrigue be-
fore" and all at once L regretted that
had ever inquired about him.
Miss Celestine was leaning down and
| was lifting the baby from his car
riage. arranging and rearranging the
pillows at his back.
Her face was so averted that I could
| scarcely see it, but there had stolen
| over it an expression which made me
| feel that l had ruthlessly lifted the
| curtain from human soul and dis.
closed depths which l had no right
| to see.
Now l understood the glamour
| which had been cast about the little
town. After all, the memories which
| we treasure most are those which
are gilded with brush of our owr
| romance. She had told me that Apri
| afternoon as we sat on the porch to
gether, she hoped she would 60 bach
TO that enchanted land. Now she hao
retrrned-and it seemed to me that
since fate deals out her favors only
sparingly at best, she is sometime:
kinder in Withholding altogether thar
in fulfilling in part.-Detroit Free
Press.
An Economical Wife.
Wife-Karl, we ought not to spent
so much for our summer trip thi:
..r and. I've thought of one way II