Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1900-05-04
THE BEAUTYPATCH
A RAILWAY COMEDY.
By RICHARD

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The Saint-Lazare station is a gay sta
ton In the heart Of the city. a stones
throw from the Opera and the boule-
ward. five minutes from the Champs
Elysees. 90 minutes from the Bots de
Boulogne. Ia the waiting room. the
Hall Of the Lost Footsteps. lined up
before the hooking offices or seeking
QUEEN devorent. there are always n lot
Of pretty girls with extra vagantly vel.
low hair crowned by marvellous hats.
They walk down the Rue d'Amster.
dam. their noses Ia the air. striking the
echolng curbstones with their little
high heels and generally carrying
small leather bags, supposed to give
them n countenance. What a counte
nance. Hence trips to nlnt-Germaln
or Versailles. starting from the above
mentioned gay station. are true pleas
ure trips.
Yesterday ! was obliged to 60 TO Yer.
saillcs. and. profting 10y my experience
in garrison there for several years
I strolled 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.
gers have 10 practice regular gymnas
tics TO get aboard. and there are. there
fore. all sorts OF picturesque sights to
be seen. not to speak Of services to be
rendered. For the latter purpose the
best thing 20 do Is to stand opposite
the revolving platforms. They make
the steps az least q foot ~higher-cnough
to make one quite dizzy climbing In. !
was on the lookout for a pretty fellow
traveller. | might even say that | had
the embarrassment Of choosing. 1t al
most looks as II the Western company
has the monopoly Of COOL looking ticket
holders. But. alas. Not one of them
was alone. Naturally | avoided cavalry
officers: they AL 80 to the terminus Of
the line. The Infantry add to the
chances OF Il tete-a-tete. for they gen
orally get or at Courbevolc. st. Cloud
OF VILE d'Avray. As to the artillery
thar's a risk to run. There is n battery
at Suresnes. but there are two regi-
ments at Versailles as well.
! was mt this stage of perplexity
when. I'm one Of the Inst of the first
class compartments. | caught sight OF
n pretty brunPtte-to he classified
among the plquante brunettes-velvety
eyes. fringed with long lasbes. a faint
ly shadowed upper lip and above the
left corncr Of the mouth-a souvenir Of
a bygone ccntury-a dainty little black
patch that our gallant ancestors would
have called killing. She wore n maize
colored benGallne bodice, trimmed with
gulpure. On her head was perched a
big hat with outspread white wings
that made her look like n valkyrie-
but a gay, not n warlike one. Beside
her was seated a large, elderly gentle
man. with big ~mustaches. n decoration
in his buttOnhole. lie had u military
air and imposing eyebrows and was
reading the paper. But, from time to
time, he raised suspicious eyes on her
the eyes OF a proprietor defending his
domain-the husband. evidently.
got into the carriage and seated my
self dlscreetly opposite the pair. but
In the far corner. Although | bad
made n slight bow on entering. ] did
not have the good fortune to claim the
lady's attention. She seemed preoccu-
pied and kept her head out OF the win
dow. as II she were expecting some
one. The mustached gentleman, how
ever. returned my bow most politely.
he was no doubt obliged to me for
having left the seat opposite him unoc-
cupled. At the moment the train was
starting a handsome blond young fel.
low. carrying a brief case under his
arm. sprang Inside breathlessly. He
rapidly exchanged a smile OF lntelli
gence with the lady and then sat down
opposite her. knee TO knee.
"Look sharp" ! said to myself. This
is going to turn mi interesting"
Naturally the big elderly man. abb
sorbed In his paper. had noticed moth
ing. The whistle sounded. the train
started. and the fair young man, no
doubt to appear occupied. began to
turn the leaves of the voluminous doc.
ument In the leather case. But every
now and then he raised his eyes, and
then II a easy TO see that the lady
with the patch smiled at him imper-
ceptibly. II would have been impossi-
bic to he more %lmprudent. and this lit
tie maneuver. barely concealed. ran a
great risk OF being discovered by the
man with the terrible eyebrows.
My sOul Is lnstluctlvely lenient 10 hu-
man weaknesses. and AT the bottom OF
my heart I always hnd a secret pleas.
ure On learning that the corporation OF
husbands counts one more victim. SO
as far ~ was possible decided to
conn TO the assistance OF the sweet
hearts by attracting the attention NJ
the hnsl and Selling the FIRST slight
pretext. engaged him 10 %conversa-
ton. AZ we approached AsDieres ! ~
tered n reelection that suddenly passed
through my mind:
ITO think that that bridge was cut IN