Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-04-10

): THE CONTEST s
s --- X
e By j. K. tzIetberiW q
x
BY j. K. oL>efberiIL.

coocooooooooccoooooeos
ing them? Now. If it had been Mr.. Paul
that had gone. Petite Madame would
| have remembered him so that she would
have died of 1t.
But l know what excuses there were
for poor MIR. Paul; and. God knows he
wasn't happy in his second marriage.
| How could that woman with her cold,
dry heart, take the place OF wife who
was all love and goodness? II ever
there was a born old maid. that never
deserved to get husband, it was the
second Madame Paul She wanted ev-
erything Just so." and nearly drove the
| servants crazy with her fidgety ways.
Mr. Paul had his fixed ideas. too: he
his cigar-stand there. and nowhere else.
| But Madame Paul wanted them some
where else because her ideas We're al
ways different from everybody else's.
l speak of this because it first made me
notice there was something strange
about the house. One day madame had
the armchair moved away from the
| Preside, and over by the window, and
she put the cigar-stand off the big table
on to a little one i'm the corner. Pres
! entity I went back with her into the IL
hrary to see about the new curtains.
and as soon as she got in the room, she
c,ied out How dared you move those
| things back"
| Il, madame? But l assure you l
| haven't touched them.'' l told her. She
| was Obliged to see 1 was telling the
truth; and no one else had been in the
room Then Madame Paul slapped the
things back where she wanted them, and
l.>>l lot
| stay!"
| Well and good! But when they Went
into the library after dinner, Mr.. Paul
said, We'll, Ariane, l see you have de-
cided to let me have my chair and cigar
stand where want them"
had just brought in a letter to Mr..
Paul, and l saw Madame Paurs face
turn purple; but she was smart enough
| to begin to talk quickly about something
else. So it was about everything Mr..
Paul had. Madame might move and
laOve, but back they always came to
| their old places. l know she sometimes
felt wild with rage, but thick as that
head of hers was, she knew she couldn't
take hold of her with her hands. And
she didn't have the one thing that could
have helped her-love. Oh, l know peo-
pie said she was wild about Mr.. Paul
and she was jealous enough over him
God knows. But Petite Madame had
showed me what love is, and the second
wife's wasn't of the same sort. 1t was
just selfish, grasping feeling-that's
ali.
There was a particular kind of sachet.
powder that Petite Madame had used ii
her armoirs-the making of 1t was q
secret handed down in her family. Ii
| TO hnf r 1aSt b<
whole house was full of the perfume
One day Madame Paul asked me, "Wha,
is this sickening scent l smell every
| whereof
I told her what it was, and she sale
sritefully, I'm find a way to get rio
OF it,
II don't think you can. madame
There's some things YOU can't get GU
CT house., l said quietly: but LOOKED
her right in the eyes, and she knew tina
l knew. She looked furious, and would
have liked to drive me out of the house
l don't doubt, but she knew Mr.. Pau
wouldn't permit that. And I stayed, an,
the perfume stayed; and sometimes
have seen Mr.. Paul half turn round
with a startled look. and then l knew
he must have caught a strong Whit o
i: near him.
his office. I used to sit up to keep hi
. fire burlington you may be sure swee
madame didn't lose her nights rest 70
anyone. And as sure as live, no soone
was his latchkey in the keyhole, than
ia, ia, ia, tail would hear those littl
high-heeled slippers on the stairs.
What a draughty old house this is.
Mr.. Paul said to me once. Such a COLI
gust seems to meet me when l come in.
Those nights Mr.. Paul and 1 woul,
talk about Petite Madame, for you ma
imagine that he had seen the differenc
though he never spoke of it-betwee
her and that jealous, conceited, hector
ing woman. He had never been any
thing but pale and quiet since Petit
. Madame died. and he began to complain
of feeling all the time cold.
There seems to be draught aroun
me always" he said; and he began t
Pine and waste. Presently. he didn
) leave his easy chair all day-he was to
! wcak-and then it was his sofa, and the
, his bed. Strange. too. that all this tin,
he had never felt there was somethin
queer about the house. Once l remem
,, Der I had been watching beside hir
, While he slept and when he woke up h
, said: Have I been crying in my sleel
, I wonder, Memenne? Look-there al
, tears on my cheek"
; He had been sleeping quietly. I kne'
whose tears those We're that had falle
| an his cheek. All, poor little ghost
! Petite Madame! how sorry sorry use
to be for her in my heart, to think no
= hard she was trying all the time
= make Mr.. Paul know she was near hin
, Mr. Paul was on his death-bed, an
: Madame Paul and l We're sitting nea
:, him. Presently he opened his eyes wit